As I write this, I am rolling my eyes at the irony of my title, considering I'm writing as rain is beating down on central NJ, threatening to drown anything and anyone outside the shelter of their home. I got a nice shower running from the garage to the house.
Anyway, the real reason for the blog. An update on my life. Things have gotten veeeeery complicated as of late. Perhaps in a good way. Perhaps in a bad. I'll find out in a month.
More about that later. If you didn't know, I had my first tests last week. They were back to back (Wednesday and Thursday morning). I think everyone in class was freaking out. Most of us hadn't taken a test in more than a few years; for some it was a few decades. But in the end, the worry was for naught. A 100% and a 92% kept me happy and on the path of sticking with MT. :) I can't say the same for everyone in the class though. I think in the next few weeks, we may lose some people... I'll be sure to update. And these tests were just the first level of information that we need to know, so from now on it's gonna get harder. Can't wait.
I have another exam on Monday for my hands-on class. More like an evaluation though, but it is still worth 20% (!!!!) of our grade. We are being graded on our body technique and the movement of the massage, not necessarily if we do all of the steps. We have now learned the Swedish massage for the front of the body and we will have to massage it all in 45 minutes. No more, no less. Yeah, that's not as easy as you think. Each body part only gets about 4 minutes of work. 4 minutes is not a lot of time when you have about 8 things to do to that body part. Needless to say, I am freaking out a little bit. On Thursday, I tried to test myself to get ready. I got it done in 56 minutes. And my client/partner had one comment: "Slow down, you felt rushed." Aaarrrrrrrgggggg. I'm just going to have to keep 1 eye on the clock and 1 eye straight ahead (we aren't supposed to be looking down at our hands) :)
Outside of MT, my life has gotten a bit busy. I spent the weekend doing scene painting for a theatre in central NJ. 3 days, 25 hours of work. Yay for money! (No matter how many times my husband says that it's okay, I still feel a bit bad for going back to school and not working. So weekend work is how I make myself feel better). I think that will be all the painting I do for a while, at least until the show loads in.
But the big news that I've been freaking out about on Facebook is that I was asked to prop master an exhibit in NYC. More specifically, I am recreating Leonardo Da Vinci's studio/workshop for the Time Square Exhibition. This is the part where I grab my face a'la Home Alone. This all happened in the past few days, by the way. Don't you love how just when you think you have your life under control, a pie comes out of nowhere and smacks you right in the kisser? And that pie's name is Opportunity.
The upsides: This is a very popular place (it's where the Titanic Artifacts Exhibit are right now). I am working with a different designer, one who works in NYC vs. working with the usual designers in NJ. So that's a great contact. I also get to show off my mad skills to the production manager, who I interviewed with for a position at his theatre this past summer, but didn't get it. The exhibit is for 6 months, so my work will be up for a loooong time. Yay. Oh yeah, and it's paid.
The downsides: I have 2.5 weeks to essentially dress a full set. While going to school full time. And this is Italian Renaissance. Some major furniture is needed and I am just short of enough money to be able to buy all the furniture. So I'm gonna have to work some magic with rentals. While the prop list isn't terribly long or difficult, I am working on a whole different level than I'm used to. I'm used to a theatre mentality: The audience is 20 feet away, so everything doesn't have to absolutely perfect. For the exhibit... people are walking THRU it. They are practically sitting in the seats. It. Must. Be. Perfect. The designer said it pretty well, "If someone who knows their stuff comes thru this exhibit, we need to have gotten it right." So yeah... no pressure!
So right now... I want my pie. I'm gonna have my pie. I'm terrified that the pie will end up looking like a 5th grader made it and I'll never work in this town again. Oh yeah, and that I'll have lost my sanity by the time I'm done.
Shakespeare may have said that "an overflow of good converts to bad." I'll have to see if I can prove him wrong.
Hopefully, this won't be the last blog for the next 3 weeks. But if it is, please know I'm working hard somewhere (or I'm in a padded room mumbling about pie).
Cheers all! And stay limber.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Face Full of Feet and Fun Facts (Part Deux)
As I promised, I have a few more fun facts I learned over this past week.
~ The femur is the heaviest, longest, and strongest bone in the human body.
~ The ilium, pubis, and ischium (which make up the pelvis girdle) are 3 bones that fuse together (but are still able to expand during childbirth). The only other bone in the human body that fused together is the cranium (skull).
~There are 26 bones in each foot.
~The fibula only bears 10% of the body's weight while the tibia bears the rest.
~The fibula is the thinnest bone in the body in proportion to it's length.
Terribly interesting, I know. But it's something to throw out there at a dinner party, sound like you know what you are talking about.
I've had a couple interesting experiences concerning my feet this week. Normally, I do not have a problem with personal space. I love hugging hello and goodbye. I'm never awkward standing really close to someone else's face (you always see actors in blooper reels who have gotten too close start to go in for the kiss). What I'm trying to say is I like being close to people and I don't have a problem with someone else touching me (that sounded really bad :) ) Well, I now have a problem with people touching me. Specifically, my feet.
Granted, I have always had a slight problem with people touching my feet. I'm ticklish enough that if you chose to come in contact with my little piggies in anyway, you will most likely get a face full of foot. But now I have a whole new level of fear. Is there a phobia for fear of someone touching your feet? I should find out. Anyway, I discovered this during class last Thursday. We were discussing the bones of the feet (tarsals, metatarsals and phalanges). The instructer said you can feel most of your tarsals (ankle) and metatarsals (foot bones) easily. So I proceeded to take my foot out of my shoe and start prodding and poking my foot. This was all well and good (yes, I could feel the bones!) until IT happened.
I couldn't stop it. It all happened too fast. I felt so dirty after.
Okay, maybe not that dramatic. But it was still something something. As I sat there, feeling my foot, my table-mate (the woman sitting next to me) shot her hand out and gave my foot a good squeeze. Right on the ankle. Without asking.
You would think someone had shot me from how loudly I squeaked/squawked/screamed/laughed. You would also think someone had shot my teacher from how high she jumped. And with good reason.
My other foot experience was not nearly as traumatizing, but still note-worthy. Today we learned how to Swedish Massage the leg and foot. Needless to say, I was quite worried about having my feet touched, let alone rubbed. The entire class had heard my screams of laughter during the dreaded upper arm massage (and the foot grab), so everyone knew I was... well, touchy. And to make matters all that much better, our class is odd, so we were the "three-some" for the day. Therefore, while I was on the table, TWO people would be working on me (1 per foot!!!!!!) Yes, I know... GET TO THE STORY! So as my feet were getting worked, it happened. BTW, we discovered that as long as you push REALLY deeply, it doesn't tickle. Here's a corny '90s shout-out: THANKS MELANIE! Yay. Yes. So. It happened. My partner was thumb stripping my arch when it cramped. Ouch.
If anyone has ever had a charlie horse or a foot cramp, you know what I'm talking about. For those who have not, you lucky bastards. Essentially, every muscle in the area tightens to the point of major pain, your foot curls into itself (toes and all) and no matter how much you try, you cannot get it to relax. All you want to do is beat it with your fists to make it stop.
So I did the first thing I could: I pulled my foot away the student. I kinda forgot that when you lift your leg while laying on the massage table, you really expose your butt. The young lady was kind enough to quickly pull the sheet over me. Here's another corny '90s shout-out: THANKS CINDY! A major plus was between my thrashing (while muttering of "ow, ow, ow, ow") and the student suddenly grabbing the sheet, the professor came over quickly to see what happened. She grabbed my foot, put it onto the table and compressed it HARD. The cramp went away after maybe 10 seconds of her holding it, which was... well... awesome. Cause I was about to sit straight up to grab the damned foot myself, which would have given the class a great view of my ladies. While I wouldn't have had a problem with that (being a nude model kinda gets you used to being undressed in front of strangers), I'm fairly certain they would not have appreciated it.
And my final corny '90s shout out...: THANKS KRISTEN! Okay, never again with the shout outs... a simple thank you will do.
That's all for now. I have my first two exams this week (Wednesday and Thursday), so I'll let you know how it goes! And tomorrow we attack the abs... yay for flabby midsection of me!!! Cheers. And stay limber, people!
~ The femur is the heaviest, longest, and strongest bone in the human body.
~ The ilium, pubis, and ischium (which make up the pelvis girdle) are 3 bones that fuse together (but are still able to expand during childbirth). The only other bone in the human body that fused together is the cranium (skull).
~There are 26 bones in each foot.
~The fibula only bears 10% of the body's weight while the tibia bears the rest.
~The fibula is the thinnest bone in the body in proportion to it's length.
Terribly interesting, I know. But it's something to throw out there at a dinner party, sound like you know what you are talking about.
I've had a couple interesting experiences concerning my feet this week. Normally, I do not have a problem with personal space. I love hugging hello and goodbye. I'm never awkward standing really close to someone else's face (you always see actors in blooper reels who have gotten too close start to go in for the kiss). What I'm trying to say is I like being close to people and I don't have a problem with someone else touching me (that sounded really bad :) ) Well, I now have a problem with people touching me. Specifically, my feet.
Granted, I have always had a slight problem with people touching my feet. I'm ticklish enough that if you chose to come in contact with my little piggies in anyway, you will most likely get a face full of foot. But now I have a whole new level of fear. Is there a phobia for fear of someone touching your feet? I should find out. Anyway, I discovered this during class last Thursday. We were discussing the bones of the feet (tarsals, metatarsals and phalanges). The instructer said you can feel most of your tarsals (ankle) and metatarsals (foot bones) easily. So I proceeded to take my foot out of my shoe and start prodding and poking my foot. This was all well and good (yes, I could feel the bones!) until IT happened.
I couldn't stop it. It all happened too fast. I felt so dirty after.
Okay, maybe not that dramatic. But it was still something something. As I sat there, feeling my foot, my table-mate (the woman sitting next to me) shot her hand out and gave my foot a good squeeze. Right on the ankle. Without asking.
You would think someone had shot me from how loudly I squeaked/squawked/screamed/laughed. You would also think someone had shot my teacher from how high she jumped. And with good reason.
My other foot experience was not nearly as traumatizing, but still note-worthy. Today we learned how to Swedish Massage the leg and foot. Needless to say, I was quite worried about having my feet touched, let alone rubbed. The entire class had heard my screams of laughter during the dreaded upper arm massage (and the foot grab), so everyone knew I was... well, touchy. And to make matters all that much better, our class is odd, so we were the "three-some" for the day. Therefore, while I was on the table, TWO people would be working on me (1 per foot!!!!!!) Yes, I know... GET TO THE STORY! So as my feet were getting worked, it happened. BTW, we discovered that as long as you push REALLY deeply, it doesn't tickle. Here's a corny '90s shout-out: THANKS MELANIE! Yay. Yes. So. It happened. My partner was thumb stripping my arch when it cramped. Ouch.
If anyone has ever had a charlie horse or a foot cramp, you know what I'm talking about. For those who have not, you lucky bastards. Essentially, every muscle in the area tightens to the point of major pain, your foot curls into itself (toes and all) and no matter how much you try, you cannot get it to relax. All you want to do is beat it with your fists to make it stop.
So I did the first thing I could: I pulled my foot away the student. I kinda forgot that when you lift your leg while laying on the massage table, you really expose your butt. The young lady was kind enough to quickly pull the sheet over me. Here's another corny '90s shout-out: THANKS CINDY! A major plus was between my thrashing (while muttering of "ow, ow, ow, ow") and the student suddenly grabbing the sheet, the professor came over quickly to see what happened. She grabbed my foot, put it onto the table and compressed it HARD. The cramp went away after maybe 10 seconds of her holding it, which was... well... awesome. Cause I was about to sit straight up to grab the damned foot myself, which would have given the class a great view of my ladies. While I wouldn't have had a problem with that (being a nude model kinda gets you used to being undressed in front of strangers), I'm fairly certain they would not have appreciated it.
That's all for now. I have my first two exams this week (Wednesday and Thursday), so I'll let you know how it goes! And tomorrow we attack the abs... yay for flabby midsection of me!!! Cheers. And stay limber, people!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
To Make an Omlette, You Gotta Crack a Few Necks
Due to the late hour, I'm going to keep this post short.
As for a bodily update, I am now able to do a Swedish Massage to the Head, Face, Neck, Arms, and Hands. Half the body down, half to go! Next week we hit legs and feet.
It's been pretty awesome, with a few moments here and there I would prefer to forget. One of those was working on the neck of my partner and as I did a move called "the wave" (curling your fingers under the neck, hooking the fingertips into the base of skull and pull), something popped in her neck. While she said it felt great, all I felt was my stomach roll. There is something surprisingly off-putting about cracking someone's neck when you are trying your damnedest to just give a good massage and be extra careful. (Can you imagine getting kicked out of massage therapy school for paralyzing a fellow student? Eek!)
Another moment was discovering yesterday that being ticklish doesn't go away when getting massaged. My biceps (at least the part where the bicep becomes the armpit) are hereby a no-touch zone, a fact the entire class learned when my shrieks almost shattered the windows.
Also, my 1st exam is next week. Along with my 2nd exam. Anatomy, Physiology, and Pathology are on the menu and I am seriously surprised by how easy it is to fall back into the pattern of studying. I could say it's all because of the way I learned to study in high school. If The Peddie School (it will always have the "The" to me, don't tell me it is just called Peddie School now!!!) taught me anything, it definitely helped me learn how to study well and how to prioritize. I realize part of that is because I am young (in comparison to some of the 45 year-old house wives in my class) and my brain is still able to absorb information. And part of it is because the stuff we are learning is only the 1st layer of what we will eventually need to know. I don't need to know the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th layers to understand the 1st yet. Example: We have to know that the Nervous System is a bodily system. We do not need to know the parts of a nerve and how it works... yet. Knowing that I will learn it in the future is enough for me.
And that's enough of me tonight. Sleep well and stay limber!
As for a bodily update, I am now able to do a Swedish Massage to the Head, Face, Neck, Arms, and Hands. Half the body down, half to go! Next week we hit legs and feet.
It's been pretty awesome, with a few moments here and there I would prefer to forget. One of those was working on the neck of my partner and as I did a move called "the wave" (curling your fingers under the neck, hooking the fingertips into the base of skull and pull), something popped in her neck. While she said it felt great, all I felt was my stomach roll. There is something surprisingly off-putting about cracking someone's neck when you are trying your damnedest to just give a good massage and be extra careful. (Can you imagine getting kicked out of massage therapy school for paralyzing a fellow student? Eek!)
Another moment was discovering yesterday that being ticklish doesn't go away when getting massaged. My biceps (at least the part where the bicep becomes the armpit) are hereby a no-touch zone, a fact the entire class learned when my shrieks almost shattered the windows.
Also, my 1st exam is next week. Along with my 2nd exam. Anatomy, Physiology, and Pathology are on the menu and I am seriously surprised by how easy it is to fall back into the pattern of studying. I could say it's all because of the way I learned to study in high school. If The Peddie School (it will always have the "The" to me, don't tell me it is just called Peddie School now!!!) taught me anything, it definitely helped me learn how to study well and how to prioritize. I realize part of that is because I am young (in comparison to some of the 45 year-old house wives in my class) and my brain is still able to absorb information. And part of it is because the stuff we are learning is only the 1st layer of what we will eventually need to know. I don't need to know the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th layers to understand the 1st yet. Example: We have to know that the Nervous System is a bodily system. We do not need to know the parts of a nerve and how it works... yet. Knowing that I will learn it in the future is enough for me.
And that's enough of me tonight. Sleep well and stay limber!
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Fun Facts and Casualties of War
Anyone who knows me personally (and I'm betting most of you reading this fall into that catagory) knows that I love knowing obscure facts. Most of them are usually pertaining to films and tv shows, but I still love me some weird facts.
And in honor of weird facts everywhere, I am posting some of the weird facts about the human body that I learned this past week. Hopefully there will be many more to come.
~ The three most common types of cancer are colon, testicular, and breast. These three parts of the body are also the three which get the least amount of movement in the whole body. Your lungs, stomach, and various other body parts are almost always moving.
~ In order to keep a healthy and well moved colon, one should poop 12 inches of poop every day (!!!!)
~ In order to keep healthy and well moved testes, a male should ejaculate 5 times a week. That's your que, guys! You can always claim you're preventing cancer. Unfortunately, I don't know if that applies to women as well. :)
~ Riddle me this. Despite those facts above, massage therapists are still told by doctors and scientists to not massage clients with cancer. They do, however, tell cancer paitents to get as much exercise and movement in as they can. So if movement can only help, and a massage is nothing more than moving various body parts, then why is are massages forbidden?
~ Currently, 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage. Massage therapists are forbidden to massage women who are still in their 1st trimester. There is no proof that massage causes miscarriages in any way. It is simply for safety sake. If getting a massage was the one thing you changed this week and then miscarried, most likely you would blame the massage and not allowing massages are in order to prevent such occurrences. If you are craving a massage, then you can 1. not disclose it or 2. wait until you hit 2nd trimester.
~ When you break your wrist, you aren't actually breaking your wrist bones. You are more likely cracking the tip of your radius or ulna (your arm bones) or the base of one of your carpals (hand bones).
~ Your funny bone doesn't exist. It is the point where your humorus meets with your radius (they sort of hook into each other) and there are several nerves in between the bones. When you hit your "funny bone" you are jamming your two bones together onto the nerves.
~ Your clavical is the first bone to start ossifying (hardening) in the fetus. It is also the last to complete the process, most often in the teens or early twenties.
Those are all the facts I got for now. Hopefully every week I'll be able to throw a few more out there that you can impress your friends and family with. Before I go, I would like a moment of silence for the first casualty on my journey thru massage therapy school.
Two weeks ago, my hands looked like this:
Now they look like this:
Okay, maybe not that bad, but my poor babies are gone. I have been very proud, bordering on sinful, of my nails. And now that I'm using my hands the way that I am, I had to cut them down to the body of the nail (the non-white part). It's going to be a personal challenge to make sure I keep them this short and still look at them in the same way. I know what you're thinking... "they are just nails." I know they are, but when you think that you have one pretty part of your body that you are truly and 100% proud of and then you have to destroy it in order to pursue a career, it's a bit painful to the soul.
My new personal mantra: "I love my nails the way they are, I love my nails the way they are, I love my nails the way they are."
And in honor of weird facts everywhere, I am posting some of the weird facts about the human body that I learned this past week. Hopefully there will be many more to come.
~ The three most common types of cancer are colon, testicular, and breast. These three parts of the body are also the three which get the least amount of movement in the whole body. Your lungs, stomach, and various other body parts are almost always moving.
~ In order to keep a healthy and well moved colon, one should poop 12 inches of poop every day (!!!!)
~ In order to keep healthy and well moved testes, a male should ejaculate 5 times a week. That's your que, guys! You can always claim you're preventing cancer. Unfortunately, I don't know if that applies to women as well. :)
~ Riddle me this. Despite those facts above, massage therapists are still told by doctors and scientists to not massage clients with cancer. They do, however, tell cancer paitents to get as much exercise and movement in as they can. So if movement can only help, and a massage is nothing more than moving various body parts, then why is are massages forbidden?
~ Currently, 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage. Massage therapists are forbidden to massage women who are still in their 1st trimester. There is no proof that massage causes miscarriages in any way. It is simply for safety sake. If getting a massage was the one thing you changed this week and then miscarried, most likely you would blame the massage and not allowing massages are in order to prevent such occurrences. If you are craving a massage, then you can 1. not disclose it or 2. wait until you hit 2nd trimester.
~ When you break your wrist, you aren't actually breaking your wrist bones. You are more likely cracking the tip of your radius or ulna (your arm bones) or the base of one of your carpals (hand bones).
~ Your funny bone doesn't exist. It is the point where your humorus meets with your radius (they sort of hook into each other) and there are several nerves in between the bones. When you hit your "funny bone" you are jamming your two bones together onto the nerves.
~ Your clavical is the first bone to start ossifying (hardening) in the fetus. It is also the last to complete the process, most often in the teens or early twenties.
Those are all the facts I got for now. Hopefully every week I'll be able to throw a few more out there that you can impress your friends and family with. Before I go, I would like a moment of silence for the first casualty on my journey thru massage therapy school.
Two weeks ago, my hands looked like this:
Now they look like this:
Okay, maybe not that bad, but my poor babies are gone. I have been very proud, bordering on sinful, of my nails. And now that I'm using my hands the way that I am, I had to cut them down to the body of the nail (the non-white part). It's going to be a personal challenge to make sure I keep them this short and still look at them in the same way. I know what you're thinking... "they are just nails." I know they are, but when you think that you have one pretty part of your body that you are truly and 100% proud of and then you have to destroy it in order to pursue a career, it's a bit painful to the soul.
My new personal mantra: "I love my nails the way they are, I love my nails the way they are, I love my nails the way they are."
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Hair Pulling... in a Nice Way
Before I start today's experience, I wanted to explain a typical day at Massage Therapy School. We spend 2 hours in lecture in the morning. This is either an Anatomy, Pathology or Physiology lecture, although more often than not, they all overlap with their information. After lunch, we spend 3 to 4 hours with the massage, either learning new strokes/techniques or practicing ones we learned previously. So yeah, that's my day in a nutshell for the next 6 months.
So today as the wind almost blew the building away, us students finally got our hands working. It's only the 3rd day and we already get to get someone under the sheets and took all their worries away! Okay, maybe not that much. The one under the sheet was our student partner, they were still clothed (we undress next week :) ) and we only massaged the scalp and face. But it still felt amazing.
If you ever get a scalp massage, make sure to ask for the "hair tug". Essentially, it is hair pulling without the pain. The therapist (BTW, I will never refer to a massage therapist as a masseuse... it is derogation and not appreciated in the community) grips the hair as close to the scalp as possible and then gently pulls. Training allows them to know just when to stop. It doesn't serve much purpose other than to feel good. However, that is pretty much the only technique that does not help the circulation of blood on the scalp/face.
There is another technique we learned to day which clears the sinuses. If you feel just below the eyebrow in the eye socket almost next to your nose, you can feel a small divot (almost like a crack) in the bone. That is your sinus. Gently pushing on them for about 5 seconds will clear them right out. The therapist does have to be careful not to push too hard or it will cause a headache. BE AWARE! This technique is usually performed by a massage therapist with a client. Please do not take this suggested technique as medical advice. Sorry, but I just gotta cover my butt.
If you would like to try it yourself, I would suggest this site. How to Give Yourself a Face and Scalp Massage
A major part of what we learned today during our hands-on session was it is very hard to receive a good massage unless you have open communication with your therapist. You must say "I love having my face worked a bit longer than typical" so they know to spend 15 minutes on it instead of the usual 5 minutes. You must say "please press deeper" so that you don't get up off the table and think to yourself "I don't feel as relaxed as I could be" because your tissues needed a deeper massage. And most importantly, say something if it hurts in a bad way! A good hurt is good for a reason. A bad hurt should never happen because the massage therapist is trained to know what will cause a bad hurt, like nerves and pressure points.
I think that's enough for now... please comment and let me know how I can improve my posts! Also, anything that you may want to know about I can try to post about in the future. Cheers and stay limber!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
All Walks of Life
Today was the first day of class. Pretty much all that we did was find out there are 30 people in our class (HUGE!!) and looked at our first semester workload. While the immense amount of work made my eyes practically pop out of my head, what really struck me today were the people who were to become our new "dysfunctional family".
I gotta say, the incredible diversity of the people in the class just boggles my mind. There are the stories that you expect to hear. There is a woman who has worked at a pizzeria owned by her father. Two women used to teach Kindergarten. There is a bartender looking for another part-time job. A man used to be an engineer before getting a severance package and now needs something to fill the hours. Many women have children who have just now left the house and they need a trade.
And then there were the stories that touched me. One man is from Peru and has been in the USA 8 years and still has great difficulty speaking English. In his town/tribe (I couldn't catch which type of community he was from) he was the Healer and wanted to learn the USA's version of healing (without going thru years of medical school). A young woman had no previous interest in massage therapy found when she woke one morning, the muscles in half her face would not move. The doctors could not explain it and the only treatment she received which worked was multiple sessions of facial massage. From that, she wants to learn the trade and give others the opportunity she got. And meeting her today, you would never know.
I don't know these people well, but these were the stories they introduced themselves with. It makes you think... if you have to pretty much summarize yourself in under two minutes to 30 people and the teachers who will be working with you everyday, what would you say? And I did have to think about it very quickly because I did have to do just that. :) By the way, I am the only one in the class with a background in the arts. The scales tipped very heavily to the "I worked in an office until they laid me off and now I'm looking for something new" side.
For the next post, I should hopefully have some type of technique to discuss or some interested fact about the human body (memorizing every bone, muscle, and nerve in the body... SCARY!). Well, until then... stay limber!
I gotta say, the incredible diversity of the people in the class just boggles my mind. There are the stories that you expect to hear. There is a woman who has worked at a pizzeria owned by her father. Two women used to teach Kindergarten. There is a bartender looking for another part-time job. A man used to be an engineer before getting a severance package and now needs something to fill the hours. Many women have children who have just now left the house and they need a trade.
And then there were the stories that touched me. One man is from Peru and has been in the USA 8 years and still has great difficulty speaking English. In his town/tribe (I couldn't catch which type of community he was from) he was the Healer and wanted to learn the USA's version of healing (without going thru years of medical school). A young woman had no previous interest in massage therapy found when she woke one morning, the muscles in half her face would not move. The doctors could not explain it and the only treatment she received which worked was multiple sessions of facial massage. From that, she wants to learn the trade and give others the opportunity she got. And meeting her today, you would never know.
I don't know these people well, but these were the stories they introduced themselves with. It makes you think... if you have to pretty much summarize yourself in under two minutes to 30 people and the teachers who will be working with you everyday, what would you say? And I did have to think about it very quickly because I did have to do just that. :) By the way, I am the only one in the class with a background in the arts. The scales tipped very heavily to the "I worked in an office until they laid me off and now I'm looking for something new" side.
For the next post, I should hopefully have some type of technique to discuss or some interested fact about the human body (memorizing every bone, muscle, and nerve in the body... SCARY!). Well, until then... stay limber!
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