Week 16

Compressions are not easy. That's what I am going to hear in circle tonight and read in the homework folders. For the past 15 weeks, we have been concentrating on movement: our hands and bodies gliding gracefully (or not so gracefully) through space, finding the rhythm of each client's body. All of a sudden, we are asking the students to stop. STOP. And sink in slowly, warming up the tissue as it gives in, softens up, melts. They have had a week to practice this deceptively simple technique, and tonight we are building right on top of that. Compressions turn into glides as the muscles relax and let us in. When I explain to the class that a glide is something that happens, not something we do on purpose, the students are not convinced. They see me moving forward, yet I am telling them I am a passenger, not the driver. For the client, the difference between us pushing forward and gliding forward is what separates a painful experience from a therapeutic one. So we practice doing compressions and waiting for the glides to happen. They happen, as they always do, when everything is in place: there is oil, but not too much, there is pressure, but not too intense, there is waiting, but not an expectation.
The students glide forward, with expressions of surprise and relief on their faces, skepticism replaced by joy and inspiration. My face? Happiness all over.