Peace & Oil

Alright folks, today's topic: health. What is it? After 3 years giving massages in Paris, I have to come out of the closet: massages are not the Graal to health. Yep sorry. Actually, some people are consuming massages the way they would consume anything - without paying attention, having the misconception that something branded "healthy" that they pay (and believe me, they pay :)) for should provide them with a certain quality of being. I actually heard of someone who got sued from one of her regular attendee because she had cancer. In a gesture of anger, and refusal, she preferred to sue her massage therapist in order to have someone to blame for it. That's unfortunate, not to mention pointless and wasteful. But indeed, it illustrates some of the rather poor ideas some of us have on health. So let me randomly banter on that topic. 1. Health is the absence of disease. In a society (the French society) famous for its disdain for the body, and its high medicati

Hi guys, Summer's coming! Summer's there actually, but my brain got too slow writing this post. So, whenever summer comes - which is about every year - there's this thing going on where some people suddenly get all crazy about appearance. Of course, because summer means GETTING HALF NAKED ALL THE TIME! ENJOYING ONE'S NAKED BODY IN THE SEA! Or, more moderately, peeling of the layers of clothing made necessary by winter. Also, all of the weight and hair that naturally came to live with you have to go now. Yes they have to leave, especially if you're a female woman of the opposite sex. Don't look at me like that, that's the natural law of warma. But if, like me, you still didn't really understand that your periods are gonna come back every month for some years, or what to do with comments about how cute you look today, you also might get the whole peeling of thing wrong. In the beauty salons, they will ask you if you want a peeling treatment, imply

That's what's said in the Lunchbox, the very tender movie I've seen on the plane on my way to the USofA. Of course, thanks to the infinite process of revelation that life is, this struck me as being quite appropriate. As those of you who know me might know, right now, I'm hesitating between two possibilities: becoming a diplomed physical therapist / osteopath and having the best life for realzies, or going all the way to meditation and openness and unknown and probably mega interesting experiences / mistakes, or getting back to some reality and denouncing stupidity elsewhere than in the loo in front of my iphone. When I put it that way, you can see where my heart goes. Today's topic is anal retention, by the way. Anyway, I came here in DC a bit early to be able to attend to Tara Brach's meditation sessions. She's a meditation teacher and psychologist who does these  podcasts,  and I was super excited to come and see her. Of course I was also super poo

Hello there, biches, Empathy. In today's world, since the dawn of time, and since man is man, the possibility for empathy has been central to some people sometimes. It's with this lame introduction that I would like to add my little contribution to our modern society's rediscovered interest in empathy. Needless to say that I am regularly tearing my hair out when I see all the Mind and Life Institute 's, or Mathieu Ricard's efforts to discuss empathy and meditation in a constructive, scientific, rational way. Not that what they say is not relevant or well-put, because it is, but OMG. I'm always wondering how on Earth have we become so completely dispassionate and mediated that we need to politely describe how a world of altruism, cooperation, renunciation to privileges maintained through violence, etc., would probably be best for everyone. OF COURSE! Stating the obvious has never required that many PhDs and/or footnotes. Fortunately, I hereby propose t

Dear all, That's it, I'm switching languages for my (huge) international audience. Giving my first massage class this week end has reminded me why I chose to do that in the first place. The kindness, the intensity, how time flies when you do something you love. Also, I was extremely grateful to be able to show some of what I've learned over the years to others who, quite legitimately, did other things. That's something that I usually forget. That not everyone knows all the things that have occurred to me these years - about the deepest aspects of massage that go into some of the greatest paradoxes of life. Yes. I know. Quite logically, today's topic is humility . Knowing that you don't know is the basis of any meaningful activity, and, of course, a cliché. Yet, the depth of this truth has emerged for me as one of the essential aspects of a good massage. Of course you know some stuff about physiology, about the massage techniques you might use, etc. Yo

Le Ouishare Fest , c’est un festival dédié à l’économie collaborative qui se tient chaque année à Paris au Cabaret Sauvage. J'y étais allée pour serrer la main de Charles Eisenstein , qui écrit des choses avec lesquelles je suis presque toujours d'accord et dont je vous parle tout le temps. Et mon mauvais esprit s'est immédiatement enflammé, trouvant mille et un détails qui prouvaient que vraiment, tout ceci n'était que le nouveau vernis que le business de demain revêtira, sans jamais s'attaquer aux racines du mal-être actuel. Comment, encore des conférences ou 4 types (blancs) font défiler des statistiques en débattant poliment devant un auditoire silencieux et passif? Comment, l'entrée à 120€ la journée? Mais alors, qui est l'audience? Comment, un évènement corporate qui se planque derrière des tartines en libre service et des toilettes sèches pas sèches pour faire moderne? Et quoi, des cours de méditation au beau milieu pour splendidement se sentir lum