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Flashmobs are a lot less dangerous then they sound.  Really.  But if I’d never heard of one, I’d personally avoid it at all cost.  Seriously, who decided to combine the phrases “flash flood” and “angry mob” and thought that people would come running to take part?

But come running they have.  In fact, if you were jogging down the Vestal Rail Trail behind the Parkway Subway on Tuesday night, you’ve already seen a flashmob in person.

But let’s go back to basics.  For those of you who have been living in a hole for the last 5 years and are just discovering the ‘interweb’ for the first time, “What is a flashmob?” Wikipedia, clearly the most reliable reference material ever conceived of by man, defines a flashmob as “a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and pointless act for a brief time, then disperse.”

That’s right, my friends, flashmobs are the Seinfeldian cousin of the political rally.  People assemble for no reason whatsoever, perform a task that has no intrinsic value, and then disassemble to no place in particular—although, realistically, they probably disassemble to get plastered at a pub down the street.  (After Tuesday night’s Rail Trail flashmob, a few of us reassembled at the outdoor seating of the Vestal Uno’s, apparently chosen because “it has more shrubbery than the outdoor seating of the Vestal TGI Friday’s.”)

The first successful flash mob, legend has it (and by ‘legend’, I again mean Wikipedia), was held at a Manhattan Macy’s June 3rd, 2003.  A group of 100 participants assembled around a giant rug on the 9th floor of the department store and, when approached by bewildered salespeople, explained that they “all lived together in a warehouse loft and searching for a ‘loverug’ large enough to accommodate the entire group”.

Since then, flashmobs have evolved into everything from mass pillow fights in urban parks and silent discos in underground subways to massive reenactments of Michael Jackson videos.  The silent disco—one of my favorite kinds of flashmob—involves gathering a large groups of people into one place with IPods and headphones who then listen to their own favorite song and dance about wildly in anything but unison.  A flash mob true-ist will tell you that a flashmob MUST be organized on the Internet by a group of volunteers bent on doing nothing more than having a senselessly good time.  They’ll tell you that a publicity stunt planned by a corporate marketing department DOES NOT COUNT; nor does Oprah’s giant staging of the Black Eyed Peas track “I Gotta Feeling”.

What’s perhaps most unusual about the flashmobs that have cropped up in Greater Binghamton over the past few weeks is that they’re all organized by a church: Grace Adventure.

Grace Adventure bills itself as a “church without a building”.  A recent e-mail from the church’s pastor, Annette Snedaker, goes something like this: “We all know that young adults are a missing population in today’s churches.  Let’s face it: the population in general, is declining in churches.  But yet, the world needs people reaching out to others in love and compassion more than ever!  So… there are a group of us trying to do something that will bring young adults back to talking about their spirituality, and making a difference in the community in non-traditional ways and spaces.”

And to get rolling, Grace Adventure has staged two “freeze mobs”.  One at Spiedie Fest and the other at the Rail Trail.  A freeze mob is a form of flashmobbing wherein participants synchronize their watches, stroll casually into a public place, and then all freeze at the exact same moment.  After a few minutes, they all unfreeze and proceed about their business as if nothing unusual has happened.  Check out this very famous freeze mob at Grand Central Station to get acquainted…

Now the Grace Adventure people have chosen to flashmob for a cause.  A different cause each time.  Their Spiedie Fest mob was designed to support CHOW; participants were asked to bring canned food before they took part.  And their Rail Trail mob was held to support the Southern Tier AIDS Program’s “Dog Gone Fun on the Run”.  People were asked to bring pet food or doggie toys to the event.  To give STAPs event the extra push, many of the freezers stood still with Doggone flyers in hand.

I’m gonna make an admission here: I had my doubts about the Rail Trail flash mob. For one thing, you need a critical mass of non-participants to make these things work.  Luckily, the good weather had brought out a decent amount of early evening strollers, runners, and dog-walkers.  My other concern was that we only had about 20 people there to take part.  But what I realized right away is that ANY out-of-the-ordinary behavior interrupting somebody’s early evening routine gets attention pretty quick.  Even if the interruption only comes from one nutball.  Now multiply that effect by twenty.

One two-some from our group held a freeze-frisbee game in the middle of the path.  A family stood off to one side, all in a row, as if frozen in the middle of their afternoon walk.  And as you might expect, half the fun is watching the spectators—which ones turn their head, which ones stop to look, and which ones, faced with the unexpected, try to ignore the event as if doing so would stop it from happening.

Grace Adventure isn’t content to stop with Flashmobs.  They’ve got a whole slate of non-traditional church events planned, including “Theology on Tap” at Kelly’s in Endicott, an “open house” held at Mad Mouse Saloon, and a “Teahouse Talk” at Vestal’s famous bubble tea joint behind Denny’s.

Annette Snedaker took a moment away from planning the future of religion as we know it to answer a few questions about freezemobs and other fun nonsense…

So I missed the Spiedie Fest Flash Mob; how did it go?  What was the idea there?
Hilarious!  6 folks from Grace Adventure showed up and then we recruited about 15 high school students there. The things people say as they walk by a group of "frozen" people is quite funny!  They say things such as, "Do you think she will move if I….(fill in the blank)"  The Spedie Fest mob was for CHOW.  Everyone brought a non perishable food item.  We decided on CHOW because we realize people have been hard hit with the economy the way it is right now. 

Where’d you get the idea for the mob. Any particular stunt you saw on the Internet inspire you?
The idea of a mob came out of the fact that I was a youth leader a year ago and my youth group talked about doing one.  I looked it up on You Tube and decided it was a great idea.  Unfortunately, we never did one as a group, but I forwarde the idea to Grace Adventure.  I hope some of them come do one with us!  We would love to do a dancing mob someday like the one that took place in Grand Central Station.

How have people reacted so far?
I’m not sure if you mean to the mobs or to Grace Adventure.  To the mobs…people think its a fresh, easy, and fun way to bring awareness to a cause.  Folks are excited to get out there and make a difference in unique ways.  Its a way to do something for the community that leads to laughter, meeting new people, and making a difference.  People want to help, but sometimes they don’t know where to begin.
To Grace Adventure, people have reacted very positively.  Honestly, the fact that we are a church still scares people.  There is a lot of "baggage" with the word and organization we call church.  Sometimes people say, "I’m not a church person" or "I’m not religious."  So I’ll ask, "What does that mean?"  A lot of times it means they feel they will be judged, not that they don’t belive in a God.  It’s so sad and awful that church has the reputation of judging and building barriers, but I understand why.  I have seen church hurt people;  People I love and care about.  So Grace Adventure is trying to break those barriers down!  The church has done a lot of good in this world too!  So the more I get to know someone and once they start meeting people on the Grace Adventure team, they see that we really are a group of people trying to do good, but are not set on one way of believing, talking about God, or practicing spirituality.  There are more people then one might think who are looking for some type of faith/"do-good" experience in their life, but would never find what they need in a traditional church.  Honestly, as a pastor, I am much more comfortable outside a traditional church as well…probably for the same reasons a lot of other people are. But I believe there is a God calling us to lend one another a hand.  (But do I think God is a guy?  Heck no!  Do I believe the Bible is the infallible word of God?  Nope.  It was written by men who, just like you and I, were on a faith journey trying to describe and learn from their own experiences.  So there is a lot to learn from it, but also a lot that is completely irrelevant to our lives today).

Does your idea of building the church through community involvement have a model?  Another church?
A model?  I have researched and been trained in starting a new church; however, I do not know of any other church that has no building.  As far as I have heard, Grace Adventure is the only church I know who NEVER wants to be put in a building.  Office space?  Maybe.  That sure would help me find my dining room table.  But a building where we gather?   Not in our future!  We want to guarantee ourselves and the community that we will always be present and active…doing what our God calls the church to do, which is to get off our butts, get to know the community around us, and try to meet their needs.  Church is something we should DO…NOT a place where we go. 

Besides Flash Mobs, what other adventures do you have up your sleeve?
Up our sleeves?  Haha!  We have ideas coming out our pant legs too!  We are really excited about the upcoming Theology on Tap, Alzheimer’s Walk, Doggone Fun Run, CHOW walk, a flash mob on Veteran’s Day to benefit another undecided organization, mission trips to NYC, Arkansas, and other places. We have an Open House coming up for people to come check us out.  We will offer free pizza and soda.  Its at the Mad Moose on August 31 and our band will be playing known tunes from Lady Antebellum to U2.  Join us for a bite to eat and to meet the Grace Adventure team!  We have a lot more ideas, but we are about 20 people strong right now.  Once more people come on board, we will be able to do more!

I don’t have a foot fetish.  I actually have the opposite of a foot fetish.  A bit of foot fear.  A footaphobia?

::: Hang on; I gotta google this. :::

Podophobia.  That’s what I got.  A fear of feet.  No foot fetish at all, nosiree, not me.  I once had a friend with a shop vac fetish.  Not sure why that’s relevant—but it is true.  And I’ve been looking for a chance to mention it in the blog.  Cause it doesn’t happen everyday.

Anyway, when Sheila McDonald told me she’d like to hang off monkey bars and do a little barefoot dance on my back for my therapeutic pleasure, I was a bit, shall we say… skeptical.

For one thing, having somebody stand on your back requires a bit of trust.  I’ve never personally had my spine broken but I imagine it’s not an altogether pleasant experience.  And for another, I have that thing about feet.  Or rather, a lack of a thing about feet (see above).

But I’m always up for an adventure.  Especially if there’s something to fret about in advance.  And Sheila struck me as being the kind of person to have particularly clean feet.  So I decided to take a leap of faith.  Get it?  Leap of faith?  :::heavy, embarrassed sigh:::

(I also did a bit of googling to make sure Sheila wasn’t making the whole thing up to test out some kind of “experimental massage theory” she’d developed while watching Olympic gymnastics at home.)

I make the gymnastics reference because Ashiatsu Oriental Massage Therapy, as it’s called—no, Sheila didn’t make it up—involves the masseuse hanging off parallel bars and applying pressure to the various muscles of your back.

“Mostly, I’ll only be using one foot at a time, applying at least some of my weight to the bars.  Once or twice, I might use both feet at the same time on your upper and lower back,” Sheila told me in a dimly lit room with the sounds of waves lapping softly on the seashore in the background.  It’s always lapping waves, isn’t it?  Or that instrument that makes the low-pitched waaah-waaah-waaah that I can never remember the name of.

Sheila’s workroom at the Hair Company is small, but also comfortable.  The ceiling is draped with fabric, giving the space a less harsh, cornered vibe.  And she had to get a contractor to come in to install the bars—this is clearly not a portable experience.  I asked her if anybody else in the area was doing that sort of work.  Skaneateles was the closest practitioner that she knew of.

The massage itself was pretty fantastic.  And surprising.  She warned me in advance that it wouldn’t feel the same as a normal hand massage.  One of her clients compared the two:  A normal massage feels like being hammered with a meat tenderizer.  You get worked over but spots get missed.  Whereas with Ashiatsu, it’s like you’ve been rolled out with a rolling pin.  Flattened.  In a really really really quite incredibly pleasurable way.

I’d be lying of the first few moments didn’t make me a bit uncomfortable.  The weight of an entire person standing on your back can be a bit unnerving.  But of course, it wasn’t her entire weight.  Probably the most squirm-inducing moment came when Sheila placed her foot on my neck and began to manipulate the muscles there.  Weird.  Intimidating.  But once the novelty of the sensation subsided, it was extremely relaxing.  I was trying to pay close attention—knowing I’d have to blog about it later—but I soon felt myself drift into a semi-conscious state.

A foot doesn’t feel like a hand—and although less maneuverable, the movements were surprisingly controlled.  Often times, the pressure felt like it was about to become just a BIT too much.  And at those moment, I was worried that the inevitable “Arrrghh!” would illicit a pretty slow response—weighted feet being harder to move quickly than a hand.  But the yelp of pain never came; Sheila seemed to know exactly how much pressure was enough.

Another thing of note—and Sheila told me about this in advance—was how well the shape of the foot was able to work certain parts of the body.  It just fits.  In some cases, better than a hand.

Between back-dancings, I asked Sheila to answer a few qestions about the therapy…

Do people ever seem grossed out by the foot-factor? Bare feet aren’t everybody’s cup of tea…

I’m sure there are some people who would be grossed out by the foot-factor.  In this case, I imagine their aversion to feet would keep them from showing up for Ashiatsu in the first place.  If however, the notion of feet is a tea they are willing to at least sip, they would have to decide if the value in the delivery is worth the awkwardness they may experience.  I had one client, on her first visit, describe the feeling she had when my foot was near her neck and coming down her arm.  She said as she thought of the fact that it was my foot, it seemed strange for a moment.  She went on to describe being quickly intoxicated by the feeling, and moving immediately back to the feeling of pleasure.

I know you experienced barefoot massage for the first time in India. What was that like?
Oh my goodness, everything about India was mesmerizing and unique.  This type of massage in India is called Chavutti Thirummal (which translates as foot massage).  We were staying at an Ayurvedic center in Kerala.  I remember lying on a plastic sheet on the floor with a disposable thong on and having a young Indian woman coat every centimeter of my body with herb-infused oil.  Most of what I remember is feeling an amazing sensation as she glided along every fiber of my body while holding onto a rope attached to the ceiling.  I just remember a feeling of pure bliss and wellbeing.  Shortly after this trip there was an article in a massage magazine I subscribed to about Ashiatsu Oriental Bar Therapy.  I was hooked.  At that time, I began watching videos and experimenting with my partner in a relatively hap-hazard sort of way. 

How did you train for a form of massage that nobody around here practices?
Although I continued to "play", at that time in my (official) career I was still primarily doing basic Swedish massage and had begun incorporating more of the subtle work of Craniosacral Therapy, Chakra Balancing, and Reiki.  I was working at an Integrative Medicine/Wellness Center in Scranton, PA and began taking on more responsibilities with some of our community outreach programs, as well as teaching yoga and meditation.  Bodywork became a smaller area of focus for a few years.  Recently, I opened my own practice again.  Focusing primarily on Massage Therapy, and realizing that most people are looking for deep tissue, I began to revisit my love of Ashiatsu.  It became a sort of obsession — constantly watching training videos and practicing on my friends and family.  For me, transitioning into using my feet as a method of delivery was natural.  My education, experience, passion, and gifts as a therapist translated smoothly into being competent as an Ashiatsu Practitioner.  I have a good understanding of the body and a strong sense of what feels good and what doesn’t.  As well as what’s safe and what is not. 

What works better with Ashiatsu than other forms?
With Ashiatsu, the way the foot is used — the contour of the foot, the amount of padding, the larger size, and the consistent deep pressure that is afforded by the sheer dynamics of gravity — allows for a deeply integrated form of massage.  This deep, compression effleurage uses the power of the legs and the weight of the body to impact the deeper muscle layers as well as more accessible surface tissues.  The consistent pressure and amount of tissue being manipulated at once has a greater positive effect on blood-flow and circulation. Incorporating long, gliding strokes and relaxing sequences results is deep tissue bodywork, without the pain often associated with traditional deep tissue massage.    The slow, deliberate, and consistent method of delivery is very soothing to the nervous system and has a positive effect on the mental, spiritual, and emotional bodies - not just the physical. 

Well… what works worse?
Using your feet doesn’t allow for some of the more specific work that needs to be done on the neck, tips of the shoulders, head, and chest.  But really, I don’t see this as a problem in my work because I always take time before and after the "ashiatsu" portion of the session to address the client’s needs in these areas.  It is important to me that I begin and end with my hands and really connect to the client to build rapport and trust.  My background and training in hands-on-healing and energy work is a big part of my gift in the healing encounter.  This type of work is an important ingredient for bringing a sense of well-being to the client.

Part of what’s different about Ashiatsu is the experience for the masseuse. Can you talk about that?
For me as the masseuse, it is very grounding.  I take my work quite seriously and hold a strong commitment to be present and focused.  With that, it is almost meditative.  From a physical standpoint for me, it is a completely different use of my own body.  I use more of my core strength and larger muscle groups as opposed to my fingers, wrists, and arm strength.  With Ashiatsu, I keep most of my weight in the standing leg (on the table) while I apply pressure by use of my body weight and some muscle contraction in the leg of the foot I am using.  It is almost like a choreographed dance because the sequencing is very important.  It is amazing how the subtleties of how I move on the body have a profound impact on how the massage is experienced by the client.  It is inspiring to be creative and mindfully bring my foot across the contours of the body with the exact right amount of pressure in the perfect spots.  I love moving slowly from the ankle all the way up to the shoulder and down the arm in one smooth, slow, and deliberate motion.  That alone - regardless of how light the pressure could be — is extremely therapeutic to the client.  The body can’t help but to melt and feel a renewed sense of contentment.  Knowing that I am creating and allowing for a truly healing encounter is outrageously rewarding.  When I work I rarely get tired.  Alternatively, I feel good and energized. 

So, uh, you’re walking on people’s backs. Is there a danger??
In any type of bodywork I suppose there could always be some potential for danger.  In the eleven years I have been a practitioner, I have had the opportunity to study with some amazing teachers and be mentored by many great therapists. Because I take my work very seriously, I have worked hard to understand the contraindications for all the modalities I deliver.    Particularly for Ashiatsu, the therapist really needs to remain focused and alert.  When I first began I remember thinking …OMG…if my foot ever slipped and I slid right into THAT vertebrae…. or OMG, what if I slipped and fell on his back, or OMG, what if I accidentally stepped on his arm….  Those were all brief fleeting thoughts, and to tell you the truth, I feel very very comfortable and competent up on my table.  There is this almost palpable sense of "rightness" in what I am doing.  I feel a great sense of privilege in doing what I do.

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