Stars

I wrote this for our newsletter. Figured I'd copy and paste it here just for fun.

Fresh from the Rocky Mountains near Aspen, Colorado, where I went camping with my son for a couple weeks, I am back in the city, a bit closer to sea level where the oxygen is thick and the temperature is high. And the stars are hiding.

I think the thing that hit me the most was the stars at night. I forgot. I mean I completely forgot that there were stars in the sky. At least more than a few scattered here and there. It was like I've been eating one of those tasteless winter tomatoes for so long that it never occures to me that they resemble tomatoes in shape and color only. And when I finally taste a real one, the explosion of flavor wakes me up as if from a restless sleep.

Seeing the milky way, those millions of stars like a soft cloud band stretching across the sky literally took my breath away. And even on that moonless night, the stars caused the prairie to glow as if from within. I felt the connection to power so vast and wondrous that I had this strange feeling of being an infant, cradled in creation.

And then appeared a meteorite, so close I swear I heard it, that caused the hairs on the back of my neck to dance.

May we all re-remember the feeling of the stars in the sky.

Thai Massage Basics

Paul and Paul had a grand old time teaching some Thai massage basics to a group of people in the yoga teacher training program at the school as well as massage therapists and people just exploring. Thanks to Marty Tribble for helping to set this up and to Pam Bliss, owner, yogini and visionary. Thank you for letting us be a part of your global mission.

June Graduate Clinic!

If you would like to receive work from one of our graduates, we welcome you to join us. We will be open every Tuesday evening in June for you to receive some of the best bodywork in town!

This is a great opportunity to receive a reasonably priced Thai Massage from graduates of CSTM who are currently working in the field. These practitioners are highly motivated to share their passion for the owrk with the general public. They are also committed to continuing their professional growth.

Just like student clinic, we will be in a big room with other people giving and receiving, just like in Thailand. One fo the directors, Paul Weitz or Paul Fowler, will be there too, keeping the energy light, fun and peaceful. They will be guiding the therapists on occasion using the space as an opportunity for learning and understanding.

You can choose one day or you can book all three days if you wish!

If you are interested in joining us, please contact our Graduate Clinic Director, Yuko at kajino74@yahoo.com or (312) 203-3940.

We look forward to seeing you!

Thai massages at Green Festival!

CSTM graduates Johanna Vargas, Aurora Tabar, Lauren Daniel and Keom Granger worked our booth at Green Festival this year giving samples of Thai massage. It's nice to see that you can create a meditative space in the middle of so much noise and busyness.

Feldenkrais

There is a Feldenkrais workshop happening that I wish I could go to!
Over the last month or so I've taken movement lessons with Michael Eastwood, a student of the Anat Baniel Feldenkrais Method, and I've been very inspired and affected by the process of this work.

Pathways in Rolling: Friday, May 28, 2010
6:45-8 pm, $10 drop-in-no one turned away
OUTERspace: 1474 N. Milwaukee

In this workshop, we will explore a variety of ways to organize to roll including judo rolls, rolling like a baby, like a bear, rolling through sitting to standing, etc but with very little momentum. Eliminating the push of momentum, we can begin to explore the sequential pathways through our whole self and hopefully discover new ways to initiate, follow-through, highlight, transition, and organize movement.

This workshop is based in The Feldenkrais Method and Awareness Through Movement®. Awareness Through Movement lessons teach us about where we might be overworking and holding, how to work with gravity, and how we can organize oursleves differently,-to have dynamic alignment and to move with more of ourselves available to us.- to be free. The Feldenkrais Method goes beyond the mechanics of movement and functional anatomy, and into the whole self, intending to illuminate awareness, patterns, and expand our self-image. This work unveils methods that we can, in Moshes words, "become aware of what we are doing, and not what we say or think that we are doing", so that we can more and more do what we intend.

Graduate Clinic

I sat in on the Graduate Clinic last Tuesday and took a few photographs. It was a very peaceful room.

Receive a Discounted Thai Massage at our Graduate Clinic!

Every Tuesday evening in May at our studio in the Board of Trade building, we are conducting a clinic featuring the work of graduates of our program. The clinic will be conducted in a group setting similar to what is done in Thailand. The group energy is one of the things that makes this experience so much fun. One of the school directors will be there as well to oversee the work and make sure it is the best that it can be for you.

We still have spaces open for May 18 and May 25! If you are interested, please contact our Graduate Clinic Coordinator Yuko Kajino (kajino74@yahoo.com) or call her at 312-203-3940 to sign up for your treatment now! Graduate clinic runs on Tuesday evenings from 6:45-8:45pm. Treatments are two hours long! Please be there between 6:00 and 6:20 to take care of paperwork and get comfortable. Cost is $80 and is payable by cash or check. We look forward to sharing this amazing practice with you!