Massage Madness

Ok - this WAS actually MY idea.... the reality just went terribly wrong on this one..?!
And I was not planning on sharing this picture of my lower back, but just stumbled across it and decided why not? This IS my reality - 10 days AFTER I had a brilliant idea...and all the pictures before this were actually too bad to share with others..

See - I had a pretty rough month. A lot of things happened to people and things around me and the compounded effect of it all caused me a great deal of emotional turmoil...and obviously the effects of stress started to take its toll on me and my body.

So what better plan, when being asked by my neighbor "how can I help?"...., could I come up with than "let's go to a spa together...get a massage...get my body just released from all this tension and then maybe I can take life on in full again?

My wonderful neighbor agreed and off we went two days later.

OH MY WORD..... can I even begin to blog about all the things that went through my mind while this lady was working her way through my muscles?? I was in PAIN...and no ordinary pain..I was DYING there??  Not able to communicate in the same language at all I tried various gestures of PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go soft on me..you are KILLING me?! And even though she nodded and agreed everytime.... I was trying to figure..how is it possible that I can almost not bear her hands on my body?! She used some sort of glass stick / rolling pin and I was thinking - I hope she does not crack my spine or something while doing that?! I thought of stopping her several times..but then it would have been the $120 paid for the massage go to waste and I could not figure out if it was just ME who was having a problem here..surely they do this on a daily basis to hundreds of people and I have been to massages in my life.. one of the things i actually LISTED as something I like so much !!
After several attempts to slow her down and asking my neighbor (who had a different masseuse but in the same room) if she is surviving...she said..."man, it's tough !?....so, I thought..okay - she is also suffering but holding out, so maybe I am just a big sissy or my body is in such total spasm that this lady is seriously trying to "de-stress " me.. and without this I might never have my body back in released shape..since it is all so stressed-up?!

I lied there thinking of all the things that had caused me stress because at that point it was actually causing me less stress than the massage I book as stress relief ?? You know how you lie in the dentist chair and try to think of all the nice things in the world just not to hear the drill and the yuck feeling you have lying there?!

Anyway - nothing worked and I had put mind over matter and was actually relieved when it was over!

Getting home that night I started cooking but felt a little tender on the back and ouchy when I push against something. I did not event think to look in the mirror, but when my husband came home that night and touched my back.. it did not quite feel as good as always, so I asked him to have a look...lifting up my top I heard this big gulp and "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO YOURSELF???? and out came the blackberry taking a picture in disbelief and shock to show me..  It was BAD...VERY bad ! All black and bruised all the way from my neck down my back, bottom and even down to my legs.... I could hardly lie down in bed that night !!

Earning lots of sympathy from everyone I showed...my friends all convinced me to go back and demand an explanation. Surely this can't be right?!

Well- I tried - even if just for the sake of not sending another poor person home with a bruised body after they sign up for a relaxing afternoon of what proofed to be 2 and a half hours (yes, that is correct - that is how long the session was?!) of torture !

Well world, I am afraid that I could not help any soul out there who is still going to experience this...because the response I got:
"your body is in very weak and stressed state. This only happens when you are not in good shape....your body is going to feel very good after this and in 10 days after the massage, you should come for another one to get optimal effect. This was a Meridian massage and it is suppose to knock on your door and release you of all bad energy in you .... Okay - enough....OBVIOUSLY I shut that door pretty tight and she continued trying to force her way in...and my body does actually feel not too bad...BUT...

I don't think the IDEA of ANY massage is to leave you all bruised and battered afterwards to such extent that your body has to fight the damage and recover your tissue to a healthy state again???

So, this time it WAS my idea of getting a blissful massage..but it was CERTAINLY NOT MY IDEA to come home...black and blue ...but hey - it did take my mind off of some of my other problems...so, what do you know??

Anyone who would like to take my slot for the follow-up massage they offered me?