Muscle memory

I have been dealing wirh a thigh muscle that has been causing me some pain over the last few months. Steph, massage coordinator at school, worked on the muscle. She stated that it felt bruised, that I must have hit it hard to leave such a knot in the tissue. She looked confused when I didn't remember anything. I went back to my office, puzzled as to why I couldn't remember what could have caused the injury.

Ten minutes later the memory burst through my consciousness barrier. A hail storm five months ago shattered one of our windows. I went out to survey the damage. Walking down the hill, my flip flops became skis and took off toward the horizon. I went down hard. The ground saturated my jeans instantly. I stood up quickly and was focused on my neck and back which seemed ok. My hip, where I had done injury to, begged me to acknowldge it, to no avail. I was grateful that my spine and neck appeared intact.

Sitting in my office the memory came back with vivid detail. I could even feel the wet jeans clinging to the leg. You could almost here the muscle rejoicing in the acknowledgement.

Earlier in my training to become a therapist I watched a person who performed what she called "Body Work". She took a volunteer from our class and started massaging her. At one point she described feeling a tightness in an area of the patient's back and bored into it, the patient's discomfort growing. The therapist asked her to identify a person that came to mind. The patient singled out her mother. The therapist asked her to talk about feeling she had for her mother. The patient burst into tears and psychic pain poured from her. The therapist explained that memories were not only stored in the brain, but in the muscles as well. Applying pressure and asking therapeutic questions would literally unlock memories.

I was amazed as to the vividness of my memory so many months after the injury. It makes me curious as to what else my body and mind are keeping from me.