How Giovanni found Massage therapy, the journey so far.
Massage therapy and Giovanni’s journey.
Giovanni was born in a small town near Milan, Italy.
He first travelled to Australia in 2008, where he found an immediate affinity with Australia, in particular Melbourne. On 21st June 2017, Giovanni consolidated his affection by becoming an Australian Citizen. Initially working several years within the Melbourne hospitality industry, Giovanni sought to broaden his life’s experiences. His travels introduced him to a new way to approach life, and so the seeds of his new career in Thai Massage therapy were born.
Behind this drive for a new outlook on life were the experiences of a troubled young boy. Bullying, family fights, a domineering father and very sensitive mother saw Giovanni build emotional walls for his self-protection. Maintaining these protective walls required much energy and dedication. He was trying to fix the un-fixable, trying to heal and change the people and situations was simply beyond his control.
Eventually, Giovanni recognized, after many years of these challenges, the protective walls he had built were not a healthy way to live. Working on himself, his enlightened approach to life gained from visiting new cultures, Giovanni was no longer hurting and being hurt. He now responded to those who challenged with his strongest weapon, his smile.
Having learned to give, he felt fulfilled and rewarded.
He became the light in the room, filled with forgiveness, empathy, and compassion as his strongest tools. He was also filled with gratitude for life, for Mother Nature, for his mum and dad and his family past present and future.
The re-invented Giovanni enrolled in 2016 to learn about Swedish massage. Giovanni attained his first qualification, Certificate IV at the SSNT – Fitzroy, taking him closer to his goals in Thai Massage. For Giovanni, the theory wasn’t enough, he wanted to experience more from his new life path. Encouragement from a friend saw Giovanni take his next step along the path to learning more about Thai Massage and Meditation. In March 2018, Giovanni travelled to Chiang Mai to study further with Pichest Boonthumme, a Thai Massage master from Thailand. Here he found himself embedded in the master’s teachings in massage and meditation. Giovanni returned from Pichest affirmed of his new path. He now fully understood, those protective walls of the past had not been a solution, rather a hindrance.
Giovanni had learnt the power and philosophy of massage.
The power for massage to trace tensions and gently dissolve them. The philosophy that while massage is physical, it is also emotional. The power of acceptance teaches us to see the problems from different perspectives, to recognize them and gradually learn to deal with them, transform them and channel them. Giovanni says, “I learnt to give before I have been asked. I learnt to accept what life gives me because every situation means a lesson to be learnt.”
Giovanni passion for Thai Massage, meditation, and the world, is constantly growing. He returned to Pichest for further training in January 2019 and hopes be able to re-visit annually once the world re-opens for safe travel.
In more recent days, Giovanni also got his qualification as Remedial Massage therapist from RMIT University and MLD certificate 2 in Applied MLD with the Vodder Accademy.
But the study journey for giovanni is not finished yet, and now is enrolled for a Myotherapy course at the RMIT Universtity still.
Always growing, Giovanni has also immersed himself in the wonderful reality of meditation.
He has completed a Vipassana Meditation course in 2016 in WA, as well as in Tasmania in 2019.
Giovanni looks forward to his next life chapters. He will look forward to sharing his learning adventures with all who are eager to learn from one another. He’ll share the benefits of massage therapy and meditation to loosen up all the tensions of the day to make more space in our lives for a balanced living as well as any wonderful surprises that the future hold us.
“Step-by-step, any hard job becomes just a fun walk.” -Giovanni
Written By Nicola Hazzell