Day 182 - Numbers Game (27 Days Left)

My dad was a scholarly type. He enjoyed reading "It Pays to Enrich Your Word Power" in the Readers Digest. He also revealed to the family one night, "I like words."
Well, I guess I am a lot like him. I like words, and I even like random numbers sometimes.
Let me share some important numbers tonight with you.
4 - Times my stomach growled during the massage I got during the final exam
5 - Cough drops I consumed tonight during class due to dry classrooms and a stupid tickle in my throat
6 - Core classes I have completed
8 - Number of hours I spend at the J-O-B
11 - Newbies in my class
14 - Minutes it takes to get to my J-O-B
16 - More times I have to go to Linthicum and back to finish school
17 - Saturdays I went to student clinic
27 - More calendar days until I finish school
35 - Miles to the gallon the Commuter Car gets
40 - Minutes it takes to get to school
70 - the average speed I traveled to get to and from school on I-70
97 - Percent I got on the Core Hands-on Final tonight
4.0 - My GPA
$3.57 - The average price of a gallon of regular gas
12:00 am - The time I set as my goal for going to bed after class
7:00 am - The time I wake up for the J-O-B
With all that being said, Good night.

Day 180 - Makin' Lemonade (29 Days Left)

They (whoever "they" are) say that when life hands you lemons, make lemonade. Well, since I wasn't exactly thrilled with having newbies start in our class last night, I have realized that it's time to make lemonade in the figurative sense.
Since they have so much to learn, when we need to partner up with somebody, I'll more than likely pick a newbie. Call it "paying it forward."
I also have to say that DS (Drill Sergeant) wasn't as drill-sergeant-like tonight. He had a lot of material to cover and got through it. However, our breaks seemed rushed as we were getting tables dressed and getting on the tables and just a bit of chaos until things settled down. Oh well. We'll survive.
My newbie partner tonight took it all in. I could tell she was really trying to pay attention to the flow and techniques I used and then tried repeating them when it was her turn as practitioner. I think she'll be a fine massage therapist.

Day 163 - Are We There Yet? (58 Days To Go)

Over the weekend, during Student Clinic, I had the privilege of massaging a jogger, two nurses, and a cancer survivor with a great attitude and positive outlook. One of the nurses was a practicing massage therapist for awhile and then got into the nursing field.
I had something very interesting happen to me, too. While I was massaging the cancer survivor, as I do with other clients, I was praying over him while massaging him - for continued healing, strengthening his spiritual walk, and that sort of thing. After I closed and thanked him for allowing me to work with him, he thanked me for the "energy work" I did on him.
That took me back. Did he sense or feel my prayers? Did he know to whom I was praying?
One of the things that I have been somewhat concerned about during this whole program is the delving into Eastern philosophies, including medicines and religion. I can't say that I subscribe to the whole "energy" thing that some people may. However, if someone can sense that I'm praying for him or her, well, then I guess that's good because I believe that God can hear the prayers of His people - and will answer them.
Anyway, in tonight's class, to celebrate Valentines Day (NOT!), we discussed some things that we may run into either during clinic or when we have clients on our tables. Things like Somatic Emotional Release - which basically states that a client may become emotional (crying or excessive laughter) while receiving a massage as a result of a physical release from the massage. I almost experienced that myself last year about this time of year when I received the massage that inspired me to get into this whole program.
During that massage, I came very close to crying. I had experienced a rough year to year and a half, between deaths in the family and losing my long-time J-O-B, and I mark that massage as one of the the turning points in my emotional healing. Not to mention the new focus and direction for my career.
After that discussion, we took our final exam for this Core class. I went first as practitioner and earned a 94/100. Then I got to relax and let my partner do his thing and take his exam.

Day 162 - No Go (62 Days Left)

After I felt really great yesterday, I didn't feel well today, so I decided to stay home from school tonight t get some rest. Back at it on Saturday afternoon for Student Clinic.

Day 161 - That's a Wrap (63 Days Left)

Last week, when we were finishing up Spa Treatments, we got a chance to see a demo of a body wrap, but didn't get to practice it ourselves, due to the weather conditions. Tonight, during Core class, we got a quick demo and got to practice it ourselves!
I went first on the table and my therapist/classmate did an excellent job on me. The wrap itself was like being in a really warm blanket or like being a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths - very snuggly and warm.
After she unwrapped me, I think my pants were a little more loose, which "they" say is one of the effects of a wrap - instant weight loss. I highly doubt the effects last long, considering it would be mostly water weight that is lost.
When it was her turn on the table, I wrapped her up and then I worked on massaging her face, temples, head, neck, and shoulders. Unfortunately, at the most inopportune time, my throat started tickling. Just a dry tickle in the back. Enough to make me cough. And cough. And cough.
I felt like everybody was looking at me like a leper. Well, I felt like a leper, so it was stressing me out, which made me cough more.
I was able to calm down enough to finish the wrap session and after unwrapping my client/partner, I started the regular massage. And then more coughing ensued.
Ugh! How frustrating.
I know I'm better now from the crazy cold thing I had. No fever and I feel fine, except for some occasional dryness/itchiness in my throat which just happens to manifest sometimes as coughing.
At any rate, I ended the session early and my partner and I were able to help the teacher get some things put away so she wouldn't have to do it all herself.
So the moral of this story is to always make sure you have some hand sanitizer close by - just in case.

Day 160 - Cowbell Must Have Worked (64 Days Left - Sorry, Molly)

I woke up this morning feeling groggy, but made it to the J-O-B and consumed hot peppermint tea with honey and a little cinnamon sprinkled in it. Oh yeah, I did some work, too.
After a joyous day at the J-O-B (joyous meaning I didn't leave early nor fall asleep at my desk), I came home and went through my normal routine and got to school on time and all. I also did not have a fever, which meant I could receive bodywork! Yay!
All-in-all, class went well. Still, a good number of classmates didn't make it in again due to sickness.

Just another 64 days...

But tomorrow is another day.

Day 159 - Maybe Cowbell Will Help (65 Days Left)

I apparently got punished for skipping skool on Friday night by waking up Saturday morning with a dry throat - the beginnings of a scratchy throat, which is the beginnings of a sore throat, and that could lead to a full blown cold, bronchitis, or other nasty things I don't even want to think about.
I ended up going to clinic and doing my shift. I had one client, one student exchange, and then a repeat client: WGH. I got through the shift on cough drops and water. Afterward, WGH and I just "happened" to go by Sonic and have some tator tots and a vanilla malt...oh and a sammich, too. But nothing else on the menu matters to me besides the tator tots and vanilla malt.
Anyway, after the feast on Sonic while sitting in the commuter car, I fell asleep on the way home. Upon arrival at home, I took a peppermint and euchalyptus bath. And then fell asleep.
On Sunday, WGH went to the store and got me a neti-pot, which I found weird, but have gotten used to it and now want to use it about every hour. However, I think that may be overkill. I got done the things I needed to do and rested when I needed to as well.
However, Monday came on like a slap in the face. I wasn't all that congested when I woke up so I thought I was getting better. However, after being at the J-O-B, I was feeling rather miserable and after torturing myself for over six hours at the J-O-B, I finally went home, crawled into bed, and slept for two hours.
When I woke up, I checked my temperature and it said 99.0 degrees, so I knew that when I went to school, I wouldn't be able to receive any bodywork with any kind of fever, but knew that I needed to get to school just because of the hours policy. Plus, it was the first night of this class and I like to see who the teacher is and get a feel for how the class is going to go.
Apparently, though, I wasn't the only one in my class not feeling well. Several - and I mean several - stayed home because they were sick. Oddly enough, all the symptoms seem to be earily similar. Maybe we all got the same bug? Who knows? At any rate, I went like a masochistic pony in a glue factory.
When I arrived at class, I saw that the teacher was someone whom I've known as a TA for all this time. She hasn't been one of my class' regular TA's, but one I've seen around a lot. She seemed rather aloof when I've seen her around, but after tonight's class, I think I've figured out that she's just shy.
We did our introductions and then an exercise in draping, opening, and closings, and then began bodywork. I worked on my partner, and then since I couldn't get any work done, I signed myself out and came home.
Now that I'm home, I'm wondering if I need more cowbell or more neti-pot to help with this fever.

Day 142 - Rockin a 95 off 295

In case I hadn't mentioned it before, BSOM is located off I-295 in Linthicum, just an exit or two away from BWI Aeroport. WGH has gotten to know the area better than I since he drops me off at class sometimes and goes and does - uh - something. I'm not really sure what that is, but I know he has visited the aeroport and Guitar Center.
Anyway, this evening, we took our Core final exams, which was hands-on. When all was said and done, I ended up getting a 95%! Yay!
The 4.0 GPA continues.

Day 140 - Sympathetic Redneck

As I was growing up, I learned some important "improvisational engineering" skills from my dad*. When we would be out on the river on his boat, and it may do something like - well - stop, he would figure out the problem and be able to fix it with a beer can (of which there were ample supply) and rope or duct tape.
I have fixed our toilet in much the same way a couple years ago. When the little floaty thing didn't want to float that well making it keep running water, I affixed a small empty plastic bottle with twisty ties for added buoyancy. Viola! It floats and turns off the water when it's supposed to!
Last night, I took CC (the Commuter Car) through the car wash. Afterward, I noticed the radio didn't work so well on the way home from school and discovered that the antenna had been damaged in the car wash. WGH noticed it as well this morning so when he got home from work, he took a page out of my dad's book by breaking off the antenna and then "replacing it" with a wire hanger, duct taping it in there for good measure, of course.
We're rollin' real redneck now, boy, I tell ya.
So much for life OOS (Outside Of School). Back to class.
Tonight, we had more Core class and more bodywork! One of the things that we have learned in our studies is that there are basically two states of the Nervous System: Sympathetic and Parasympathetic. Sympathetic is the "fight or flight" state while the parasympathetic is the "rest and digest" state.
As Massage Therapists, we generally want our clients to be in a parasympathetic state so they can get the most benefit out of what we're doing.
Over the years when I've gotten professional massages, I noticed that I wouldn't fall asleep, but go into "the zone" - my best word to describe what happened to me. I now realize that I went into a parasympathetic state.
While getting bodywork during these Core classes, there have been times when I've gone into "the zone." Between last night and tonight, I was there.
So, much like last night...ahhhh.
Good night.
*More stories about my dad can be found by clicking here to read my eBook about him.

Day 139 - To The Core

On our first day back to school, we began another Core class - back to the basics, shall we say.
For the beginning of the class, our instructor, a self-proclaimed Anatomy Geek, had scrounged up an anatomy video that showed the bones and muscles of the upper back and chest. It even showed real cadavers in the video, that basically had the skin and adipose tissue peeled off to see all the muscles and how they relate to the bones.
Quite elightening.
After that, we got to give and receive bodywork! It's always good practice to work on classmates who can offer suggestions for improvement.
All I have to say is..."ahhhhh..."
Good night.

Day 103 Core Being

On Day 103, we took our final exam for this week's Core class. It was pretty much simple and straight-forward: come in, get the table set up, get on the table, get massaged for 50 minutes, get off the table, clean the table up, reset the table, have my partner get on the table, do a massage for 50 minutes and the instructor comes around and asks to see a couple strokes. Pretty simple.
Enough to earn me 99 points out of 100 for the exam! Yay!
I do have to say that my partner was not having a very good day, but I am so impressed with her that she was able to lay all of that aside and give me a great massage! She was truly "in the moment" which is what "beingness" is all about.
After the exam was over, we were free to go, and it was a bit earlier than usual, so that was quite exciting. A classmate and I ended up crashing at another classmate's house and we enjoyed the rest of the evening hanging out.
This morning, we got up and went to our Student Clinic orientation so we know what's expected of us for this portion of our education. It's going to be a gruelling six months. So the question is, should I count clinic in my "day count"? If so, we're talking Day 104.
In other news, since WGH and I end up driving about 200 miles between work and school each day, we purchased a "commuter car" that will be less of a hit to our pockets for gas. He took off yesterday to get it legal to drive with registering and such, so I got the chance to drive it to school last night and then home again this afternoon. It's a 1995 Geo Prizm, a smaller car than what I'm used to, and it actually does pretty well. What was really fun was filling the gas tank and it only took $25.00. I've driven 100 miles on it since filling it up and it was on about 3/4 tank. So, I think this is going to be a great thing for us in saving a little bit of dough, between gas and maintenance costs on the two other (bigger) cars.

Day 102 - Musical Tables

We had an interesting alternative to our regular bodywork tonight. Usually, we partner up with one person (sometimes scheduling a day or so ahead of time with the partner you may want to work with) and exchange bodywork. After I had set up with my partner for this evening, the instructor threw a curve ball at us: half of us would be on the table (face down) and the other half would choose one of the classmates to work on, work for 10 minutes, then switch, work for 10 minutes, then switch, and work for 10 minutes. The person on the table, who may not even know who's working on them, can give feedback on their experiences with each practitioner.
Despite the grumbling over the curve ball, it seemed that the class enjoyed the experience, from both sides of the table.
I guess it goes to show that it's ok to shake things up once and awhile.
Final exam for Core tomorrow night. Then clinic orientation at 9:00 am Saturday. I'm crashing at a classmate's house tomorrow night after the final, since driving 41 miles back home after the final and 41 miles back eight hours later does not sound appealing.

Day 101 - Core 101

In this evening's class, we had a three minute lecture, then had a 50 minute demo from both the instructor and the TA, each working on one of our classmates. I think most of us were wishing we were the ones on the tables. After the demo, we set up and we did our own bodywork, about 40 minutes worth for each partner. Ahhhhhh....got to be first on the table, which really set me up to get ready to give a massage. It's amazing after five weeks of not giving many massages, how out of practice I felt. Well, that's all going to change in the next week. Core class, then clinic.

Day 100 - Back to Basics

Every couple of sessions, like this new one, we take a four day "Core" class, which is basic Swedish massage, including the proper draping, strokes, and other, well, basic stuff.
Our class had not seen each other since Thursday night's final exam, and today was Tuesday, by the time we got to class tonight, it was like a family reunion, with everybody just chattering away.
Because it was the first night, we ended up only doing about 30 minutes of actual body work with our partners, and then switching.
Over the weekend, one of my girlfriends and I went to New York City on a "Girls Whirlwind Birthday Tour" where we left early Sunday morning, had brunch, went to a show, a jazz club, dinner, stayed in a fancy schmancy hotel, got up and did some more touring, and then took a bus arriving back in the DC area around 8:00 pm Monday night, which was last night. If you think that was a long sentence, then you get the picture of what a whirlwind tour we had! We walked. A lot! I mean, we walked from the bus to the subway. We walked to the activities. We walked all over the street festival around Times Square. Get the picture? We walked.
Remember that because I've been in school and working at a full-time J-O-B, I haven't really had time to concentrate on exercise, unfortunately. So all this walking...whew! If I sat down too long, my legs would get stiff, so I really have had to work the juice back into my joints and muscles.
With all that walking and stiffness in my legs, tonight's teaser 20-30 minute massage was just that: a tease. I look forward to tomorrow night's class and hopefully having more time for being on the table!

Day 64 - Getting Tested

We had our "final" night of Core this evening, including a hands-on final exam. We've been through this before, but apparently, the grading gets tougher in Core classes the more we take.
To simulate a "real world" situation, we put our name tags in a basket and somebody withdrew two names of who would be partners for the exam. It's supposed to be totally random and hopefully, somebody we've never worked with prior to tonight.
My thought was that it would be best to work with somebody I'm comfortable with, so I had lined up my partner on Monday night. Well, that was shot down, so I worked with a lovely woman with whom I had never worked (randomness worked) and it went very well. So, ok. I'll admit it. It's a good idea to switch up partners as much as possible to get used to working with all kinds of different bodies.
During the exam, I used one of the techniques that the instructor showed me last night, and when doing so, with all the lotion on my hands, my hands in contact with my partner's skin made a fart noise - like a 4th grader making fart noises with his hand under his arm. The first time it happened, I just went about doing what I was doing, but the second time, my partner giggled, and then a neighbor working at the next table over giggled, and then I pretty much lost it, giggling, and had to work really hard to get back to "beingness" to continue working on my partner.
I guess it wasn't too bad, but I think I lost three points on my final for it, getting a score of 97%.

Day 63 - But Who's Counting?

Apparently, I had two Day 61's. I just skipped Day 62. It's now Day 63. But who's counting?
Anyway...had class tonight. We had a special treat since our teacher for Professional Development filled in for our teacher(s) this evening. She had some interesting advice on how to best preserve our bodies and the way we use our body mechanics.
Instead of doing an "Everybody watch this" Demo, she had us start on the body work and then she came around and gave us pointers and demos at our tables. The best part was being her "guinea pig" for the demo. She worked on my right foot and boy, did it tingle when she was done! She even asked what was wrong with my ankle. I told her that I'd sprained it about 50 billion times and she worked a couple areas on it. I don't know if it helped yet or not. I didn't know there was a problem with it. Sure did feel good though.
That's where I want to be: being able to tell something's wrong with a body part even before the client tells me, because I can FEEL it.
I got some more practice to do.

Day 61 - Practice, Practice, Practice

When I was a kid and taking piano lessons, my mom made me practice. In the most nasally tone she could use, her words were, "Practice, practice, practice!"
Being in school, especially this week, makes me do the same thing. You really just have to practice as much as you can to get to be the best you can be.
I wish I had really understood that as a kid in piano lessons...that and stepping away from the music on the sheet and playing a lot more by ear and feel.
We reviewed foundations of massage - compassion, honesty, and integrity. And more importantly, we got to practice more bodywork - and for a little bit longer - 45 minute sessions! We even got to try out using hot stones. You know what? I need some practice with those!

Day 61 - Can I Get An Amen!?!

After being in massage school for the last five weeks and not getting a massage, tonight's "teaser" was enough to make me really look forward to tomorrow night's class.
Certainly, over the weekend was quite wonderful, as well. I had no quizzes, homework, nor any exams for which to study. Nothing to do but enjoy life and maybe practice a little, too.
In our four evening long "Core" class, we have a tag team of instructors, one of whom had already taught us in our first class of Anatomy, and we had an instructor who was new to us. They seem to do well together and I feel that they will do their best with us this week. Next week, we'll have another new class that will last four weeks, or something like that, of "Massage Variations." Either way, every night for the next five weeks: bodywork!
We had enough lecture and demostration tonight so that we only had about 30 minutes on the table, but we made those 30 minutes count. Tomorrow night, hopefully, we will get more time on the table.

Day 21 - New Class, New Teacher

Tonight, we started the next class - Core. It's basically like Swedish, but not exactly - the really nice stuff that everybody likes.

One of our new instructors for this section is Anthony, whom I'd actually met at the career fair at the booth he had set up for his business. He's definitely going to be a stickler for professionalism in class, which is a really good thing. It's good to learn these things now and not have to learn them the hard way, like when we're working. Professionalism includes the student dress code, attendance, hygeine, no electronics usage and that sort of thing. I've strived to be as professional as I can as a student, but I know sometimes I slip up, so it'll be good to keep it in the forefront of my mind. I definitely look forward to learning more from him. I just hope our class doesn't make him lose his head.
Also during the lecture, we learned more about Body Mechanics (taking care of our own bodies while working on somebody else) and about effleurage, which sounds like a bouquet of french flowers to me, but is actually a way of doing certain strokes during a Core-type (Swedish) massage. Since this was the first night of the class, I didn't think we'd be doing bodywork, but brought my supplies with me, just in case. Good thing. We did bodywork. And it was wonderful! We worked on the upper posterior body, which is the back in layman's terms.
Our final is on Thursday, and it's all practical and no written. Unfortunately, I won't have time, really, to practice on anybody outside of class before the final. Bummer.
Oh - and the other good news - my table is in and I'll pick it up tomorrow night!

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.