A conversation transpired today with a mature woman after giving her a chair massage session. As when a dam gives in to the pressure of climbing water and then opens up its gates in order for the water to flow, this woman opened up to the pressures of being a full-time caregiver to her husband with a chronic health condition. Does this sound familiar?
I was there to help facilitate this openness, this admission, this expansion. Without trepidation, and as if we had already known one another, she admitted to being nervous most of the time, with gripping stomach pangs, continuous muscle aching, and an overall feeling of never being able to relax. She went on to say that as a child she carried many family burdens and even tried running away at age 15. She couldn’t remember the last time she had wept.
I was mystified by the contradiction in her well-kept-up and attractive exterior; very friendly and composed. Taken by the immediacy in her voice to open the gates, I felt this woman knew what she needed: a connection with her internal voice, her inner knowledge, her inner doctor, to feel free. She had never shared this with anyone before.
I had a massage chair, hands, body to listen, and heart to care. I felt compelled to let her know my concern, my opinion on her current symptoms, and gave her some medical advice, a number for an integrative healthcare practitioner as well as my own. And, I wanted to honor her, a spirit in a body of pain, knowing that with some guidance, resources, and willingness this very woman could someday experience peace in her body. Confident I had done all I could have in the moment, I entrusted her to her inner wisdom, to manage the gates, now that they had opened.