healingmassagepdx.com

Life as Yoga

peter — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 21:00:16 +0000

The woman with whom I am currently engaged is a yoga teacher, counselor, and public speaker. She is well known and highly regarded and about to become exponentially more widely known and highly regarded. A part of me begins to shutter at her imminent success and what it could mean for our relationship. I want to cast everything in bronze and fix it forever. Uncertainty abides. I sit, wait. I’m listening for the deepest resonance within me related to her impending recognition. Sting’s song “If You Love Someone Set Them Free” comes into my awareness and I take it as an indication. I remember times when my heart, fully open, felt invincible–like nothing could harm the essential nature of its spacious, giving, and generous warmth. My fear and foreboding change like a current passing around some fixed object resting on the ocean floor. I feel loosening, acceptance, and trust.
Increasingly curious and excited with wonder I ponder how big my heart can get if I keep it open like this. I resolve to try it and see. Moving into the first steps of this query I remember that if I find my heart closed or closing in some future moment I can always return here, to the felt-sense memory of this moment. This open-heartedness feels new yet ancient and familiar. By sitting with and settling into the sharp corners and uncomfortable edges of my experience life becomes my practice. Yoga means uniting, connecting. Once again I release little me into big me; ego into Tao. Like breathing into tight hamstrings on the mat I breath into the dark and sticky corners of my life off the mat. Spaciousness returns.

peter — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 20:04:43 +0000

“A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” -Chinese proverb

60, 90, or 120 Minute Massage?

peter — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 04:48:07 +0000

Having just returned from another profound 120 minute massage (with Jacinda Philips) it is clear to me that it is superior to all other massage session lengths. A 60 minute massage is good for addressing specific ailments–tight neck, sore low back, and/or injuries from car accidents. 90 minute sessions are great for complete work in several areas of the body while it allowing the remainder of the body to be somewhat addressed also. But 120 minutes not only allows for all quandrants of the body on both sides to be addressed, it provides enough time and continuous contact for transcendence to occur.

Transcendence into what? In Chinese medicine the facia–that lattice-like network of tissue connecting all of the structures inside our bodies (bones, muscles, organs, vessels, etc.)–is considered an organ. They call it the “triple-burner” or “triple heater.” It is in this “organ” that the Chinese believe the unconscious resides. It makes sense then that with continuous massaging of the skin and facia, insights, questions, images, and solutions often surface. Myself and others have had similar experiences during shorter length massage sessions, however 120 minutes is usually a sure bet to transcend normal consciousness and drop down into deeper connection with the you beneath your persona and ego. It is there that cues to the meaning and purpose of life reveal themselves. Please give it a try and tell me what your experience is like.

The Work’s Continuing Evolution

peter — Mon, 24 May 2010 04:26:28 +0000

I find myself energetically calibrating to a new level of sublety and receptivity because of deep constitutional shifts I’ve experienced as a result of my work with master herbalist and acupuncturist Dr. Kamto Lee. I am sensing energy more clearly now and have increased confidence in my intuition during sessions. Since enrolling in massage school 10 years ago I’ve always felt graced with the gift of competent touch. However now, in large part because of my work with Dr. Lee, I feel my original gifts amplified and expanded. What does this mean for the receiver? An enhanced experience on the table. My work remains firmly grounded in deep tissue massage, Shiatsu massage, and Swedish massage, but there is an added undercurrent of intention and depth which allows for a more accurate reply to your body’s needs.

Free Ballet Tickets and Reviews

peter — Sat, 08 May 2010 20:28:07 +0000

Dear Massage Clients,

Ballet ticket raffle: I’m thinking of a number between 1 and 500, the massage client with the reply closest to it wins a pair of ballet tickets to OBT’s summer performance featuring Bolero (at: http://www.obt.org/season_program4.html)

Complimentary tea or cup of coffee: As always, it is included with your massage care of Aliviar Coffee Portland (aliviarcoffee.com).

Reviews: $5 off your next massage when you post a review of my massage on Angieslist.com, Yelp.com, and Googlemaps.com:

http://www.angieslist.com/angieslist/

http://www.yelp.com/biz/peter-gold-massage-portland

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&q=peter+gold+massage&fb=1&gl=us&hq=peter+gold+massage&hnear=Portland,+OR&cid=0,0,12016526287711259107&ei=3CviS9eFKpyStAO0y50j&ved=0CAkQnwIwAA&ll=45.526164,-122.653921&spn=0.009275,0.018711&z=16&iwloc=A.

Reviews

peter — Tue, 04 May 2010 04:51:28 +0000

Hi all,

I’m now on Yelp.com and Angieslist.com so if you’re on either and would like to review a session you’ve had please do.

The Space Between

peter — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 07:06:12 +0000

I’ve been thinking about liminal space, the space between, for instance, release and holding, action and non-action, breaths. It is the amorphous and transitional state of flux, or idle, or nothingness. The Greek god Hermes, endowed with the power of crossing boundaries between worlds is often seen in cairns–those rock stacks frequently marking paths and trails. Ironically, moving from liminal space and crossing thresholds often feels like unmarked territory.

And yet, if we are patient enough, the Way (as Taoists speak of it: not right, wrong, better or worse, but rather simply alignment with what is) emerges. But how do we know it when it comes? In my experience, first I must enter into stillness. From that point, after nothing happens for some time, the way into the next moment emerges.

As a therapist I listen–with my hands of course, but also with my whole body energy which often sits in my heart. As a massagee, when I am on the table I listen by allowing the therapist’s touch and pressure to soothe me. Sometimes that means breathing deeply into a focused pressure point, other times it means not breathing for a very long time and allowing my system to absorb the still and deep compression of an elbow or fist.

The process, whether giving or receiving, is always marked by what is natural–what feels right at the deepest level in the moment. When I am patient enough, the way into the next moment comes subtly, yet clearly. Action and movement of this kind is referred to in the Chinese tradition as Wu-wei, or effortless action. It is neither doing nor not doing. It is rather being in accordance with what is most true.

A Valentine’s Day Massage Special

peter — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:06:34 +0000

Dear Clients,

A Valentine’s Day Massage Special for you and/or your sweetheart:

Buy one massage, and the second massage is 25% OFF.

This offer is valid for any length massage.

Also, as always, a free tea or cup of coffee is included with your massage care of Aliviar Coffee Portland.

Hope to see you again soon!

My best,

Peter

peter — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 05:05:38 +0000

The buds are shouting: The Gardener is coming! Today He picks the flowers, tomorrow us!

-Kabir

Please Write a Review

peter — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 04:15:05 +0000

Hi All,

If you’ve had a massage and would like to write a review, simply click here, and then on the “write a review” link on the left side menu banner. Please remind me when you do as I do not always check my Google reviews. Thank you!