By Rebecca Townsend
INDIANAPOLIS —— After graduating massage college in 2015 and working for more than three years to pay my dues and learn the ropes of my new profession, the time came to commit to a lease with the goal of supporting myself through an independent massage therapy practice. I pondered what guidance nature may offer. Might a spirit animal help organize my business plan?
Mantis emerged.
Yes, the Mantis does have a man-eating reputation. But that power can be seen in a positive way, as was ultimately suggested by the “Mantis Eats Stress” tagline on my business card. And there’s an unspoken joke: Ask for a happy ending and Mantis will bite your head off. 🙂
Within the records of ancient Chinese martial arts, literature, and aesthetics, we see that in those mystic, mythic, remote mountains, people knew Mantis. Mantis is one of the animals that inspired its own martial arts style, a practice — much like massage — gaining its effect through quick flicks of the wrists.
My massage practice is fascinated with the way people’s fascia lays: how it can aid or inhibit mobility, how it relates to the way people feel pain, how it can be pulled askew. Often, when I flip a client over from supine to prone position, I’ll take a few moments to soak in and connect with the fascia running from their heads, down their backsides and on to their Achilles tendons.
As I stand at the head, my hands will move from the thoracic region down toward the sacrum. As they move to distal regions, my forearms slide into the groove between the shoulder blades, resulting in a Mantis-like prayer position over the client. This time offers opportunity for grounding and core centering during the routine practice of Mantis massage. My hope is to move people out of their heads and into a powerful/balanced, rooted core.
Transcendental characteristics are attributed to the Mantis. As a guide on the journey to Planet Massage, Mantis is a small but mighty captain. Planet Massage is not located in the fully conscious or unconscious. In a quiet, safe space, the parasympathetic nervous system receives the space and energy necessary to foster the body’s rest, digest and repair processes. Veterans of the journey often rebook the experience on a routine basis.
In researching Mantis art and lore, I soon discovered this video, which ultimately convinced me Mantis was a most formidable female icon: “the half-Vietnamese daughter of the villain Libra, who was taken in by outcast (priests) … it was with the priests she was trained in martial arts and developed psychic powers. In addition she was raised to be the Celestial Madonna.”
The curriculum vitae continues … bargirl….dated villains…reformed herself and others… “single-handedly taking down both Thor and Captain America.”
Thank you, Comic Drake, for teaching me that the Mantis we know from the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy is actually a Celestial Madonna from the mind of Indiana’s own Steve Englehart. So she’s a great model of multiculturalism with roots now established in China, Vietnam, Indiana and the broader cosmos.
My practice is honored to be aligned with the ancient legacy in natural power that the Mantis banner represents.
Hoosier Shangrila 