The magical blue sphere

While men with guns were murdering one another this week, I took a class to learn about shiatsu, which is a magical eastern form of massage.  According to Wikipedia, "there is no evidence that shiatsu is an effective medical treatment... shiatsu was one of 17 therapies evaluated for which no clear evidence of effectiveness was found."  I tend to think effectiveness should be measurable, so I don't think I believe in shiatsu.   But it is kind of hard sometimes to know if something works.  Really fast, what's your pain, right now, scale of 1-10?  How 'bout now?  Right?  How can we measure someone's experience?  

And we know energy is kind of hard to pin down.  What makes us feel tired, what makes us feel rejuvenated?  I'm pretty sure it's more complicated than food and sleep.

We learned to find a tight spot in a muscle that needs relaxing, and a loose spot that needs tightening.  We were told to gently hold the low energy spot while massaging the tight spot until we felt the energy flow from high to low, reaching equilibrium.  We listened to a pulse, not from the heart, but a meridian pulse.  We listened for the disharmony between the pulses and tried to even them out.  I practiced on the teacher, who said, "There!  You did it.  Did you feel the pulse?"  I didn't, but nodded because I wished I felt the pulse.  Instead, I felt what I always feel:  people respond positively to nurturing touch.  They exhale, and that's good.

We also learned to create a violet flame. Or maybe we didn't create it, but just summoned it?  I wasn't exactly sure.  When we removed the bad energy from a person, we tossed it into the violet flame, where it was destroyed.  Or transformed.  I'm not sure about that either.  But I do know you don't want to leave that stuff lying all over the floor.  

And we learned to close the massage by creating a protective blue aura around our client, so they will be well and be safe and no bad ju ju will get them.

I don't believe in this, but I'm trying to live as if I do.  As if I could create a magical blue bubble of goodness at the end of each massage.  A spell that would protect people from experiencing and creating harm, from negative thoughts, from getting shot by a random bullet, from not feeling love from their loved ones, from passive aggressive or vengeful instincts, from sinking into the muck rather than lifting people out of it.  From pride and excess, from shame and regret.  From boredom and depression.  From wasting time on Facebook.  From not experiencing the wonder and mystery of this remarkable planet every day.

I don't have any special powers.  I don't believe in the violet flame, or the blue orb of protection, or the secret meridian pulse.  But I wish I did, and if I had magic, that's what I'd do with it.  There's no downside to casting a spell on people, wishing them good things and calling them to bring their very best selves to the table every day, even when it's hard.  Or maybe I should just try to do that on myself.  Forgive, accept, empathize, appreciate, let go.  Over and over. Maybe that's the only magic I can work on.