Are you resisting pleasure?

Do you let your body receive enough pleasure?

I thought I did but yesterday I was taking my body (and mind) for a lunchtime walk. It was beautiful (see the photo above) and I thought it would be enough, but as I was heading home I was still feeling like a lop-sided hunchback of Notre Dame. I knew there was only one thing that would sort this out.

Massage.

My body craves it.

I went home and looked up a massage place in my area and ended up calling an Ayurevedic centre.

“You’ll have two people massaging you,” he said.

“Is there nothing with just one person?” I asked.

“No, that’s how real Ayurveda massage is done.”

I was not so keen on calling around and the man wouldn’t let me get off the phone and was even discounting the price (a true Indian dealer! Hey and I can say that because I am one) so I agreed to this four-handed massage.

Oh. My. God.

It was the greatest experience I’ve had in recent history.

Do you know Ayurveda massage?

You’re completely naked with only a loose disposable g-string to wear. There are no strategically placed towels and they use lots of oil (with masala/spices) and make long sweeping movements over your whole entire body.

It may not be for the novice massagee.

But for me it was heaven.

The head (and ear lobe!) massage sent me into a state of half-dreaming and when I turned they placed cotton wool dipped in rosewater on my eye-lids.

Rosewater!

So queenly.

And to think that I almost resisted this pleasure!

So I ask you, do you give your body enough pleasure?

(And yes please interpret this question as you like)

The sad thing is that there is an epidemic of people being out of touch with their bodies.

We think that we have to control our bodies with our minds.

But what I believe is that our bodies are the wisest creatures on the planet.

Your body is talking to you and helping you to make decisions all the time.

And what are you saying back?

Are you thanking her for all she does for you and for that stomach clench that was a signal to you or that gut feeling that is your intuition speaking?

Do you thank her for making you sick so that you’ll finally slow down?

Do you thank her for all the healing work she’s doing, constantly?

And for the way she keeps processing, absorbing the good and expelling the rest of what you put into your body?

Or do you tell her she’s old or she’s fat or she has too much cellulite?

Do you do things for her?

Because I think you should.

Do things for the pure joy of how it feels in your body!

Like yoga or dance or stretching or rolling around on the ground or lying under a tree on the grass or feeling her come alive in the sunshine or diving under a wave or going for a walk with bare feet in the sand or doing crazy things like cross fit if your body loves that.

Or, you know, other stuff…

And please, stop resisting massages!