Yesterday I did a practical training day to finish my Indian Head Massage course. It was in the middle of nowhere in North Devon, and was a full class of eight plus teacher and her assistant (the poor thing was demonstrated on all day!). Not only did I learn a great deal (and am keen to practice on anyone) and as we worked in pairs I got massaged half of the time (it was a hard ol' day...), but it was a delight to meet such an interesting group of people.
I'm into gender equality and not being the judgemental type, of course. But even I was surprised to find three men in the group and not a hippy in sight. It turns out that holistic and complimentary therapies no longer come with a side order of hemp. There was a beer bellied builder from London who having started in a friend's salon practicing reiki wants to build up his portfolio, a divorced pilates teacher from Staffordshire wanting to offer massage to her one-on-one clients, a Ukrainian seamstress living in Cambridge who wants to start her own therapy business and a young African guy studying all sorts of massage so that he can offer his services to spas in Somerset.
I loved hearing their stories and struggles, who believed in chakras and energy healing, and who was starting a new career because of a midlife crisis or redundancy. It was a pleasure to spend the day with such warm, gentle, accepting people who couldn't have been more different. I'll save the 'don't judge a book by its cover' lesson for now, and leave it at - if you go for a massage you might be surprised by your therapist, but I'm sure they'll be jolly nice.
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