By this time y’all probably know that I need to take continuing education classes in order to keep my massage license. Normally, I choose some sort of hands on class to increase the efficacy of the work I do, learn a new technique, or to be able to help with issues I wasn’t able to before. That’s good news for anyone who sees me for massage or bodywork.
As you’ve probably guessed, a dissection class won’t teach me a new technique or allow me to do more specialized work. So why take it? Well, it’ll give me a greater knowledge of what I’m feeling and affecting while I’m massaging you.
Yes. This class will involve cadavers that were donated to science for the express purpose of being used in a class such as this.
And, yes, I will be doing the actual dissection. Well, not by myself. There will be teams of 6-8 people working on each form in order to be able to finish in 6 days. It’ll be grueling work, but it’ll be an amazing experience that will teach me more about the body.
Sure, I studied anatomy in massage school, but that was taught using books with 2 dimensional pictures. And as you’ve probably noticed, people are 3 dimensional beings. That means that flat drawings and pictures don’t do it justice.
I also took an anatomy class when I was in college, back in the 80’s, that included an anatomy lab. The problem with that class is that I was 18 years old and didn’t appreciate the way I would one day need or want to use all that 3 dimensional, real-life information. Plus, I was too busy just trying to memorize the name of every single structure in the body, in one semester, to develop an appreciation. Don’t get me wrong, I found the human form compelling and interesting, but I just didn’t have time (or the experience) to develop a profound appreciation of what it was that I was looking at.
Now I have a lot more experience dealing with a wide range of bodies than I had in college or massage school. I’ve also had exposure to information through professional sources and continuing education that I didn’t have when I was actually studying anatomy in an academic setting. All of those things together mean that I’ll get a lot more out of this type of class now than at any other time in my life.
So that was a pretty general overview of why I’m eager to take a dissection class. But there are some very specific reasons embedded within those generalities. They include:
I promise when I take the class in October I’ll fill you all in on how it was. Don’t worry, though, I’ll spare you the gory details and just stick to the insights I glean.
You are a brave and noble soul! I want gory details because I am curious and because it might be okay at this “safe distance.” Humans are incredible constructions! So variable and yet working so continuously. Best wishes on this adventure! Um, maybe not photos tho. 😁
I’ll definitely give you some additional details. No pics, though. They aren’t allowed out of respect for the forms we’re dissecting as well as their families.