I was born with malrotated intestines, which is when in utero between 8-12 weeks development the intestines don’t exactly get themselves situated where they usually are in the abdomen. If not diagnosed in the first year of life, one may never know they even have such an anomaly.
I am one of these people.
From the time I can recall any memories in my youth I was in pain, if not physical from having volvulus occurring (the blocking action of the intestines getting twisted due to their malrotated presentation) then emotional due to trauma and abuse.
My father, who I grew up with, was a fan of massage and would ask me to walk on his back and just like that, I was doing Ashiatsu!
Suffice to say, all the times I experienced a volvulus occurring (which were many more in my trying first ten years of life) my first instinct was to rub my belly in an attempt to soothe the pain. It’s a wonder I didn’t die, since blockages in the intestines if not resolved certainly can kill a person.
As I aged and Western medicine was unable (or just not technologically advanced enough with imaging) to help me, I found myself exploring other systems of health throughout the world and massage, along with modalities like acupuncture, homeopathy, reflexology and flower essences (to name a few) all became the medicines in my proverbial basket for healing myself.
It was Western medicine that finally caught up with my diagnosis (at the age of 32!) when after my (how manyeth?) visit to the ER I was told and shown what the issue was. And yes, massage is and was helpful for relieving volvulus when they occur – woot! Heavy pain meds don’t hurt either.
My “work” for the last few decades has included massage and many other modalities as I want to heal all the wounds I’ve received (all really unintentionally I believe) – whether I’m giving or receiving. Which brings to mind what the founder of the Women For Sobriety (Jean Kirkpatrick) writes in the 8th of the 13 recovery statements for the group: The fundamental object of life is emotional and spiritual growth.
How can you or are you growing from your work? Take time now to reflect on this – are you doing the work you need to be doing for yourself? If not, why not? If so, how’s it going?
TimeSpaceOne 