The most beautiful thing about all health educators is they are incredibly passionate about teaching their skillful practice.
I started my massage therapy journey in a pretty giant way. I went to National Holistic Institute of Massage Therapy as my introduction to massage. It's a 900-hour program that is like a Costco "try-me-out" kinda program that covers everything from Traditional Chinese Medicine to Body wraps and hot stone massage. This allowed me to be educated by many different perspectives and how each therapist pours their love into each of their quality of touch.
I didn't know what I wanted after I left the Navy.
I didn't really try anything else, because I didn't have much motivation for anything.
I went for a Tesla interview and the interviewers were all former US Navy Nukes, just like me. The attitude really bothered me, (You can't really get along with many ET's in the Navy because of the strong ego that puts them on a very high ivory tower. ) I didn't want to work in an environment like this anymore. After that first interview, I sort of just gave up. I saw money and was offered money, but I just didn't know what the hell I would use it for.
My mental illness lead me to re-reading my tiny memo book I kept as a diary while I was deployed underwater for months.
All I could think about while I was under pressure was how much life I was going to live after. How life is an open dooooooor but it reallly wasn't how I imagined it after I reached my reality. I didn't do a single damn thing. I was too bitter. Too angry. Too ashamed. I didn't want to be alive because my single most important purpose of running nuclear reactors was taken away from me.
First thing on the to-do list was to become a massage therapist.
At the time of writing this entry in my diary, I wanted to be a good husband, a good partner, that could take care of his loved ones. I didn't think I would ever go to school for this.
I learned how to love.
That includes a practice for self love, and a practice to share my love with other people. The process of listening to my own breath and also listening to other heart beats around me. Focussing my energy on observing auras people emit. Practicing imagination on the different chakra wheels and feeling the torque of their spin as I massage my clients.
I entered each world of various modalities with an open heart and mind. I wanted to know how people could heal people. The world as I knew it had pharmaceuticals that adventure capitalists were making a bunch of money on for numbing people problems. But no one really taught me how people are the magical remedy for healing all illnesses.
We start healing when our body and consciousness are on board for the commitment to going on this adventure.
We heavily rely on instant relief from medicine to the point our combined power of mind and spirit have forgotten how to fly.
Massage therapy has given me a practice to facilitate healing for my awesome bodywork partners.
What started to happen was I became very meditative in my process of healing another person. I started to feel my spiritual energy elevate through my touch and breathing that had been following my partner's as I worked through my bodywork.
I began healing myself without really thinking about it
I would close my eyes and smile throughout my whole bodywork session. My hands were guided by my intuition and practice among the most wonderful mentors I could ever ask for. I felt calm, peaceful, and with just one intention on my focus.
This space is for you to heal, and I will protect you from all that is outside, so you can listen to what is happening inside.
When you care too much, you get really burned out really fast.
So I stopped doing bodywork. I really felt like I exhausted myself inside. I needed to heal a bigger void inside my heart. I didn't know what it was.
The world outside of English is extremely facinating and worth listening to!
I learned to communicate in Vietnamese when it came to ordering food, motorcycle maintenance, and general tiny things that really sparkle your wholesome self among locals when you're able to speak their mother tongue It does make your travels an extremely memorable journey when you give it your shameless effort to learn the language the locals communicate their hearts in.
When I lived in Thailand, I was able to reconnect to my culture. I had a chance to go to school for a week in Chiang Mai for Thai Massage. It was felt like a refresher since I've had a similar course with NHI. The coolest part of learning in this school was I able to say anatomic words in Thai and phrases I didn't know for how to tell my clients to be prone, sideline, or supine. It was a rewarding experience to know these Thai words for the first time. To learn a new prayer that is deeply set into Thai culture.
People heal people. Whether it's because you've developed a conscious that speaks another language in your mind. Or because someone encouraged you to become fearless. Or when your grandmother prays and prays for your safe journeys where ever you may be in your life.
The world is a big place to learn how to heal. I wish you all will get a chance to experience this process. I love you all :)