Several years ago, when my ninety-year-old dad was alive, he asked me, “Elizabeth, what’s it like to have a headache?”
He had to be kidding.
“So Dad, you’ve never had a headache?”
“Never,” he said.
After I picked myself off of the floor, I explained the sensations of headaches – – throbbing, “sickishness,” sharp shooting pains – – and then I told him about migraines. Multiply the former headache sensations by 100, add nausea and dizziness and you’ve got one.
Recently, when I heard of Maori healers’ therapeutic powers and that they’d be in my area, I made an appointment.
As a healer gazed down at me lying on the massage table, she probed my torso with her hands. “You’ve had pelvic trauma.”
“Really? Do you mean the C-section I had years ago?”
“Earlier than that,” she said. “You had it when you were very young.”
What could she be talking about?
“An operation for a hernia when I was two?” I said.
“Ah, yes. That would do it.”
“Do what?”
“Damage is felt in your neck and head.”
While I lay on a bodywork table, she sang a Maori prayer while placing her hands on me. At least I assume it was a prayer. Perhaps it was a catchy Travel to New Zealand jingle?
Then she got to work. She exerted so much pressure with her hands on my torso I thought I’d end up in China.
“Is it supposed to hurt this much?” I asked her between gasps.
“Yes,” she said. “Breathe and you’ll feel better.”
How could I since my internal organs were now in my lungs?
At least it wasn’t a headache. In fact, my headache had gone. Was it was pain transference?
“Let go,” she advised.
I obeyed, willing my body to relax and breathe. Closing my eyes, I discovered the pressure soon alleviated.
Maybe I was getting used to living in China?
“Elizabeth,” said the healer.
I opened my eyes. Legs. I followed the legs up . . . up . . . and saw her standing on top of me, touching the ceiling with a hand for balance.
“I don’t believe this,” I said.
An immense male Maori healer standing nearby said, “Get down and I’ll get up there.”
“She’d never let you,” said my healer.
After all, China wasn’t built in a day.
Writing Prompts:
- During your writing, we should also let go. Too often our left brain’s structured thinking destroys or inhibits our creativity. Meditate before you begin your writing session to open up all of your possibilities.
- As you brainstorm possible ideas, whether they are plot prospects, character traits, or article ideas, don’t take your first one. Keep going until you know, within your intuition, it’s the right one.
- Got a plot problem? Stuck inside a scene? No metaphors to create theme? Keep paper and pen everywhere so you’re ready when your subconscious is.
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