Working Through the Body

Western civilization, as a whole, has not been kind to the human body. The past 2,400 years have seen the body worshipped, debauched, vilified, denied, ignored, and mechanized. Things started well enough for the body with the Greeks. They worshipped the body. The Greek word soma means “the living body in it’s wholeness” or mind, body and spirit in unity. The Olympic Games were the ideal test of physical strength and endurance and mental and spiritual purity. With the dawn of the Piscian Age the shift of power moved to Rome. The Romans took their worship of the body and sensual pleasures to the extreme. The orgies of their Wine God, Bacchus, were notorious for their debaucheries. These drunken festivals would be the fodder that the Christians would rail against. The Christian Church has taught for 1,700 years that the body is carnal; riddled with sexuality and given to crude pleasures and appetites. The final blow came when De Carte declared, “I think. Therefore, I am.” The Age of Reason saw the body as inferior to the superior mind. The body became the object which transported the brain. The advent of modern medicine has, at the very least, viewed the body as a magnificent machine.

The past century has seen a re-claiming of the human body. The cultural merging of western principles and Oriental attitudes and spiritual practices has generated a dramatic shift in the way we experience our bodies. Somatics is a body-centered approach of many therapies which began with Wilhelm Reich. Reich was a student of Freud’s and stated that the clinical treatment of neurosis must include changes in the physical body. Fritz Perls, a student of Reich’s, helped to found Gestalt therapy. Gestalt in German means an irreducible experience. It has an emphasis on the organism as a whole; the mind and emotions equally connected to the body. Ida Rolf developed Structural Integration, a series of deep tissue massage techniques which re-align the posture of the muscular/skeletal structure. Dr. Randolf Stone contributed Polarity therapy with it’s emphasis on restoring energy movement through the contracted tissues of the body. Somatic movement saw such pioneers as Moshe Feldenkrais and Thomas Hanna. They used movement to re-educate the muscular system to find the most efficient ways of moving and eliminating bodily tension.

There are several Asian traditions which are integrated into Somatic practice. These are Hatha, Tantra and Pranayama Yoga, Seva, Vippasana meditation and Aikido. Hatha Yoga is the well known stretching postures. Tantra yoga is the cultivation of sexual energy for spiritual transformation. Pranayama yoga is the control and direction of breath. Seva is a Sanskrit word which translates to “selfless service”. Vippasana, which means “insight,” is a body centered meditation technique taught by the Buddha. Aikido is a Japanese martial art which teaches harnessing universal love to heal conflict, create fluidity of the body, and the strengthening of ki, or personal energy.

This last century of the millennium has seen a valuable shift in the way we experience the body. Yet in many ways our bodies are still a great mystery. However; they are the only concrete reality we can know. It is our one constant friend. It is always there, moment to moment, living and breathing in present tense. Your body will never lie to you. If you pay close attention it will reveal it’s mysteries to you. If you sit still enough for long enough your body can offer you a path to transcendence. Enlightenment is a bodily experience.

The universe is the precipitation of energy into matter. It is the condensation of the mind and breath of God into material form. That form is infused with energy. The Asians called this energetic life force prana, chi, or ki. The energy has varying vibrations of frequency. We call those frequencies Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether. The frequencies spin together to create the unity of life. Ether, like space, is the backdrop in which the other elements manifest. Minerals have a concentration of earth; the oceans are water; the sun is fire and the winds are air. Your body is composed of these elements in varying densities. Bones and muscle are primarily Earth. Sweat and tears are water. Fire rules metabolism, or the digestion and conversion of food into energy. Air is the movement of gases throughout the system. Each frequency regulates a function and an area of consciousness in your body. The Mind of God is distilled into the very subtle and gross anatomies of every human being. We experience vitality and clarity when the subtle and gross anatomies are flowing and flexible. Radiant health is the vibrant flow of prana or chi.

There are practices which can maximize the life force in our body. I break these practices down into eight broad categories. I call these categories Touch, Sexuality, Nutrition, Breathwork, Movement, Mental, Spiritual and Service. For simplicities sake I will address each of these distinctly. However; it is important to remember the conscious person experiences their life in it’s unity; without boundaries or distinctions. The path to enlightenment is the dismantling of our mental beliefs which create separation between us and the rest of life. It is helpful to think of these categories as areas of consciousness which can be strengthened.

Socrates told his students to, “Question everything.” There are many opinions and schools of thought as to the path to enlightenment. I offer these suggestions to you, the reader, as practices that work for me; for my life and disposition. I encourage you to try these practices and see if they hold any interest for you. Carlos Castaneda put it this way;

Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself and yourself alone one question. This question is one that only a very old man asks. My benefactor told me about it once when I was young and my blood was too vigorous for me to understand it. Now I do understand it. I will tell you what it is: Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good. If it doesn’t, it is of no use.

I interviewed Jacques Verduin, a Somatic teacher, psycho-therapist and bodyworker who spoke of “getting people hooked. Of seducing people to be curious about being alive.” I like the idea of spiritual seduction. It’s like the romantic stage of any relationship. You need that initial attraction to overcome the later difficulties. Every pilgrim must find the principles and teachers which inspire them to commit to a systematic, regular practice. Maintaining a deep and life long spiritual practice is the most difficult work imaginable. Joy Dunn is a yoga and meditation teacher from the mountains of Arkansas. She says “If this is not the most difficult thing you’ve ever done then your not doing it right.” It is also the most joyous and rewarding work you can ever do.

Structure
“The strongest, surest way to
the soul is through the flesh.”
Mabel Dodge
Leonardo in Taos

Massage is well known for it’s therapeutic and relaxing benefits. The gentler, more superficial massage techniques like Swedish have a subtler effect on the life force. The deep tissue-structural modalities like Rolfing, LomiWork, HellerWork and Body Therapy can have a significant impact on vitality. The deep tissue work is called structural because it effects the alignment of the skeletal system; the connective tissues called fascia, tendons and ligaments; and the adhesions, or “knots”, in the muscle tissues. Another way to think of structure is your posture. When your posture is good your skeletal system is perfectly aligned. The muscles are strong and relaxed and the joints flexible. Your body is effortlessly balanced and your movement graceful. Balance is the interaction of gravity and the skeletal alignment. Joseph Heller says, “ Balance is not a static condition, but a process of constant flux, a fluid expression of wholeness and ease.” Chronic stress, illness and injury distort the bodies’ posture by contracting the muscles and tightening the joints. The skeletal alignment then becomes skewed. The bodies full range of motion becomes limited and less efficient.

All the tissues of your body are interconnected by a living matrix. “The matrix inside the cells, known as the cytoskeleton, is directly connected to the matrix outside the cells, classically known as the connective tissue.” Connective tissues line all the body cavities and envelop all internal organs. Microscopic strands of connective tissue envelop muscle fibers. Muscle fibers are banded together by connective tissue to create the muscles themselves. The muscles are then covered by larger sheaths of connective tissue called fascia. The muscles are attached to bone by connective tissues called tendons. Joints and bones are stabilized together by connective tissues called ligaments. The entire body is a network interconnected fibers.

The living matrix is very important for a number of reasons. The connective tissue is flexible. Once contracted it can be stretched out again. It records all our physical experiences. That’s why deep tissue touch can release long forgotten memories and feelings. Long held stress, trauma and illness have the greatest distorting effect on the body. Skeletal imbalances can be corrected by deep touch. The connective tissue network conducts vibrational impulses. When one area of the body is touched the vibration ripples through the matrix. Creating change in one area generates subtle changes throughout the system. Robert Hall MD teaches that the microscopic level of connective tissue is the interface between our thoughts and our physical bodies. This is how repetitive thought patterns show up in our tissues. If the thought patterns are fearful and contracting the connective tissues will contract, which distorts the carriage of the skeletal system. If the thought patterns are open and expansive, the connective tissue is fluid and flexible. The body remains balanced and poised. Caroline Myss puts it this way, “Your biography (how you feel about your life and personal history) becomes your biology.”

I recommend structural body work as one way to maximize your quality of life. Structural Integration, or Rolfing, is the most famous of the deep tissue alignment schools. Rolfing is a series of ten bodywork sessions. Photographs of the body are taken at the beginning of the first session. An assessment of postural imbalances are noted. Each session focuses on different parts of the body. Initially the therapist works to re-establish a solid ground of support with the feet, ankles and legs. Once these are stabilized the pelvis is worked to create a solid base for the torso. Later the head is “put on straight.” The relation between the body and the unconscious mind is often dramatically revealed during these sessions. Memories and emotions can flood the mind. Important shifts in thinking and behavior are also reported due to this work. Final photographs reveal the changes in posture. You can see for yourself the physical benefits of this work.

There are two issues to consider when choosing a deep tissue bodyworker. Their ability to be present and their respect of your pain threshold. Presence of mind reflects a clarity in the practitioner. They are practicing consciousness in their own lives. A safe place for emotional work is created more easily. They have an increased ability to accept any and all of the emotions and experiences that might arise during a session. Presence mirrors a higher vibration of inner-vitality, or chi. Remember the capacity of the living matrix to conduct vibrations throughout the entire body. If your therapist works in presence then the frequency of their touch is greater. You experience more benefit. Richard Strozzi Heckler writes,

“What we actually have to offer another is the simple but daring contribution of our genuine presence. Techniques and theories abound and we can learn half a dozen in an hour, but it is the pulsing contact between living things that healing and beauty take place. Presence is being present—a state pregnated with an open-ended curiosity, relaxation, and power that comes from seamlessly knitting together one’s mind, body and spirit.”

The deep schools of touch have a reputation for being painful. Some of the sessions are intense, there’s no doubt. A gifted therapist will work to the edge of your discomfort and pause. With attention and conscious breathing the muscles and fascia will often “melt” to allow a deeper touch. Real emotional and psychic transformation is found at the interface of the pain threshold. If a therapist attempts to slam through the painfully tight muscles the inner core of the body contracts and the psychic and emotional energies are traumatized. There’s no way for the tension already held there to be released. It is in respecting the pain threshold that safety is experienced, emotions are freed and expressed and the muscles truly release their tension. Many Americans have poor boundaries. We don’t know how to say this is enough at this time in this place. This hurts. We endure more than we can tolerate. Practicing an honoring of the pain threshold can have immediate and life long benefits.

Here are some other recommended practices for working with the structure of the body:

Grounding—Stand with your feet hips width apart. Relax your body and feel your feet on the floor. Feel the actual sensations of pressure, temperature or vibration as you stand. Notice how you body weight is distributed upon your feet. Now raise one leg and stomp down. Stomp the other foot. Gently bend your knees and notice the change in sensations in your body. Repeat three more times. Noticing the sensations of the stance after each stomp.

Step the feet two to three feet apart. Place the heels of your hands just above the knees. Drop your tailbone. You should feel your whole upper body pressing down onto the heels of your hands. Look over a shoulder and exhale. As you breath out make a guttural sound in your throat. Visualize energy moving from the tip of your tailbone up along the spine and out the throat. Look over the other shoulder and repeat the exhale, the guttural sounding and the spinal visualization. This exercise increases vitality.

Breath—Sit comfortably with your spine upright. You may sit in a chair or cross legged in a meditative posture. Settle into the sensations of your body and breathe for a few minutes. Begin to breathe in through the mouth and out through the mouth. There is an emphasis on the exhalation. Breathe like this for 10 minutes. This breath builds the “earth” energy in the body. Return to breathing in and out through the nostrils for another 10 minutes. Notice any changes in your awareness or body.

Aromatherapy Bath—I call the base for my baths “the soup.” I combine
· 1 cup Dead Sea Mineral salts
· 1 cup baking soda
· ½ cup apple cider vinegar
· 20 drops total of any of these pure essential oils: Myrrh, Frankincense, cedarwood, vetiver, or patchouli. Each of these oils is grounding. Vetiver is distilled from the roots. The rest are distilled from woods. The myrrh, frankincense and cedarwood also activate the psychic centers of the brain adding an expansive edge to the sense of being grounded.

The salts and vinegar help to neutralize any static electricity in the system. The soup is excellent to use after a deep massage as the salts will draw the toxins out of the muscles. The essential oils help to ground the consciousness; purify the energetic field and build the earth energy in the body.

In the next issue I will address Polarity Therapy, the energy currents of the body, Tantra and cultivating sexual energy for spiritual transformation.