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Jlartlattá ^b-su'inhw----------------------- ----- ------JUNE1°»199
THE C O -C Q EA TIV E
INTELLIGENCE O F LIFE
Bringing Touch Into The Family
by
Isaiah Williams enjoys a nurturing massage from Portland Licensed Massage Therapist, Ginger
Hope. “It releases tension from working during the week," he says. "And I really feel more in
tune in my body. It's a spiritual cleansing for me. ” Photo by Sharon DeBusk, LMT, Portland OR)
by Rosie McLaughlin, LMT
If you were born in India, it’s
more than likely that you would be
massaged daily until you were about
6 months old with either diluted
mustard oil or coconut oil, depend­
ing on the season. Women in India
learn to do this from their mothers
and it is considered a sacred art.
I f you were born into a Nigerian,
Ugandan, Balinese, Russian, or
Maoran family (societies where in­
fant massage is a custom), you are
taught massage at a young age and
practice it on those around you for
the rest o f your life.
Chances are, i f we had been mas­
saged as babies in this country, we
would have a healthier attitude
toward touch. In the book, “ Infant
Massage, A Handbook For Loving
Parents”, author Vimala Schneider
McClure poi nts out that studies done
cross-culturallyonthesubject have
shown that in societies where in­
fants are held, massaged, rocked
and carried, people are less aggres­
sive and violent and more com pas­
sionate and cooperative.
Diana Moore, who founded the
International Loving Touch Foun­
H©
tfV u
dation here in Portland, sees a greater
and greater need for parents to start
touching and massaging their babies
in this country.
I nfant massage actual ly stimulates
all five o f the baby’s senses because
it is done in close enough proximity
to the baby that she can hear, smell
and see the person who is touching
her. Stimulation o f the five senses
has been shown to help rapid neural
firing in the brain, which aids brain
development.
Infant massage teaches parents to
better understand their child’s cues
which makes them feel more confi­
dent about parenting. Massaging at
the very start o f life is a way to teach
a child how to regulate incoming
stimulus and let go o f unnecessary
stress. Parents find it to be a particu­
larly useful tool for getting their kids
to sleep and for treating colic.
Your infant should receive mas-
sageeveryday until she is six months
old and after that whenever you can
find a time when she will stay still
long enough. The massage can last
anywhere from 15 minutes to halfan
hour depending on your baby and
what she wants. Watch her cues. The
©W©
The Homowo Festival is
the largest cultural festival of
its kind in the Pacific N orth­
west. It is a free, com m unity­
wide event that features A fri­
can and Caribbean music and
dance presentations, food,
arts and crafts, storytelling, a
sum m er arts camp and other
w o rk shops. The H om ow o
Festival how ever is not just
about having a good time. It
is about building our com ­
munity and fostering respect
and understanding for each
other. There is a spirit o f tol­
era n ce and re c o n c ilia tio n
which is a part o f Homowo in
Ghana that is also a part o f
the festival here in Portland.
The Festival plants seeds o f
brotherhood and sisterhood
which, when nourished, will
bear fruit for us and our chil­
dren.
The Homowo Festival o f
African Arts takes place the
third weekend o f August ev­
ery year and has seen success
for the past eight years.
On August 15 and 16 o f
this year, we will once again
celebrate our heritage and our
place within the rich fabric o f
Portland, Oregon. Cathedral
Park, under the St. Johns
Bridge, is home to this event.
The Homowo Festival has
& Qêpirit
M in d
best time to massage her is during
the Quiet Alert state. If her body is
relaxed and her eyes are bright and
can follow an object, thesearesigns
that she is ready to engage with you.
Make the massage part o f your
child’s routine. It should be fun and
relaxing for both o f you.
Children as well as adults need
healthy touch modeled to them as
well as given to them by those they
trust and love.
Ashley Montague writes in the
preface to his book,"Touching” :
“The communications we transmit
through touch constitute the most
powerful means o f establishing hu­
man relationships, the foundation
o f experience.” If this is true, then
massage should be part o f our daily
lives, given to and received by who­
ever we consider to be part o f our
family.
Oregon School o f Massage has
Massage Basics classes in both
Swedish M assage and Japanese
Shiatsu that anyone can take. Call
244-3420. If you want to take a
class in Infant Massage at the Inter­
national LovingTouch Foundation,
call 253-8482.
F © y INI © A T D © IM
T om A ti . ee
Having trouble with your neigh­
bors? A fanner in Indiana was both­
ered by his neighbor’s dogs who
were killing his sheep. The tradi­
tional way that sheep raisers counter
this problem is with lawsuits, or
barbed wire fences, or even with
shotguns as a last resort. This man
had a better idea. He gave his
neighbor’s children lambs as pets.
The neighbors then tied their dogs
up voluntarily. In the process the
families becam e friends.
When there is a problem or a
conflict, we often create distance or
walls between ourselves and the
trouble so it w on’t disturb us
or
we fight it in an effort to overcome or
change what we don't like. We shut
our doors, we turn our heads, we call
the cops.
Co-intelligence, on the other hand,
has a bias towards building relation­
ships, tow ards cooperation, towards
greater life. The farmer may well
have asked himself, “ How can 1 get
these folks to join me in protecting
my sheep?” Notice how different
that is from: “ How can I stop these
folks from killing my sheep?” This
difference - a spirit o f cooperation
rather than resistance or domination
- is an important feature o f co­
intelligence. It usually requires a
good deal more creativity and cour­
age to put into practice. But i, builds
bonds that will make future prob­
lems much easier to solve - and makes
life more deeply enjoyable, as well.
One day as some family system
therapists in Cambridge, M assachu­
setts, watched an acrim onious TV
debate, they recognized som e of the
same patterns they saw in their work
with dysfunctional families. They
decided to do an experiment apply­
ing their therapeutic insights and pro­
cesses to the polarization o f political
discourse.
They gathered together some pro-
choice and pro-life citizens who were
w illing to try some real dialogue.
First, over a buffet dinner, par­
ticipants took a few minutes each to
say something about themselves that
did notdisclosetheirstanceon abor­
tion. Then, after agreeing to some
communication guidelines (like “no
interrupting” ), they gathered in a
circle to tell their personal stories
about abortion - how they came to
think and feel and act as they did,
what their histories were, what the
heart o f the m atter was for each o f
them personally. Then, speaking as
individuals rather than partisans, they
shared what they w eren’t sure of;
what they struggled with, their own
grey areas and mixed feelings about
abortion. W hen the circle was done,
they had com e to know each other as
unique human beings, not as stereo­
typed embodiments o f political po­
sitions.
And the full complexity o f this
issue, in the unique lives o f real
people, was much clearer to all o f
them. And with that came a respect
for the unique ways each o f them had
struggled with that issue.
Co-Intelligence is the capacity o f
all living systems as well as ecosys­
tems to work creatively with the di­
versity and aliveness that exist in
their environment and in themselves.
Developing our Co-Intelligence
involves:
- Learning to replace force with
collaboration and understanding, in­
cluding the proper role o f force.
- Learning to engage the intelli­
gence, viewpoints and motivations
o f all stakeholders.
- Learning to weave together di­
verse human capabilities - reason,
em otion, intuition and all the rest.
- Learning to open ourselves - no,
only to each other, but to sources o f
wisdom higher and deeper than our
everyday selves, and o f bigger ways
o f looking at things.
- Learning to notice the patterns
that shape our lives - the environ­
ments, institutions, processes, cul­
tures, habits, media and so on - and
to notice our own roles in shaping
them.
You can find out more about Co-
Intelligence from theCo-Intelligence
Institute web site (www.best.com/
‘cii).
AL COFFMAN L.Ac.
ORIENTAL MEDICINE
GEMISPHERE™
ACUTHERAPY
T
503-335-0588
In Gem isphereTM Acutherapy,
therapeutic quality gemstone spheres
are placed on acupuncture points.
Treatments work deeply and directly
with the root level of your health
concern. Physical, Emotional, Mental,
Intuitive or Spiritual. The gemstones
remove blockages and powerfully
uplift to restore nealth, energy and
balance.
P R O J E C T
Q U E S T
3117 NE M A R T IN LUTHER KING JR. BLVD.
PORTLAND, OREGON 97212
TEL 503-493-0288 FAX 503-493-0289
EXPLORING A N D DISCOVERING
OUR HEALING RESOURCES
PROJECT QUEST IS A NON-PROFIT. DIVERSE
C O M M U N ITY OF PEOPLE AFFECTED BY CHRONIC OR
LIFE-THREATENING ILLNESSES. THE C O M M U N ITY IS
GUIDED BY INTENTIONALITY, INSPIRED BY CREATIVITY
A N D PROVIDES A WELLNESS-FOCUSED ENVIRONMENT
FOR LIVING A N D DYING.
MENTAL HEALTH • GROUP 6. IN D IV ID U A L
THERAPY • N U TR ITIO N i COOKING PROGRAMS
THERAPEUTIC ART • MUSIC & DANCE PROGRAMS
ACUPUNCTURE • NATUROPATHIC MEDICINE
MASSAGE HEALING £> Win i NESS WORKSHOPS
REl IttM i j
OS a
Learn about the Career Options as a
Licensed Massage Technician
Free Training Previews:
Obo Addy, Master Drummer from Ghana, Africa. He is the founder o f
the Homowo Foundation that promotes African Arts and Cultures.
been an exciting event for
Portland area residents for the
past few years and we know
that this year will be no ex­
ception. There will be a great
variety o f music and dance
from several African coun­
trie s , a rts and c ra fts ,
c h ild re n 's a c tiv itie s, and
food. In addition, we will also
offer a four weeks o f classes
th ro u g h our A frican arts
daycamp for children incom -
munity centers throughout the
area.
The cam p in c o rp o ra te s
Ghanaian music, dance, arts
and crafts, visual arts, and
sto ry te llin g and we offer
scholarships to children from
low -incom e families.
With the move to a two-
day event, we expect atten­
d a n c e n u m b e rs to reach
10,000 people over the w eek­
end.
Career!
June 8, Monday at 7pm
June 25, Thursday at 7pm
July 10, Friday at 9am
July 25, Saturday at 1pm
Call for a Reservation for Training Preview
Begin Classes June 22 or Sept 28!
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*1.
CL
§
Flexible Class Schedule for Working Adults
Payment Plan Available
ses fo r Everyone!
Massage Basics - August 6 - 27
4 thursday evenings; 7- 9:30pm $ 6 5 per person
Call for Program Catalogue or Class Schedule
£
(503) 244-3420