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Finding Joy
When time pauses and there is just me and my massage lady
Most people go to massages to relax and tune out; I go there to learn and tune in.
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The writer says that going for a massage is about tuning in – to what is going on in other people’s lives and the small intimacies that remind her how much life happens outside her own bourgeois bubble.
ST ILLUSTRATION: MANNY FRANCISCO
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I don’t have many indulgences in life. No designer bags, no Michelin-star dining and no business-class travel. My idea of decadence is springing for a Grab ride instead of taking the bus or the MRT now that I no longer own a car. But one thing I will not give up is a good, hard knead every week to unravel the knots in my shoulders that have a way of accumulating until a gnawing ache develops and keeps me awake at night.
Some people need coffee to function. I need someone to dig their fingers into my scapula and smooth its contours until I remember what breathing feels like.
