I'd like to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a very happy and healthy 2008!

I'm taking a break and will be with my family in South Africa. I'll be back and ready for massage on 28th January.

A big, big THANK YOU to all my clients and I look forward to seeing you next year!

Last week I thought I'd take my own advice and go for a run on a treadmill. The temperature outside was literally sub-zero and I'm not a masochist. Off I went to my local leisure centre. I said " I'd like a session on the treadmill please". The young man behind the desk said "have you had an induction". To which I replied that I hadn't, as I was a pay as you go member and I'd been a member of many gyms over the years.

This didn't cut the mustard and he went on to explain that I had to have an employee show me how to use the treadmill before I'd be permitted past the turnstile. Off the obliging young man went to find someone who could quickly show me how to use said treadmill. Unfortunately, the only person available was in the middle of a personal training session and therefore couldn't induct me. Grrrrr! I knew I was hitting my head against a brick wall. There was no sweet talking my way in. Thanks to "health and safety" I had to turn on my heel and graciously depart.

This is the first time ever I've wanted to say the words that follow in capital letters, ie. "I've been using treadmills since BEFORE YOU WERE BORN!". Mmmmmmm how funny is that...... there's a first time for everything.

So, I went home, had a glass of wine and watched "How To Look Good Naked" instead.

'Tis the season to be jolly thanks to:

- the internet - taking the pain out of Christmas Shopping
- Gumtree and E-Bay who help my clients find me
- Healthypages which is a constant support of inspiration and advice
- discovering the best way to melt chocolate
- meeting up with good friends in London
- finding a pub in London where you can sit down and be heard - priceless!

Time Magazine has published an interesting article - which goes so far as to say that post-operative massage gives similar pain relief to morphine!

I remember being taught at massage school something called the "pain gate theory". Pain travels through the body via nerve fibres of the nervous system and it's main route to the brain is via the spinal cord. If you injure yourself or have surgery your nerve fibres will be transmitting "OW, OW, OW!!!". If stroking and gentle pressure from massage is added on top of "OW", the nerve pathways aren't sure what to transmit anymore and pleasurable sensations can literally block the pain getting through the "gate" to the brain.

I found the following quote on a Washington University website:

"Although the gate control theory has support from some experiments and does explain some observations seen in pain patients during therapy, it does not explain everything. However, think of this...what is one of the first things you do after you bump your head or pinch a finger by accident? You probably rub it and it feels better, right? Could this be explained by the gate control theory? Well, rubbing your bumped head or pinched finger would activate non-nociceptive touch signals carried into the spinal cord by large nerve fibers. According to the theory, the activity in the large nerve fibers would activate the inhibitory interneuron that would then block the projection neuron and therefore block the pain."

Permission should be sought from your GP, Consultant or Surgeon prior to receiving post-operative massage.

I found this BRILLIANT site which illustrates and explains the anatomy and physiology of the human body - Get Body Smart.

It shows how every bit and part of us affects another part. For instance, did you know that sitting down at a computer for most of the day shortens the hamstrings - which are large muscles running down the back of the upper leg. These muscles attach to the bottom of the pelvis.

So, if you have tight hamstrings, this could pull the lower pelvis out of alignment, which in turn could have an affect on all the other muscles which attach to the pelvis [there are at least 20]. For instance, part of the latissimus dorsi muscle starts at the bottom of the shoulder blade and ends up attaching to the iliac crest -this essentially means having tight hamstrings could affect your shoulders! No muscle works in isolation!

Something that really impressed me about this site is that it shows how each muscle moves a certain part of the body. At massage shcool we learnt terms like adduct, abduct, medial rotation etc. however, being a very visual learner, being able to see this without having to demonstrate it on myself, is really useful.

If you currently have tension in a particular part of your body, why not identify it on Get Body Smart and have a play around. Who knows, next time you get a massage you could say to your therapist "I'd like you to massage my upper trapezius and then my rhomboidus major" - watch the surprise on their face.

My partner Anthony just loves Christmas. I woke up this morning to him inserting choccies into our felt advent calendars. He still has his from childhood. Yes, two adults with their very own advent calendars and not a child in sight. Now as regular readers will know, I'm not all that hot on Christmas but I do get pleasure out of watching the twinkling lights and yes, they're going up tomorrow.

I found this article on MassageTherapy.com on how to "survive" Christmas. Quite bizarre isn't it, in this privileged society with rabid consumer spending and over indulgence, we deign to use the word survive. For heavens sake, talk to people in Africa or Iraq or Afghanistan about survival. Anyway, I won't go into a rant and I acknowledge that stress comes in many different guises and my last Christmas is testament to that. I've amended the terminology slightly to suit the U.K [ my amdendments are in italics]

So, here's some tips on how to take the Festive period in your stride [I'm avoiding the S word]:

1.Take time for yourself. YES, get a massage. Soak in a mineral bath. Listen to the silence of a snowfall [or in our case the dull, grey fog]. Even if there seems no possible moment you can claim as your own, close your eyes, breathe deep from your belly several times, exhaling the air loudly from your mouth. Do this whenever you need a "moment."

2. Utilise catalog/online shopping. Don't fight the crowds. From the convenience of your home or during an office lunch hour, catalog and online shopping can eliminate the headache of holiday stress tenfold.

3. Eat right. Some of the best goodies come out this time of year. While you shouldn't deny yourself the opportunity to have a piece of grandma's christmas pudding, don't overdo it. Remember to eat plenty of veggies and fruits to help stave off the winter's bombardment of colds.

4. Give yourself the advantage. Consumption of alcohol, nicotine, drugs and caffeine elicit the body's stress reaction. Remember moderation, you'll be happier and calmer in the long run.

5. Don't skimp on the exercise...but allow yourself to be excused from the routine when need be. Exercise helps melt the stress away and can provide that moment of clarity in a hectic day.

6. Don't try to be Delia Smith. It's easy to get caught up in the spirit of the holidays with new decorating ideas, fancy dinners and the whim to make all your gifts this year. Be realistic and honest with yourself. Don't set yourself up for failure. If you can afford to, and sanity is priceless after all, use Mark and Spencer or Waitrose's catering service. Have friends help by having a craft day. Forgo making gifts, or panic buying, and give a gift you'll know they'll appreciate -- a massage.

7. Remember the spirit. When it's all said and done, no one will remember that the turkey was a little dry, the roast potatoes were soggy and that the sweater didn't fit, . What do they remember? The precious moments with family and friends.

This week I'm thankful for:

- E-Bay - where I intend to shop for some unique Christmas presents
- Low cost calling numbers so I can stay in touch with my family in S.A
- Croatia beating England - at last England have got a major wake up call
- Organic farmers
- The yoga workshop I attended. Thank you Julie and Mr Iyengar.
- My regular clients

The cold winter nights have drawn in and finding the motivation to maintain cardio-vascular fitness is a struggle. Especially if you're used to jogging or cycling outdoors.

I try and run on the weekends in daylight. However, with massage appointments and social commitments to fit in, it's not always easy. I recently checked out my local Leisure Centre and luckily for me, they have a huge CV area encompassing treadmills, cross-trainers, stationary bikes and rowing machines. So on those cold, damp nights - when wild horses wouldn't be able to drag me onto the streets - I'm planning to head for the warm indoors and get in a CV session in comfort.

Another benefit of the Leisure Centre is that you don't have to be a member to use it. You can pay as you go and the sessions are reasonably priced at between £4-5. So, no need to shell out a monthly membership fee and or sign up for the obligatory one year contract.

Find treadmills boring? Check out this Treadmill Masterclass for some inspiration.

I often ponder on how the word "stressed" must be one of the most over-used words in the English language and becoming more so as each year passes.

Did our forefathers, even our grandparents, use the word very much? I would imagine my Gran, who was newlywed and newly pregnant when my Grandad went off and fought in North Africa for 3 years, had reason to be stressed. However, I don't recall her ever saying she was "stressed" when I used to ask her about that period in her life.

Did people during World War II just get on with things? Does having a real and genuine stress in your life actually make you pull together, get on with things and therefore have less time to think about how "stressed" you are?

I found this excellent article on Science Daily which suggests, that along with primates, human beings get stressed precisely because they have enough spare time, live long enough and the emotional complexity to do so.

The article is fascinating - here's a short quote:

"We've found that baboons have diseases that other social mammals generally don't have," Sapolsky said. "If you're a gazelle, you don't have a very complex emotional life, despite being a social species. But primates are just smart enough that they can think their bodies into working differently. It's not until you get to primates that you get things that look like depression."

"The reason baboons are such good models is, like us, they don't have real stressors," he said. "If you live in a baboon troop in the Serengeti, you only have to work three hours a day for your calories, and predators don't mess with you much. What that means is you've got nine hours of free time every day to devote to generating psychological stress toward other animals in your troop. So the baboon is a wonderful model for living well enough and long enough to pay the price for all the social-stressor nonsense that they create for each other. They're just like us: They're not getting done in by predators and famines, they're getting done in by each other."

To read the whole article click here: Why Do Humans and Primates Get More Stress Related Diseases Than Other Animals

Another week and another "latest" diet revolution. Usually I take these new fad diets with a pinch of salt. I mean honestly, these "new discoveries" are simply lining someone's pocket. The cabbage soup diet, the chocolate diet, the sex diet yadda, yadda, yadda. However, it would appear that the latest trend actually makes sense.

The headline on Healthpages reads "Raw Food Diet Gaining Popularity"

In fact, the picture above shows a "raw food" lasagne. Isn't it pretty? It comes from a gourmet raw food restaurant called Pure Raw Cafe in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The restaurant decor, website and pictures of the food all look wonderful.

I doubt it'll be long before there'll be raw food restauants in London. I'd certainly give it a try.

This week I'm thankful for:

- Discovering the best Mexican food in London
- crisp autumn days - with sunshine so bright it hurts your eyes
- 100 sheep marching in single file past my window first thing in the morning
- clear night skies where you can see every twinkling star
- discovering the library has all the web design books I almost bought on Amazon

Being a massage therapist is more of a vocation, or calling, than a way to get rich and retire early.

However, one part-time massage therapist hit the jackpot when she took a job in a small company that started out in a garage. Find out more about the massage millionairess.

Talk about right place, right time!!!

Sometimes a new client expresses surprise at my consultation form. As a holistic therapist [the word holistic is derived from the greek work holos - meaning "whole"] I look at my client as a complete system rather than dividing them into parts. For instance, you may have a stiff neck but that stiff neck is more than likely due to poor posture. That poor posture may be due to too many hours hunched over a computer. Those too many hours hunched over a computer could mean you're stressed. That stress could mean that you resort to fast food, alcohol and cigarettes to save time and relax ....... you get the picture. Now, I could just massage your neck, take your money and be done with you. Or I could also offer you additional advice on how you could make changes to your lifestyle and give you exercises to do to prevent your sore neck getting worse or recurring again.

I found this interesting article on Bodyworker which does a very good job of explaining how important information is:

"As massage has entered the mainstream of healthcare options, more and more people consider this intervention as part of an overall health plan. Massage has gone from being an occasional treat to being part of how we take care of ourselves. This may be especially true of people who live with chronic conditions that decrease quality of life: people with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, arthritis, depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders. . . the list of those with medical conditions who find that massage is a valuable part of their healthcare is expanding daily.

All of this is good news: massage is a low-tech intervention with high benefits. While an hour of one-on-one time with a health professional can feel expensive, it is ultimately more cost effective than many other options like surgery, long-term physical therapy, or serious complications of various health issues. But the movement of massage into a medical setting comes with a cost: massage therapists are often put in the position of weighing whether their work will be beneficial or detrimental to the health of their client. The only way to preserve public safety is to get information about a client’s health status in general, and in particular for the day of the massage.

Some massage therapists take long, elaborate client histories. They may require clients to fill out forms before they come for a first appointment and schedule extra time to go through the forms together in a client history interview. Typically this occurs in settings where a client and practitioner may be planning on a long-term therapeutic relationship. In other settings, like an on-site massage or a visit to a spa, a client may never see this therapist again. Then short-term goals are at the top of the priority list, and the practitioner may not have the inclination or the time to take an extensive history. Nonetheless, it is important to share some key pieces of information so that everyone can derive the best benefits from a bodywork session with the least risks.

What follows are some questions your massage therapist may ask you, with explanations for why that information is important. Massage is more than just a rub; by creating a stimulus (even a welcome and wonderful stimulus), massage requires that the body be able to adapt. Some people are better able to do this than others, and your massage therapist has to figure out where you fall in this continuum. As you read this, you might make your own list of health issues you want to be sure to share with your therapist, whether this appointment is a one time only or part of an ongoing project.

Basic Questions for a One-Time Session with a New Therapist:

How is your health today?
This may seem obvious, but people sometimes seek massage when they are fighting a cold, dealing with an internal infection, or even just suffering from a bad headache. Massage therapists may change the way they work or decide it is not in the best interest of the client to work in some situations.

Do you have any skin conditions?
Again this may seem obvious, but it is amazing how often people forget about that mysterious rash on their abdomen until they are on the table. Obviously, if you have an active contagious skin condition (herpes, boils, impetigo), then massage may not be your best choice for today. If you have a chronic, non-contagious skin condition (eczema, psoriasis, allergic reactions), then your therapist can make appropriate adjustments. But if your condition is undiagnosed, your therapist is at risk for three bad things: spreading a rash further on you; spreading a rash on the therapist; or spreading a rash to another client.

Even if your undiagnosed rash or contagious lesion is in an area that the therapist doesn’t touch, it is important to share that information with him or her for safety reasons.

Have you had any accidents or surgeries that affect your health now?
This is particularly important if any accident or surgery currently affects your ability to get through your day. Scar tissue, headaches, limping, jaw-clenching, or other leftovers of trauma may be addressed with massage with good effect.

Do you have any chronic conditions that affect your health?
The answer to this question for most people is probably yes, even if that chronic condition is caffeine addiction or a boss who drives you crazy. But if you are under treatment for something more serious, it is especially important to share that information with your therapist. Common examples might include arthritis, depression, or high blood pressure. Clients with chronic conditions can derive wonderful benefit from massage, but some situations require adjustments in timing, pressure, or positioning.

Are you taking any medications?
Massage therapists must consider the possibility of interactions between bodywork and medications that clients take. For instance, if a client uses insulin and then receives a massage, it is possible to have an uncomfortable or even threatening double-dose of glucose-lowering interventions. High blood pressure medications or drugs that alter body fluids may also require some adjustments.

If you take a painkiller or an anti-inflammatory on the day of a massage, your massage therapist will have a harder time reading your tissues to give
appropriate pressure.

None of these medications categorically contraindicate massage, but they all may require some modifications from your therapist. This is why you should share what medications you take, what conditions you take them for, and when your last dose was.

Are you under a doctor’s care?
This question can bring up any conditions or situations that might be a red flag that haven’t already been discussed.

Are you pregnant?
Clearly this is not a question for every client, but for women of child-bearing age this can be an issue. Pregnant women can reap wonderful benefits from massage, but certain risks must be respected.

Do you wear contacts?
Many varieties of contact lenses are perfectly comfortable to wear during a massage, but you may appreciate the option to take out your contacts before you begin.

What would you like to accomplish today?
This may be the most important question of all: if you can clearly communicate your goals to your therapist, then he or she will be better able to give you a wonderful, satisfying (and safe) session.


Additional Questions for a Long-Term Relationship with a Therapist:

What preexisting conditions do you suffer from?
Your therapist may give you a list of conditions and ask you to indicate which ones you have had in the past. This gives some general insight into long-term repercussions that you may experience.

What activities make your pain worse? What activities make it better?
These questions are for clients with specific injuries or weaknesses they would like to address. In addition to helping the therapist understand your situation, he or she can form a baseline to watch how improvements grow over time.

What is your diet like? How well do you sleep?
These questions provide insight into your general lifestyle. While massage therapists don’t diagnose or prescribe, they may be able to offer some well-informed advice about how some lifestyle habits support or interfere with health-related goals.

What are your long-term goals for our work together?
The most fruitful client-therapist relationships are those where both people work together in an active partnership to make good things happen. While long-term goals for massage may change, working together to make them happen can be a satisfying and ultimately successful experience.

Once in a while an issue comes up in a client history interview that makes it clear that some kinds of massage may carry unacceptable risks. A good example might be this situation, based on a real-life scenario: a client who was recently in a car wreck, and who is taking high doses of anti-inflammatories and painkillers, wants his therapist to “really work out the kinks: just get in there and dig’em out.”

This client has a legitimate wish: to reduce his pain and limitation. But this therapist cannot ethically do what he asks, because of the risk for further injury with the kind of bodywork he is requesting. In this case the therapist may offer alternative forms of massage. It might not be what the client had in mind, but it is a session designed to give the best possible benefits bodywork can offer, while minimizing risks.

One final wrinkle that may come up during a client history interview is the need to communicate with a primary care physician. It is important for you to understand that your therapist may not talk to any other health professional about you without your permission. He or she may request that you fill out a HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) form to give that permission. Therapists may wish to communicate with doctors to identify specific information about a certain condition, or to discuss the risks of certain kinds of modalities, or simply to inform the rest of your healthcare team that you are receiving massage in addition to whatever else you do to take care of yourself.

The overall point is that in a client-therapist relationship, more information is better than less information. Open, clear communication between you and your therapist helps to preserve your safety, but also helps you to get the very best out of your time together."

Newsflash! Not all take-aways are that bad.

If you choose wisely the occasional slobby night in on the sofa, eating out of polystyrene containers, can be relatively guilt free.

For instance chicken chop suey is way chic-er than sweet and sour pork and prawn madras is the kate moss of curries.

Check out this great article from Runners World and become a "healthy" fast food consumer.

This week I'm grateful for:

- Fairhills Fairtrade Organic Wine [South African]
- sunny autumn days
- watching Robert De Niro in Stardust- I love him even more!
- missing the baby bunny hopping over the road
- good health
- my regular clients

Perhaps an age old question: Does more wealth bring you happiness? The billions who play the lottery world wide certainly think so. I confess, come a roll over - even though my chances are now more remote than ever - I buy into the fantasy and before I know it I'm handing over real money to that horrid company called Camelot. I fall foul to the little voice in my head whispering "someone has to win it".

Studies have been going on to examine whether or not money can make you happy and if so at what level.

When economists were asked to find an answer they concluded that if you have more money then you will have more choice and more choice should mean greater happiness as you can afford more of the finer things in life.

However, Daniel Gilbert a Harvard University psychologist wrote in his book 'Stumbling on Happiness' that "Psychologists have spent decades studying the relation between wealth and happiness and they have generally concluded that wealth increases human happiness when it lifts people out of abject poverty and into the middle class but that it does little to increase happiness thereafter."

In a global survey, people were asked to describe their level of happiness on a scale of 1 to 7. 1 was "not at all satisfied with my life" and 7 meant "completely satisfied." The average score for the American multimillionaires who filled in the questionnaire was 5.8. The average for the homeless in Calcutta, India was 2.9. However, those who were just above the 'homeless' band, the slum dwellers in Calcutta scored 4.6. Additionally the Greenland natives, the Inuit and from Kenya the Masai who herd cattle, scored around 5.8.

These results confirmed what the psychologists had thought, that happiness increases significantly only when a person is raised out of abject poverty to a reasonable level but does not increase further from there.

Now, if only someone could explain what "happiness" really means. Right, over to the Dalai Lama ................

My partner Anthony has baked precisely one item in his life. He got inspired by watching "Nigella's Christmas" last year [what man doesn't find Nigella attractive?] and proceeded to bake Nigella's Chocolate Fruitcake. It was divine! He's already planning his next foray into the kitchen - apron and all!

I thought I'd share this momentous recipe with you:

Chocolate Fruitcake

It's dead easy to make, looks mighty impressive and would even get the nod from Gran.

Like all fruitcakes with booze in them, they do improve with age - so do make it soon.

Ever found yourself slumped over your computer at lunchtime, aimlessly surfing the web? Tsk, Tsk! you should be getting up from your desk and going for a walk in the fresh air and natural light. However, should it be raining or snowing or you're bored senseless with the streets around you office, you could do a lot worse than give yourself a 5 minute massage.

I've found this great 5 minute video which is easy to do:

Self-massage at your desk.

I was rather remiss last week not to include a gratitude post but to be frank I wasn't feeling grateful for anything. I was having a bad week! Typically, this was counter-productive. As contemplating on "whats good" was the very thing I should have been doing.

Anyway........ I'm now grateful that I feel prompted to include one this week.

What's good at the moment:

- I've found a Bodypump class close by.

- I'm going to South Africa for 24 days in January - YAY!!!!

- A friend has offered to give me a Reiki treatment.

- Re-discovering a back massage technique that feels very good.

- Scraping ice off my windscreen in the morning ..... ok this is a lie :-)

This article concludes the three part series on "How Massage Works" by Gerry Pyves, the founder of No Hands Massage.

"Thanks to getting regular massage your body is beginning to remember the power of touch from when you were a baby and your life revolved around simple touch. You have established that primal connection with yourself – a connection that will reawaken every time you get on the Massage table.

All your sessions after this have the potential to be as significant as anything else you have ever experienced in your life. Providing you do not let that gap go longer than 2 weeks. Each time you receive a Massage you start the session where you left off. With all the knowledge and memory of every session etched into your
psyche and tissues. This is because the experiences are so profound that your body now has no problem remembering.

It is as thrilling and as exciting as meeting your lover, only without all the difficult bits! It is not the Massage therapist you are falling in love with – it is your connection to your wisdom that you are falling in love with. Something is blossoming within you – something that every single human being has. Your truth!

When you feel this you are scoring 100 units on the Massage scale! Only now, you are becoming so used to such powerful experiences it only feels like a one or two! It is rather like this: having accelerated to a thousand miles an hour you are travelling so fast there is no sense of acceleration at all!

When touch is transforming your life so much, it is not possible to increase it much more than this. Massage cannot have much more of an impact on your life than this - unless you begin to levitate, perhaps!

The transformation that you experience after every session confirms the wisdom of choosing such a deep and natural therapy as opposed to those quick fixes people rave about. You also notice that all of the niggling little health problems you used to have are disappearing. Actually they have just fallen away so naturally and so quietly you probably haven’t even realised it.

You now know that what works is actually oh so simple… The more you let go each session, the more benefits you feel in your whole life, not just your body. The more you release, the more you discover there is to release. You are like a traveller who has been carrying so many bags of tension and disease for so long that it just seemed normal to walk around with so many bags of luggage under your arms and on your shoulders.

Each time you have a Massage you let go of another bag and as it slides to the floor you say “Damn! I had no idea I had been carrying that one for so long….” And when you get off the table and walk around the room you feel lighter and younger than you ever believed possible. You begin to expect the miracles that touch can provide...touch has become as much a staple diet for you as your food, and all your friends are remarking how well you look and ask incredulously “what are you on?"

Remember, total health and well being probably requires TRANSFORMATION at every level of your being, physical, emotional, energetic, mental and spiritual. If you wish to change anything, it takes commitment and persistence.

Real and lasting change is only achieved GRADUALLY, OVER TIME, WITH SUPPORT AND THROUGH REPETITION.

This is the ancient 'cumulative principle' on which the touch therapy of Massage is based. Massage practitioners who promote this free book on their web sites understand and honour this principle. They probably have some favourable pricing structures that reward your commitment to this 'cumulative principle'. They also have a commitment and dedication to the simplicity of healing touch.

.........Uncomplicated. Persistent. Powerful...........

All you have to do is keep turning up, and doing the work of BREATHING, FEELING AND RELEASING. Your Massage therapist will do the rest.

An ancient healing formula: The cumulative principle."

Following on from my previous post here's an opportunity to learn more about how massage works, based on cumulative touch. Written by Gerry Pyves the founder of No Hands Massage

"If you were wise, you booked this second session for just 1 week after your first, so you could get all the touch benefits properly locked into your body before it 'forgets'. This time, you know the answers to all of the initial questions and you already feel more relaxed about this second visit.

Within 5 minutes of this second Massage session, you are already achieving a higher level of relaxation than you did at the end of your first session! Because only a week has passed, your body instantly remembers the level of relaxation you achieved last time and you now become much more open to the full power of touch.

If we give this second session a unit score, it would probably be much nearer 10 units. This might be comparable to spending aday in a health spa or walking on the hills for a day.

Then you come for your third session...

If you are wise, you have booked this session for just one week after your second… Why? Because this means that your body remembers the effects of your last 2 Massages much more easily and by now you are feeling the effects from your previous session even as you travel to your appointment!

You get on the table already releasing tension you have accumulated over the last week, out of your whole being and you are already looking forward to what is becoming the most important hour of your week. You are beginning to understand that even with the best practitioner, it is up to you to let go of tension and your body is ‘remembering’ something you knew as a child.

Touch and healing is natural and normal and you are wise enough to know exactly how to release any tension you have accumulated. At the end of this session you have experienced amazing depth of touch and in terms of units are probably scoring 20 or 30 units. That is like being away on holiday for a week and it is ten times the power of your first Massage!!!

When you get onto the Massage table for your fourth session (still booked for 1 week after your last session!), within 5 minutes you have reached the level of release and rebalance that you ended the last session with…and the touch just pours into your life and you now understand how to focus your mind during the Massage on the 3 golden rules of Massage: BREATHE, FEEL and RELEASE!

You do this like you have been doing this all your life...

You are already becoming a Massage expert...You know how to get the most out of your session...you focus your mind on your breath, on the touch and on letting go....It is like a meditation...a meditation of touch...it is the place of healing, the place of your own personal journey.

The cumulative effect of 4 weekly Massage sessions means that you are probably getting 40 - 50 units of value from this one session, just like going on holiday for 3 months – still in just one hour, still just for a few quid!"

In our current social climate geared towards quick fixes and instant gratification it's good to take a step back and realise that there's hardly ever such a thing. Unless you're talking about mending your broken glasses with some sticky tape.

I'd like to quote from Gerry Pyves - the founder of No Hands Massage, he says it so well!

"Massage is a natural therapy that works on the ancient 'cumulative principle'. This ancient healing principle has almost been forgotten in our modern age of 'quick fix' and instant gratification.

Yet Massage was being used thousands of years ago – in a time when there was a greater understanding of the natural rhythms of the world, the psyche and the human body.

Massage works because you literally accumulate touch. Touch is the missing link in health. There are libraries of research papers documenting the phenomenal power of touch to heal disease and illness as well as prevent innumerable conditions from ever developing. Of course they don’t earn drug companies any money so we don’t hear about them, do we? Only Massage therapists seem to take action on this research.

The loss of touch in our families and communities, in the workplace, in schools and would you believe, in our hospitals is a subject that has occupied this author for his whole life. Massage redresses this in the simplest and most direct way imaginable. It does it through this ancient principle of accumulation. What this means is that your first Massage session is probably your least effective! That is why the really deep power of Massage still remains a very well kept secret – even some Massage therapists have not yet discovered it!

You see, the real power of touch happens at a deeply subconscious level and this takes time and repetition to truly embed. Most people do not realise this and only go for an occasional Massage. The secret remains safe…

All ancient healing disciplines that have remained unpolluted by our very modern need for everything to happen in a rush work to this tried and tested formula:

HEALING = SLOW + REPETITION + SUPPORT

The human psyche is a profound and complex mechanism and does not respond well to ‘quick fixes’. Even the most profound and dramatic changes in our lives only have a permanent effect if reinforced by this formula. Healing is like a good marriage. It often takes time and persistent work to last beyond the first dramatic and exciting whirlwind of the romance and falling in love. The only real change is change that lasts.

Here is how Massage actually works for you as the client:

You come for your first session and you are a little apprehensive of the unknown. If you are wise, and follow the advice of this book, then once you find a therapist you feel safe with, you will book yourself a series of 10 Massages over a period of approximately 10-20 weeks. It works even better if you have managed to find a regular slot (not always possible) and a regular day. This regularity also helps your subconscious to programme you for the very best results.

At this first session, you probably ask yourself "Is this practitioner a good Massage therapist? Will I feel comfortable and safe? Will this person pry into my personal life? Will the practitioner respect my privacy? Will the practitioner be sensitive to my needs? Have I made the right decision coming for a Massage? Will they give me the Massage I want?"

During this, your first Massage session with a new practitioner, everything is new: the room, the decor, the smell, the oils, the system (where do I get changed? do I have to take all my clothes off? Where will they start? How will I know when they have finished?

It is not so easy to completely let go fully in this new setting because it is such a new experience. Your Body and Mind have no reference points, so they stay alert and in a learning mode and in a protective mode. This is natural and instinctual. During this session, these fears should be assuaged and your body will let go. But it is still only the first session. You are still just a Massage Baby! (If your fears are not assuaged, cancel all future sessions and look for another therapist!)

So how do you measure the effects of this first session? If it has been a good first session, then you have only experienced the smallest nibble of the hors d’oeuvres of the full menu that touch actually has to offer you!

If we could give the impact and effectiveness of Massage in unit values, let us say this first Massage scored a 2 or 3. Let us say that a single unit is like a great cup of coffee or glass of wine, or a blueberry muffin . . . .and the most powerful experience you have ever had in your life scores 100."

Next week you can find out what happens in session two ...... it just gets better!

This week I'm grateful for:

- Will and Grace Series 5 boxset
- my former Sports Massage tutor for giving me fantastic advice
- realising that mistakes are opportunities to learn
- living in a privileged and safe country
- having the freedom to make choices