A Healing Agenda-Healing has become a popular word, even a catch phrase, in our society. Lots of people are quick to tell me what they think healing is, or what they envision their agenda as. So many of these definitions are confusing to me. Perhaps we can explore these ideas and create a higher level of understanding … Continue reading A Healing Agenda→
Somatics 1: Beginning the Journey-By now you are learning that bodywork has become much more than relaxation and stress reduction. It is the essence of transformation, an evolution of body structure, self-image, neural networks, emotions, spirit and more. It is emergence of the true self, the God within. These words, from a flyer I made last year, describe what … Continue reading Somatics 1: Beginning the Journey→
Somatics 2: The Meridians-My first experience of using somatics as a tool for self-assessment was during my shiatsu class when we regularly practiced "Zen Imagery Exercises." These gentle stretches use the breath to contract and relax the meridians, often called rivers of chi or energy. Developed by Shizuto Masunaga, creator of Zen Shiatsu, these exercises help the soma … Continue reading Somatics 2: The Meridians→
Somatics 3: The Breath-We talked of using the breath last month in our journey of discovery. Breath work seems to be where modern somatic work started. Elsa Gindler, considered by many to be the pioneer of somatics, said "It must take place without pressure, it must be elastic, it must be like the gentlest breeze, and it must … Continue reading Somatics 3: The Breath→
Somatics 4: The Tissue-As a somatotherapist, or if you prefer, a bodyworker, the tissue is what I am most fascinated with. Why does touch feel so good? How does massage do the things they claim? If deep tissue massage hurts why do people like it? Who would pay that much just to get rubbed on? What happens if … Continue reading Somatics 4: The Tissue→
Somatics and the Unconscious-One of the premises of somatics is to operate on information of the first person, the clients subjective experience. The western scientific and medical paradigm is based on objectification, it has failed in most cases to validate or capitalize on the clients inner knowledge, yet it does not account for the subjective perception of the … Continue reading Somatics and the Unconscious→
The Language of Movement-I remember back in the seventies when the term ‘body language’ was coined. The experts claimed that communication was 7% verbal, 28% tone and 65% body language. I’m not saying these figures are exact – I’m not an expert – but they show what we are semiconsciously aware of, that we language with our bodies. … Continue reading The Language of Movement→
The Inner World of the Bodymind-Today we explore so-called automatic functioning, or the inner world of the human machine or bodymind. The internal language of the bodymind is much the same as our external communication in that it consists of vibration and movements. However, the smaller inner world is more subtle than the gross movements that our sense organs ordinarily … Continue reading The Inner World of the Bodymind→
The Paradigm of Fear-I once suggested to John Bradshaw, after a presentation on anger and its expression, that fear was a bigger problem. Surprised, he said that we all "do" fear but then concurred when I added that there is no support for the healthy expression of fear. We are, in fact, a society driven and manipulated by … Continue reading The Paradigm of Fear→
Consciousness as Healer-"Scientists tell us that we are machines, but if you tell a scientist that he is a machine, he is annoyed."* This quote, from fifty years ago, well sums up the current state of externalization in contemporary culture. Everyone wants to point a finger at someone else and never admits to their own process, or … Continue reading Consciousness as Healer→
Recipe for Spiritual Awakening-As we near the end of the twentieth century, the new age remedies and spiritual magic bullets seem to be multiplying exponentially. As our societal dis"ease" slowly develops a tolerance and resistance to each new pill, opportunity is rich for astral hucksters and pyramid schemes that prey on the disillusioned masses. The "soul" food consumer’s … Continue reading Recipe for Spiritual Awakening→
Estrés-Identificando el Estrés. ¿Porqué se derrama la buena salud? Por Kevin S. Roberts. La mayoría de quienes están abiertos a las, así llamadas, terapias alternativas o complementarias están familiarizados con muchos estudios que muestran que el estrés está relacionado con las enfermedades y las disfunciones. El estrés podría ser definido como una fuerza que presiona … Continue reading Estrés→
Compassion: Going to the Source-While listening to a lecture about Tibetan healing, I realized the need to find a practical method to attain compassion. Za Choeje Rinpoche, the sixth reincarnation of a sacred healer, spoke well as he told us that negative emotion is the root of all disease and that the healer must meet this negative emotion with … Continue reading Compassion: Going to the Source→
Healing Emotion-Much can be, and has been, said on the subject of emotion. The word emotion itself means to express or get out. Yet often times emotion leads to unsatisfactory results. We feel drained instead of invigorated. Surely this natural function of the bodymind has a possible healthy purpose. Here we shall examine what that purpose, … Continue reading Healing Emotion→
The Essence of Healing-Something happens during a massage that is very difficult to explain for most people. Being touched in an intelligent way evokes something outside normal experience: most people feel different in one way or another. Whether that is younger, lighter, emotional, out of whack, or something else, there is a unique feel to it. What has … Continue reading The Essence of Healing→
Gut Feelings-Gut Feelings There are many common sayings in our language that express a deeper meaning even though they sound trite. Such things as "a gut feeling" or "a pain in the neck" say something more than the words would indicate. In somaZen we pay special attention to phrases like this, because they tell us something … Continue reading Gut Feelings→
Unlocking the Bodymind-We are all familiar with the term ‘having the knees locked,’ and it is more or less known how soldiers who lock their knees while standing at attention will collapse after a short while. I have never heard of this phenomenon’s being investigated, but now propose to study this with a view toward finding the … Continue reading Unlocking the Bodymind→
The Split-The somaZen approach to the integration of the bodymind is, as you may have noticed, optimistic and to a certain extent idealistic. Even the term ‘bodymind’ shows this, as opposed to the Western term ‘mind/body’ (with its obvious split). Although I have been called quixotic by some of my past teachers, this trait has not … Continue reading The Split→
