My Journey into Massage

People often ask me what kind of massage I do. My answers are usually a bit incoherent, the best being ‘It's sort of my style'.

I’ve been massaging for over 12 years and I’ve worked on around 8,000 bodies - yes I calculated it! With each person my hands explored and gathered more knowledge which has allowed me to truly treat from a place of experience.

My curiosity started quite young, when I would follow my grandmother, a physiotherapist, around at family gatherings, squeezing and kneading relatives, trying to figure out what was needed to make them feel better. At this point I recognised the joy I felt in helping people to relax.

I later went on to study sports massage which lead me to Neuro-rehabilitation, working on people with spinal cord injuries. During this time I would sometimes spend an hour treating just one muscle group, weaving my fingertips through each fibre, searching for pockets of space to expand and relax. This gave me an intimate knowledge and appreciation of the beauty held in each muscle and it’s function in the complexity of the human body.

Whilst working there I gained a keen interest in the way the mind affects the body which lead me to explore different forms of meditation, such as Vipassana and breath-work. During a 10 day silent vipassana retreat where we meditated for 11 hours a day - I felt pain in my body like I had never felt before - even the soles of my feet hurt! As the retreat progressed I would scan my body, resting on knots of pain, kneading and ironing them out with my mind until they were gone. Needless to say this took a lot of focus and I haven’t quite replicated it. Although, with moderate pain such as stomach cramps or headaches I still find I can access a lot of relief by giving up my resistance and putting all my attention in the area and exploring the pain.

I have also experienced the gift/curse of having many minor injuries which has helped me to 'figure out things' from the inside out. Now this can sometimes be a blind spot when thinking about pain: no one experiences an injury in the same way, however, these experiences have given me great insight on how to release stuck muscles.

At some point whilst I was working in neuro-rehab my cup started to feel empty and my usual energy and enthusiasm began to drain from me. I knew I had to change something, so, I quit the clinic and began working completely by myself, treating people in their homes and offices. This started with purchasing 'The lightest massage table in the world' weighing in at just 5.5kg - I'm not joking! I searched the Internet and ordered it from Australia! I teamed it with a sling, so that I could carry it like a backpack and navigate the tube system with ease, avoiding being like one of those long suffering massage therapists you see, dragging - what I can only imagine opens into a 4 post bed - around with them. After a few years I liberated myself and transformed my way of working by buying a car. What a revelation this was!

In this last year I have given up some of my personal resistance and the somewhat useful but mostly hindering attitude of 'I can do it all by myself' and, I have joined a clinic! I feel such peace knowing that my work travel is only 15 minutes away and I can rest waiting for clients to arrive rather than turning up all flustered from a combination of bad traffic and an ill-informed attitude of optimism.

You can find me at Hythe studio in Fiveways, Brighton. To book a massage follow the link below.