How Does it Work???

Bodywork....how does it work? How does it cause or facilitate change? Truth is, a lot of it is Mystery--beyond our cognition--that is part of its gift. In the West, we practically worship our brains. Now don't get me wrong--I'm all for the brain. I would not have gone to school as much as I have if I didn't believe we can learn by use of our brain. But in our society (and even the Church at times...) we treat our minds as if it is the only portal to learning. WRONG!!!!

Deanne Juhan writes:

    "When the conceptions of reality that we maintain do not square with the things we are experiencing insert.... thinking, feeling, sensing, etc] it is not because we are flawed or because our experiences are wrong, but because our conceptions cannot contain all the facts as we perceive them. And there is no constructive way out of this crisis but to enlarge our sense of reality to include our actual experiences." (from Job's Body: A Handbook for Bodywork).

So what I experience shapes reality? Of course it does! This is known as subjective experience. The "hard" sciences have traditionally "poo-pooed" subjective experience--as being biased (read: flawed). But that does not discount it at all! One's experience, in fact--is the "meat and potatoes" of psychological work, spiritual growth and personal awareness. Hence the of quoted question of counselors, "How do you feel?"

Not only do we often limit our awareness and learning to only what our brains take in, it is more insidious than that. There is a tendency in human nature to only take in what already agrees with what we know or believe--and do discredit, discount, deny any input that does not already square with what I already 'know." In some way, it is so we can feel more secure or in control of our lives and "destiny." We are so stubborn sometimes!

What does this have to do with Bodywork? Oh boy---hang on!

Deane Juhan shares:

      "No matter how much I move myself around, my strongest tendency is to move in the same ways I  have always moved, guided by the same deeply seated postural habits, sensory cues, and mental images of my  body; but if I can succeed in surrendering to the movements that another person [bodyworker] imposes on my body, without my own system of cues and responses interfering, it is possible to treat my mind to a flood of sensations that are novel in important ways...this moment of surrender and new sensation can demonstrate to me that I am not permanently obliged to continue acting out a habitual compulsion. I can see that the habit is a habit...And if I can drop a compulsive behavior or attitude for a moment without causing a crisis, then perhaps I can dispense with it altogether."  (Juhan, p. xxvi).

So one powerful opportunity that bodywork affords is the opportunity to experience myself in ways that are different than my own self-generated limitations--and physical often translates into emotional and spiritual realms. Bodywork, like psychotherapy, offers the support and experience of an Other--that has the potential to expand my own being into more abundant life.

Bring on the growth! Bring on the Bodywork!  :)

The Body as Gift

One of the main goals of therapeutic bodywork  is to facilitate the experience of "the body as gift." This is in contrast to our culture's view of "the body as object." An object (like a rock) does not have feelings. But Bodies have feelings. Bodies FEEL. We feel. If we don't feel, it may be that we are actually "cut off" from our body's ability to perceive and process. The body learns, the body remembers. As one of my friends is very fond of saying, "The body does not lie."

It is not healthy to view our Self as separate from our Body. This is the wonder of being human. We are embodied spiritual beings, which differentiates us from angels (spirits). In the movie, City of Angels (1998) there is an interesting conversation about how angels are puzzled and intrigued by the human experience of being embodied. Because we have bodies, we can feel what it is like to run a marathon, hug a friend, feel the sun on your face, let a snowflake melt on your tongue, taste strawberry pie, smell a rose, enjoy sexual intimacy. You have to have a body to experience these things.

So, therapeutic bodywork helps people experience their body as Gift, i.e., as Good. This translates into themselves being a gift, and good. This may be quite a revolution/revelation. Some people may have experienced terrible things in their body (trauma)--or have experienced nothing at all (neglect/deprivation). Both experiences tend to cause the body to be forgotten, or in some instances, even punished as if it had done something wrong.And then people begin to believe that they themselves are wrong/bad.

Sensitive and caring bodywork can facilitate a "coming home" to one's body--where we can truly embrace our body as our friend, our Home. The Christian faith is one of the few faith systems where the body is not left behind--but is itself restored and redeemed. Our body is the dwelling our own spirit....and of God's Spirit. When the Bible talks about our body being the temple of the Holy Spirit....this is what it means. God can and does LIVE IN US. That should blow our socks off! Our body, our Gift, our Home.