Student life at Wesleyan is engaging and stimulating, but it’s not easy. Between academic work and extracurricular activities, it can be difficult to find a time or place to relax. After a long day of papers, problem sets, TA sessions, and general stress, one might dream of a massage, particularly as the year draws to a close and free time dwindles. Apart from the inevitably mobbed UCAB-sponsored massage nights, the dream of the stress-relieving massage has always been intangible—until now.

In Fayerweather 106, every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, students can give and receive massages, practice meditation, and generally unwind after a hectic day of school. I ventured into this mythical land to find out what exactly a cooperative massage club entails.

Dale Glasspiegel ’13 founded the cooperative student-run massage group mostly because of his unabashed love of the art of massage.

“I personally love massages, and I love giving them, and I think it’s one of those things that both people can enjoy,” Glasspiegel said. “I’ve never been trained in massages, but I’ve been told I give good massages, and I’m sure a lot of people can enjoy giving massages and getting massages.”

Yet his appreciation for massage extends beyond the fact that it feels good and is an enjoyable activity for both the massager and the massagee. Glasspiegel, a psychology and math major, is interested in the forms and control of energy and the ways this plays into massage. He also engages in yoga and Qigong, a practice that combines philosophy, Chinese medicine, and martial arts.

“It’s called Qigong, but no one’s heard of it, so I just say Tai Chi,” Glasspiegel said. “It’s fun practicing playing around with energy and learning to manipulate your own energy.”

Glasspiegel incorporates this desire to understand and direct energy into his meditation and massage technique. The club is not the freebie spa experience its title might suggest; participants are expected to learn and apply varied techniques and evenly split time between being the recipient and performer of the massage. At its core, the student massage group is an educational and interactive club.

“I definitely would like to give pointers and give people practice,” Glasspiegel said. “I would also like to introduce elements of chi: giving and taking energy, and being able to flow with the energy and being able to direct its movement. There’s definitely an educational element to it—it’s a good thing to learn.”

The meeting on Wednesday, April 17 began without any elements of massage at all. Led by Glasspiegel, we did a standing meditation incorporating moves from Qigong. We practiced controlling our breathing and extending our arms up and down, pushing the energy around. Focusing on the core of our bodies, we worked on opening ourselves up, “reaching for the immortal peach,” in an exercise drawn from Chinese mythology. We tried to feel the energy come into our hands, visualized its colors and shape, and practiced attracting energy and incorporating it into our beings.

Once we were sufficiently centered, it was time for the massage portion of the meeting. I laid down and Glasspiegel began to apply pressure to my back, starting with the spinal column and gradually moving out. This is one of the basic tenets of Glasspiegal’s approach to massage: one should start with the core or center of the area, and gradually work out to the peripheral limbs.

At the end of the session, we sat cross-legged on yoga blocks and meditated, bringing the relaxation to a reflective conclusion. Because I was a new participant, I was able to merely enjoy the massage portion of the night, but Glasspiegel hopes that members who regularly attend meetings will strike more of an equal balance between giving and receiving.

“It’s not really a class, but if you want to learn how to give a massage, it’s a great place to come,” Glasspiegel said. “It just has to be half-and-half eventually.”

The club is new this year, but Glasspiegel will be graduating in May. He wants to see the club grow and become more useful for the Wesleyan community at large even after he leaves and takes his talents elsewhere.

“It would be nice to find someone, preferably an underclassman, who can take over,” Glasspiegel said. “It’s just something that I felt could make the campus a better place.”