01/13/2026
My journey at the Finger Lakes School of Massage began in April 2015. That spring I remember feeling a lot of excitement to start a path that would lead to a new meaningful career while getting to live and train in Ithaca, a place that has had a kind of transformative effect with me ever since I was a teenager.
At the time, I was missing my band and then girlfriend, family, and friends. A lot. It was sort of isolating in a way, but that kept me locked in to what I was feeling, learning, where my attention was being directed.
I remember learning about TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) and one of my favorite massage modalities—shiatsu. “Hara” is a term found in different forms of martial arts and usually relates to one’s energy center. But it goes deeper than that. In the West when we think about having core strength it’s usually symbolic of our physical health and appearance. When we think about our centers and who we are, many people express feeling this sensation in our heads and sometimes hearts (the mind IS the heart in lots of eastern philosophy—that’s another topic). It can be a sign of our physical strength and power, though it’s just as important to be able to recognize its intuition and emotional resonance. Directing this energy by using our instinctual can be a powerful way to move through the world and for staying connected to who we truly are at our core.
Anyways I found this FLSM sticker yesterday and I’m thinking a lot about who I was then, who I am now, who I am at my core.
