A massage therapist goes to Md Anderson Cancer Center

I really dig how they have a swooshy red strike-through on “Cancer” as part of their logo.

I ponder the thumb drive in my hand. And, I realize that storage capacity has come a long ways from the 8″ floppy disc and the data cassette.

In February, twenty-thirteen, I attended Md Anderson Cancer Center‘s first annual Integrative Oncology Conference. Everyone got a thumb drive, copies of all the presentations, in Houston, Texas.

First annual. This is the launch point of Integrative Oncology. Western medicine has seldom been so open.

I flew down to Houston sitting beside my doggie splashing in the mud at the delta friend, Tracy Webb, physician’s assistant at Compass Oncology. I keep hearing Compass Oncology mentioned on NPR. Keen.

Compass splurged for the rental car. Taking Care Portland graciously paid for the $150 attendance fee. I took the hit for the $541 Southwest Airlines plane ticket, $80 a night stay at the Marriott, plus food. Totally forgot my headphones, so I picked up a decent quality pair for $25. Since I was traveling, I so enjoyed using my iPad to use my mediation practice apps. Brainwave and Pain Killer 2.0 were such grounding tools that I used every morning and evening, watching breath mechanics in the quiet.

So, the Marriott was freaking awesome. Such a deal! Close to Md Anderson, within waking distance. And, the nicest, most charming, insightful staff I have had the honor of meeting.

I stroll into Houston, Texas with my Vibram Spydiron’s , still muddy from a jaunt around Elk Rock Island. Figured if there’s one pair to take, it’s gonna be these minimalist shoes on my hobbit feet. Dig the mid-foot abrasion plating and enhanced cross-lateral traction of the sole, while retaining a high amplitude of ground transmission. Keeps me sensitive to environment while handily tacking into any substrate with confidence and glee.

For luggage, I went minimalist too. I took my orange day pack, super lightweight with pockets in the waist belt, big enough to tote around my Panasonic GF1, a small micro four third camera, with the 20mm 1.7 lens. Though, I really didn’t take photos down there, choosing to immerse myself in the sensory experience.

I don’t do suit and ties, even when hanging out with doctors. Technical fabrics, compressible clothing, couple pairs of pants. My tooth brush and iPhone/iPad charger and that’s about it. What more do I need for a three night trip?

Pappy used to say we had trick shooters and Texas lawmen in the family’s history. My first time in Houston felt just a bit like stepping into another world. I got off the plane looking for a Stetson. Only saw one fella wearing a cowboy hat the entire trip. Bygones.

“I wear a fez now. Fez’s are cool.” -Dr. Who

Driving to the Marriott, I soon began to realize the scope of Houston’s medical knowledge, housed in the mammoth scale and beauty of architectural design. Tracy had said that Md Anderson was one of the top three cancer research centers in the United States. Yeah… I believe her. Driving through Houston showed me a cross section of Western Medicine, practiced in it’s highest form, with all the funding to back it up. Md Anderson’s campus makes OHSU look like a shoe shine shop. And, that sprawling complex up on the hill saved my life back in 1991; got nothing but fondness for our northwest medical treasure. Down in Houston, I have never seen the like. Felt like Buck Rogers waking up in the twenty third century, sans Twiki.

I was quite chuffed to be attending this conference, as massage therapist from Portland, Oregon, For the first time, the oncology community is bringing massage therapy, acupuncture, nutrition, meditation and music into the discussion of cancer care. Western medicine only considers evidence-based approaches. There must be enough solid, peer-reviewed research that shows a level of efficacy beyond the percentages of placebo to recommend a modality in cancer care. Md Anderson Cancer Center is creating a compelling model for integrative oncology. Yeah, I had to be there!

Massage therapists, acupuncturists, mind-body practitioners, nutritionists, musicians… Ya’ll get in on this!

I’ll be sharing more about the Md Anderson Cancer Center’s First Annual Integrative Oncology Conference soon! Go to our home page and subscribe to First of Nine: Tensegrity Blog… The Cancer Survivorship and Bodywork Zine and feel the pendulation.

Hamid : )
firstofnine.wordpress.com • compassionartspdx.com • takingcareportland.com

Just finding First of Nine: Tensegrity Blog? Deep dive with massage articles, photography, video and music in Portland, Oregon’s Cancer Survivorship and Bodywork Zine!

• A massage therapist goes to NCNM
• First Contact… And, sound therapy for cancer survivorship
• The four C’s of consciousness

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The complex skeletal anatomy of the feet. Screen capture from our friends at Pocket Anatomy for the iPad.

Bonus video!

How do you explore your range of motion? Here’s a video I made hanging out in the kitchen, exploring the motion of the anatomy of the hands and feet. The music was recorded on the iPad 2. The tune is Emerald, plunked on Lucky, the three-quarter size Fender that rarely stays in tune.

I invite you all to explore your own… Range of Motion…

Compassion Arts PDX, LLC launches in Portland, Oregon!

Dear friends,

My bodywork practice is in such lovely transition, as I continue to sculpt my craft in the healing arts. I started up my first massage therapy website, Transcending Touch back in 2004. It took me six months of geeking out on search engine optimization to get to top google rankings, where it’s stayed since then.

Through the years, my practice has refined, as dictated by the needs of the folks walking into my office. I once thought massage was about helping out some sore muscles feel less sore. Turns out, the profession has been about so much more.

Every single one of you has been my teacher. And, it is the greatest to honor to serve all the complexities of the depth of pain, suffering, hope and joy in the Portland community.

I would like to introduce you to Compassion Arts PDX, LLC, my new massage and bodywork practice in Portland, Oregon. In the office, in the sacred bodywork space, you’re still going to get me. All the presence, all the listening, all the creativity. On other levels, the intention is to reach a worldwide audience, developing more media… More writing, more music, more photography, more video.

So, I was offering an Oncology Touch class at SomaSpace. I had to drop that for now. The massage class is developed, and I think it will be quite brilliant. With all the business transition, something had to retract. No worries…. All kinds of folks are asking to learn from me. It’s gonna take me some time to sort out how to offer bodywork education to the Nth degree.

So, check out my snazzy new website! There are still a few bits in development, but it’s live and waiting for you to find some inspiration there!

www.compassionartspdx.com

And, now you can schedule a bodywork session online! Online scheduling is really new for me. There may be a few quirks along the way. ‘Scuse our dust!

That’s all I know right now. I look forward to wrangling with your fascia soon!

Be well,
Hamid Shibata Bennett, LMT, CAMT (OBMT #301)
Portland, Oregon licensed massage therapist, certified in advanced myofascial techniques

http://www.compassionartspdx.com/

Just finding First of Nine: Tensegrity Blog? Deep dive with massage articles, photography, video and music in Stumptown’s Massage and Bodywork Zine!

• Pendulation, trauma release and bodywork
• Myofascial mechanoreceptors
• A massage therapist goes to NCNM

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Chemotherapy and music

One of my massage clients recently asked me about the music I listen to that has influenced my own.

Golly, it’s a big question. Music has been such an influence in my life, my healing, my profession, my relationships, my spirituality. Music reaches it all.

I first started playing guitar when I was fifteen. For my birthday, pappy had gotten me a red-finished electric Washburn guitar with two single coil pickups and a humbucker by the bridge. She was a beauty in those young hands. I took lessons from a local blues journeyman for about six months. About the time, I was supposed to learn Stairway to Heaven, like so many of my peers, I veered off, quitting lessons and going it on my own.

I remember reading an article on Eddie Van Halen. Talked about how Eddie was the kind of player that could pick up any instrument, like a toy guitar, and make music out of it. Van Halen, Thanksgiving of 1988 was my first major concert. Up in the nosebleeds. Didn’t matter, that fella’s magic across a fretboard lit me up.

“I’m just a punk kid that plays guitar.” -Edward Van Halen

Never really tried to play like Eddie. Yeah, there was a few years of finger tapping experimentation. But, I was never gonna be him, so why bother? Finding my own way has rarely involved following the crowd.

I used to record these long improvisations and give tapes to my girlfriend. All the emotions I simply had no words for yet. I would set up a cassette recorder with a little plug in microphone from Japan. I would lay down a take, then transfer the cassette into a stereo with the speaker and the guitar amp about the same distance from the microphone. A second tape went into the recorder and I’d layer a second guitar track while the stereo played the first. I would do this three or four times to create different textural layers. A bit noisy, but still intelligible.

Understanding the layers of the body… The proximal lower extremity and the highly mechanosensing fascial wrappings surrounding muscle bellies.

When I started chemotherapy, it wasn’t long before my mobility began to decrease, only being able to walk a few blocks before my calves seized. Chemotherapy matted my fascia. All those anterior and posterior compartments became unable to glide across one another; movement possibilities diminished.

At this point, I had been playing guitar for three years, done a few four-track recording projects with school chums. Played Paint it Black in AP US History class. The instrument was becoming a tool for self-expression, for meditation, for escape, for language.

I lost all strength in my thumbs. A guitar pick, strummed lightly over strings would fall from my grasp. Button fly jeans were problematic. Nerve damage was another wonderful side-effect.

Thanks, cancer. Ya took the guitar away from me.

Healing from cancer can take years. These days, my thumbs are plenty strong, which helps as a structural bodyworker. Yep, I kept playing guitar too. Today, music and sound therapy is beginning to work it’s way into integrative cancer survivorship programs in Portland, Oregon. A pick nary falls out of my fingers any more.

Hamid : )
firstofnine.wordpress.com
transcendingtouch.com
takingcareportland.com

Music bonus!

I’m plunking around with a Taylor GS Mini I picked up from Portland Music on NE Broadway a month or so ago. Recorded on the iPad 2 with Multitrack DAW. This is Fire Weed.

Just finding First of Nine: Tensegrity Blog? Deep dive with massage articles, photography, video and music in Stumptown’s Massage and Bodywork Zine!

• A massage therapist goes to NCNM
• Disrupting the positive feedback loop of pain
• Bone Broth: a rebuttal to The Onion

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A massage therapist goes to NCNM

In January, Taking Care Portland was invited to speak at the National College of Natural Medicine’s 2013 Integrative Oncology Conference in Portland, Oregon. Of course we said, yes!

Steve Frost, fellow sound therapist and multi-talented musician, and I drove down together. We were told there were one hundred ten doctors on site and about forty watching the live, streaming webinar. I brought the smaller of my two Tibetan singing bowls. And, I made sure to wear my longest scarf. It’s in the details.

I had just strolled into the room, taking in the expansiveness of the huge space, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to greet Padeen Quinn, naturopathic physician and instructor at a local massage school.

Padeen asks, “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, they invited me to speak. Are you speaking too?”

“No, no!” she replied.

Padeen goes on to share with me that they had been talking about extra-cellular matrix all weekend. “That’s what you work with!”

Yep… Tissue architecture. Fascia. Tensegrity. This is my kinda crowd.

I spy Rose from the Divine Cafe food cart on southeast Belmont. She is the go to caterer for NCNM and offering food at the oncology conference. I go to give her a hug and say howdy. She offers me a gluten free cookie and life is all right.

A lecture finishes up and a fellow walks up to me. He points to the singing bowl sitting on the table in front of me.

He asks, “What is this? Are you going to play this?”

Yep. Turns out, this gentle fellow is Dhuval Dhru, MD and he is presenting right after Taking Care on an Ayurvedic Approach to Integrative Cancer Care. He goes on to tell me of a friend of his in Seattle that has a Tibetan singing bowl large enough for a person to stand inside. He’s experienced standing inside this singing bowl and observed every cell in his body, head to toe, feel waves of vibration, both surrounding and permeating inside of him. Maybe Taking Care Portland will have the budget for such amazing vibrational tools one day!

We have a wonderful lunch of local, organic food and we chit chat with a few more naturopaths. Then, Daniel Miller and MaryJane Hoadley, the Taking Care leadership team, show up. So awesome to know friends are here to back ya up in a new experience.

Then, Taking Care is up. Daniel grabs a microphone and introduces our integrative cancer survivorship events, which we had been holding at NCNM. He talks about how we are bringing nutrition, massage, acupuncture and sound into a long-term perspective to cancer care. The Taking Care Portland website is displayed behind us on the twenty foot screen. Oh… Now it’s my turn to speak. Pass the mic.

What can this lil massage therapist say to over a hundred doctors? Let’s see!

“Howdy. I’m Hamid Shibata Bennett. I suppose I’m here because I’m one of those examples of long-term cancer survivorship. There were nine documented cases before mine and I was the first to live beyond seventy-two months. That was ninety-ninety one; the year of the Gulf War. When we saw rockets over Bagdad in real time for the first time. But, my cancer history goes back even further. My history of cancer goes back to the atomic bomb.”

I tell them about my father, who flew small prop fighter planes in World War II. His favorite was always the P-51 Mustang. That was back when you had to raise the landing gear by hand crank. A different time.

I told about pappy witnessing one of the atomic bomb blast tests and his hair falling out years later. Lost it all overnight.

I tell them about his son, Dickie; the half-brother I never met. As family stories go, Dickie was one of the first nationally publicized leukemia cases.

Dickie was three years of age. He lived on the Air Force base with our father and his family. Dickie was quite bright and could identify the model of airplane coming in for a landing just from the sound. Yeah, bright. Pattern recognition seems to be a family trait.

Dickie became unwell. Spots in his skin. Puzzled the family doctor.

Grandmother found an article in the Reader’s Digest about this new disease call Leukemia. She showed the article to the doctor and that created action. The Air Force arranged to fly them up to Seattle, Washington, where all the “experts” in the field were. Such a new disease. They didn’t know much.

Dickie’s dream was always to fly. He lived on the airbase, knew his father flew, saw those prop planes overhead.

On the plan trip up, Dickie was pretty sick, laying with his head cradled by his arms. After the plane and taken off and gotten to altitude, Dickie looks up and asks our father, “Are we flying yet?”

Dad says, “Yeah, we’re flying.”

Dickie smiles big and lays his head down in his arms.

And…

That was it. He took his last breath.

Dream, fulfilled.

Yep… Shared that with a bunch of docs.

I went on to talk about the current research on fascia. I talked about Donald Ingber’s work with tensegrity architecture and mechanotransduction, creating changes in intracellular biochemistry and gene expression.

I talked about Robert Schliep’s research on myofascial mechanoreceptors. The Interstitial receptors being the most numerous sensory receptor in the human body, appearing every three hundred microns. The low-pressure threshold Interstitial mechanoreceptors respond to the lightest feather touch and engage the autonomic nervous system. So, we can have an affect on respiration rate, heart rate, digestion, perspiration and salivation anywhere the hands touch.

I passed the mic to Sir Steve and I cranked up the singing bowl. Steve guided the doctors in a group sound awareness practice. We got a lecture hall full of doctors humming and observing positive change. So cool!

Twenty thirteen is just getting started…. Welcome to the dawn of integrative oncology… Massage therapists, musicians…. You are invited.

For downloadable presentations from the 2013 Integrative Oncology Conference in Portland, Oregon at NCNM, check this out.

Hamid : )
firstofnine.wordpress.com
transcendingtouch.com
takingcareportland.com

Just finding First of Nine: Tensegrity Blog? Deep dive with massage articles, photography, video and music in Stumptown’s Massage and Bodywork Zine!

• Minimalist running and the sensate massage therapist
• Self-care and massage therapy
• Myofascial pregnancy massage

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A massage therapist’s top forty two of 2012

I’m an introspective bloke. Living more and more in the hear and now, it’s still quite useful to take a breath or two and stroll back into memory, to see how far one’s personal journey has come. To note the accomplishments, learn from the fumbles and grow oneself into the healing artists one was born to be.

First of Nine humbly presents… First of Nine’s first top forty two list!

Other meager lists may stop at ten, but this one goes all the way up to the meaning of life, the universe and everything!

1. Creating a non-profit to bring a collaboration between massage therapists, acupuncturists, naturopaths, oncologists, chefs and farmers with a goal of providing a long-term, community exploration of cancer survivorship. Just signed on our first board member!

2. Held two events and the National College of Natural Medicine that included community bodywork with live sound therapy, acupuncture and a cancer resources room.

3. Lead discussions on modifications to bodywork for those living with cancer.

4. Facilitated sound therapy discussions and practice with musicians.

5. Was invited to Thailand to be an expert practitioner. Told my writing was reaching the world.

6. First of Nine: Tensegrity Blog had a spike of 7000 visitors in one month, a ten fold increase in readership.

The next Taking Care Portland: a community exploration of long-term survivorship is Saturday, January 19th at NCNM! Go to www.takingcareportland.com for details. Photography by Laurel Jacobson

7. Was contacted by Susan G. Komen’s local cancer survivorship rep. Was invited to a meeting and talked about bringing paid massage therapy positions to western medicine.

8. Was contacted by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and was asked to run for Man of the Year.

9. Was invited to Texas to attend the first annual Integrative Oncology Healthcare Professional Training Conference at Md Anderson Cancer Center.

10. Expanded my bodywork practice space into a production back office.

11. Was an assistant at several advanced myofascial workshops.

12. Created and edited several massage videos.

13. Recorded 4 full length albums of original, improvised material. Many songs were used in bodywork videos and used on the blog.

14. Hired as a photographer, lighting director and videographer by a local ashiatsu massage training center.

15. Became a peer supervisor for the Oregon Board of Massage Therapists.

16. Met with acupuncturists to talk about working with cancer patients.

17. Taught a workshop on Myofascial Mechanoreceptors and standing bodywork.

18. Attended a cancer provider dinner and talked shop with cutting edge plastic surgeons, naturopaths, oncologists and a vulvar pain specialist.

19. Began working with complex post-traumatic stress injuries.

20. Was invited to do bodywork backstage at the Arlene Shnitizer Concert Hall to work on the guitarist of the band that is amongst the top 5 iTunes albums of the year. Then got into the show free.

21. Held an open house at our wellness center.

22. Held a smile photo contest and gave away free anatomy iPad and iPhone apps, donated by a developer in Galway, Ireland…. The wonderful folks over at Pocket Anatomy!

23. Purchased a color laser printer for the office.

24. Met with a chiropractor to discuss the possibility of co-teaching a workshop.

25. Sold my childhood home and most of my possessions. Moved to a sweet apartment near the river where I get to run around an island, scramble over rocks and squish my toes in sand.

26. Lit a fire in the courtyard and held a community remembrance gathering at our wellness center for a fellow massage therapist who had died under mysterious circumstances.

27. Met a bike tour in the park with a Tibetan singing bowl and guitar. Lead the group in a closed-chain, kinesthetic awareness practice.

28. Did volunteer bodywork at Kite Boarding for Cancer and Camp Ukando.

29. Held sound healing nights at the the wellness center.

30. Started a bi-weekly movie night.

31. Trading monthly bodywork in exchange for passes to the soak room of another wellness center.

32. Printed dozens of my fine art photographs and gave them away in the waiting room.

Pendulation rhythm during closed chain, standing bodywork. Transverse shearing across the grain of muscle fiber at the joint capsules engages the Ruffini mechanoreceptors in the Myofascial network of the human body. Photography by Cammie Toloui.

33. Filled my massage practice space with original photography mounted on sustainable bamboo.

34. Worked with a graphic designer and printed new business cards on recycled paper.

35. Burned compact discs of original music to give away.

36. Held a tree hugger photo contest and gave away original music.

37. Collaborated and recorded music with other musicians.

38. Took several classes in advanced myofascial techniques. Mentoring under an international level teacher, the incredibly inspiring, Til Luchau.

39. Regularly grab a beer and tots with fellow massage therapists.

40. Working with a writer, graphic designer, attorney, all volunteering their time for the non-profit.

41. Regularly meet with the leadership team of the non-profit.

42. Hired an assistant. (life saver!)

Methinks ya get the idea. 2012 has been brilliant. And, there’s so much more to come…. just over the horizon.

So, what have been your major accomplishments this year? What have ya learned about yourself, your practice and the world we inhabit? Leave a reply!

Hamid : )
firstofnine.wordpress.com
transcendingtouch.com
takingcareportland.com

Music bonus!

It’s been a rough week, so gave it a lot of space to grieve. Lots of processing, crying and hugging with friends over all the recent violence in the headlines.

For all those who have lost so dearly… This is Wisp of Smoke…

Just finding First of Nine: Tensegrity Blog? Deep dive with massage articles, photography, video and music in Stumptown’s Massage and Bodywork Zine!

• Minimalist running and the sensate massage therapist
• Bringing massage to cancer survivorship
• Self-care and massage therapy

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Minimalist running and the sensate massage therapist

“Everyone begins life with an open mind… a driving curiosity… a sense of wonder” -Carl Sagan

A late Autumn morning in Oregon. All the world is new.

On the rocks, above the Willamette.

Soaking in the sun in a closed chain sway. Catching some vitamin D in the breeze. Birds in formation swinging round for a landing.

A breath.

And, another.

Sacrum in counter-nutation on the exhale.

False ribs rise, unfurling the diaphragm, like a prayer flag in the wind. Phrenic nerve lively.

Across concrete, down packed path, into soft sand. Turning rocky, splash in a pond, up the gravel, round the rocks, into the mud with a squish.

The diaphragm and phrenic nerve from Visible Body’s 3D Human Anatomy Atlas 2 app for the iPad.

I’m on my second pair of kangaroo leather Vibram KSO Trek’s. Wore them for two years, taking them through the muck of the Sandy River Delta, though the muddiest days in Forest Park. Up ten miles and back to Ramona Falls. Up to Cooper Spur on Mt. Hood. Singing at Tracy’s wedding. My favorite shoe ever. Hobbit feet. Step on blackberry vines with sensation and awareness, sans discomfort.

My left foot outgrew the first pair, busting the toe seam. I felt a bit like Hulk. My meta tarsals had begun to spread, increasing my adaptability to various terrain. The entire musculoskeletal structure superior to talus adapts to changes in the structure of foot and ankle. A complicated Rubik’s Cube, to be sure.

I found my second pair at REI. A larger size. Then, Vibram discontinued the KSO Trek. So, I’m gonna treat this pair a little nicer.

I had been running in the super snazzy Soft Star Moc3‘s, the modern moccasin. Soft Star are right in our backyard, in Corvallis, Oregon. So worth the drive just to meet the elves and step into the workshop. Alas, the Moc3′s are not a stomp in mud puddles kinda shoe, though that didn’t stop me from taking them through varied substrate. Nearly lost them in the knee deep muck. It takes a patient shlooop to wrangle loose. Superb ground transmission in dry weather. Love the elves at a Soft Star!

So, I found another minimalist running shoe to thrash. Picked up a pair of Vibram Five Finger Spydirons.

With nary a slip, the Spydirons gave me sure-footed grip with plenty of delicate ground transmission. The mid-foot abrasion plating was welcome, giving me a more percussive assurance on the rocks and an eased fore-foot strike. Leaves a fracking awesome foot print in the sand!

If this minimalist running shoe were a car on Top Gear, the Spydirons would be a Bowler Wildcat. Damn. I sure do love splaying my phalanges in FiveFingers, allowing the lateral and medial arches to discover differentiation.

In anticipation of the oncoming chill of winter, I just ordered the new FiveFinger Lontras. This is Vibram’s first FiveFingers that are water resistant! I snagged the second to last pair in my size. First impressions… They are difficult to wrangle into. And, the Velcro attachment is in a funny place that limits hook and loop contact to a minimum with my wide foot and high transverse arch. My first midnight run in heavy rain found them to be quite competent, keeping my feet dry and warm until I found a few tibia deep puddles. Post splash, my feet felt wet for a bit, but never got cold. After a short while, I no longer felt wet. In smaller puddles that don’t go higher than the heel, feet stay dry and warm, even without toe socks. Bring on the slush and snow! Hoozah!

There’s a proper Stumptown down pour. ‘Bout time to get into the rain…

I highly recommend minimalist footwear for the somatic practitioner to enliven the senses. You are cut off from a major concentration of proprioceptive sensing in the feet and ankles with shoes of thick sole and narrow toe box.

So, kick off your shoes and try some minimalist footwear! Get sensate!

Hamid : )
firstofnine.wordpress.com
transcendingtouch.com
takingcareportland.com

Just finding First of Nine: Tensegrity Blog? Deep dive with massage articles, photography, video and music in Stumptown’s Massage and Bodywork Zine!

• Tensegrity principle and gene expression
• Compassion, brainwaves and haptic perception
• Bone broth: a rebuttal to The Onion

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Compassion, brainwaves and haptic perception, plus September’s Taking Care Portland

Ya know what got me into massage school?

I was rear-ended in Oly…. That’s Olympia, Washington.

I began seeing a physical therapist. He had me remove my upper garment and lay prone on a table. He applied lubrication to my thoracic and lumbar spine.

With one hand, he made a tiger claw, using his fingertips to move in a circular motion into the superficial most muscle layer.

With his other hand, he held a magazine. Reading.

That was my last visit to that particular physical therapist. Apathy is quite transparent.

I enrolled in massage school later that year. Gonna find a better way.

Near as I can tell, I started meditating when I was three years old. Opened eyed meditations, letting vision soften to bokeh, starring at the shiny, greens and silvers of the multi-textured wallpaper in my parent’s bedroom. It’s lead me to spending time with Buddhists, Sufis and a Shaman or two. A personal exploration of the senses. Of the breath.

Oh, course there’s nothing like opening up a breath mechanic and finding what’s on the other side.

First of Nine Top Tip: Lift the tail on the inhalation; tuck on the exhalation. Sacrum and coccyx, pumping cerebral spinal fluid all the way into the ventricles of the deep brain. Lotta Ruffini mechanoreceptors in dura mater, don’t ya know? psst… Ruffini mechanoreceptors respond to slow, transverse shearing and reach the autonomic nervous system anywhere the body is engaged. Lil tidbit from Dr. Robert Schleip’s work at the University of Ulm, Germany.

BrainWave app for all iOS devices. This is a screen cap from the iPad version.

My studies of meditation have lead me to some rather keen, high tech sound tools. Binaural beats and isochronic tones are used in brainwave entrainment apps. I regularly use BrainWave on the iPad to create a minimal, yet sensory rich environment conducive to meditative states.

This is from the help file of BrainWave, an excellent brainwave entrainment tool on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Binaural beats (or binaural tones) are designed to be used with headphones. A tone is played in one ear. In the other ear, another tone is played, perhaps 2 Hz off from the first. The human brain interprets this as a beat. Meditative states ensue. Kick back, breathe, rinse, repeat. Try it for 20 minutes… Work your way up to an hour.

From the help file in BrainWaves…

Below is a description of the ranges of brainwave frequencies used by the BrainWave Programs. In addition to the base frequencies we also use border frequencies, layered frequencies, and unique sequences of base frequencies designed specifically for each program. These techniques are what allow this application to create such finely tuned mental states and experiences.

Gamma (30-44 Hz)
Associated with high-level information processing, multi-tasking, and high energy

High-Beta (18-29 Hz)
Associated with mental activities such as math, planning

Mid-Beta (15-17 Hz)
Increased problem solving ability, focus, and alertness

Low-Beta (12-14 Hz)
Relaxed, yet still mentally sharp

High-Alpha (10-11 Hz)
Relaxed, centered, tranquil

Low-Alpha (8-9 Hz)
Relaxed, almost meditative but still aware

Theta (4-7 Hz)
Increased creativity, intuition, dreamlike states

Delta (.5-3 Hz)
Deep relaxation, dreamless sleep

I wonder how many brainwave shifts happen when receiving or giving a massage? Bygones.

Get to know the human brain as accessed through the senses. In Til Luchau’s recent webinar on proprioception and interoception, hosted by the ABMP, he spoke of haptic perception. The sense of touch. It begins to develop at seven weeks in the womb. It becomes fully developed by thirteen weeks. It’s our first sense to open. Haptic perception is a part of our cognition far, far before language develops as a communicative tool. It is the first sentience… The awareness of oneself though touch.

Here’s a little tidbit. The resonance frequency of the earth during significant electromagnetic activity in the atmosphere is 7.83 Hz. This is known as the Schumann’s resonance.

The dynamic, non-linear fascia tensegrity architecture of the human body, represented by a play structure at the Waldorf School in Milwaukie, Oregon.

Haptic perception is one of our senses, beyond the five basics.

C’mon… We all the know the five, basics, eh? Sight. Sound. Smell. Taste. Touch.

That’s about where they stop in our educational system.

So, what’s beyond the five basic senses?

Proprioception. The sense of our bones and joints within space and time. We have an elaborate, ornate, elegant, non-linear, dynamic sensory gathering organ in the human being. Our myofascial network. A vastly adapting sensory organ with smooth muscle-like contractility, and up to six-times the sensory information of muscle fiber. We, human beings, are of a mathematical complexity that continues to remodel itself from intended use, function, environment, diet, gesture and thought patterns. A moment to moment remodeling in our fascial complexity. We are amazing. We are adaptable. We are nueroplastic. Like few other critters on this planet that have ever walked or oozed or skipped (It’s Muddy! Mudskipper!).

Equilibrium. Balance. Just put one foot in front of the other. And, soon you’ll be walking out the door. A controlled fall, catching oneself on the plummet, and redirecting that energy into momentum. Catching the wind. Tacking into the sun. Physics.

Interoception. Gut feeling. Gut reaction. If you’ve ever had a stomach ache or felt your heart beating strong in your chest, you’ve experienced an inner sensation of yourself. It’s the difference between feeling your heart rate by putting a finger on a steady pumping vein and just tuning in and feeling the lub-dub, lub-dub of your own heart, while in a quiet place.

Explore your senses! Get haptic!

Taking Care Portland, a long-term perspective of cancer survivorship, September 22nd, 2012 at NCNM in Portland, Oregon. Photography by Laurel Jacobson

Is it at all odd that Dr. Who figures prominently in my business plan as a massage therapist? Companions. To expand the possibilities of a single, brilliant mind with other beautiful minds… Minds that work in such very different, yet harmonious ways. I understand Joan Halilfax‘s plea in her impassioned TED Talk on compassion and the true meaning of empathy, asking compassionate folks to find partnership and collaboration.

We’re building a think tank of compassionate studies here in Portlandia. I am honored to be collaborating with Daniel Miller and MaryJane Hoadley, plus many others, including licensed massage therapists, acupuncturists, naturopaths, farmers and oncologists to create Taking Care Cancer. The nutritional branch, Adalu Stew is developing a food delivery program, currently in beta, for those living with cancer and survivors. A food delivery program done right. A locovores delight, with local, organic, sustainable, wheat-free, gluten-free, dairy free, choices. The food as medicine perspective. Daniel and MaryJane are helping to connect oncologists, naturopaths, farmers and chefs. And, now we’re bringing massage therapy, sound therapy and acupuncture into the conversation of long-term cancer survivorship.

Compassion fires the motor cortex. Neuroscience tells us that. As research leads to the deepening study of the human brain and will, compassion compels us to reach out and lay hands on a shoulder, to provide nourishment and education. To lay a gentle, listening hand where one protects, armours and holds. Where do you hold your stress, your trauma, your loss? Taking Care is holding the space for one to experience the haptic. We hold license to touch. And, we intend to bring evidence based observation to the long-term effects of being nurtured in one’s community.

My friends, I’d like to introduce Taking Care: Community Exploration of Long Term Cancer Survivorship. We’re building beautiful, meaningful, transformative experience into our long-term health perspective. Building community with intention.

In September of 2012, we held our second event at NCNM in Portland, Oregon. It was a beautiful day. In June, we were in a single room. This time, we added rooms for acupuncture, check-in and cancer resources. The massage and sound therapy room were in the Great Hall. Snazzy acoustics in there!

The cancer resources room included some amazing folks from our community:

• Pacific Northwest Kale Chips
• Portland Juice Press
• Integrated Light Therapy
• Nature Cures Clinic
• Berri Health
• Salt, Fire and Time
• Dr. Louise Rose, ND

Weeks after the event, we continue to receive phone calls and emails from folks who want to help out.

The next Taking Care Portland will be Saturday, January 19th at NCNM in Portland, Oregon! For more information, please visit our website… TakingCarePortland.com

Right now, we’re reaching towards non-profit status. Portland is responding with loads of support as we craft a model for long-term cancer survivorship. And, we’d love it if you’d like to share your gifts and help out! It’s 2012. The seeds are sprouting.

“Come on. Be extraordinary!” -Dr. Who

Hamid : )
firstofnine.wordpress.com
transcendingtouch.com
takingcareportland.com

Music bonus!

There’s music in me that will never be heard by another human soul, played only for me, the pups and the wind. When that last note trickles long, I breath deep, into the false ribs, a subtle lift of the sacrum. Music is a journey, an unfolding. My hands shake. The viscera opens to breath. My body is Rumi’s reed flute. The entire myofascial matrix, this three-dimensional, dynamic, non-linear tensegrity model of glyocogen-filled microvacules conducts and senses vibration. Down into the trebeculae in our bones, where there are high concentrations of pressure sensitive interstitial mechanoreceptors. Wavelength. Sound. The human body is sensate beyond the modern capabilities of quantification.

There’s a train howling in the distance, like a mamma bear who’s lost her cub.

“The Sun rose, and the world was filled with sight enough and sound to deceive all but the dead and blind and wise.” -The Ronin, William Dale Jennings

Oh, and some days I hit record… This is Extra Cellular Matrix

Just finding First of Nine: Tensegrity Blog? Deep dive with massage articles, photography, video and music in Stumptown’s Massage and Bodywork Zine!

• Bringing massage to cancer survivorship
• Self-care and massage therapy
• A Stumptown massage day

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Eights years and bone broth update

Eight years ago, this morning, I was awoken in the darkest of nightfall.

The phone rang.

My father.

Crying.

I roused myself. It was a forty five minute drive from Sellwood to Gresham.

My mother was dead. It was her time. Cancer never had a chance to take her. The chemotherapy did the job just fine.

She wanted to live. She trusted the medical community. Dad and I honored that choice.

I asked her oncologist at Providence about complimentary health options. We talked about acupuncture. We talked about hypnotism. A licensed massage therapist might as well be making such queries. The doctor confided, he received training to practice hypnotherapy years ago. Though, he added with a chuckle, he was so out of practice that he couldn’t even hypnotize his wife. Mom was Japanese. He was Chinese. She trusted him with every bit of her. It was a beautiful faith.

Mom was a fiery little thing. As tall as my chin. And, I’m not a tall fella… Five foot five in Vibrams. She loved me a lot, in ways that I wasn’t always able to appreciate. Fiery, that one. Yep.

She brings the genetic lineage of Samurai into my bloodline. She said our family in Japan was not of high station. Farmers in long ago times.

Some of my dear friends are farmers. Folks that feel the season with every part of them. Folks that still work with the old ways. Folks that understand the soil; that understand the water. To offer the kindness of providing nourishment to others. A class of ability.

On October 25th, 2005, I took my first digital camera, a Canon S2, up above Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood, one year after mom passed. It was a lovely day to watch the clouds in the vast expanse above; the deepest blues in a gradient of even deeper blues. Blues we don’t have words for yet.

Love ya, mom. Thanks for this lifetime.

Dried tuft

Wee purple flower patch

Perspective

Bone broth update!

I was making bone broth the other day, after The Onion threw down the gauntlet and pantaloons. Read all about it here… Bone Broth: a rebuttal to The Onion.

Delicious! Nutrient dense! Warming! Love the stuff! I froze it in small batches. Froze a couple containers after 24 hours on the crock pot; a couple more after 48+ hours, scraping the surface scum off the top of the broth every morning and evening. The vertebrae of the ox tail could be easily crushed with the fingers, as all the calcium and other minerals were drawn out of the bone. Gives me a new appreciation for bodywork clients with fragile bones. The pups happily got the scraps.

First of Nine Oncology Massage Tip: Brittle bones can sometimes be a cancer-treatment related side effect. Be gentle with those folks! Compression techniques are contraindicated.

It’s a fine morning, watching the light change so gently, sipping a mug of ox tail bone broth. Life is all right.

Hamid : )
firstofnine.wordpress.com
transcendingtouch.com
takingcareportland.com

Just finding First of Nine: Tensegrity Blog? Deep dive with massage articles, photography, video and music in Stumptown’s Massage and Bodywork Zine!

• Tensegrity got rhythm
• Myofascial mechanoreceptors
• The proprioceptive run

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Bone broth: a rebuttal to The Onion

I was browsing one of my favorite iPad news sources today on The Onion Tablet app. I was quite dismayed to find an article entitled Lot Of Bold Talk About Making Broth Going Around Apartment.

An excerpt:

“Considering the bold words being bandied about haven’t amounted to anything yet, there sure is a lot of serious talk about making broth going on right now in a local apartment on West Charleston Street, reports confirmed Wednesday. “I was thinking I might make some broth for tonight,” said roommate Ryan Benson, who talked a pretty big game about “throwing in some beef bones” but had yet to actually grow a fucking pair, step up to the stove, and slowly simmer some meaty, thick-marrowed bones in order to draw out their subtle flavors.”

I humbly submit a link to the aforementioned article for your full perusal at your leisure. Lot Of Bold Talk About Making Broth Going Around Apartment

Now then, First of Nine steps up to the plate, to give The Onion what for!

Yeah, that’s right. A First of Nine first…. First of Nine makes bone broth, sucka!

We start off with a visit to the New Season’s freezer section. Oh, boy! It’s a fine day! They have ox tails! Booyah!

Normally I’d put in one or two oxtails. But, The Onion article has me all riled up, so I’m chucking in the lot into the old school crock pot. Fill to the brim with water, agua, mizu…. Same old stuff.

A couple capfuls of some kinda vinegar. Any vinegar will do. I’m allergic to apple cider vinegar. Makes the back of my neck itch for days. What? That’s totally normal, right? Bygones. A splash of organic balsamic vinegar should do the trick, cuz that’s what I have in the kitchen.

Set the crock pot on low. And…. And….

There’s something about the slow cooking movement. It’s a time based art. I’ll let ya know how the bone broth turns out, after the bones have softened, from all the complex chemical breakdown of cartilage, marrow, collagen and minerals, over time. It’s kinda like juicing…Like juicing meat! Mmm! Yum-o!

Bone broth…. It’s a cancer survivor’s ultimate nutrient dense drink! Any big marrow bones will do. Ahh… marrow. Love that texture!

I drink bone broth like tea! I dig adding wakame flakes. Takes me back to childhood, sipping miso on a winter’s day, back when it actually snowed in Portlandia.

So, The Onion. Be warned. In Portland, Oregon, we’re making bone broth, jive turkey!

Hamid : )
firstofnine.wordpress.com
transcendingtouch.com
takingcareportland.com

Just finding First of Nine: Tensegrity Blog? Deep dive with massage articles, photography, video and music in Stumptown’s Massage and Bodywork Zine!

• Bringing massage to cancer survivorship
• To the moon… Robots, bodywork and proprioception
• Myofascial mechanoreceptors

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Bringing massage to cancer survivorship

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” – Richard Buckminster Fuller

Before I met Tracy Webb, I had no survivorship community. Didn’t know such a thing existed. She’s one of the gifted few that have shown me that there is a glimmer of compassion in the oncology field. By golly, someone gives a hoot.

She first contacted me a couple years back, before her move to Portland. Asked me for a photo for her thesis. Now Tracy is helping to build cancer survivorship in Vancouver, Washington and at the Rose Quarter Compass Oncology in Portland , Oregon.

Tracy is amazing. I lost track of how many marathons she’s completed. I believe she did Boston in three hours twenty six minutes. We run our pack of pups at the delta, then snag the best Peruvian, wood-fired, cooked with love, rotisserie chicken in the region at El Inka out in Gresham proper.

Thus far, 2012 has proven quite fascinating. The conversations I have had are like none I had experienced before.

I was invited to a cancer provider’s dinner. What joy to give cutting edge plastic surgeon’s a hug! And, asking them about lumbar pain and core instability as they are using groundbreaking techniques, taking tissue from rectus abdominus. They are able to do reconstructions here in Portland that folks used to have to travel to St. Louis to receive.

I got to chat pelvic floor disfunction and sacral imbalance with a vulvar pain specialist. Her research is helping many partners become quite satisfied! Oh, beHAVE!

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society contacted me. We met at the Tao of Tea on SE Belmont. I walked away from the meeting carrying a folder that reads “Champions of Hope: Man and Woman of the Year.” She asked me to be a celebrity. I’m not exactly a suit and tie guy, like previous champions. So, I told ‘em, maybe next year, after I find my footing and develop more community support.

I just heard on The Nerdist podcast that Harry Shearer was on the pilot of Leave it to Beaver. Bygones.

Suddenly, I have a meeting with Susan G. Komen’s local survivors program manager. I stretched and danced and moved and breathed on the big stone steps on the way up to the meeting. Susan G Komen have pink everything! Shiny pink coasters and pink, plastic bottles of water!

A couple oncology massage therapists were there and the president of the Society for Oncology Massage was on conference call from Washington D. C.

It was a lovely meeting. They asked me what I wanted to see in the community. So, I told ‘em.

Massage therapists need to be valued as health care practitioners, while building a long-term perspective on cancer survivorship here in Stumptown. I told ‘em we can approach oncology massage from a perspective of mechanosensing, awareness, compassion and listening touch. I told ‘em about the food delivery program of Daniel Miller and MaryJane Hoadley of Adulu Stew. Local food as medicine for cancer survivorship. Done right, as we partner chefs and local, organic, sustainable, farmers, naturopathic doctors and oncologists. I told ‘em about Taking Care, bringing complimentary care, nutrition and musical art together. In September, we held our second event at NCNM, featuring community, clothing-on massage with live sound therapy, group acupuncture and local cancer resources. I told ‘em, we’re building community here in Portland, Oregon.

And, Susan G. Komen listened.

Susan G. Komen said they’d start talking with doctors about massage therapy. The Society for Oncology Massage said they’d do whatever they could to help me reach my goals. One of the oncology massage therapists working at OHSU alongside the docs thanked me. She said they had never been “invited to the table.” Those folks are asked to volunteer one day a week for a year. Sans paycheck.

The conversations of 2012 were of unfamiliar, brilliant territory.

Even conversations with bodywork clients have shifted, and we talk about proprioception and neuroplasticity, exploring the unmapped intricacies of mind-body connectivity. It all makes for a snazzy week!

The year continues to be amazing.

One superbly wonderful thing… My dear friend Tracy is getting married. As I type this… She’s gettin’ hitched tomorrow. By the time this gets posted, she’ll be back from one heck of a lifetime journey, with her new partner. She’s got the eye of one of the nicest lads you’ll ever meet. Can’t think of a finer match. Congrats, Tracy and Morgan! Love and love!

I’m honored to be playing a couple tunes at the ceremony with her super awesome, quite gifted singer friend, Avee. Her hubby Lloyd will be rocking out on tambourine. Total fun!

“I’ve died and turned into a Roman. It’s very distracting.” -Rory on Dr. Who, exploring the experience of reincarnation.

2012 has been a year of making friends with my amygdala. Of selling my childhood homestead. A time of transitioning relationships. Of discovering new partnerships and friendships of sacred levels of authenticity. Creating the personal resilience to take this bodywork practice to the next chapter.

I’ve learned to wake before the alarm and allow myself to enjoy the morning light. I’ve learned more about my truest, highly imperfect nature. I’ve learned a level of forgiveness and trust, all new to me. Taking old patterns and giving ‘em a mind frisk. Are they holding? Still useful? Drop a thought like a pebble. See if that worry stone in your pocket is gonna skip ‘cross the glassy pond.

I’ve carried these bones
Along this old road
Past all the fields of home

And, I see… And, I see
The road before me
Just past the end of my nose

I once was a man
With sword drawn to hand
Ready for what came my way.

But I dropped that sharp load
Along this winding road

Just to see what
Will become of

Me.

-the ballad of ronin. Old tune of mine.

October of 2012 marks ten years since becoming a licensed massage therapist in the state of Oregon. And, what a brilliant decade it has been.

The career of a massage therapist, version 2.0

Reincarnation of the cool.

Hamid : )
firstofnine.wordpress.com
transcendingtouch.com
takingcareportland.com

Music bonus!

Here’s Avee Runser and I covering a ditty by Steve Earle. Avee and I met the day before the wedding and played for the first time together. The next morning, I brought the iPad 2 with a camera connection kit and an M-Audio Producer USB mic. The recording was captured by Multitrack DAW app. Many thanks to Steve Frost for loaning us his carbon fiber steel string.

For momma bear… This is Every Part of Me…

Music, music, bonus, bonus!

Last night, some dear friends and I caught the opening night to Black Lizard at Imago Theater. What a snazzy show. A superbly dark, humorous, boldly daring multi-media production with a strong nod to film noir. A Japanese love story in the tangled web of human trafficking. I dig knowing folks from the theater… We were graced with free tickets. Thank you Sumi!

Black Lizard is running through November 4th. I highly recommend this shocking, sensory-rich production! Check out Imago Theater’s website for more info… www.imagotheatre.com

There are lovely muses that grace my life. The conversations and laughter from spending time with dear friends will often bring out a bit of music in me. Upon returning home from the evening out, I grabbed Lucky and began to plunk.

This is Blue Tortoise…

Just finding First of Nine: Tensegrity Blog? Deep dive with massage articles, photography, video and music in Stumptown’s Massage and Bodywork Zine!

• Disrupting the positive feedback loop of chronic pain
• Pendulation rhythm, trauma release and bodywork
• Susan G. Komen and massage for cancer: an update

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