Cadaver Lab

I finished the 125 hour massage class a few weeks ago, and segued directly into an Anatomy class that I’m really digging. Towards the end of August I’m doing a two week sailing course as a refresher. And then in September, I start the next big massage class. Can’t sleep, clowns will eat me.

In the midst of this frenzy of classes, yesterday was the much-anticipated Cadaver Lab. I walked into it expecting to be really creeped out, but the class was actually fairly straightforward. The freshest body was at least a year old, and they had all been fully dissected and peeled open. I don’t know, somehow that made it easier. Maybe because the bodies seemed a little less… human. It was fascinating to see how the muscles look with no skin over them. Somehow, the nice neat drawings in the books don’t really do the body justice.

Part of what I’m learning from this series of massage and anatomy classes is that I’m a very tactile learner. So, being able to reach in and actually feel the muscles was a really great experience for me.

However, I am finding that the “creepy” feeling I expected to have during the class is coming on strong post-class. I don’t know, something about the experience was really disturbing. I didn’t expect the muscle tissue to all look so much like… meat. Dried out, dehydrated. Jerky. Smoked meat. Gack. I had a salad for lunch. I’ll probably have another salad for the next meal. It’ll be a while before I have barbeque again.