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Friday, April 30, 2010

Day 8 - FINAL-ly

On Thursday, I took my first final in massage school, which consisted of two parts: written and practical - or "hands-on". I think I will be taking final exams about every two weeks or so - one for each section.
We had about 10 minutes to review what we had gone over before actually getting the exam. I figure that if I didn't know it by then, I wasn't going to, so I didn't review too much; just a couple key points on which I thought I may have a question.
I received the exam at 7:10. By 7:30, I was in the student break room with many of the other students, not only from my class, but other classes as well. It looked like a cocktail party (minus the cocktails) with everybody standing around chatting. A few in my class were celebrating birthdays, so they had some pizza. I had eaten earlier and wasn't hungry, so I abstained from the delicious smelling pizza.
We had some free time before the practical, so I took the opportunity to go outside and get a bit of fresh air, which I don't seem to get as much of during the week. Maybe once I'm into a regular schedule, I'll be able to settle into a routine of being outside for a little bit.
At about 8:20, we all returned to the other room where the practicals were taking place. They had also finished grading the exams and I found out that I got a 91 on the written part of the test. Yay!! My partner for the evening and I took our practical one right after the other and we both got 100%!
We all got done the practical portion around 9:00, so it was back to the break room and some birthday cake. I chose a slice of pizza over the cake.
A little later - I lost track of time, we met back in the first room to learn how to give face and scalp massages. Our instructor showed us how on one of our classmates, who seemed very content to be a guinea pig. One of the tricks she taught us, too, was how to get the sinuses to release. Very handy thing to know.
After the demonstration, we partnered up and gave and received 10 minute face and scalp massages, which was a very nice ending to the evening's class.
After arriving home, as tired as I was, I was too keyed up to go right to bed, and ended up staying up too late again - until midnight.
I guess my body will re-pattern itself to be able to keep up with this schedule. Until then, I'll be a little bleary-eyed and looking forward to the next cup of coffee.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Day 7 - First Aid - Not Kool-Aid

First thing's first. I have meant to post this picture. It's pretty well known that when you go into a public restroom, there is a good chance that there may be graffiti. Well, I found during my first visit to BSOM that the bathroom wall graffiti is a bit different that than the derogatory stuff you may normally see. This photo was taken in the restroom stall - written on the door.
So, into Day 7, where we studied more of First Aid.
We focused on First Aid, learning things like how to respond in an emergency, how to stop a bleed, what to do if someone is having chest pain or a potential heart attack, and what to do if someone is choking. A couple of my classmates have already been in some of these situations to need to be the person helping in an emergency, so I'm sure they were glad to have actually gotten this information.
We also learned about Personal Protective Equipment, which is something I've actually learned about at my current job. Since it's a bio-services company, there are human tissue and fluid samples and each employee, regardless of position, is supposed to know how to protect themselves against bloodborn pathogens. Sounds like fun, huh? Anyway, I think I've got that part of the class covered. :-)
As we have more classes, I'm getting to know my classmates. They are definitely an interesting and diverse group, each bringing their own background to discussions about situations.
One of my classmates asked me if I had lost weight! Hey - that's encouraging! Even if I hadn't lost ANYTHING, it still helps to think that maybe I've changed enough in the last week and half...maybe standing straighter or exuding more confidence, but she noticed SOMETHING! She said it wasn't my haircut, but something. Pretty cool.
Now, if I can just stay away from those Reeses Whipps...

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Day 6 - Journey to the Center of the Core

Sometime in the last decade, I took a "Yogalates" class at the gym of which I was a member. Yogalates is a form of exercise that combines Pilates and Yoga. Now, I don't know a lot about what it is except that I enjoyed the class because it worked on my muscles and it was - in a weird way - relaxing. At the time, I wouldn't have been able to tell you which part was Yoga and which part was Pilates, but I've since learned that the Pilates part was the part that really worked the "Core" muscles. When the Yogalates instructor talked about "engaging our core," I thought she was talking some sort of Eastern Zen-type thing, something hocus pocus as far as my Western mind knows. Well, come to find out, we really do have CORE muscles and it doesn't have anything to do with hocus pocus! And that's was Day 6's class was about - the Core muscles.
Of course, at first, we reviewed past material for the final on Thursday. Yes, folks, I'm having a FINAL on Thursday night! I've only been in class about a week and half, and we're already having a final exam on what we've learned! This stuff moves quickly, I must say.
After the review, we jumped into a concept of Economy of Motion. Well, anytime you talk economy, I think dollars, so I was particularly interested in what this "motion" was going to mean...especially if the motion meant dollars moving into my pocket. Well, it had nothing to do with money. It's about how the intrinsic muscles work with the extrinsic muscles and move smoothly and efficiently.
I'm pretty sure I understand the concept of intrinsic and extrinsic muscles, so that's a good thing because looking up what it is reads like assembly instructions without the pictures.
The instructor, Molly, has made these totally foreign concepts easier to understand, using examples, humor, Bob the skeleton, and the TA's(teaching assistants) to show her point. She has been so encouraging, too, telling us about how glad she is that we're so flexible and patient and polite - and the best part, that we'll do fine on the exam.
For the last half of the class, as usual, we worked with a partner to understand about "viewing" possible problem areas that we want to address as bodyworkers. At first, it was a wee bit uncomfortable (ok, a lot) with somebody looking at my body to determine where I'm out of alignment. I think as Americans, we're not used to people looking at us so intensely, since our parents taught us not to stare. So somebody looking at me took a little (a lot) getting used to.
I'm sure that after I graduate from this program, I will feel totally different about all sorts of things. It's only been a week and a half, and I feel like I've learned so much.
Anyway, after the "viewing," we worked on "re-patterning" again. This time, because we were studying the core, we got to do some really exciting exercises: leg lifts (with the abdominal muscles, not leg) and the PLANK. If you don't know what a PLANK is - lie on the floor on your stomach, do a push-up (with your butt flat - not sticking up in the air), and instead of going back down in the push-up, just hold your body and arms straight. Just keep your whole body straight, like a plank.
And hold it.
And keep holding.
Are your arms shaking yet? Are your abdominal muscles killing you yet?
Ok, good. It's working.
Keep holding.
And hold some more.
After about a half hour, you can let go.
Just kidding, we only had to hold it as long as we could. I was actually quite pleasantly surprised with how long I could hold the pose, especially with as out of shape as I am, and as much weight as I've gained in the last year.
Which brings me to my other goal during this program: not only learn about massage therapy, but also lose some weight and get into better shape. I always feel better physically and emotionally when I am in shape. Go figure.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Day 5 - Form & FUNction

Several years back, my father, my sister, and I drove to Oklahoma for my aunt's funeral. We made the 1,200 mile trip in about 28 hours. We drove straight through, after renting a car - a Nissan Maxima. Upon our arrival, we dropped Dad off at his sister's house, where he would be staying, and my sister and I checked into our hotel. After getting our bags settled in the room, I noticed my lower back was KILLING me and I could barely move. I figured that between a strain on my back several months before and the long drive and the stress of getting everything together for the last-minute trip, I had pretty well wrecked my lower back. I used a topical cream that soaks into the muscles to help ease the pain, but nothing truly soothed the pain fully except time and trying to relax as much as possible during this whirlwind of a trip.
I had a revelation about that experience in class last night, which may take some explanation to understand it.
In Day 5 of the class, we covered "Form and Function" as well as being introduced to the Shoulder Girdle. Well, in the Form and Function section, we learned that 1) all parts of the body are connected and 2) how we use our bodies in our day to day lives affects the ability to achieve the Structural Objective - which is the goal of all the bones stacked in alignment.
We discussed how carrying a heavy purse on one side constantly can make the shoulder dip to one side, carrying a small child on the hip can make the hip tilt to one side, or being constantly on a computer all day can make the shoulders rotate toward the front of the body, creating a hunched posture. And get this - driving for long periods can create hunched shoulders or lower back pain!
The lower back pain may come from a muscle called the psoas muscle, and it goes around from the derriere around the hip and connects up front, around the groin. Well, how does that affect driving? Well, it's also the muscle that makes the leg move up and down when you're in a sitting position...like when you are using your foot to press on the gas or brake pedals. *Ding!* The light went on in my head and I understood why I had all that lower back pain after that long marathon drive to Oklahoma!
Wow!
Ok...it may not be big news to you, but it helped me realize that I need to be more aware of my posture and how I function...at least a few minutes a day and maybe I can reverse some of the really bad habits I've gotten into - slouching, hunching over the computer, and how I carry my purse.
In the next part of the class, we looked at the Shoulder Girdle, what parts it's comprised of, and how to work toward the Structural Objective for it. We learned the re-patterning exercises for it, which we worked on with a partner.
I'm almost getting a work-out during the part of the class where we work on the re-patterning techniques.
You know...almost.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

What's This About? Knot Werks?

"You can't even spell, Stacy!"

If you've stumbled upon this blog, well, you might be wondering what all this is about. On April 19th, 2010, I began undertaking a year long journey of learning to become a Massage Therapist.
Huh? I still don't get it...
I am attending classes at the Baltimore School of Massage in order to change my career focus and become a Massage Therapist. This blog - Allgood Knot Werks - is about my journey through my classes. I may throw in things about my life, too, as I work a full-time job during the day, while going to classes Monday thru Thursday evenings.
I have completed my first week, so I will recap the first week's classes and hopefully, I'll be able to make daily updates about the classes.
So...here goes.

Day 1

When I arrived the first day, there were about 20 “newbies” in the room. We got all our stuff – books, bag, lotion, etc. – in one classroom. From there, they took us to another classroom, where we joined another group of about 20 or so students who had already gone through one session of five weeks. One dude, who ended up sitting next to me during this portion, was highly upset that the “newbies” invaded his class. He kept cursing under his breath about how “ridiculous this is,” – meaning that we were all there together. His concern is that he will not learn as well with all of us there together. I’m sure he will appreciate the many people once we start doing more “bodywork.” It should be interesting to watch him grow.

We jumped right into class, learning about movement of the body and how important alignment is, especially since gravity takes effect. We took a couple breaks, and after one break, we moved to yet another classroom, where we would have the ability to move around better and work with partners. We evaluated our partner’s foot alignment and helped do “reprogramming” exercises to teach the brain and muscles how to properly move and be aligned. Then the tables were turned and they did the same to us.

The instructor let us go about 10:20 after telling us how impressed she was with our excitement and progress.

Day 3

I unfortunately missed Day 2 of Massage school classes due to a fever and nausea and other "lovely" things. I was lying on the couch most of the night, asking my wonderful hubby to get me stuff.

While I was lying on the couch, as I later found out, in class they studied the Spine and learned repatterning exercises to teach the spine a more correct alignment. I got notes on Wednesday from one of my classmates.

Day 3 of class was the first session of the First Aid series, where my class was combined with another class to learn (and get certified for) CPR. With a total combined class size of 75, getting everybody to settle down proved to be a bit chaotic. Once we got into the material, we had a 50 minute lecture on how to perform CPR and more importantly, what to do in a situation where we may have to perform CPR. The most important thing is call 911.

After the 50 minute lecture, they called us by groups of 10 to take the Practical exam on the dummies. Being as how my last name is at the beginning of the alphabet, I was in the first group, and passed the exam. Yay! After the exam, we were free to go, so I left by 8:00 and I was home by 8:45. Double yay!

Day 4

Day 4 was Session 3 of "Movement," where we learned about the Pelvic Bone, or as I think it's called, the "os coxae." The instructor, Molly, taught us the re-patterning exercises of the "Pelvic Clock" and a couple others I can't remember the names off the top of my head, but know how to do them - and that's the important part. We were taught how to determine if somebody has an anterior tilt or a posterior tilt of their pelvic bone.

I asked about the difference between the oil and the lotion that we'll be using, and she explained there wasn't much difference, but that the lotion didn't leave the residue like the oil...particularly in the hair and on the face.

She also shared about real-life experiences with helping people feel better by getting back into good alignment, and it's not going to take just one session. It will take multiple sessions, close together.

We changed to a different room where there was more floor room so we could be free to move about and work with our partner for the evening on the techniques we learned. The first thing we did was to lie on the floor and notice things about how our spine touches (or doesn't) touch the floor, if our wrists touch the floor, does one side have more weight on it than the other...answering those questions and re-familiarizing ourselves with our bodies in a sense of where the alignment is (or isn't).

Next, we worked with partners, noticing each other's alignment issues and then practicing the re-patterning exercises for the pelvic bone.

At about 9:43, we were asked to help set up the room for the Clinic that's happening on Saturday and once that was done, we were free to go. I was home by 10:30. Yay!

When I signed up for massage school, I knew there was more to it than just the typical massages I've gotten while on vacation - a light, feel-good Swedish massage. I'm finding now how much this really can help people and sometimes, it may not be that "feel-good" massage. You may have real pain issues that a massage therapist will be able to help with by doing some deep-tissue massage. Do you think that all the people who are lining up for me to practice on them will want the "I'm-going-to-fix-your-alignment" massage, or do they just want the feel-good Swedish massage? I think I'll go with the latter. But if you really want to help me and let me practice on you, be ready to get the deeper tissue massage.