It is winter, it is cold, we are seeking comfort. So, while I usually talk about art and/or men in this column, today I am going to talk about massage and the power of touch.

Thai Yoga Massage is a thing I do on the side of my creative pursuits. I work on people’s bodies, simultaneously deeply stretching and massaging them, becoming in tune with their emotional state, using a technique from Thailand.

My own journey with bodywork began in my last year of college when I was studying the Alexander Technique with a particularly intense teacher.

I found that I was responding very much to his touch and that my breathing got a lot deeper as an actress and singer. His work is based in aligning and freeing the neck from the rest of the body, through various lengthening and decompression techniques. This creates, simply, more space. We could all use a bit more of that. Another teacher the year before made a simple comment that stuck with me: “Most people don’t breathe because they don’t want to feel.”

Then, I worked at Equinox, a gym here, as a receptionist in the spa and made friends with two of the therapists who decided they wanted to work on me for free. I was suspicious at first, but I jumped right in. I still refer to one of them as Magic Hands. No, no funny business happened there. The guy is a natural and when he is working, it is almost as if he pretends he’s blind and is feeling his way with his intuition. It was particularly mind-blowing. The other one was incredibly focused, intuitive and strong.

After working with them and beginning to unofficially practice on other people, I realized I had to do something with this stuff, but it was two more years until I would get certified and randomly come across the Thai bodywork technique. I think it spoke to me most because the client is clothed (massage can be a weird thing in NYC) and it incorporates yoga postures and breath.

One of the most interesting things about my job is the psychic awareness I am naturally brought to by touching people. The other night I was working on a man-friend of mine and sensed he was in pain (emotionally) but he didn’t want to talk about it and I didn’t press the issue right then. When I left though, I knew it was beginning to sink in.

Today I worked on a yoga studio owner who was intensely stressed. She even brought the fact that she was worried she’d be late to pick up her children after the massage, into the room. She was extremely receptive to the work. I knew how she needed to be cared for by her areas of tightness. Women with a lot of tension in their upper thighs and pelvis are often experiencing trouble with some kind of emotional frustration, be it a guilt, resentment, obligation, and possibly related to sexuality. Leg cramps, stiffness in the hips and lower back pain may result.

This area in general, the lower abdomen, is, quite appropriately associated with “Mother:” being nurtured and fed and filled properly. Even if we are not babies anymore, we all need to be nourished with touch, food, tender love and care. I am very passionate about this and it is my hope that in these material times when it is so easy to lose touch with nature, that we seek to properly feed and treat ourselves.