Pound until tender

Jackie, my massage therapist, is the coolest. And I'm not saying that just that because I love massage.

I have tried rolfing, which involved my rolfer leaning into my flesh with her elbow or the full weight of her forearm, trying to break up knots “all the way down to the bone”. Most people find traditional Rolfing too painful to endure. I actually liked it, in a “hurts so good” kind of way, since I have a high tolerance for pain and also, a touch of masochism. The only part I didn’t like was when she put on a latex glove and put one hand inside my mouth so that she could jam her thumb into my jaw-joint from the inside. I would have screamed, if I hadn’t been instantly paralyzed by the pain.

I have also tried Thai massage (photo here), during which the therapist pulls your body into various yoga-ish poses in order to stretch your muscles and get your joints moving. Thai massage usually wasn’t painful, but as you can see from the photo it requires a lot of intimacy between the masseur and the client. That was weird, especially since my therapist was male. It felt a bit adulterous. The only part of the process that I hated was when he would pull on each of my toes until the toe-knuckle cracked. I really felt that was unnecessary.

My current massage therapist, Jackie, does regular Swedish massage along with some other fancy techniques like craniosacral therapy. She doesn’t cause me pain or bend me into a pretzel. I knew she was cool from our first meeting. After listening to my reasons for wanting massage, she explained to me that she’d like me to disrobe and get onto the table. She asked “So, after this brief acquaintance, are you comfortable with me touching your buttocks?”

She asked so nicely – how could I say no?