Mall massage: stranger in a strange land

I had a mall massage the other day. The gentleman who performed the massage was Chinese. He didn’t speak my language and I didn’t speak his. I understood from his motioning that he wanted me to hang my jacket on a hook on the wall, and he held up a plastic box for my shoes. He smiled and patted the table as an invitation. When I laid on the table, I assumed the position I usually would when I begin to receive a massage, face up. He got very agitated and, with the help of one of the other therapists, indicated that I was supposed to be prone. So I turned over. Then I was frantically made to understand that my head was at the wrong end of the table. So I got up, turned around (three times-no, not really) and positioned my body on his table, how and where I was supposed to.

The massage was given in an open room. So, of course I kept my clothes on. Working through my shirts and pants and socks there was no opportunity for him to feel any subtle reactions that my body might be signaling his touch. He pushed, shoved, squeezed, shook, stretched and slapped. His pace was rapid; his touch, strong and deliberate. He started at the head and ended at the feet. Whatever the he did on one side, he repeated on the other. His routine was set. He was obviously trained in his style of massage. I surmised that the session I got was the exact same session everyone gets.  

I noticed the aromas on his hands and breath. Intense kim chee! Great if you are dining out; not so much when you are trying to empty your mind. Relaxation is difficult when your eyes are crossed and you are gasping for air.   Could this give us a clue to how a dog experiences his sessions? A dog understands only a few words and phrases, and reads as much as he can into our body language. A dog moves, once he figures it out, where he is told to go and stays there until it is no longer comfortable (I stayed longer than I wanted). A dog observes all the patterns of pressures he feels. A dog is not only aware of smells, he responds viscerally to each and every aroma on our hands and breath. We’ve discussed in earlier “Helpful Hints” how dogs can even smell your thoughts.  

A dog on your table, like me in my mall massage, is also keenly aware of whether the signals his body is sending are being received, acknowledged and honored.  

Your dog need not be a stranger in a strange land, as I was in the mall, when he gets on your table.