Be Here Now

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Ram Dass is one of my original teachers. Years ago I’d had a particularly difficult emotional and mental few years where I felt stuck. A friend gifted me a brown paper wrapped copy of Be Here Now. I read it voraciously knowing there was some truth to what he communicated. I didn’t understand it all, not sure I ever will but what caught me was the heart of his message.

Throughout the book there was a sense of his being a brother, of sharing what he’d learned and what helped him without any dogma. He didn’t force me to a position, he just presented what he’d been through and encouraged you to explore for yourself. His writing read like poetry, the feeling of the book is what caught me, I sensed he was onto something.

I particularly related to the portions of the book that reinterpreted the way I saw the figure of Jesus. Christ became another teacher, someone to look up and aspire to but one of many. None of the dogmatic fire and brimstone was found within Ram Dass’ text. Jesus compassion to those around him while he was on the cross was an amazing shift, a different perspective on a story I’d read many times.

Ram Dass‘ humanity is what stuck with me. I’ve never forgotten how he’d opened a door and helped me see beyond my day to day suffering to a larger picture. I’d been stuck, unable to see out of the little cell I’d been caught in to see the larger picture. In much the same way that your vantage point in a city changes when you go into an airplane, Ram Dass’ book gave me the courage to begin exploring flight.

Not physical flight but the flight of the spirit. Ram Dass made me consider that I may not be as physical as I’d at first thought. Maybe, just maybe I was Self. Somewhere underneath all of my stuff was a more permanent I. For someone who’d suffered chronic pain that was a positive shift in perspective.

The Asian Master

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I’ve noticed a trend within the yoga community and in the bodywork world that bothers me. It’s been sitting in front of me for a long time and I sometimes fall prey to it as well. The notion is that there’s an Asian master. In a far off land removed from American consumer society there’s a secret land, a Shangri La where a master holds some secret that’s pure.

I know that asian traditions have wisdom for westerns to draw from, as a yoga instructor and Thai massage teacher it’s obvious that I respect these traditions. At the same time I’m a westerner, I’ve little use for sanskrit, less use for gurus in the traditional sense and I take what I can learn from and leave the rest behind. These wisdom traditions have things to share, things we can benefit from but I don’t hold religious zealotry about it.

He who sits on fruit has sweet bottom.

He who sits on fruit has sweet bottom.

People in asia are just humans, people like us. As east and west continue to collide and westerners look for guides and road maps it’s important to remember that the truth that we need lives inside us. Be quiet and listen.

I love what BKS Iyengar, Ramana Maharshi, Neem Karoli Baba, Osho and other teachers have to share. Part of me is a westerner though, I grew up in a different culture, a different time and place with youtube. We can pick and choose who our teachers are and there are many of them. Before we run to far off lands to find them let’s remember they also live inside us.

Special thanks to Michael Zernial of Relax Georgetown for the image.

Massage marketplace and schools

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Tyrone Chuang and I are great friends who met through our love of Thai massage. I recorded a conversation we had about Thai massage, massage in the marketplace and the role that acroyoga and massage schools have in influencing bodywork culture.

If you’re a massage therapist I recommend listening to this one. Tyrone recently got his massage license after attending massage school locally in Austin, Texas. He’s way ahead of the curve when it comes to bodywork and the anatomy he learned in school has heightened his skill set.

What is Thai massage again?

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I hear this question often and nothing prevents Thai massage from blowing up in our area other than the fact that no one knows what it is. As I teach the work, hear more perspectives and refine my own I’ve come to think of Thai massage as a mixture of yoga and the martial arts, without the martial. It gives you the ability to do great healing work but if used inappropriately much like karate or kung fu you can hurt someone.

Thai massage easy twist

In short it’s amazing, simple and easy to use bodywork for the masses. In 20 years or so Thai massage will be as common as swedish and deep tissue is now. Trust me. There’s a class coming up in May. Sign up.

Thai massage leg pull Robert Gardner Wellness

Social Media

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I’ve been working with social media for several years now to get my message about Thai massage and yoga out to the public. With this website, blog, facebook, twitter and youtube I’ve slowly become an army with people starting to pay attention. My last Intro. to Thai massage class I had a student ask me to teach a marketing class for massage therapists. Internally, I just palmed my face.

Marketing? I don’t know anything about marketing. My class was full though. I thought about it. Wait, I didn’t pay for any advertising and I have a full class. How did I do it? I had great marketing. 😛 Marketing isn’t what most think it is. Want to see? This is where I started. I had a $400 laptop and a $100 flipcam and was still wondering what twitter was.

Students, peers and friends if you want to excel in business go with your heart. Choose something that excites and inspires you. Interact with your clients and everyone you meet with everyone’s best interest. Share you love…ceaselessly.

In the 21st century your business is only as strong as your social network.

Workbook

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We’re a week or so away from unveiling my Introduction to Thai massage workbook. I’ve spent countless hours and energy pouring myself into the sequence, text and design components of the material.

The absolute hardest part of teaching or releasing anything definitive in Thai massage is the fact that every session is different. A workbook, text or a book are not improvisational. Thai massage is improvisational by its very nature. No two bodies are the same and even though the dance is similar I’ve never had two of the same sessions.

The photos and text are being compiled and I go back and forth with my associates to make sure we release something that’s easy to read, easy to understand and shows the basics of Thai massage in a way that anyone can use. Stay tuned, the workbook will be here soon.

Just Sit

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A regular yoga practice has been the most personally healing practice I’ve done in my life. Nothing so consistently gives me mental clarity, an able body and the ability to learn to just sit.

Consumer culture teaches us to chase the newest best thing and eternal youth. Neither has anything to do with reality. Yoga as a practice teaches you to focus your body to harness your mind and learn to let go. The breath is no longer held and you surrender. Learning to let go and not cling or grasp has been one of the greatest benefits of my practice.

In a tough situation, when I’m floundering on what to do I can just breathe and admit that I’ve no clue. Life can sort itself out. I go back to basics and remind myself that I’m not in control of anything other than my own actions. Sitting, breathing and observing first, I make better choices when I go into action.

Just sit. Be.

Honoring the Cycle

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My wife Andrea and I often have conversations about biorhythms and in particular sleep patterns. She does much better when she can wake and sleep as needed and nap in addition. I’m pretty much the same and a bit of a night owl. Over time we’ve worked with each other to create as much space within our work lives and personal time to allow for that much needed rest.

I’ve had to learn to nap since I grew up with some odd protestant work ethic that meant naps were for lazy people. Once Andrea and I moved in I realized that when I did nap, I was more alert, calm, centered and did far better quality work post nap. The nap itself, improved work. The siesta exists for a reason.

I gain weight in winter, slim in summer due to dietary changes and exercise levels. My mental clarity is best in the evening when others are already in bed. Over time I’ve learned to just go with it. It’s why I can write a clear blog post at 1am.

Honor your body and your cycles. Don’t resist so much. Sleep when you’re tired, eat when you’re hungry and listen to your body.

What do you do?

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Narrowing down my chosen profession is the opposite of what appeals to me. By its very nature, the path I’ve taken is holistic. I may be grabbing onto your limbs and body but I’m trying to help you access your soul. Deep healing only comes from working through layers of being.

Is what I do yoga? Yes. Is what I do Thai massage? Yes. Is what I do yoga therapy? Yes. Wellness education? Yes. It’s a mix of all of these things. Any information I have, I just pass it along.

If you’re working with massage therapists who aren’t educating you I think that’s falling down on the job. If you want something completely different, something completely new to help you access deeper levels of your own healing, then you come to me.

If you say, $130.00 a session! Wow, that’s expensive. Then I may not be what you’re looking for. My busy practice and growing clientele seems happy to pay for a quality service they can’t get elsewhere. Does your massage therapist meditate? Do they do yoga to calm their own nervous system so they can listen to your body more? Those are the questions the public should be asking massage therapists.

If you’re not into those things, well, there’s a spa down the road where a therapist will be happy to slap some cream on your back.

New Classes

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The new studio is shaping up nicely. I had my first yoga class in it last night and though we need to still do some unpacking and organizing I think the space is going to be wonderful for the classes we’ll be having.

Looking at trends and listening to student feedback I keep hearing some common themes like these:

1) CEU classes are too expensive.
2) I’m going to burnout or injure myself due to excess massage work.
3) Client retention is poor.

When I hear these I’m puzzled, then I remind myself, I don’t really work like other people. I’ve had the same issues but I escaped. The reason I escaped is because I focused on Thai massage exclusively and diversified my work to include education and teaching yoga.

In an effort to work with students I plan on offering a once a month (to start) CEU class that’s only 2-3 hours. Each class will probably focus on specific subject matter like: carpal tunnel syndrome, thoracic outlet, marketing for massage therapists, Thai for the table, postural assessment, trigger point therapy for common ailments and Thai foot reflexology.

The ongoing Intro. to Thai classes and further Phase 1,2,3 classes will continue but this will give therapists with more time and money constraints more access to high end education. Also note, my blog and youtube channel are full of free education. Use it! You can also come to the Thai massage open practice tonight at Casa de Luz. Join the Austin Thai massage group on facebook to keep in touch.

See you soon!

You Can’t Shine Without Friction

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Years ago I’d been asked by my teacher to assist a Thai massage class at the Esalen Institute. It required my taking a month off of work and could be taxing time wise and energetically but it was an opportunity I couldn’t refuse. I arrived and found myself in the most pristinely beautiful place I’ve ever seen in the US. In addition, wealth seemed to be everywhere. A banker from Wall Street would fly in for a weekend just to get massages and relax.

I found myself in an odd place energetically and physically. I’d worked very hard to be able to assist and help students learn Thai massage and I was still in pain from my long term injuries sustained from a drunk driver. I felt surrounded by wealth that I felt I could never obtain, after all, I got to go because I was the teaching assistant, not because I had a successful career and could afford it.

The students were open hearted and one day while sitting in a circle we were asked during an exercise to make a physical expression of how we felt. The students took turns doing things like making hearts with their hands and opening them. There were smiles, dances, swirls and then it was my turn. I stood up and looking up, gave the finger.

My teacher asked me later if I was giving the finger to god. I nodded and nothing more was said. She of all people understood where I’d been, where I was trying to go and the struggle I’d be up against on many fronts. She knew I was happy to serve, happy to teach and assist but had issues with the wealth I was seeing around me.

800px-BigSur_Fog2

It’s taken years to develop my practice, to come to terms with feelings I’ve had for what seems like an eternity. My pain is less, my body continues to heal and align itself. The anger lessens and I share joy in new ways. Once while watching a video with BKS Iyengar he said, “I was gifted with ill health.” He had a gleam in his eye and I’d missed it the first time I’d seen it. I cried.

I knew that he’d taken up his own life, his own karma and worked with it. Instead of feeling downtrodden, he used his own body as the experiment. When he’d healed himself he continued to help others heal themselves. His path is very similar to mine except in my case, I’d been injured by someone else’s choice to drive drunk. Iyengar’s was more nature, mine was nurture.

Over the years I’ve continued to work and take up my own karma. I’m less angry, more calm, more optimistic and I feel better in my body and spirit than at any time since before the accident. I don’t feel anger to the man who hit me, I don’t feel anger towards god and look at the whole experience as one that’s necessary. Without that pain, without that experience I would never have become who I am today. Many would be in pain because I wouldn’t have been able to help them. My life has become one of service. May god use me as a willing tool.

The oyster is irritated by the sand that gets inside the shell. This irritation eventually forms a pearl.

You can’t shine without friction.

Myofascial Pain Trigger Points pt.10 Adductor Pollicis

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Massage therapists and others who work with their hands put small muscles under strain from repetitive work. It’s always good to find new ways of doing things but at the end of the day when your thumb is bothering you, this should help.

Adductor pollicis trigger points cause pain in the wrist and thumb. Many have years of built up tension that can be released through some regular work on the area. In the video we use a Thai reflexology stick to access the small points. This saves our other hand while we’re working.

As always, work smart. Go slow and breathe.