Translating: From One Field to Another....

It has long been a calling of mine, to be a bridge person. Another way to say this is that I often find myself translating concepts of one discipline to the understanding of another. This in itself is ironic, because it is my elder sister who is the one who has a PhD in Linguistics! Lucky for me, I don't have to be able to spell or pronounce the words I use (thank God for spellcheck)...I just get to write about them :)

So...what is the latest translation/bridge I am working on? It is the translation of the concept of energy, Chi, or Qi--which Bodyworkers are very familiar with. But you talk to a mental health professional or a theologian about "Energy" or "Chi" and they think you have fallen out of your rocker. So...here goes.

For Psychology People: "Energy" can be translated to "Embodied Emotion." We know that we don't just have cognitions about how we feel...we FEEL our emotions. And that feeling often has a level of force to it, i.e., energy. Anger for example...when you are angry, you may feel like decking someone. That is a force to be reckoned with. Or maybe you feel love for someone, that makes you tender and attentive to them. Emotion "moves" you, and, our physicist friends know, that to move something you need ENERGY. Hence, emotions are energy expressed through the body. Does this reduce emotions to energy? No, of course not--emotions are more than energy--but energy is required to feel them.

For Theologians: "Energy" can be translated to "power [of the spirit/Spirit]." Energy moves things...and the spirit/Spirit moves things. Do we know how? Nope. Jesus said, "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." John 3:8. Of course, also interesting is the word for "power" in the Bible is also "dunamis"--the same word we derive the English word for "dynamite"--and we know that is powerful stuff. So when we talk about the power/energy of the Spirit of God, we may be using the word "dunamis." The Spirit moves things. This is often why, in a worship service where people find themselves, clapping, raising their hands, or crying--they say, "The Spirit was moving in today's service." Why? Because they felt their emotions connecting with their faith. They felt MOVED. And that is the job and power of the Spirit. Does this reduce the Spirit or our own spirit to our emotions--of course not. The wind is not reduced to its effects...our emotions may be the effects of the moving of our or God's Spirit.

So finally, is energy (chi or Qi) simply a force? This is where I would diverge from some bodyworkers. Some do believe energy is only a force. I believe that God is more than an impersonal force. We would surely be in trouble if God were reducible to a "force." A "force" cannot love, care, redeem, protect, etc. But God can--and does through the Spirit. So, God is more than this, but our language limits us. But our language, doesn't limit God.

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.

Half-Way Done!

Well--not really half-way done. How do I know? I am however, half-way done with my LMT training program at the New School of Massage, Bodywork & Healing, in downtown Chicago. It has been mentally challenging--but also incredibly stimulating to my thoughts about integration of theology, psychology and somatic awareness. I am starting this blog as a way to begin recording my musings as I begin to work with people in the Bodywork field--and how I change as a result. So far in clinic--people are either relaxed after I have worked on them--or unabashedly fall asleep--with snoring included. Let me tell you--I count a good snorer as a very high compliment in bodywork--not so much in psychotherapy! Ha! What a great journey this is!