Well I take it all back about the knot behind my right
shoulder blade – it’s definitely not gone and when Ramesh got stuck into it, I really
felt how painful it still is. I don’t tend
to talk through the treatment but I was curious to ask Ramesh if he thinks it’s
possible to get rid of that knot. And
again, it was said to me with great conviction, that yes, of course it can be
removed. Yay and yay. I can’t wait.
He also said that no, my body pain, and in particular
the excruciating pain I feel when he digs deep into my calves and feet, no it’s
not normal. Other people don’t normally
feel this kind of pain. This news is
both comforting and bothering. But who
cares, it’s my pain and Ramesh re-assures me that my body will be changed in
one week.
I’ve also been doing some reading by Thich Nhat Hanh
and was pondering the nature of suffering, and my suffering during the
Udvartana massage today.
In “The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching” he writes “We
all suffer to some extent. We have some
malaise in our body and our mind. We
have to recognise and acknowledge the presence of this suffering and touch it. After we touch our suffering we need to look
deeply into it to see how it came to be.
We need to recognise and identify the spiritual and material foods we
have ingested that are causing us to suffer.”
This is the First and Second of the “Four Noble Truths”.
The Third, and he writes, is “Good News”. It is the “cessation of creating suffering by
refraining from doing the things that make us suffer.” Much to my relief, he writes “The Third Noble
Truth is that healing is possible.”
It’s a lot to take in, especially as the Fourth Noble
Truth “is the path that leads to refraining from doing the things that cause us
to suffer. This is the path we need the
most.”
But the Udvartana is over and now the Abhyangam massage
takes up all my attention – the pain makes me unable to think – just feel. I can hardly wait until I don’t feel this way
any longer. I asked to get in touch with
my “suffering” and this is exactly what Im forced to do. The sheer desperation
to have the pain end brought me to tears.
I guess only people with similar problem as me and possibly acute body
inflammation would experience this kind of all over body pain during a massage.
I haven’t told you about the steam yet – its full
on. After the Abhyangam massage he
finishes with a gorgeous facial massage and some pretty furious head massage
that just puts me back into a happy relaxed place. So then I step into what looks like a
magician’s trick cupboard and sit down on the stool. Im still just in my undies covered with oil,
and Ramesh closes me up by shutting the door and placing another piece of wood
jigsawed to fit exactly around my neck, and then seals me off with a towel. Steam is emitted into the chamber below and
it only takes a few seconds before I start to feel the giant beads of sweat
pouring off my body in rivets.
Dr George says this is to open the pores of my skin
which is to aid in the process of both elimination and opening up the channels
of my body. The first day was hard core
(if you saw the photo you will see what I mean), but in the days since, I don’t
think its quite so hot plus I know what to expect and today Ive really enjoyed
my 10 minute sweat.
When Ramesh opens the cupboard Im absolutely dripping
and the only thing left to do is towel down my arms & he wraps me in a
Lungi (2 metres of cotton fabric) and ties me off behind the neck so I can
comfortably walk around Kovalam afterwards.
Its funny because you see many people walking around
post-treatment in their Lungi. Everyone
knows where you have been and what you are up to as you walk around all oiled
and in your treatment “uniform”, which looks more like glamorous resort wear.
Tomorrow is the last day of the Udvartana massage and
steam.