Touching Yourself

by Todd Pequeen

“I know that touching was and still is and always will be the true revolution.” – Nikki Giovanni

We should all touch ourselves. I often fantasize with my clients on how wonderful it would be to get a massage every day. Imagine having your favorite masseur at your beck and call to get your fix whenever needed…how glorious would that be? Well, we all do have this available, we can utilize ourselves. While sitting on my board surfing, waiting for waves, I massage with both my hands my head and temporal regions. Just a minute of small circular strokes helps to further relax and loosen me up. Every day I massage my own hands and forearms, it has become a routine, it allows me to know where my aches and pains are as well as flushing out stagnate blood revitalizing my tools of the trade. We are all socialized into the language of the senses and in my opinion have become impoverished with hands-on nonverbal forms of communication, relying instead on disengagement and so called sophistication with each other. Sight and hearing (distance senses) rule our days while taste, smell, and touch (proximity senses) are almost a taboo. A shame in my opinion but adopting a philosophy of touching oneself can help bring us into the light.

Touching begins within the first minutes of birth, exactly where love and humanity begin. Most important to our foundation of experience and growth is the language of touch, where powerful communications are transmitted. Oh how wonderfully we touch and support our children, but as we begin to grow older so does the neglect of our friends and family, and of ourselves. The Western World has taught us to deprive ourselves in exchange for relationships with consumer goods and unnecessary necessities, does anyone else out there feel possessed by their possessions? Touching is simple to do and the best way to begin to make a more loving and compassionate self. Touch is a direct line to the human heart.

Touching yourself can and should begin the moment you wake up. Rub those eyes open, stretch and lengthen those arms and legs and flowered with a light slapping, can wake up those rested cells. Circulation is one of the keys to massage, eliminating old stagnant blood and replacing it with rich oxygenated blood is like bringing your insides to the cleaners. I like to massage my feet before I put on my socks and shoes. I almost feel lighter and more fleet footed after doing so. Showering is a great time to massage ones own entire body, instead of just soaping up use more force and give yourself a massage, I guarantee the results will amaze you. Not only might you discover any abnormalities such as bug bites or bruises, changed birth marks or sub-cutaneous bumps, you will also feel more energized and alive. Touching those sprained fingers, massaging that sore shoulder, lightly needing muscles after exercise are all important self preservation tools we can use to make ourselves know ourselves more deeply. Of course, there is nothing quite like a professional body worker taking over once a week but in the meantime, touching yourself should not be forgotten.

(Todd is a New York Institute of Massage Graduate and Nationally Certified in the USA. He has been practicing deep, therapeutic massage here in Manuel Antonio for over 10 years and can be reached at 8847-2010, [email protected].)