The warmth of the summer breeze was an invitation to bliss as my dog, Two-Lane and I rode out of South Carolina after my daughter’s tender wedding. Filled with the love of having all my children in one place and spending these precious moments with them the invitation needed little encouragement.
Solo riding is the time of internal reflection, slowing to my own pace, and marveling at the precious moments of connection with others. For the most part I just chatted with people here and there, listened to their dreams and stories of travels, as the sight of a dog on the tank of a packed up motorcycle often sparks a memory or dream in another. This richness is beyond what any disbursement of greenbacks has ever offered.
After a 2-year hiatus in San Diego, CA for an exercise in holistic expansion, I’m back at home on the road, every night looking for a safe place to sleep. The fearful tension soon melting into gratitude for each sanctified piece of ground granted to a woman and her dog living on the highways of the Church of the Free Spirit.
And I exhale…
On the road again, where I told myself while in school that I would put forth the effort to see how to incorporate massage as a viable means to support myself. This is it… I had worked for vendors at a couple of Rallies already and made enough to get by, but that isn’t what I was looking for. My dream is to make massage my ministry and travel in faith living off the donations of those who receive this healing touch my teachers so beautifully demonstrated to me. This is the passion and call that feeds me, and this is what I will do.
It gets scary; the questioning that maybe my dreams are not feasible, especially when reality presents itself with the challenges of the world’s perception of massage therapy.
Massage therapist are an educated bunch, requiring national/state exams. Our education includes anatomy, physiology as well as an understanding of pathologies and how they are addressed. I understand how the muscle attaches to the skeleton and ways to possibly release pain or tension associated with this. We are not “happy ending” specialists, or “rub down” techs. Personally I have over 1,100 hours of training with experience on over 100 bodies. This is what I face, am I complaining about something I cannot change? Maybe, but I think part of my path is to educate people on the benefits of healing touch…
And I am still in school in a sense but now I learn how to create enough trust in a short time, quickly educating people about the healing benefits of what I refer to as body-work, create a working relationship so people can experience this alternative option to healing from the current system, and even to a deeper experience of body/mind/spirit.
And sometimes it has worked and sometimes I walk in financial insecurity. But it is all still a part of actualizing my dreams. Expanding my horizons, listening to the wise ones who offer solution, service, and advice. Of staying true to my purpose, that this is by donation, that this is gift, that this is spirit, that this has heart and meaning thus it must thrive within my small world. And even in the face of fear of poverty, the heart wins, the person who can’t pay gets as much of my attention as the one that pays much, this must stay true.
And the people who cross my path, who touch my soul, who contribute to me in ways beyond measure. These are the people who believe in my dream for me and lend a moment, a word, a referral, an offering; these are the people who keep me on the path of my dreams. The only reason I can continue through it all.
And this reality… I am in San Diego for the winter getting ready to go to work at a massage spa so I can earn enough money to further grant my heart her dreams. And this too is valid for it will afford me my second adventure into my dream of holistic healing. On my packed up motorcycle with a dog on the tank, come springtime when I again; with this past year’s lessons, expand my horizons and get closer to the realization of my chosen life path.
Life and Times of an Eclectic Gypsy Soul 