Massage is an Art. And that's Art with a capital A.
Sometimes people use art to describe something that must be felt, that isn't scientific, planned, or even well-thought out. I beg to differ. I think an art is the expression of knowledge layered in emotion. Our feelings add meaning to it and art that has no plan, rhyme, or reason seldom works.
The great artists - Da Vinci, Beethoven, etc... - could not have done what they did without a deep understanding of their craft. To draw you have to have an understanding of weight, perspective, shading. In music an understanding of timing, harmony, and pacing. In dance, fluidity, grace, dynamics. In massage it is physiology, timing, strokes, fluidity, relationships. All involve knowledge and intelligence - what can be called craft.
Craft
You can't create art until you thoroughly understand the techniques used to create it. It must be internalized, digested, and assimiliated into your being before it can emerge as an expression.
A wise teacher once told me:
"I show you something and you do it, it is mine. You do it ten times and it is still mine. You do it a hundred times and it is still mine. You do it a thousand times and then it is yours."
That has stuck with me through all of these years and is very true. It takes practice to assimilate new knowledge. Once it has been absorbed, only then can it be expressed in your own way, with your stamp on it. You go to school, learn a new technique, and then it is up to you to make it yours. Then you can craft it and use it.
Let's Get Buck
Lil' C, a choreographer on So You Think You Can Dance uses the term "buck" to describe peak artistry. He defined buck as meaning the union of internal artistry with external expression. Ideally, this is what we all strive to achieve. That ultimate union between what we have learned to do, expressed to the world at the perfect moment, in the perfect manner.
Now that's Art.
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