No pressure - but why not have a massage?

 

Massage and other treatment will hopefully not be as long-winded (pun intended, see further on) as the name of a Dutch chemist and meteorologist, Christophorus Henricus Diedericus Buys Ballot (1817-1890).

The pun here is related to his Buys Ballot Law. This states that if one in the Northern Hemisphere, including the U.K., stands with their back to the wind the atmospheric pressure is low to their left, and high to their right. This is because in the Northern Hemisphere wind travels anti-clockwise around low pressure, and clockwise around high pressure.

 

You won’t be in a wind, or rather a draught, during a treatment of massage, waxing, or whatever you choose, as the room and surroundings will be made comfortable and pleasant. There will also be a positive atmosphere – another meteorological term!

This law helps in various matters of sailing. For real enthusiasts, or one can just dip into it, the USA has published a 47 volume set ‘Sailing Directions’. Maybe you would visit the masseur by boat or barge, entering by his back garden where part of the Basingstoke Canal passes by, if you felt so inclined.

The lows and highs of weather charts are to do with the atmospheric pressure. There are several ‘pressures’ in massage, such as lightly in Swedish massage, to heavier in sports massage. It depends on each person’s requirements. But come along for a massage without feeling pressurised! 

A final weather-wise couple of terms - have a clement experience, meaning mild, pleasant, etc, as opposed to inclement, meaning unpleasant, nasty, etc.

Taking time for a Massage

 

This blog begins on a tangent, though brings in some aspects that could apply to massage.

There is Parkinson’s ‘law’, which is more of an adage really. This is from Cyril Northcote Parkinson (1909-1983), a British naval historian, and says that ‘work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion’.  Which is worse – having too much to do, or too little to do? There are other similar sayings, some bringing in algebraic formulae. We won’t go into those here, you’ll be glad to know!

 

The masseur could be doing the ‘work’, and it could be that leisure, such as having a massage, waxing, liposuction, etc, will expand so as to fill the time available in your treatment session(s). Or if ‘time goes quickly when one is enjoying oneself’, it may seem as though the time goes faster than you think.

 

It’s good to leave enough time for things, even if it’s make time for things, whatever one’s daily matters may be. Some examples are: time in and out of part time or full time jobs; tending to family; getting children to and from school; going shopping; visiting relatives; and countless other things.

 

If not setting enough time, one may under-estimate the minutes or hours that some tasks may take. This can lead to stressful situations. We cannot really multi-task in the sense of doing one thing with one’s left hand while trying to do something else with one’s right hand at the same time.

It can be that we, as people, co-operate with time, though time is not a living entity. Neither can we go back or forward in time, unless one has a time-travelling machine or Tardis! Though a part of Horsell Common, by the Muslim Burial Ground, was the inspiration for ‘War of the Worlds’. It’s quite atmospheric and a bit spooky there.

 

Pass by that way if you wish, if you come along for a massage or other treatment. Aim to spend some time enjoyably, and based on what you are able to afford. One can capture each moment of it with hopefully pleasant experiences, and happy reflections or musings on it.