My interest in bodywork actually started my senior year at NYU. Like any good senior, I was looking for a better way to procrastinate, and ended up at the New York Open Center's open house, in a free shiatsu class taught by Marianne Fuenmayor.
I'm always up for learning something new, and always up for doing something relaxing. But Marianne's class was a little bit life-changing. First thing she taught us - both giver and receiver support each other in shiatsu. It is a concept that is reflected in the Japanese symbol for "human being":
It's a wonderful concept - human being is all about supporting and letting yourself be supported by your fellow humans. I loved the spirit of community that Marianne fostered in her classes. Between that, my knack for picking up all things physical (see: dancing, yoga), and the way that Eastern healing philosophy just made sense, I was hooked. My night of procrastination turned into a year's worth of study that only ended when I moved to NJ, but I was still searching for a way to further infuse that sense of community into my life.
And why oncology massage? While my mom was fighting ovarian cancer, she had a ton of severe side effects from her chemotherapy and the medicines that were supposed to treat the side effects of the chemotherapy. I suggested she try a more holistic approach - maybe acupuncture, to at least help with the pain. Being a physician, she was reluctant to try it. Even after convincing her that it was a good idea, she resisted, saying, "I don't know anyone I'd trust to do it." Which was a good point - even I was reluctant to use the shiatsu I knew with my mom, for fear of doing something wrong. So now The Institute for Therapeutic Massage has taught me how to do it right. Even if I can't help my mom anymore, I can help someone else's.
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