I Am A Massage Client - Trying Shiatsu

I am firmly convinced that humans were never meant to stand upright on two feet. Low back pain!  After biting a bullet for 5 days, waiting for this pain in my lumbar area to abate, I decided I better go see the doctor.

I LOVE my doctor. 

Dr. Thuy Tran is an admirable woman.  A member of the UCLA medical community she is my primary care physician. Not only is she skilled as a diagnostician, a personal and compassionate physician, but she is generous in sharing her expertise.  With other members of her family and some friends, she has created a medical care non-profit organization, Global Health Force, that delivers medical services and supplies to underserved areas of the world and spends her vacation time traipsing to places like Vietnam (her original home), Haiti, the Dominican Republic and India to do what she can for others.  And she is open-minded.

So when I went to see her for my low back pain, after ruling out any other medical possibilities, she determined that it was muscle pain, maybe stress-related, and proceeded to give me medical direction.  One thing she said was, "Do you go for massage?"  I replied, "Sometimes, like for my birthday!"  She said..."I am talking about medical massage...like Shiatsu.  You go there for health, not to smell the candles!"

She suggested a location at the Tozai Plaza in the heart of the local Asian community in Gardena and Jay and I set out for massage.

The facility was tiny, neat and calm.  It reminded us of various massage facilities we had visited while in China and Thailand a number of years ago.  The main massage room consisted of massage tables set up in a long row.

Since they couldn't take the two of us at the same time, Jay waited for me in the waiting area

...but then slipped out to the neighboring restaurant to get a bowl of  "cow parts and noodles!"

I did not disrobe for this massage, but wore loose clothing and my therapist, Linda, draped a light weight sheet over me so that her hands rarely touched my skin.  What I felt was her thumb!  Heavy deep tissue massage with her thumb probing into the muscles along my spine and lumbar area that felt so good, but at times also brought tears.  Shiatsu is considered an alternative medicine and the word means finger pressure in Japanese. Slowly and methodically, Linda worked all the musculature along my back and I slipped into an alternative reality! 

I felt wonderful when my 30 minutes was up and I kind of floated out to the car.  I am sure I was an inch taller!  On the way home it seemed appropriate to stop at an Asian Market where I bought some Dashi Powder and Red Chili Paste for a tofu dish and miso soup for dinner.

Thank you, Dr. Tran, for expanding my horizons! And to my friends, if you would like to be a partner in all the good that Global Health Force accomplishes, visit their website!  They are hosting their wonderful annual fund-raiser, the Global Gala on October 22 in Manhattan Beach...details at the website.