It started hurting on Friday afternoon, and it hasn't stopped yet.
At times it has been really, really bad. Naproxen helped. So did Cyclobenzaprine. A shot of Toradol at Immediate Care helped a whole lot. Also an electric heating pad and frequent hot soaks in the tub.
Kathe is taking good care of me.
Mostly, though, I'm just waiting for it to get better.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Sunday, October 9, 2011
OMTA Meeting
Kathe and I just got back from the Eugene edition of the annual meeting of the Oregon Massage Therapy Association. The theme of the meeting was keeping your business afloat during the current difficult times.
I noticed that in addition to the meeting being divided into Eugene and Portland editions, almost everything else at the meeting was oriented to either Portland or Eugene. No big surprise, since those are the largest centers of massage activity, but as Kathe put it, there was a distinct lacuna, and we were in it.
So now I am thinking about setting up a mid-Valley chapter covering the Philomath-Corvallis-Albany-Lebanon area, extending maybe as far as Salem and Sweet Home. I will be contacting local LMTs to see what they think of the idea.
I noticed that in addition to the meeting being divided into Eugene and Portland editions, almost everything else at the meeting was oriented to either Portland or Eugene. No big surprise, since those are the largest centers of massage activity, but as Kathe put it, there was a distinct lacuna, and we were in it.
So now I am thinking about setting up a mid-Valley chapter covering the Philomath-Corvallis-Albany-Lebanon area, extending maybe as far as Salem and Sweet Home. I will be contacting local LMTs to see what they think of the idea.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Buy My Book
It's a much-improved version of the massage book I hand out to my own students.
http://www.amazon.com/With-a-Friendly-Touch-ebook/dp/B005BCPCFU/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1311549058&sr=1-1
I think it is a very good introduction to massage, suitable for an interested beginner.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Father's Day
My father left very few things undone. One that comes to mind is that he never published or wrote (so far as I know) a science fiction novel like the ones he so liked to read.
One story that he mentioned he would enjoy writing is one in which the Central powers were victorious in the First World War.
I'm not writing that story either, but I am right now engaged in a project inspired by the Christmas Truce of December, 1914, and it does involve an alternate history and a different outcome for the war that his own father fought in. And I do think of my father and his father often as I write.
I feel another affinity for my father as I work: I am doing it in no small part because I have a family to support.
//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Filius est pars patris, for better or worse, like it or not."\\
One story that he mentioned he would enjoy writing is one in which the Central powers were victorious in the First World War.
I'm not writing that story either, but I am right now engaged in a project inspired by the Christmas Truce of December, 1914, and it does involve an alternate history and a different outcome for the war that his own father fought in. And I do think of my father and his father often as I write.
I feel another affinity for my father as I work: I am doing it in no small part because I have a family to support.
//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Filius est pars patris, for better or worse, like it or not."\\
Saturday, June 11, 2011
With a Friendly Touch
I will shortly be posting a new version of my massage instruction booklet in a downloadable format at Amazon.com. Watch this space for details. In the meantime, here is a sample chapter:
The Shoulders
Whenever I stand behind someone to rub their shoulders, I always remember the story of Saint Christopher:
Once, a group of people were walking from one town to another. As was typical in that country in those days, they had grouped together for safety, but didn’t know each other or much about the people travelling with them.
They came to a place where a small stream crossed the road. Normally, it was such a small trickle that nobody had bothered to build a bridge across it, and people were used to just stepping over it or splashing through it, but the creek was swollen by spring snowmelt and was deep enough and fast enough to be frightening.
The largest man in the group said, “Don’t worry, folks, I’m too big to be washed away by the creek, and I can carry you across.”
The last person was a little boy, and the man was shocked at how he staggered as he carried the child.
“Little boy, I carried your mother, I carried your father -- why is it harder for me to carry you?”
“I carry the weight of the world on my shoulders.”
And that is how the man came to be known as Christopher – the one who carried the Christ.
I think of that story every time I rub someone’s shoulders, and of how often people speak of worry as a “burden” and of people “carrying” stress. There is a reason for that, you see: the body really does react to stress by making the shoulders tighten.
The good news in all of this is that it works both ways: stress makes your shoulders hurt, but rubbing the shoulders helps to reduce the feeling of stress.
The Shoulders
Whenever I stand behind someone to rub their shoulders, I always remember the story of Saint Christopher:
Once, a group of people were walking from one town to another. As was typical in that country in those days, they had grouped together for safety, but didn’t know each other or much about the people travelling with them.
They came to a place where a small stream crossed the road. Normally, it was such a small trickle that nobody had bothered to build a bridge across it, and people were used to just stepping over it or splashing through it, but the creek was swollen by spring snowmelt and was deep enough and fast enough to be frightening.
The largest man in the group said, “Don’t worry, folks, I’m too big to be washed away by the creek, and I can carry you across.”
The last person was a little boy, and the man was shocked at how he staggered as he carried the child.
“Little boy, I carried your mother, I carried your father -- why is it harder for me to carry you?”
“I carry the weight of the world on my shoulders.”
And that is how the man came to be known as Christopher – the one who carried the Christ.
I think of that story every time I rub someone’s shoulders, and of how often people speak of worry as a “burden” and of people “carrying” stress. There is a reason for that, you see: the body really does react to stress by making the shoulders tighten.
The good news in all of this is that it works both ways: stress makes your shoulders hurt, but rubbing the shoulders helps to reduce the feeling of stress.
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