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Email inquiry:
Hello I’m interested in taking the foundation course but I am concerned about my physical condition on my right hand which is my favorite hand that has some nerve damage and I am a little bit limited. Might this affect my ability to massage? I have taken first level in healing touch for animals but this is little or no touch application. Please provide any insight. Jonathan’s (official PetMassageTM) reply: I think you already know the answer. Yes, not having full use of your hand will affect your ability to do canine massage. That said, every one of us who practices PetMassageTM bodywork has some sort of limitation. It could be physical. It could be emotional. It could be from our previous training. It is incredible how training can limit your ability to accept new and better ways of approaching your practice. It could be from our parents’ belief systems. Were you raised in a pet-friendly, pet neutral, or pet-hostile home? We didn’t use fly swatters because the flies were living, thinking and feeling creatures, like our dogs, cats and neighbors. Killing them would just be wrong. When I was little, I remember my mother, waiting until it was dark, shooing a fly buzzing about in our home. She taught me to turn off all the lights except the one by the front door, to attract the fly to his or her escape route. What sorts of physical limitations could affect our ability to massage dogs? Sure, one is the partial nerve damage in your dominant hand. Others might be a temporarily frozen shoulder. If you had plantar fasciitis you couldn’t stand for long periods. You couldn’t focus if you had a migraine headache. You cannot be fully present when you have a cold. Have you ever heard of someone being described as chronologically challenged? Even your age could be considered a limitation. But, that’s more belief system and emotion based, than physical. We all bring baggage. We have our troubles packed up in our old kit bags. We each have something that could be getting in the way of making a perfect connection with dogs. If we didn’t we’d be pure spirit…with no hands at all. We bring who we are and everything we have experienced to the table. The dogs bring their life histories, as well. The PetMassageTM lays it all out, sorts and organizes whatever rises to the surface, and assists the dog to process what she can. This could be an inflamed restricted shoulder or an inflamed memory that is restricting socially responsible behavior. People with just one hand can learn to PetMassageTM, although their body mechanics have to be altered for them to reposition or restrict a dog’s movements on the table. The rest of the body more than compensates for whatever is lacking. If you cannot see, your senses of smell and hearing become more acute. If you cannot palpate with your hands, you learn to feel with your shoulders, or in your throat, in your sinuses, or as your belly turns, and with the rhythms of your heart. You see how compatible PetMassageTM is with Healing Touch. Your healing talents and intentions will more than compensate for the partial lack of feeling in your one hand. I think you knew this answer too. You are welcome to attend the Foundation workshop. Let’s discover that the limitations you think you have are actually opportunities for you to enhance other skills. Let’s discover your personal interpretation and manifestation of PetMassageTM for Dogs.