Often, the person on the table is me. This is very much on purpose. You see, among the reasons I chose this work was to commit to my own health. Me first, without forgetting others, as Thea Elijah says. Before, I couldn’t think the sentiment, me first. But also, I could never quite figure out how to meet my needs within the life I had built. In fact, having needs at all was seen as a bummer. We were supposed to care about others. Fade into the background. Be “selfless.” I found that I always fit myself in...last. If at all. Last, in my own life. There have been many moments where I have learned to choose me in ever deeper ways. One of them, over 10 years ago, was in confronting the part of me that wanted to be selfless so that people would keep me around. I had to love that lonely scared part of me and unravel her beliefs in order to see that the structures I was operating in would always seek to take. They would not give. They would always want me to not have needs, to be the last thing I got to. So I chose to build new structures for my life that would make it impossible for me to look away from myself. Hi. For me, tending to my physical spiritual relational health is the foundation of anything else. It has to be the nourished, fertile field in which everything else is able to grow. Again, “me first, without forgetting others.” If you know me, you know I do not forget but overflow with love for others. Love is the easiest part for me, it’s like breathing. But first, before anyone, I tend to me. I fill this vessel. I give to me. I seek and receive a lot of support. I am a patient all the damn time. It’s even my name, which I had to grow into. Loved. Je suis aimée. I am consistent — I choose to tend to my needs as best I can in the moment. What I can do for me and offer to you varies beautifully, day to day. There are hard days, years. I chose a life where I choose me; through that, I choose you too. And I lie on the table and receive, and I will never be finished, and je suis aimée. I love you. Keep going. Choose you. Also, cupping feels pretty fucking great when you’ve survived and your psoas is screaming. Just sayin.