Ali's Hideout ☁

Baby Massage - one of the most therapeutic things I’ve seen. Excited to try this out with new mommies & babies!

Introducing touch to a newborn is a perfect way of helping that baby discover intimacy and that’s just so important. Alexander Lowen (1965) gave an interesting perspective on homosexuality in his book Love And Orgasm. In a nutshell, he tells of how the lack of a parent’s intimacy or an overly attached parent can cause a shift in balance of the child’s sexuality.

Massaging a baby will aid that child in realising the importance of touch and experience the positive emotions that accompanies that physical therapy. If anything, think of this as a nice bonding session between the mother and the 9-month long growing seed that just popped out of her. Absolutely beautiful.

Watch how this guy ripped his Achilles tendon. Bang. It sounded just like a gun shot. Painful and a quick death. 

The Achilles Tendon, also known as the Calcaneal tendon is the strongest tendon in our body. Gastrocnemius & Soleus, two vital lower leg muscles for movement, attach to the calcaneus (your heel) via this tendon. The irony though, is that it is one of the most commonly injured tendon! How can something so strong be that vulnerable?

People always say that it is unavoidable when sport accidents (such as the video above) happen, that it can’t be helped. If that sounds like something you would say, please slap yourself. Twice.

Think of a tendon as a rubberband. Other than cutting it manually, how else can that “rubberband” snap? 

Over Stretching, that’s how. Pull both ends real hard, oh SNAP.

If you understand the relationship between muscles and tendons, you’ll know that tendons attach the muscle to a bone. 

The way a tendon can be “over-stretched” would be to pull the ends away from each other. Since bones do not have that contractile function to pull the tendon, we can safely assume that the pull on that “rubberband” tendon comes from the muscle. 

Here’s where I explain why you got that slap for saying sport accidents are unavoidable. In the case of the foot, because the calcaneus (heel bone) is in a relatively fixed position due to the many ligaments present in the foot, when the Gastrocnemius & Soleus (your “calves”) are held in constant tension, the tendon slowly tugs at your bone attachment, limiting your joint’s range of motion. You won’t feel it, because the human body adapts that well to gradual building up of pressure. 

5 years later, you go for your usual sprint (just like every other day), nothing too intense. You see some girl, so you suddenly decide to accelerate even faster to show off your mad sprint skills. The muscles work harder, they need to act more like a spring now. Toes down, heel down, toes down. Sprint. You hear “BANG!” and you collapse to the ground. Just like that... it could snap just like that. You blame it on your bone, blame it on the chick’s big boobs, blame it on bad luck. But look, here’s what happened in the last five years. 

Every other day you go for that sprint, you don’t stretch or roll out the muscles PROPERLY. Before and/or after. You fuck around, perspire a little, just to tell yourself you’ve got the activity done. Get showered, go to work/school. Come home, laze in bed and sleep it off. Then do it again. Your muscles grip tighter and pull your foot into plantarflexion (Toes pointing down).

This is assuming you’re not anything close to a semi-professional athlete.

If you are, your muscles are held in a hypertonic state from your high intensity workouts, and you engage in much more rigorous exercise than our Mr. It’sJustBadLuck. It’s even more crucial that you loosen those muscles with stretching and massage, self or assisted. Otherwise, if you insist on high intensity activity, by dorsiflexing (point toes up) your foot in that sprint or jump, you are tugging on the other end of that taut rubber band. You have to then blame it on yourself.

Because it’s such a strong tendon, it means the muscles attached to it are activated all the time. Because it’s that strong, there’s more tension in it. You have to pay attention to your body.

It’s winter time and Perth’s getting too cold for my liking. Last weekend, I went shopping for the week’s groceries and bought 2 bunches of broccoli cause they were so cheap! I didn’t know what to do with them cause I’ve never actually cooked broccolis before. 

After googling for ideas, I chanced upon this recipe, altered it and officially created my favorite soup of all time. 

Before we begin, for those who don’t know - this is a floret. The top parts of the broccoli. You’ll need to know this before looking through the recipe. Think flower. Think floret. Easy.

Cream Of Broccoli (with cheese)

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter

2 big fresh broccolis (About 500g of florets - exclude stem)

2 medium onions, diced

2 carrots, sliced into round discs

Salt and ground black pepper

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

4 cups (1L) chicken broth

1 cup of milk or 1/2 cup cream

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in pot over medium heat.

Add onions and carrots. Saute until onions turn translucent, about 6 minutes. 

Add salt and pepper.

Add the flour (do not need to sieve), and cook for a minute, until the flour turns a blonde colour. 

Add chicken broth and bring to boil. 

Reduce to a simmer and add broccoli. Simmer without the lid until broccoli is tender (approx. 15 minutes)

Using a fork, pick out the softened broccoli and 5 tablespoons of soup. Place the broccoli and 5 tbps soup into a food processor/blender. Blend 5-10 seconds or until desired consistency. Leave the rest of the soup to simmer. 

Return the blended pulp into the pot of soup, pour in milk and cheese. Stir to combine all the ingredients. After cheese has melted, serve hot. 

Homemade Croutons

Ingredients

Light Rye bread (Use any bread you want but I’d not recommend white bread + I love the taste of light rye)

Butter, cut into 1x1 cm cubes

Parmesan (shredded) or Swiss cheese (grated)

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. 

Place baking sheet on a metal tray. 

Tear the bread into bite-size pieces of about the same size and lay them out evenly on the baking sheet.

Place 1 cube of butter on each piece of bread. 

Sprinkle cheese generously over the bread pieces.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until sides of bread pieces turn golden brown. 

Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving. 

I’m on my second bowl right now. Too damn delicious. 

I bought myself this small bag of poppy seeds from the Fremantle Market a week ago. It’s cheap, versatile in its uses and pretty yummy! 

I then realised, poppy seeds are obtained from the opium poppy. Does that make me a... drug user? Well, I’m not sure. 

While poppy seeds themselves don’t inherently contain any opium, when the seeds are harvested, they can become contaminated with the opium in the pod. So, maybe. 

The highlight of today’s post: 

I made... 

STRAWBERRY BANANA POPPY SEED MUFFINS!

Don’t they look fucking delish?! They are. Just look at the strawberry bits peeking out of the muffins!

This recipe is slightly different from the original so it’d be a less sinful treat for me!

Here’s how I made them

Yield: 9 muffins

Ingredients - 

1 ¼ c (150g) almond flour/almond meal 1 tbsp (9g) poppy seeds 1 tsp ground cinnamon 2 tsp baking powder ½ tsp baking soda ¼ tsp salt 1 tbsp (14g) coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly 1 large egg, room temperature 2 tsp vanilla extract ½ c + 2 tbsp (156g) mashed banana (about 1 large) 2 tbsp (42g) honey 2 tbsp (34g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt ¾ c (145g) strawberries, diced (fresh or frozen and unthawed)

Preheat the oven to 325°F, and lightly coat 8 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.

In a small bowl, whisk together the almond meal, poppy seeds, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, egg, and vanilla. Combine the mashed banana, honey and yogurt. Stir it into the egg, vanilla & oil mixture. Now, add in the almond meal mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Fold in the strawberries.

Divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups. Bake at 325°F for 25-30 minutes, or until barely firm to the touch. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before carefully turning out onto a wire rack.

Adapted from http://amyshealthybaking.com/blog/2014/09/21/strawberry-banana-poppy-seed-muffins/

Body Wisdom.

It's about listening to your body. There are many people and sources of information coming - almost like a tsunami, telling you what is the best for you, about what is not good. The only person you need to listen to is your body. We are all different. If your body says that junk food is good, then take it. Nobody else has the power to control your body. Your mum can nag, your boyfriend can scorn. So what?

If you make a conscious choice to eat something, whether good or bad, enjoy it. Your body needs to digest food without deeming it as a stress response. If you eat a guilty feast, don't feel like "Oh, it's going to make me fat".

Think, "Oh yes, this is an orgasm in my tummy!"

Pause & take a moment to appreciate my new art piece.

The ensō is a circle that is drawn or handwritten in a single uninhibited stroke of the brush so that the mind is free for the body to create.

Its symbolism is beautiful - absolute enlightenment, strength, elegance, the universe and at the same time, nothingness (無).

He decided to paint one each for our new apartment and this became the centerpiece of our place (apart from the comfy lounge beanbags of course).

The Zen circle. Mine was the black on white, while his was the white on black.

I miss playing Ulti with my #SHIOK family. But then again, I'm taking time to rehab, relax and then I'll come back stronger than ever. 

I really wish I could teleport all of you here, to train on the big fields together with zero space constraints. Huck, run, jump, fall all we wanna. 

Every other evenings, when I don't have classes ongoing, F & I would cycle 1km down to the spacious field right beside the river just to stretch or roll around on the grass. We see sunsets like these every day (how do you like my playing with the photo to make it look so hippy)!

The dogs here run freely, with no leash. So do the cats, rats, giantasmypalm moths and spiders. Nah I kid about the rest. It's true though, I've only ever seen one dog leashed by this fat asian lady. 

"Can you tell me the full story of how you made your final decision to study in Australia?" 

Here's an interesting question posed to me by an ex-classmate the night before my flight. 

Background story as to what I'm "studying". I'm undertaking a Diploma in Remedial Massage, which is a form of treatment for patients with limited range of motions & soft tissue injuries etc. 

"Huh? Diploma? Do in Polytechnic la! Why so hipster need go Perth?" 

Those who know me would understand that labelling qualifications are bullshit to me. Degrees, Diplomas, Masters. Let me illustrate. Friend A of mine loves writing, and she's good at it too. I've seen some of her works. She's currently doing a Degree in Accountancy at NTU. She did pretty damn well for A levels to get in there, no doubt about that. Yet, she's miserable and unable to push on after one semester. This year, she's making a transfer to another course - one that she actually enjoys. There we go, the big word - Degree. It means nothing much; It doesn't tell you how happy you are, or how much you are achieving in life.  

I'm chasing my unique dream, degree or not. And here's how it all came to be.  

I have always heard of people taking gap years after A levels, travelling the world and experiencing life. I didn't have grand plans like that. It had always been (since I was in secondary school) to do well for A levels, get a degree, cross my fingers that I'd land a proper job and earn some money. Along the way, I picked up a book called "Crush it" by Gary Vaynerchuk and heard about this guy called Elliott Hulse. Both were successful people who worked their way up, and both gave the same advice. Following your passion. 

At that time, I didn't have a burning hot passion. Didn't enjoy inventing things like Edison, didn't play basketball like LeBron. Absolutely nothing in particular. What I enjoyed were two simple & random things - a sport I picked up in Junior College called Ultimate Frisbee and interacting with people.  

If at this point, you're thinking "Cut the crap, I'm just here to find out how you became obsessed with massage. Is it because you're horny all the time & wanna touch men?" Then boy oh boy, you're one reader I love having. Hang in there! 

So back to Ultimate Frisbee & talking to people. I joined a local Ultimate club, Shiok! Singapore during my A levels. It's a choice I haven't regretted for a single moment after. At the same time, I got exposed to proper form when working out & injury prevention because of my boyfriend's passion with biomechanics and the human body. I saw how many people who played ultimate did not have proper training (athletic training), who were not physically ready for such an explosive sport which resulted in an injuries galore. Most injuries happened because they didn't RECOVER during the off-season. Keep this in mind, it ties in with why I decided to pursue Remedial Massage.  

After receiving my results, I pondered my options and decided firmly that I didn't wanna go to a university as I didn't exactly enjoy studying. Writing reports & all that technical stuff. Brrr, they give me the shivers. I had a big fight with my parents over university entrance. I empathize with them; I get why they want me to get that certification - its assuring. But assurance is overrated. I refuse to play out what they couldn't achieve.  

I slacked around for a few months, immersing myself in the temporary freedom. During which, I still trained. I read about massage, acupressures, shiatsu. It was new to me, as nobody around me had any experience in this industry. All so new but interesting. Maybe it's interesting because these books had pictures demonstrating techniques that I could try out as and when I felt like it.  

In early June 2014, I tried out a Holistic Massage course in Singapore. Everyone else who enrolled had an average age of 33, so I pretty much brought that number down as a 19-year-old. Oops. Every teacher there was shocked and intrigued, especially since I was a Singaporean. They didn't quite understand why I chose to do it. I worked hard, asked questions relentlessly, not because I had to pass or do well, but because I wanted to do well. It was something I wanted for myself. Lo and behold, I graduated few months later with a Merit!  

What next? I asked myself. My boyfriend had just flown to Perth to pursue his degree in Sports Science. With the qualification I had, I was licensed to operate a spa in Singapore. But I needed to learn more about the industry. Needless to say, I was not capable of being in charge of a spa yet and so I went to work for the hotel spa in Mandarin Gallery (yeah boy, hotel spa!) for a few months, learning administrative stuff and being a therapist. It was my first proper job and I could sum it up in three words - 

Eye. Opening. Experience.  

There was simply so much to absorb! I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would though. Simply put, I couldn't interact with my clients other than the usual "Hi sir, how are you? Which area would you like me to focus the massage? Is the pressure okay?" 

I had to let them rest and not interact too much. There was a one set fit all routine applied for every customer. Set routine for introductions. Set routine for massage. Eyucks. 

My belief is, every single individual is different. That's what the word individual means right? Independent + divided. Different. Three months into the job, I begun questioning my long term goals. Do I want to do this the rest of my life? I got great advice from my co-workers, who all told me to go explore and not tie myself down this early in my career.  

So I did.  

I thought about how I want to be a better athlete, but I ain't no Yao Ming. Probably not gonna be able to reach that standard. So helping other athletes recover better was the next best option. Remedial massage would serve that function. I planned, I contacted schools in Perth, and I'm now on the plane to Perth.  

WHY PERTH?! DAMN IT, WILL YOU JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION? Hush you impatient person, breathe. 

ONE, my boyfriend studies there. Nope, it isn't crazy stupid reckless love. I'm chasing my happiness. 

TWO, I want to expand out of the little red dot I call home and not be sheltered my whole life, I want to learn independence. 

THREE, human beings are too used to being comfortable. It's time to get uncomfortable, face new challenges and emerge stronger than ever. Lastly, have you seen how fucking peaceful Perth is compared to Singapore?! Check out the beaches yo.  

I'm exploring new terrains, and try to see how much I can get from this decision I made. 

Going away from my family and loved ones, spending that much money on this, it is pretty tough for my parents. They're probably financially and emotionally strained.  

Thank you mum & dad, for supporting my radical change these few years. I know it hasn't been easy to understand fully what I'm going through but I appreciate the love and trust you have given me. Take care of yourselves! 

Watch out world, I'm ready to take you on.

Photo: Alicia 

Working as a massage therapist (Yes, this term means masseuse/masseur) does not mean you don't need to be taken care of as well. If anything, a massage therapist needs massages more than the average Joe. Just last night, I was looking for cheap and good massages on Google and multiple results pointed me towards a place called Press 'N Rub. It was located at #01-06 Concorde Hotel.

So this morning, I happily travelled to Orchard with high hopes of a supposed "GREAT MASSAGE!" But lo & behold, I paced the entire hotel twice and could not find the parlour at all! Several reviews said to look out for a sex shop (As Press 'N Rub was right beside it) but all the shops in Concorde were torn down! Probably undergoing some major renovation of sorts. 

I got pretty upset because I had 2 hours to kill and I needed my relaxation time. I spotted a sex shop across the road from Concorde and saw a big "FOOT MASSAGE" signboard right beside it! It felt like a million rainbows appeared in my mind instantly, I'm telling you! 

Located at: 150 Orchard Road #01-36/39/44 Orchard Plaza S238841 Tel: +65 67353973

Yes, Herbal Footcare was the place I settled for a massage at. 

Take note, I had to circle around to inside the shopping mall to get to the entrance as seen in the picture above. After looking at their menu for a long time (simply because I had to factor in price and what I required), I settled for one of their combos:

$58 Foot Reflexology (40mins) + Back Massage (30mins) = 70mins 

My first impression of the parlour wasn't great - One man sitting in the corner, air-conditioning was off and it felt like a ghost town. But I gotta tell you, the 70 mins was more than sufficient in changing my mind about the entire place! 

Corner man invited me in and told me in mandarin, "Make yourself at home!" with a huge smile (Although I didn't like his face when I first walked in - cause he seemed to judge how young I looked). So yes, the smile eased the tension present in the room. Soft music began playing in the background, and the air-conditioner started running. I guess they turned it all off to save costs. Don't really blame them. He then made a phone call to get another therapist in. In my mind, I was conflicted - should I request for a lady? But I like hard strokes and not all females can give me that.. Hmm.. 

Shitballs haha, my therapist was an old man with long hair! Best of both worlds? I got a man and woman all in one! His name is Mr Yam (Pronounced YUM as in YUMMY)! Mr Yam was an extremely amazing therapist and I was soaking in bouts of pain and pleasure all at the same time.

Mr Yam knows when to let you rest in silence, and he will chat with you when you want to. I began with 40 mins of FRX (Foot reflex) and something worthy of mention is, they soak your feet in warm-hot herbal water. You could actually smell the herbs! Very therapeutic. They wrap a plastic over the tub for hygiene purposes instead of letting you share the tub that has served 100 other feet. Thumbs up for this! This was an eye-opening experience for me as all the massage parlours I've been to simply soak your feet in hot water. (BORING)

For the FRX itself, lotion was used as the emollient, pretty much similar to other places. What I enjoy about foot reflexology, and why I want to learn it is simply the amazing things you can tell by stroking someone's foot. Lifestyle habits ranging from diet to sleeping cycles, and even things like how healthy your organs are, by feeling the tension and knots present in the feet's acupressure points! Makes one feel like a God or deity haha.

Whenever Mr Yam felt knots in a particular spot, he would verbally ask if it felt sore. He then pressed that spot for 10seconds and repeat the question. If it still felt sore, he would continue applying pressure. That was how he "treated" his clients. The pain was excruciating! But as the chinese saying goes, short-term pain reaps long-term rewards.

The back massage made me feel like I was reborn! His strokes were targetted to points of tension and relaxed all my muscles. However, I found it difficult to breathe throughout the back massage because his friction strokes (with the thumb) down the back were so bloody fast. Normally we would massage with the client's breaths (in & out). So yeah, I could barely catch a proper breath, thumbs down!

Yet, I thoroughly enjoyed the flexibility of the massage. I never believed in a one-size-fits-all routine for massage because every individual has different needs/different body physiques. I told him I needed more focus on the lower back and he always came back to the lower back after each body part.

I mean, Upper back > Lower back > Gluteus regions > Lower back > Legs > Lower back > Neck/Shoulders > Upper back > Lower back > Arms etc. 

You get my point? That's the difference between someone who enjoys what he does vs someone who just performs routines that he was taught. 

He also gave me valuable insight to the industry:  Certifications really don't say much about how skilled you are. He never learnt anatomy etc but he picked it up as he massaged people. Textbooks are dead, human beings are alive. This is so true and it'll be one advice I hold dear.

I ended the treatment and paid $58 for 70mins. This is definitely one place I'll revisit!

IN SUMMARY, 

Pros:

Massage therapists are super skilled and know their stuff. 

Temperature of the room was just nice, not too cold/hot. Very hygienic!

Spacious floor plan, you don't feel uncomfortable.

Herbal foot bath!

No hard-selling here - He even recommended me to try out other therapists at other parlours!

Therapists adjust routines according to your needs - Personalisation.

Cons:

The place looked pretty old, the ceilings were a little tattered.

There are beds without partitions, side by side (Not private) - Although you can request for private partitioned rooms. 

Pretty shorthanded, so you might want to give them a call to make an appointment beforehand!

Price Range: $30 - $90 (Depends on what you want)

Rating: ✮✮✮✮ /5 stars

Herbal Footcare 150 Orchard Road #01-36/39/44  Orchard Plaza  S238841 Tel: +65 67353973

It's effective in relieving:

- Congestion - Tightness in chest - Tightness in stomach - Shoulder tension - Neck stiffness