17/09/2025
"Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity" - Simone Weil
As I prepare for Massage Championship again I keep thinking about what massage therapy is and what it means.
The Championships demand a u-turn in attitude to what it is I am used to applying to my work. The focus is on me and my performance, to showcase my skills which, is at odds with my attitude at work!
I offer deep listening to my client's physical body. I don't need to hear too much of your life from your verbal story, your body will talk. Treatments are a time for your body to receive attention from a place of deep care and compassion. It is in this space that there is potential for transformation over time because, when we make space in treatment to listen and connect in with the body, we it's innate wisdom and intelligence. The body needs to be heard in order to keep us healthy, resilient and strong.
Where attention goes, chi flows. Taoist wisdom - at the heart of all that I do.
The body stores and hides tension like it does emotions. Too much suppression and disconnection can leave us anxious, unsettled, indecisive, tired or in pain. The body knows it is not being heard so, it has to try and make noise physically or emotionally.
I can only offer the listening and compassion because I have lived it and had to cultivate it within myself. There was a time when I did not know how to rest or slow down or to drown out all the noise or the sense of ongoing duty, purpose and busy-ness that modern life can fill our minds with.
In stillness is peace. I've never found a better way to get out of a chatty mind than through working with my body. The nervous system responds to touch, sound, heat and smell - adjusting these conditions can adjust your attitude and headspace.
I think that this poem by William Henry Davies is mis-titled 'Leisure' - time to stand and stare isn't about leisure, it is how our animal self was designed to spend time. Our attention is currency and everyone is trying to grab it.
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?-
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows:
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
© William Henry Davies
We have to make money of course, we have to make time for our loved ones, of course, we have to nurture our human connections through social time, of course. We have to cook and eat, wash and groom of course. We can do this all alongside stillness and mindfulness because they are an attitude and approach. Not an action or a task.
With love light, and deep philosophical thought on this rainy Wednesday morning X
Photo taken when my friend and I walked up Cadair Idris sometime ago - a beautiful place for perspective and sore legs 😆
