SECTION 2 MODULE 13

Thank you for the class!  Thank you for the reminder that each client, each body, each session is a unique experience, even if you've worked with the client on the same area before.  Sometimes, what helped last time, hurts this time and vice versa.  In working with my fiancee, doing the final hip pie stretch, stretching the right side was more painful than the left side.  So I asked her what it felt like (she just said, pain, which I now understand means the bad pain, the sharp increasing type) and I backed off and tried rocking her hip which was way better for her.  I appreciate having a new way to think about asking how the pain feels, cuz often that can be confusing for the client and myself to relate to each other.  Trying to explain to my fiancee that there's good pain is a great exercise for me in feeling like I can explain it to anyone!  Thanks again, and I like massage artist better than massage therapist.  I always figure it's up to the client to determine if I offered a therapeutic session, feels weird for me to advertise that I will be therapy for someone.

With Love

Danny

SECTION 2 MODULE 14

Thank you for another great class, teach.  We just moved to Olympia, Washington, and were able to setup a "creative studio" where we can all go and, well, create and relax.  I was able to lay my thai mat down there, first time using it (we've been working on a bed or futon or carpeted floor previously), and wow, I'm so grateful for it.  A bit smaller than I hoped for, but comfy and durable.  Anywho, this was the first time introducing my knees and toes to the mat, and it wasn't too much of a learning curve.  After warming up my partner with a flow of techniques from the previous session (I work like I'm flowing, but I know I still have more or less choppiness at times), we went into the first rocking technique, and it felt similar to rocking technique I learned on the table (but without crouching over the client).  The second move, the hands gently pulling on the hip and lower back, and the one hand gently pushing the abdomen: my partner immediately said "That's great."  We both loved this session; I'm still clunky on the moving from one side of the body to the other, but I'll keep at it.

With Love

Danny

SECTION 2 MODULE 15

Thank you for another great class, teach.  My original post didn't take, so if this module gets 2 posts, that's why.  I really enjoyed learning about the prana, and trying to connect my breath with my partner's.  We'd sync up for a few breaths, but then hers would increase when I was practicing different techniques.  Also, she was experiencing pain from ovarian cysts, so placing my hands on a few different spots on her abdomen and ribs was quite painful for her, but she warrior'd through a bunch of it.  And she got a beautiful release when I was performing the hands under her ribs - was that her diaphragm?  And she loved the massage circles along the side of her ribs and in the middle.  Thank you again.

With Love

Danny

Howdy, Shama Ken, fellow Thai massage journeyers.  It's been a while, but I am grateful and happy to return to this practice.  Bodywork, massage, this practice has never truly left my heart, more so my mind and body over the past few months.  I tend to forget that I'm human, with lived experience, feelings, thoughts, desires, physical form, personality to name the few various qualities that make us who we are.  I get stuck in my teenage state of mind and become quite stubborn, refusing to let go and move on because I had to do or experience something I didn't like.  The older I grow, day by day, I am learning to accept and embrace that we all experience trauma that can be difficult to understand, embrace, and let go of so it doesn't dominate one's life.  And I'm learning to accept and embrace that I deserve to be more compassionate towards myself in my process of living with it and learning from my traumas.  And I hope we all have access to the love and support I've received and continue to receive in my process, and I hope I can continue to be there for others as they process theirs, if I'm so called.  Phew, all the heavy stuff said, here's one for y'all:

A couple of cups of yogurt walk into a country club. "We don't serve your kind here," the bartender says. "Why not?" one yogurt asks. "We're cultured."

Anywho, thanks for holding the space.  Now back to school here!

With Love,

Danny

Section 2 module 16

Howdy teach, friends.  Thank you for another lesson, I love learning.  Doing the elephant walk and the pull/push technique behind and around the shoulders, helped me to learn about sensing the pressure I was applying.  My partner, she ain't shy about letting me know how it feels!  But, I'm noticing I'm becoming more gentle and slowing down my approach, as opposed to how I used to start in full force.  I also am learning more and more about difference in tension in one body part as opposed to its opposite.