I’ll bet you were thinking this was going to be about a drink.  Ha!  This post is about my greatest and rarest indulgence … a hot stone massage.  Only now instead of river rocks I have discovered you can request Himalayan rock salt!  I have written before about both my love of the hot stone massage and also of the reputed calming properties of Himalayan rock salt.  So naturally I flipped when I found out this was an option.  After having a broken shoulder that then became frozen, my spring, summer, and fall quite frankly have been painful and difficult.  I was finally cleared to get a massage from my doctor and I found it was a beautiful sort of pain.  With every pressure and movement I felt something release; often times making a sickening pop or crunching sound.  Turns out it was scar tissue breaking up.  A massage therapist, in my opinion, is like clergy or a doctor — there’s no sense in lying to them because they’re going to realize it anyway.  It was the best massage I have ever had and I have used the same therapist in the past.  I truly believe the difference was in the stones.  The Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh said:

“We humans have lost the wisdom of genuinely resting and relaxing. We worry too much. We don’t allow our bodies to heal, and we don’t allow our minds and hearts to heal.”

It is extremely difficult for me to let go and relax.  I have been working since I was ten years old.  I do believe that taking little pauses though — whether at the park, in the shower, or reading a book — can help us recenter ourselves.  A massage is a treat, and I’ll take mine salted please.