When relaxed, our bodies provide a doorway
to this depth of experience. Under stress, our bodies construct
a protective shell of hard muscle tension in order to afford
us some sense of psychological safety. The armored body, while
defending us to some degree against feelings of unease and
vulnerability, is less open, less sensitive and less responsive
to our inner and outer worlds. In a real sense, when we are
uptight, we begin to lose touch with our bodies and our doorway
to deeper experience closes.
This lack of ease within us
is reflected not only in a hard muscular shell but also in
a rush hour lifestyle. Encouraged by a high-tech culture full
of warp speed technology, many of us spend a good part of
our day pedal-to-the-metal, in lane or on line. Our feverish
pace often outstrips our capacity to be present in our bodies
and to enjoy our ride through life. We can hydrofoil through
our day mechanically, powered by that mental flywheel up in
our heads, and only skim the surface of our bodies' experience.
When we do slow down, rest and settle inside, we naturally
sink deeper into our experience. As we sense this deepening
experience, we begin to get more in touch with our bodies
and our emotions. If we relax further and go deeper, our experience
becomes more magical as it expands beyond the usual physical,
emotional, and mental realms.
After a good massage, we feel
wonderful. After a great massage we can feel something of
this magical experience and be at a loss to describe it exactly.
There is often gratitude for the experience, yet many of us
don't fully understand exactly what is happening to us. We
often attribute it solely to the feeling of physical and emotional
relief from stress and tension. We can feel so relaxed, feel
our mental flywheel so slowed down, our experience becomes
slightly disorienting. Massage can evoke a highly relaxed,
yet fully awake state of mind that is very quiet and still,
with little or no movement of thought. For a time after a
great massage, we can feel tipsy with a clarity of awareness
that makes sights, sounds and sensations extraordinarily vivid.
Because massage, like meditation, invites our experience beyond
our usual awareness, it can put us in touch with something
mysterious. We experience this depth and can sense it in our
awareness, yet we don't know fully what it is.
There is a fundamental need
in all of us to experience this depth; it is the depth of
who we are, and it is our true home. This depth perfuses our
experience with significance, value, and meaning. If we are
skimming the surface of our experience, it is difficult to
find real satisfaction in our endeavors and accomplishments,
no matter how noteworthy. Every day offers us opportunities
to experience this depth, but we first need to be slowed down,
relaxed, and opened up in order to become aware of them. We
need to create some refuge in our lifestyle from all the feverish
activity and the stress of not having enough time to do what
we think should get done. We need to make time for ourselves.
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Mission