Ahhhhh... An Austin Massage...Long Overdue

This was originally posted by Konagod on April 7, 2008

Back when I worked in Santa Monica, almost 11 years ago, I would get a massage once a year -- maybe twice. The Burke Williams Spa was just a short drive from the office and offered a wonderful retreat from the hectic pace of working (and driving) in Los Angeles.

After moving to Austin I dropped that luxury. The company where I worked had a guy who would come in once a week and do chair massages -- 20 minutes for $20 -- and that sufficed. Unfortunately, in 2000 I no longer had that job and I began a job working from home. Initially I thought about paying him to make a house call but as time marched on, I gradually put the idea of a massage out of my mind.

Fast forward to 2008: a very stressful year thus far. Unemployed. Worrying about finances. Facing necessary and expensive home repairs which will blow what remains of the unemployment nest egg I managed to save last year. And a plethora of equally urgent minor things which collectively will take a bite out of funds which ideally would be spent elsewhere.And then the accident in early March which resulted in an outflow of a few thousand dollars for car repair and txrad repair really got me tied up in a knot as if all the other issues weren't enough.

Last week my partner and I both accepted a suggestion that we'd benefit from massage treatment. After years of neglecting my body in that regard, I was eager to get back on the table. My expectations were greatly exceeded.

For those of you who have never indulged in something like this, you really don't know what you've missed. It may seem like a splurge -- and it is, but it's one I highly recommend. When done correctly, the positive effects don't end after 20 minutes or 50 minutes, or however long you opt for a treatment.

I knew my body was out of whack, especially since early March. I could feel tension in my hips, my back and especially my neck. I also sensed that my blood circulation was poor. And while I am aware that all these things are connected, I was never so surprised as when I was gently touched in a problematic spot in my pelvic area and felt a surge of positive sensation in my left shoulder and goosebumps erupted on my legs. And this was while standing up, prior to getting on the table for the massage!

There is something extremely pleasurable about allowing your body to go completely limp and allowing a specialist to move your arms and legs around and work on those areas of trouble. I spend hours each day at my desk on the computer, typing, and frequently I have one hand using a mouse. Few of us have any idea how this causes a build-up of stress and tension in our hands, arms and shoulders. However, when you are in the hands of a genuinely talented massage therapist it will become very obvious.

The person possessing this skill and gift is Jackie Gaston. She calls her practice Touch of the Hills Massage and Bodywork. I know only a small number of my readers here are actually in the Austin area but if you are, you should consider giving your body a mini-vacation. That's how I think of it. All of the positive effects of escaping from the daily stress of my life at a fraction of the cost of a literal weekend getaway.

Jackie specializes in a variety of bodywork techniques which are detailed on her website. Once I am gainfully employed again, I would love to experience the Moonstone Massage! Sounds like an hour and a half of complete bliss.

I regret that I have neglected the needs of my body for so many years. After walking away from a session feeling rejuvenated and almost light-headed, the benefit was clear. For the next 36 hours my body felt toasty warm which I attribute to greatly increased blood circulation.

There were also a couple of errands I wanted to run after the treatment. Realizing it was 4:30 on a weekday afternoon, the importance of the errands melted away rather quickly and I opted to just return home and avoid any rush-hour driving. I felt a sense of relaxation I hadn't known in a long time. The errands could wait for another day.

An Interview

I was recently interviewed by the author of Current Living. Here is the interview in its entirety.

Jackie Gaston is a healer and teacher based in Austin, TX. I recently asked Jackie about her work, and its connection to creating balance and well-being in all areas of our lives.

CL: For people who are wondering why they are “stuck” in certain emotional or mental patterns, is there any physical explanation for that? If so, what can be done about that?

JG: This is a good question in that it seems to start with the assumption that there is a division between the mental, the emotional and the physical. This is a view that has been held in western thought since Descartes hypothezied that thought equals being. William Blake said that the body is the soul as perceived by the senses and I feel this is more accurate. The question also addresses a state that we all experience from time to time. The feeling of being “stuck” seems to be an unavoidable part of the human experience. I think it is more useful to look at this state in terms of what it may be telling us rather than as something that we need to do something about. Why are we feeling stuck? What is going on in life that is allowing this feeling to be present at this time? After these factors are identified, we can begin to take action to either change or accept them. Doing this usually results in an awareness of the choices we are making and a feeling of more control in life. Stuckness can’t stay around when we feel we are in control.

CL: What are some of the more powerful modalities that can assist people in attaining a greater sense of well-being?

JG: Sometimes old conditions set up shop in the body and are little bit slow to leave. A simplified example is a period of time after a sore foot has healed when you still find yourself limping from time to time out of habit. The cells in your body that reproduced during the time of the injury reproduced exact replicas of themselves. The replicas contained the information that the foot was sore and limping took the pressure off of it. Nerve patterns transferred this information to the brain and back to the muscles that moved the foot establishing patterns that told the muscles how to behave. It takes a little while for all of those cells to get the message that the limping is no longer useful. Energy work can help repattern these kinds of messages. My preferred modalities for this are craniosacral therapy and Reiki combined with specific massage movements for each part of the body. I also like acupuncture and chiropractic care.

CL: Explain what a typical Reiki or energy work session involves. What are some of the positive results?

JG: A Reiki session is done with the client fully clothed and looks like a ‘laying on of hands’ for lack of a better description. I prefer to use my massage table for this but I have been known to work on people on their sofas, easy chairs or beds, folding chairs or whatever happens to be around. The intent is to send energy to any place that needs it and/or clear energy blockages that may be causing problems. The first result is usually a deep relaxation. Some people can feel the energy moving through them while others report not really feeling anything. I have never heard of anyone having a negative reaction to Reiki. However, I have known of people who were disappointed because they expected some big emotional or physical release. While this can and sometimes does happen, it can be a much more subtle modality and the experience is different for each person.

CL: Do you recommend having ongoing energy work done in order to help with chronic conditions, or can some conditions be resolved in one session?

JG: Yes and yes. There are some conditions that can be and are resolved in one session while others, especially chronic ones, benefit from ongoing sessions.

CL: What motivated you to become a healer and choose these modalities for your work?

JG: I have never had a job in which I did not feel that I was helping others. In fact, the only criteria that I have ever had for work is that it allowed me to help others. I have worked for a major insurance company, taught special education classes, worked with blind people and with developmentally handicapped people and worked for the Texas Rehabilitation Commission before becoming a body/energy worker so I guess the progression was logical. I first began hearing about Reiki in the early 90s when I was working the first aid crew at a music festival. I asked questions about it but nobody really wanted to tell me very much. Then, in 1996, a friend of mine left this time/space reality via running her car into a tree. I traveled from San Angelo to Kerrville to her memorial service and she decided to accompany me home. She literally pestered me into taking my first Reiki classes. (I could go on and on about how weird this all seemed in San Angelo, TX but I’ll spare you that discourse.) I had a craniosacral session in 1998 and felt my jaw unlock while the practitioner’s hand was under my sacrum. I just had to find out how to do that. Since then, I just have not been able to stop exploring different modalities. I feel that I could spend the rest of my life studying ways that the body manifests the spirit and the ways in which it can be addressed.

CL: Are types of energy work ever combined to create some new form of healing?

JG: Certainly. I seldom use just one modality. Sometimes I don’t even have a name for what happens in a session. Each person has different needs and responds to different combinations of modalities.

CL: People have ideas about what kinds of therapies they need to help with certain physical issues. Do you ever counsel against using certain methodologies?

JG: This is a fairly common occurrence. A lot of times people think they want a deep tissue massage and it is often not what their body will accept, especially if they don’t get bodywork on a regular basis. They have just heard the term a lot and think is sounds exotic or something. I won’t do deep work or use much pressure at all on recent injuries. There are other contraindications for bodywork such as illness, fever, and etc. But almost anyone can have energy work at anytime.


CL: In the greater mind-body-spirit-heart connection, how does your work to influence all of these areas of life?

JG: My intent is to help the client integrate the mental/emotional experience with the physical one and to set things up so that he/she is open to healing themselves. Yeah, I said ‘healing themselves’ because I can only facilitate the healing by creating and holding the space for it to happen.

CL: What are you reading?

JG: Just finished Eat, Pray, Love, a book I did not expect to like based on reviews that I had read but I had heard so much about it that I gave in and read it. Loved it. I am also reading Marriage of the Spirit by Leslie Temple-Thurston and an autobiography of Judy Collins. I am forever picking up the Abraham-Hicks books and reading a page or two. I keep some of those cds in my car and usually listen to one while I drive around. I am studying the work of Sanaya Roman and Duane Packer as well.

For more information on Jackie’s work and range of services, please visit http://www.jackiegaston.com/.