Change--How does it happen?

Well...have had a few days that were less "scheduled" due to inclement weather (about 8 to 10 inches of snowfall) so I have had time to catch up on some reading I have been wanting to do. I am taking a reading course on Somatic Psychology...and ran across this quote from an article by Ian Grand:

"In working somatically, one of the things one is trying to do is to allow the tissue state of a person to reorganize itself, learn different responses, and grow and form itself in a different way....It is generally recognized that to build a state of muscle with which one can lift several hundred pounds, or the cardiovascular and muscular ability to run 20 miles, requires a training that actually changes the tissue state. Alterations in muscle fiber, metabolism, capacity for oxygenation, liquid flow and hormonalization are required to permit these kinds of performances. The same thing is true emotionally. It is quite easy for someone to want to be more tender or more assertive or able to tolerate anger without violence or collapse; but to actually enact these changes requires an organismic learning so that the tissue itself can tolerate the different streams of sensation and feeling and project them into the world."

 WOW.  This explains a bit more about "How does it (bodywork) work?" which I have explored a bit before  (Part One here). Change does not just magically happen. Awareness that change is needed is usually the first step--even if one does not know what it is exactly--one just knows something needs to be different. What is the AA definition of insanity? "Doing the same thing the same way and hoping for different results." yeah. Doesn't happen. So change requires us to recognize, hopefully with either some degree of humility and hope--that something different needs to occur.

One of the gifts of Bodywork as a therapy is to introduce more options somatically (through touch, movement, breathing, etc) which then translates emotionally into a person's experience! Is that cool or what? This is good news--for it means there are several ways to introduce change into our lives. A change in one part of the system will impact the others. You can work directly to solve a problem--or go through a back door--but it will work. So, the Dove Chocolate quote of, "Change your mind--Change your Body" could just as easily be written "Change your Body--Change your Mind." (Yes--I love Dove Chocolates :)

Therapists of all stripes introduce new ways of doing things. Problem is with most of us, is we either are afraid to do new things (due to a negative experience) or don't think we can do new things (we reason--we would already be doing them if we could). Ah--but not so...we only THINK or FEEL we cannot do them....and that is where counseling, bodywork, personal training, tutoring, etc. comes in. Someone who is a few steps ahead of us on their journey helps us take the next few steps.

Bodyworkers are therapists--they introduce new ways of doing things.

For example, when a person is emotionally depressed, they often feel they have no more options (things will always be the same and they will never get better.) This feeling of hopelessness causes a person to "shut down" to conserve energy in what feels to be a "closed system." Somatically, a person who is depressed is also often "shut down" or kind of "curled in" on themselves--to save energy and to shield and protect oneself from others who are perceived to be dangerous. Only problem is that this kind of "shut down" prevents a person from at least 2 things:
1.seeing the other options that may be available
2. being open to receive good/nurture from those who are safe

So, a Bodyworker will help them to:
1. discover and work through what the original fear was that caused the "shut down" 
2. become more open to life and receive now that danger has passed
3. experience new options that are available.

So...are you ready to try something new in order to experience change? As the chocolate says:
"Change your Body...Change your Mind."

Untouchable...

 Have you ever felt "untouchable?" There is a HUGE difference between not wanting to be touched (e.g., when you have a migraine headache, have experienced trauma, or are angry at someone) versus feeling no one wants to touch you. The latter emotional experience that some people have of feeling “untouchable” is of particular interest to me—both as a psychologist and now also as a massage therapist/bodyworker.

You may be familiar with the Indian social caste system, which assigned the “lowest status” to that of the Dalits, also called the “Untouchables.” The resource, Wikipedia, states the following about the “Untouchables:”

  

“ [they have been] historically associated with occupations regarded as ritually impure, such as any involving leatherwork, butchering, or removal of rubbish, animal carcasses, and waste. Dalits worked as manual labourers cleaning streets, latrines, and sewers. Engaging in these activities was considered to be polluting to the individual, and this pollution was considered contagious. As a result, Dalits werecommonly segregated, and banned from full participation in Hindu social life. For example, they could not enter a temple nor a school, and were required to stay outside the village.”

Powerful words….impure… polluting…considered contagious… segregated… banned…outside the village…Hmmm. People can feel psychologically like this. They may feel shame about their actual Self….feel impure, polluted, ...that there is something wrong with them—something toxic about themselves. And as a result, they may shy away from personal contact—actual physical contact, and even social contact in general, for fear that they are in some way “contagious” to others.

As you can imagine, bodywork by a gentle, sensitive practitioner is a powerful intervention to “dilute” and reverse this sense of toxicity that people may carry with them. In bodywork, you have the opportunity to change someone’s thoughts (in this case particularly negative ones) by working on their person. Touch the surface…you touch the depths. And physiologically, one reason this occurs, is because the brain and the skin are part of the same sensory/perception system.

When someone who experiences themselves as "untouchable" experiences loving, nurturing, caring touch--it has the potential to reverse the negative messages about the self—and one can begin to experience themselves instead as Touchable, Lovable, Pure, Clean, and Whole. Touch the surface...touch the depths.