The Massage You Need

This morning I was reminded of a saying my first massage teacher used to say about bumping into things and leaving bruises or stubbing toes. She would say, “you always get the massage you need!” I used to laugh whenever she would say that. This morning I was out for a ride on my horse that hasn’t been ridden for a few weeks so he was a bit of a dawdler and constantly looking around instead of paying attention to the task at hand. I kept thinking he would warm up and I didn’t push on him too much. We rode into an arroyo and just as we got down into the bottom a raven flew out of the trees, startling my absent minded mount causing him to spin a 180 degrees to the right which left me hanging on to left side half way out of the saddle. My fingers were full of mane and rein. My left inner thigh muscles and right calf muscles were screaming at being forcefully pulled and lengthened. I shifted back into the saddle and worked at relaxing those leg muscles so they wouldn’t cramp up on me. “You always get the massage you need!” my teacher’s voice popped into my head and I had to smile. You see for the past couple of months my left knee has been strained and painful because my inner thigh muscles felt shortened! I have been thoughtfully stretching them and encouraging them to lengthen these last few months and slowly bringing them into alignment. Now, I am hoping that I did get the massage I need and my knee will improve since my inner thigh muscles were stretched almost beyond capacity. Horses are always so willing to help us out!