Zero-Gravity Massage
- Admin
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
Recently, whenever I go to a day-use hot spring, I find myself using one of those massage chairs advertised as “zero-gravity massage.”
I used to prefer massages done by human hands.
But as I have come to understand more, I have also come to feel that entrusting my body to another person carries more risk than most people realize.
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On August 22, I will be having a dialogue with Professor Naoya Fujiwara.
The theme is “The Invisible World and the Future of Japan.”
Professor Fujiwara uses the term “imaginary numbers” to describe the invisible world.
The visible world is the world of “real numbers.”
Borrowing that language, zero-gravity massage belongs entirely to the world of real numbers.
The machine moves in a fixed way.
I can choose the strength, the time, and the course.
There are no emotions, no physical condition of the practitioner, and no invisible something directed toward me.
That is why I can use it with peace of mind.
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But when it comes to massage done by a person, it is not so simple.
That person’s condition that day.
Their skill.
Their way of thinking.
The feelings they hold toward other people.
These invisible elements have a large influence on the treatment.
In other words, the imaginary-number element is very large.
And before receiving the treatment, there is almost no way to know it.
In the past, for the sake of studying my own bodywork, I received treatments from many massage therapists.
But recently, I almost never ask anyone to work on me.
Truly grounded people are rare in this world.
There are people with skill.
There are people with experience.
There are kind people.
But there are things that cannot be seen through skill or kindness alone.
When one person touches another, it is not simply a matter of pressing muscles or moving joints.
The state of that person enters into the other.
Once, I had booked a massage, but before it began I felt, “No, this person is not right,” and I made up some excuse to cancel on the spot.
Looking back, perhaps it was quite rude of me.
But at that moment, I could not entrust my body any further.
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The more one becomes able to sense things, the more sensitive one also becomes to risk.
Being able to perceive the invisible is not only convenient.
Rather, things that once would not have bothered me now do.
That is why, these days, the safe and reliable zero-gravity massage is just right.
The world of real numbers is visible.
It is fixed.
It can be predicted.
I find that deeply comforting.
Perhaps because I usually deal with the world of imaginary numbers, a world made only of real numbers feels especially pleasant.
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Real numbers and imaginary numbers.
It is not a question of which is superior.
The body is the same.
There is the world of real numbers: muscles and bones.
And there is also the world of imaginary numbers: emotions, space, relationships, and the way a person exists.
If we look at only one side, we cannot understand the body.
That is why time spent returning to the world of real numbers matters.
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I soak in the hot spring, warm my body, and surrender myself to the machine’s massage.
There is no unnecessary intention there.
Only fixed movement, fixed pressure, and fixed time.
That simplicity feels like a quiet blessing to me now.
Thinking such thoughts, I plan to go to the hot spring again today and enjoy the zero-gravity massage to my heart’s content.
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About the August 22 dialogue:
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