Today seemed to go very fast. We still took 90 minutes, it just flew by. I told the therapist that I woke up at 4 AM with my throat burning. I have had a sore throat off and on over the last month, and that was not unusual. He told me that after the treatment that shouldn’t happen. I certainly hope so. He asked how long, well, you know, the 45 minute thing. I told him I made it to 40 minutes. His eyebrows went up. Now, I know that part of this balancing therapy is supposed to help me as an aging man with prostate issues. The kind that get you up in the middle of the night and make you do things that you just did and you thought you were through with. Enough said? I started to wonder if this particular therapy was just for me to exercise muscle control and has nothing to do with herbal treatment. Did he tell me 45 minutes just to make me try really hard, not thinking I would make it past 20? Do I ask him?

He asked me if it were ok to use a lot of oil on my skin. I said, “Sure.” I figure I should get my money’s worth, right? Then he said that because of my abundance of body hair he had to use more. Oh, sure, now I’m going to get the Hirsute Oil Surcharge.  Would that be discrimination?

The bags were really hot today. And the oil on my lower back was much hotter than yesterday. Not where I cringed, but I did worry that it was going to burn the hair off. My husband would not be happy. You should have seen him the once, once, mind you, that I let them shave holes in my chest hair for an EKG. It took six months for it to grow back. It looked hideous. Anyway, the hair is still there after day four. At least as much as I could check in a mirror.

I asked him about the strength of the oil, whether it increased with each day. He said that there were standard strength products used and that if he determined it needed to be changed based my answers to his questions about how I felt, then he would. While I was in the hot box he cleaned the massive amounts of oil off the table then sat in a chair and took out his iPhone. I began to think that he should be distracting me with conversation while I sweated profusely, and I tried to engage him by asking a few questions, but he immediately went back to his phone. I then heard his phone playing some music. I couldn’t really see his face without my glasses, so I let the song finish. Then I asked him more about his experience and training in Ayurveda. After he let me out of the box he continued and earlier conversation we had had about me putting music videos on YouTube and Facebook. He played me the song he was playing before on his phone and told me that if I made videos like that and put them on Facebook I could get a lot of people to my business. Then he smiled and told me he would help me find a Hindi song to record.I will have to consider that.