In the first article, we talked about the main approach of Californian Massage: optimizing sensory awareness. In the second article we dealt with one of the essential aspects for this to be possible: Hara, the origin of the movement. This month continuing with massage, I want to focus on the body as the physical expression that we are alive.
The body is our most essential home, indeed our only home. Everything happens in him and everything happens through him. What happens is that we have stopped inhabiting it. We have lost contact with the body, we no longer know how we are, we only feel it when the sharpest pain appears clamoring for its attention, but before that many little things have happened in it.
Massage is an invitation to listen to it again, to decipher its language in order to understand again those signals it continuously sends us. If we lived in tune with our body, many of our discomforts would dissipate, but most of our life goes through our head… We are satiated with food but we keep eating because we say how nice, just a little more! Responding in truth to another need that does not correspond to that of the stomach, which is the one that will have to do the heavy work. We are sad and instead of crying we swallow our sorrow, looking for a rationalization of the situation that comforts us. We were furious and smiled with a face of irony…
Thus, we censor the feelings that we do not like, repressing emotions.
What happens to that lump in the throat when we don’t allow ourselves to cry? What happens to the tension in our hands, in our throat, in our guts, when we are angry and we silence it?
There is a natural function of the body in accompanying emotions, intelligent in processing them and letting them go through their organic expression. But we have been blocking each of the exit ways in order not to feel them.
In the end, our body does not tremble when fear appears, it does not cry when there is lamentation, it does not laugh with joy, nor does it rejoice with enjoyment…..
Thus, we can be very excited without the slightest bodily expression to affirm it. So there is a certain degree of repression that takes its form in the body.
The throat is closed, the gaze hardens, the jaws clench, there is pain in the pit of the stomach, we cannot even breathe as freely as we would like to… The internal spaces become smaller and smaller while the sensation of feeling numb grows.
“A body that does not give off life, a heart that does not feel, and a mind that asks us why we are not happy. ”
In December’s article we talked about the holistic vision of Californian Massage, in the non-division of body – emotion – mind. Our access key is the body, massage is the tool we use. Our interest lies in the experience and direct experience with the body. The work consists of feeling again, opening again those spaces that have been closing, breathing again, returning the sensation of spaciousness and lightness, bringing the attention inside, where we find ourselves.
In the Californian Massage trainings we learn the technique to touch and feel the body, to remain present in listening and to move with what is authentically happening. That is the background transmission in a session.
“When your body is receptive again and there are no blockages or poisons, you will feel a slight sense of happiness envelop you. Whatever you do there will always be a vibration of joy in your body. Alegria, in reality, means that your body is going with the beat, that’s all. Joy is not pleasure, pleasure is that which is derived from something else. Joy is simply being yourself, being alive, fully vibrant, vital.“Osho
María Lucas – Calithai Massage Space
Web: www.masajeterapia.net
Esalen Californian Massage Therapist
and collaborator of the Spazio Massage School.
