July 31 - Tiny Jen and the Art of Transcendental Massage

Practicing on Alexis

It's been interesting to hear so much about the perception of others of my body. I've never been so aware of how slight of build I am. In this context of bodywork, one needs to tailor their efforts dependent upon how much or little "adipose" (fatty tissue) covers the bones. I am the class example that demonstrates working close to the bone -- quite the opposite end of the spectrum from another student in the group who has a massive belly and breasts. We certainly cover the gamut of body shapes!

People refer to me as "tiny" yet muscular. Not long ago Susanna referred to me as "small but substantial". I guess I've always felt more substantial than small, stemming from my early blooming to reach my current height of 5'7" by the age of eleven and the many years following of experiencing myself as "the big girl". So I am developing a new self-image all these years later as if having been reintroduced to myself. Now I'm reminded of an experience at the Hillside Festival Craft Fair last summer. I wanted to buy a leather cuff-style bracelet and they had to make one to order for me because, of the vast array, none was small enough to fit my slight (bass player's!) wrist.

[This gorgeous bug just landed on my belly and allowed me to scrutinize with awe its incredible colours -- all a shimmery metallic -- green, turquoise and bronze like some magnificent jewell.]


Today marks day one of the second week of study after a much-needed and enjoyed three-day break. Yesterday was so full of every kind of relaxing I needed. Slept in, went with Fiona to a peaceful, pristine lake that felt like such an elixir of health to my body. She and I delved into much deep and rewarding conversation while sunning ourselves dry. We discussed a barter where I'll work on her web site in exchange for the fee for the third module of the course. Fiona took my towel and water bottle and hitchhiked back so that I could take the opportunity for a good run home. But first I took advantage of the remote privacy and practiced my vocal technique, listening through my last lesson with Fides on my iPod.

Once back at home base, I went to the organic farm to buy some produce, picked up a nice cold Beck's at the General Store along with some "Indian Candy" (salmon chunks smoked in maple syrup) and went back to practice my bass. Then Kelly and I kicked back and watch a beautiful Tibetan film called Samsara.

We began class this morning with an intense foray into Qi Gong (a Chinese tradition of energy work). I love this stuff and have long used my own intuited practice of it in bodywork and healing efforts I have shared with friends. So it's been exciting to delve into ancient traditions of it and to begin to apply them more deeply to the more technical aspects of bodywork that have been the primary focus till now. We moved from an hour and a half of Qi Gong exercises right into working on the face and head today. Everyone of us was carried further to another realm than we had yet exerienced -- both as givers and receivers. I was thrilled to discover that I was feeling the pulse of Alexis' cranial sacral fluid at the back of her head. I felt so wonderfully connected to the flow of my chi and to my recipient throughout the treatment I gave. It was a richly satisfying meditation that left both myself and Alexis feeling so grounded, connected and full of love. THIS is what I came here to develop!

July 27 - The Most Incredible Classrooms

On the walk to today's new "classroom"


Learning to send angels to heaven


Foot Massage Bliss


Fiona Walker

July 27

The other day I had a dream that I can now called recurring -- I had this same dream last summer on Galiano. The symbolism is so entertainingly obvious. I dreamed that the face of my watch had been smashed. My sleeps have been refreshingly easy and deep, although I'm glad I brought earplugs as I've sometimes needed them to shut out the frisky frogs whose flirting grounds I've camped so close to. I'm sure this ease of sleep has been a result of the delicious air, the beauty that surrounds me, fine food, some sweaty runs along gorgeous paths, yoga and meditation every day and long hours of focussed concentration.


Alexis demonstrates foot flexion in Anatomy class

Yesterday we trekked to a sandy spit in the ocean for an incredibly picturesque change of location for anatomy class -- as if the usual beautiful studio with deer grazing outside (including a tiny spotted fawn) isn't perfect enough! Willo is a most entertaining teacher, really bringing the learning experience in through many means that help drill in what could be a rather overwhelming subject. This evening, we learned about all the muscles involved in my epicondylitis (Tennis Elbow) and the bones that they surround and affect. Then we went into his treatment room where he carried out a TCM procedure to help with the healing and with the pain which involved burning tiny balls of an herb called mugwort into my arm around. Pretty wild stuff. I can't say as of yet whether it's been effective. Still a bit concerned about how well my arm will hold up through the upcoming Random Order tour.


Deer coming to learn some human anatomy

Our teacher, Fiona, has been so inspiring and full of wisdom. This course is proving holistic in the greatest sense of the word -- physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, historical, theoretical and scientific. Besides lots of learning to execute technique, this has been a veritable spa for my own body's pleasure when the tables are turned and I offer myself to another's hands. I've attached a photo of my blissed out face in the midst of about 2 hours spent on my feet alone! This evening I luxuriated with Fiona's hands on one arm/hand and a student's on the other. So spoiled! This has been such a gift to myself in so many ways and I'm so excited to share it with those I care for back home.

I have time off Saturday through Monday and unfortunately, will have to spend a chunk of it doing some graphic/web work for clients back home. But I'm looking forward to getting back to my bass which has not been so neglected since Africa. It has felt a little strange to be so separated from my musical life, but, frustrating is this is, it's probably been the best choice for the recovery of my elbow which is still posing problems. At night I have been giving myself a little musical fix with the little mbira (thumb piano) I bought in Burkina Faso. So the frogs and I serenade each other in a two-way dialogue. I also look forward to venturing out to "downtown" Denman on the weekend -- checking out shops and galleries etc.

Time for anatomy class. Over and out for now.

July 24 - The Meditative Sagittarian Convention

Anatomy Class

July 22
Denman Island

Stormy muted colours have given way to brilliance, layers have been shed and this morning's yoga had a cheerier tone thanks to the grace of morning sun streaming into the studio. We enjoy regular visits from the tiny deer who relish the many fruit trees on the property. This morning Gaert had a few in rapt attention as she sang to them -- their huge ears perked. I wish I could shoot off a cyber blast of the wonderful cedar aroma that constantly infuses my days. Besides the living trees of the forest, they have milled their own wood from the property for use in building for the school and there are stacks of freshly cut cedar outside the studio. The forest path to my tent is covered in cedar chips and moss. Add to that the ubiquitous sweetgrass, pine and general lushness from the long rainy season and the potpourri is simply exquisite. My lungs and skin are drinking it up. The redness and puffiness around my left eye from the spider bite of a week or so ago is finally fading.

Classes with Fiona have been grounding and meditative as we delve inwardly to sense what our bodies are feeling and how they respond to various movements and kinds of touch. This attention is also similarly given to sensing the needs of the person we are working on. I am also appreciating the formal opportunities to focus on my emotional state from moment to moment. Fiona stresses the importance of being present first with ourselves and then with the receiver of our bodywork. She encourages us to set an intention of highest good prior to giving a treatment and tells how she likes to make a prayer of protection both for herself and her client prior to beginning. We trade giving and receiving roles typically twice in the day, so I am veritably soaking in a bodywork spa, enjoying the attentions of both other students and Fiona's experienced touch for long periods of each day. I try to maintain a student's awareness of what I'm feeling as receiver but sometimes I just drift right out of consciousness. It's a nice break in the midst of all this focussed attentiveness. This whole experience really feels like such a gift to myself.

I partnered today with a quiet, seemingly emotionally vulnerable woman with large, kind blue eyes. She has confessed her difficulty in being touched and explained that her senses sometimes seem to shut off when she is doing the touching. I've enjoyed the tender experience of trying to invite her into trust with my hands and my energy. Brave of her to be here at all. Despite her wateriness, she is one of the many Sagittarians that we've discovered make up this veritable Sag convention!

I'm loving how there is such a blend of these somewhat esoteric, spiritual aspects of the work with the more empirical elements of anatomy, kinesiology and, to some extent, psychology. It is a very holistic approach. Willo's anatomy class is kept entertaining with imaginative storytelling and a variety of teaching methods and resources.


Kelly in the greenhouse which attaches to the studio (that's a nectarine tree at back left)

July 21 - The Art of Concious Touch - Denman Island

July 19, 2007

I sail over a vast terrain of clouds. The endless field of white brings to mind the fantasy I often indulge in when driving the scarlines between city and city with wide green fields on either side. You won't be surprised that I imagine I'm astride a galloping horse, drinking in those incredible feelings of freedom, power and kinship with nature that this experience has afforded me on many cherished occasions. So now, the 7-year-old looks through these 41-year-old eyes and sees a mythical me on the tiny dot of a galloping horse, cruising across these clouds, bound for nowhere but the precious moment I'm in. But then the misanthropist in me pricks a hole in that lovely reverie with the admonishment that we humans have no business being up here among the clouds, roaring through this pristine beauty and leaving a wake of poison. How's that for a dubiously well-balanced sense of perception! It's a common experience for me that the joyfulness and appreciation that often fills my heart clashes with the grief that accumulates with the tragic deaths that have affected me and the calamities I continually witness in the way my kind treat each other, the planet and all her creatures. Alas, there are so many unreconcilable quandaries in this life. Despite my cynicism, I am grateful for this technology which will have me sitting in a bar on Commercial Drive tonight with a dear friend and so much closer to the educational adventure I've been holding a vision of for so long.


July 20, 2007
Denman Island, B.C.


The view from my tent

Here I am at last. Decompressing in the little home I have just set up amidst pine and cedar, facing the serene scene of a large pond lush with water lilies. The wind whispers welcome, my muscles are melting from the stress of travel and my heart is warm from the night and day spent with Onli on the journey here from Vancouver.

Not long after my arrival, Willow, Fiona's partner, gave me a treatment for my tennis elbow ("epicondylitis"). He is a much respected doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) who practiced for years in Victoria and now runs a clinic in a funky old Airstream trailer here on Denman. He applied a herbal mixture to the inflamed area, gave me rather shockingly aggressive accupuncture and performed a procedure called Gwatza -- a smoothing down of the apparently twisted connective tissue in my forearm with a smooth-edged flat stone. Once again, I'm told I have excess heat in my system according to TCM and that I need to nourish my Yin. Willow gave me some Chinese herbal tablets called Huang Lian Su that are supposed to help with that, along with a homeopathic remedy for the pain in my elbow which is comprised of arnica, Dulcamara and Rhus toxicodendron. Interesting to ponder the combination of excess heat with the fact that, as Krysia and Diana pointed out, my Yin (left) side has been the target of various physical complaints in recent times.

July 21, 2007

Day one of The Art of Conscious Touch
Intensive indeed -- our schedule ran as follows:
9-12:30 class with Fiona, which started with some Kundalini yoga and Chi Gong (ancient Chinese art of energy manipulation) exercises (nice follow-up to my glorious early morning run) then a simple massage routine that can be performed as a receiver is seated in a kitchen chair
12:30-3:00 lunch and free time. Biked to a nearby organic farm to pick up some scrumptious produce. We have a kitchen/bathroom building where we fend for ourselves for breakfast and lunch.
3:00-6:00 further bodywork instruction with Fiona, now utilizing her gorgeous portable tables (hint, hint Santa!)
6:00-7:30 dinner time (Meals have been fantastic -- cooked by a smiley, groovy old hippy gal called Gaert.)
7:30-10:00 anatomy class taught by Willow. He has an engaging, entertaining teaching style.

There are six students, all women mostly from the Vancouver area. A very nice group, we seem to have all fallen immediately into an enjoyable comfort with each other.

Each of the next 7 days in a row will follow this very full schedule before I'll have three days off preceding the next segment. That'll be the time to pull out the bass and brush up on all those Random Order tunes for the tour. Hoping my elbow will have recovered significantly by then.

It's been quite wet and I'm actually luxuriating tonight in the dryness and peaceful atmosphere of the gorgeous studio. Apparently we just missed an incredible heat wave and now the locals are all shocked at the unseasonable rain. Hope it lets up soon, but really it is wonderfully fresh and lush. The slugs here must have migrated from Jurassic Park! We are right next door to the famous Denman Island chocolate factory. (Peter, Rebekah and Susanna -- I'll be shopping here for you!) What's funny is that the sign at the driveway entrance actually says "Snake Haven" -- apparently the name given by the previous resident due to the dense snake population. It makes good sense to keep that name to deter any would-be chocolate thieves!


Jurassic Slug (with my finger for comparison)