Tawdry Talk

Wow. Just wow. Beside going back to school for more training in 2006, this is absolutely the best investment I’ve made in my business.

Being able to adjust the table height in the fly was utterly incredible; it let me put the client at the perfect height for whatever I was doing to him at that particular moment. I got to use my legs for more power and less for my positioning in relation to a stationary client. My body was much more comfortable as a result and I used less energy to accomplish the same work. So that’s a big win right there.

But it was the mid-split that really made the session outstanding. The front of the table opens up to forty degrees from flat. At around 9 or so degrees, the lower back is put in a mechanically neutral position, and decompresses the lumbar spine. So I started out there for the first part of the session, then increased the angle more and more. I strapped his legs to the table and went all the way open, which took him into a nearly fully inverted position. I could see his back pull apart, and did some deep work that way. Wow, it was incredible to open his back up like that.

All the while he was inverted, his arms were fully supported on the adjustable arm rests, and his head cradled in the sliding head rest, so his neck vertebrae never got compressed at all.

My mind is racing with the possibilities of how to use this incredible tool.

And I even have my first client today at 14:00, so I’ll let you know how it goes.

Since I still had the rental car on Monday night, I decided to drive down to Union Square and pick Jason up from work at midnight, and we went up to the top of Twin Peaks, where we talked and stuff. The fog didn’t allow for any sort of view at all, but it did allow for some privacy and paying attention to one another. Something that had been sorely lacking for us for a while.

Yes, I am still involved with Jason, the errant cub. I’m not really sure where things are right now, except that I am his friend and sometime mentor. He is saving up the money to move out, either on his own or into a platonic roommate situation. Once that happens, we might want to re-address the situation (or not), but for now, I listen to him where no one else does.

Tuesday was low-key, and I didn’t do much of anything except work some and went to bed early.

Yesterday, I had a late lunch with Will at Little Delhi, then headed up to Lush to check on their facial masks. They were pretty much out, though, as their deliveries arrive on Thursdays, so I’ll go by there today and pick up one or two. While we were there, Bruin had gotten off work and joined us, and the three of us went to Lids and tried on hats. I wanted to introduce them to Jason, so we walked over to the St. Francis where he works and took a few minutes to introduce them all to each other.

It was time for me to go to work, though, so we all departed and I went to work. I did an entire session of rocking and shaking on my client, and had to sit with him for about 15 minutes afterward until he was ready to try to stand up. Rocking and Shaking is one of the most profound forms of massage and it can have very dramatic effects on a person’s body. It is deeply relaxing, as it confuses a person’s proprioception (the sense of body position and movement - where we are in space and what we are doing) to the point that the body utterly relaxes. But this can also have other effects, such as disorientation, so it is extremely important to sit with the client afterward before letting them leave the office to make sure they have their bearings back.

So, after that session, I walked back over to the St. Francis Hotel and hung out until Jason got off work at 21:00, and we smoked a bowl in Union Square, then walked down Market to the UN Plaza and through Civic Center and back up to the MUNI station. He hadn’t ever walked down Market Street at night before, so it was a treat to see it through his eyes.

We hopped on the train to the Castro, where I deposited my receipts for the day, and introduced him to Ed (castrowoof), and finally he had to go back to Drunky’s place and eat supper. Ed and I had a lovely conversation there at the Gayest Intersection In The World, until I got a text message from Bruin, asking me if I’d like to come to the SOMA Gold’s and do cardio with him and Will. So, I hopped on the 33 to Potrero and walked the few blocks to the gym, were I worked out on the treadmill in my stocking feet, which was weird, but I wasn’t going to do it in my work shoes.

Bruin and Will drove me home after that, and I read for a little while and eventually fell asleep at around 01:00. Sweet, restful sleep.

It seems that spending a week listening to the trees has long-lasting effects. I have been highly relaxed and calm all week, and hope that this continues.

Before I head to the office today, I am going to go out to Ingleside to look at a Comfort Craft Model 800 table. It’s the table that I have been thinking about purchasing to replace my current five year old Custom Craftworks Athena that has served me so ably. The salesman at Comfort Craft gave me the telephone number of a bodyworker who owns one here in San Francisco. If I like it, then I will very likely place the order early next week.

This is a huge investment of money for me, but one that I believe will pay off in growing my massage business.

If you are a professional DJ, or a talented amateur, I am interested in discussing a trade of massage for a massage music mix.

What I am thinking about is less about the type of music and more about the tempo of it. In previous mixes, the style of music jumps around from afro rhythms to bjork to jazz to ambient to pop to standards to other stuff. Really what I am thinking about is music that starts out around 100-120 bpm and then slowly descends down to about 80 bpm at the 80 minute point, then gradually increases to between 90-100 bpm at the 90 minute mark, and then slowly moves its way down to around 60 bpm or even without any rhythm at all at the end.

It’s a different set of challenges from programming for a dance, and one that the other DJs have enjoyed immensely, especially when they get to be the first person to receive a massage with it!

Pretty much you get to use your imagination - what do you want to hear if you were to receive a massage. You should keep in mind that I will be “dancing” with the music - the rhythm of the strokes and other massage techniques will move along with the music. The fewer lyrics the better, and if there are vocals, less wailing and shouting and more crooning and vocalise.

I have a private office in Union Square in downtown San Francisco, which is where the massage would take place.

The closer the mix is to being between 1hour and 50 to 55 minutes, the better. That way there will be time at the beginning and end for the necessary conversations that have to take place. I do use an iPod for my playback, so mp3 file(s) would be best…

Thanks for your interest in this trade - I’d love to hear back from you soon!

I had the feeling that when I booked the appointment yesterday for today that something was fishy. He only wanted an hour. He tried to pay me at the start of the session, which I suppose is a standard practice by some, but not by me. I worked on his back for the entire session, and he felt better at the end, but I just got the feeling that he was looking for more.

He could benefit from fairly regular bodywork, but I don’t think I’m the right guy for the job.

So, after I hung out with Duke and Bruin, and was still feeling kinda low from The Bridge and massaging my dad, I was going to go to the gym with them, but instead I had Frank-baby (ednixon) come pick me up and we hung out a bit. First, we picked Big John in San Francisco up from the gayest intersection on Earth and dropped him off at UGH. Then he and I went and scrubbed the tree sap off the car before we ended up at the Eagle, where they were watching Top Chef and X-Men 3.

Hanging out with Frank and company lifted my spirits, and I was able to go back home and sleep peacefully.

Today I went and got a massage and a soak, then had lunch in the Castro, browsed Cliff’s Variety, and came home to escape the scorching temperatures. But doh! My oscillating fan is at my office, useless. I suppose I should just buy another one for here at home, or a window fan to exhaust the warm air into the light well.

Tomorrow it’s back to work!

Well, I turn 42 today. Doesn’t feel much different than 41, really, except that I have even more confidence in where I am going in life. I don’t know what’s going to happen between Jason and I (I’ll explain in another post), but I feel good about where my life is going. I have good friends, wonderful work, a decent, if messy place to live, and feel more alive than ever!

Last night, the Sunday Dinner crowd and I celebrated with a lovely homemade bolognese sauce over penne that John made, as well as a delightful homemade birthday cake! John makes the best cakes from scratch!

Tonight I am going to hang out with my dogboy and cuddle and stuff. Tomorrow I have to start working again, and IBR is coming! If you are coming from out of town, I still have some massage spaces available - http://paulbrown.net or click Book Now!… you know you wanna.

Today was a lovely day. I published the latest round of Exquisite Corpse, had a cup of coffee, and checked messages. Then off to work, where I saw my first client at 12:30, doing some fairly intense work in his upper shoulders and back. The tendinous attachment of his rhomboids was paining him, so I worked them out, then flipped him over and worked on opening up his pectoralii. The rhomboids and pectoralis major muscles are antagonists, and when one side is tighter than the other, imbalances can occur. In this case, the tight pecs were pulling the chest and shoulders slightly forward, putting putting tension on the rhomboids, which felted constantly stretched, which gave the tendons that burning sensation.

I started with the back work first, though, because I had to also work the levators, upper trapezius, as well as the splenius capitis and splenius cervicis. Getting the entire complex of posterior neck and shoulder muscles worked out is easy, even with the dozens of small attachment sites and muscle fibers running every which way, but it’s important work to do, as almost everyone has tension in their shoulders, so knowing the interplay of all those muscles is highly useful.

Second client was more general, and I incorporated some of the energy work I do into the session. One of the things I will often do is do a Thai “elephant walk” up the posterior surface of the legs, ending with my soft fists in the origin of the hamstrings at the ischial tuberosities, and then I’m in what looks like a downward facing dog position. What this does is “blocks” the chi from flowing from the upper to lower halves of the person, and the sudden relaxation of the legs that takes place is very dramatic. As the legs relax, my posture lowers as well, until I am basically parallel to their legs. Once I feel the chi “stop” moving, I remove my hands, and do some very light kneading down the legs. It really is an amazing difference in tonicity doing this technique. You do have to “feel” for the movement of chi to know when to stop the posture, but if you train yourself to “hear” it, then it’s pretty easy.

After I was done with clients, I took a very short nap on my table before getting a small bite to eat and coming home, trudging from the MUNI station at Van Ness home six blocks in the pouring rain. Brrrr.

All told, though, a lovely day.

Remember my massage muse? The big lug upon whom I find to be the perfect person to practice new techniques? Well, he had fallen off the face of the earth over the past several months, due to some personal issues, but today he got back in contact with me, and I have booked another brainstorming session with him! I am so excited by the prospect of being able to work on him again; I’m giggling like a little girl!

I had to move my noon appointment today to noon tomorrow because I couldn’t find my keys! Fortunately, the client was groovy with it, and I’ll throw a little extra time on the session, or maybe the hot stones, to make up for it.

At least I got to console myself with a ginormous Honeycrisp Apple. I swear these apples are so incredibly good - crispy and juicy and big, with just the right balance of sweetness to tartness.