Massage Therapy Canada

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Biography: Meet Doug Alexander, BSc, RMT

Tell us a little about yourself
I’m a long-standing, sitting and kneading member of the profession. And, I am darned glad I’m a massage therapist! I’m a father of three boys (14, 16 and 18) and spouse to a massage therapist and yoga teacher. I am surrounded by exciting and loving people. I am also a full-time educator and editor of Massage Therapy Practice.com a multimedia, online continuing education tool.

September 15, 2009  By massage Therapy Canada


Tell us a little about yourself
I’m a long-standing, sitting and kneading member of the profession. And, I am darned glad I’m a massage therapist! I’m a father of three boys (14, 16 and 18) and spouse to a massage therapist and yoga teacher. I am surrounded by exciting and loving people. I am also a full-time educator and editor of Massage Therapy Practice.com a multimedia, online continuing education tool.

Professional profile
I was originally a science nerd, but was unhappy in the lab and library all the time. I need frequent and significant contact with people daily, so practicing, teaching and writing/editing meet my needs well.

Influences leading you to this profession and career
My dad was a banker but worked meditatively with wood. His workshop, with its smell of sawdust, a bit of oil and sweat, is often with me … David Carradine in the TV show Kung Fu awakened an awareness that there is magic in form, energy and intention.  … I have dozens of massage and related professionals that significantly shaped my awareness (often my body) and my career, but I better not start talking about them here due to space constraints. And, there are my clients who have shared their bodies and their process with me for over 20 years!

Cherished experience or accomplishment
I have so many wonderful memories and experiences that are still fresh in my psyche and in my tissue memory! I remember the joy and feeling of returning home when Efim Svirsky first palpated my craniosacral rhythm. The first time I treated a client’s tentorum cerebelli and found that my best kinesthetic handle on the membrane was achieved when my fingers were about five inches away from my clients’ head. One time Carol Martin unwound me (I was dangling by my calves from her strong forearms) and my entire spine and pelvis adjusted with a sound like about 30 different kernels of popcorn popping at once.

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I was treating a client’s face in a supervised setting when Owen James suggested that I think like God and imagine what this person’s face might like to look like. And her face actually shifted under my hands. Thank God she really appreciated the change!

I often feel a wonderful lightness and joy when working with a client’s tissues.

It doesn’t have to be transcendent; I just love the feel and texture of people and I feel blessed that they are inviting me into their life in this way.

I also feel excited about Massage Therapy Practice.com No one really had a clue what I was thinking of when I started my web site. The fact is I had only some fuzzy ideas as well! Over the past year I have found a new level and type of creativity and steadiness moving me. I’m not sure exactly where it is going other than I feel lucky to be supported to explore new ways to explore and share the massage therapy knowledgebase and experience.

Hope for our profession in the near and distant future
I used to have a lot of hopes for the profession, but I don’t so much any more. But I do have excitement!

Massage is a part of the mainstream of society and we sure are going through a lot of changes!

I have come to trust that people who are drawn to this work are shaped and transformed by it as they do it. I’m trying to listen more to my students and other massage therapists and the “public” and find that they have more to teach me than I ever guessed.

Words of wisdom

Massage ought to be fun and nourishing for client and therapist most of the time! When we touch a person anywhere, we are touching their entire body… as well as their touch history … as well as their psyche.

When we touch someone, we entrain with them. We become a synergistic system that we need to bring mindfulness and honesty to. Don’t take yourself and life too seriously. Have fun and be courageous in facing yourself, and you will have fun and courage in being with others.

DougAlexander  
Doug Alexander, BSc, RMT


 

• Doug Alexander can be reached through his site at www.massagetherapypractice.com, via his blog at massagemag.com/massage-blog/massage-meditations or by e-mail at alexander2000@sympatico.ca


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