This last Saturday late afternoon I found myself sitting in Corfu Greece, chatting to around 8500 individuals scattered around the globe.
This not what I normally do on Saturday afternoons in Corfu, but this was different.
I had gladly agreed to join an initiative created by a group of enterprising Canadians, to participate in the World Massage Conference, as a lecturer.
This 6 day event, involving over 50 presenters, was themed on a daily basis, and Saturday was the last of these, the therapy and rehab. day.
My 60 minute presentation had the title Breathing Pattern Dysfunction and Pelvic Pain
How did this ‘virtual’ conference work?
Those who wished to ‘attend’ signed up and were given a code by means of which they could join the process…. listening to the presenters, and watching – on their computers – the slides that illustrated the lectures.
There were interactive chatrooms that could be linked to – and during the presentations, questions could be asked.
A moderator sifted through these during the lecture, so that the last 15 to 20 minutes of the presentation could involve questions from listeners
If you are interested – until May 2009 it will still be possible to access the lectures (audio) and the visual accompaniments – powerpoint slides, by contacting the organisers at – massageconference@gmail.com – or by clicking on this link.
Judging by the emails I’ve received since Saturday by no means all those ‘virtually attending’ were massage therapists – with several physiothapists an osteopath and a number of chiropractors following up on what was inevitably a very rapid gallop through a dense topic.
Regarding the subject itself – breathing patterns and pelvic floor dysfunction – this has become a focus of my current work, and will continue to be more so for at least the next 15 months as I collaborate with around 15 others to put together a book on chronic pelvic pain, for Elsevier. I’ll post more on this topic as the process evolves.
How I became involved in this area of health concerns is a long story in itself, and deserves a blog posting all to itself…. and I intend to deal with that as soon as time allows.
How I got to be sitting in Corfu at all is another story – and I’ve mentioned in previous postings that I would explain something of the synchronistic set of events that led to this…so, here’s a beginning:
One weekend, in the summer of 1971, as part of an ongoing periodic weekend course, that lasted approximately 7 years, I attended a weekend of immersion in the world of cranial osteopathy, by that eccentric genius Denis Brookes DO, in Shrewsbury, UK.
At the end of the first day’s instruction I was back in my hotel room, at the delightful Prince Rupert Hotel (a medieval building that had once been the home of Prince Rupert, grandson of King James 1). As I casually browsed through a brochure I noticed a holiday promotion for a resort in Morocco.
I was tired, I’d been working exceptionally hard, and thought I deserved – in fact needed – a break.
So why not North Africa? and why not call right now?…. and so I did.
Unfortunately, I was told by the holiday tour operators, that particular resort hotel was fully booked, but …. they assured me….. there was another one that was equally pleasant (Messonghi Beach Resort) in Corfu, that still had rooms available.
Now you may well know the difference between Morocco and Corfu, and of course I now do, but at that time, I did not.
In any case I said OK, and reserved my room, and flight.
It was a month or so later, very close to the time of departure in early August of 1971, that I was made aware that I was in fact going to Greece and not Africa…..
And when I arrived there?
As I descended the steps on the hot afternoon of the 2nd of August (olden days remember….before the new-fangled idea of stepping straight from the plane to the terminal building!) the tour operator representative was waiting for those of us destined for Messonghi Beach.
She was slim, dark haired, and stunningly beautiful.
Our eyes met……
…. to be continued – when the mood takes me.
But as a trailer:
We were engaged within 10 days, married 8 months later – on St.George’s Day – and are blissfully still together, here in Corfu, after 37 years.