02/06/2026
Today I realized that I'm a "Body Ambassador".
I arrived at the Camden office to meet with an older client who booked with a very sparce intake form.
When he walked into the office, I realized immediately that he didn't speak a word of English. He pulled out his phone to use the translator to explain to me that he's never had a massage before but needs work on his neck, back and shoulders, and that his right shoulder hurts to the touch.
He had never had a massage before and didn't know what to expect, how to get on the table, or how much clothes to remove.
Although I tried to mime my best explaining to him what to expect and what he'll receive before stepping out of the room- and repeated gestured instructions again the first time I ducked in, when I returned to start work, I still found him under the drapes with his jeans and belt fully on...
I could tell this older man has had experiences... and I had brief connections with my early years as an immigrant- as well as consequent years, when I often felt out of place and craved healing touch. I tapped in, held my hands over craniosacral connections and channeled for him all the loving and welcoming energy that I could move.
When I began working on his face, head and shoulders, I realized that he had a hearing aid in his left ear, which caused audible static any time my hands moved near it. I tried to work around it but did ask him to remove it, which he did.
His whole posture was so tight and unrelenting, I wondered if- and how he'd been treated- and touched his whole life, leading up to this moment. He could not relax or release his neck, shoulders, hands, feet or legs. Rather than any deep tissue (which his sore muscles may have appreciated,) I had to practice gentler CS and efflourage styles, simply bc his body wouldn't RELAX to receive any deeper pressure.
That's when I thought of my role as a body ambassador. I realized that in this case, my role is to communicate with his body, with his nervous system- to help him feel safe, to help him feel like he belongs- in his body, in this space, in this life, wherever and however he arrived.
When it was time to flip over onto his stomach, I gestured the motions and held the sheets up for him like a tent, to turn over inside. I folded up the sheets over his hips and that's when I noticed the long scar that snaked all the way around his scapula- shoulder to chest. I felt a flash of wonder what this was from, and why this wasn't mentioned on the intake form at all...
I wondered if this is related to the pain he feels when touching his shoulder, and again- why this wasn't mentioned in intake
The scar was old, so I worked over it and channeled healing energy. I worked on integrating meridians and moving across midlines and hemispheres. Throughout the whole session, I kept marveling at how amazing it is that we can communicate through touch without ever needing to speak words, that even across nations and languages, we have touch as a common language of healing and connection,,,
When we finished, I covered his back again, smoothed the lines over, thanked him, and stepped out.
He rejoined his wife in the waiting room with a big smile and thanked me, said he'll book again.
