The Central Channel – Anchoring the Practitioner Fulcrum: Part 1

I was told once that doing bodywork is not the same as meditation. I disagree. I think we are walking on this path of realization by dropping any notions of a differentiation between our spiritual lives and our “normal” life journey. To me they are one and the same. The more attention we can bring to our everyday lives, the more powerful the transformation of reality. The more we can open, the more sensitive we become to our environment. We begin to truly realize the total connection to everything. There are many forms to experience the depths of Stillness that lie within us. And to me they are the “keys to the kingdom”. My belief after 30 years of practice is that the deeper the state we can achieve, the more profound our ability to sense the underlying patterns that are causing imbalances, both physically and emotionally, in our patients’ systems. Or in plain speak, the reason they are lying on our tables. Let’s explore the next step in creating a template to use as your portal.

First of all, it really is important that you have practiced the step prior to this one or your ability to maintain your focus will most likely be hampered. We don’t want to limit or control the experience of our ability to perceive what is happening when we touch someone. These practices begin to dissolve the boundaries between our self-directed world of intention, which has its limits due to ego, and the limitless knowledge that is available to us beyond that. Remember how many times I have said to you, “What would it be like if you didn’t have to know the answers to what you were beholding?” There is a limitless sea of knowledge available to us if we decide to become the new explorers of this vast ocean of information! Remember this, often it’s our own thoughts and beliefs, as well as technique, that limit the conversation between us and our patients! It’s so easy to get stuck on technique! We all have boundaries that have been established in our inner history that can be dissolved and expanded. You just have to practice! It’s just another instrument but, this one is the most important to play! Then you can experience the fullness and mystery of life. Freedom from the prison of past patterns, or as we say in some of the earlier works, the template of the liquid crystalline matrix! The neural pathways grooved deeply into our permeable template can be transmuted. So, by creating new pathways we are able to perceive and receive information that wasn’t available to us before. Our courses are just the beginning of the journey. Remember, I am here to support your evolving knowledge. Ask and you shall receive.

OK, here we go. Next time you work with your client try to focus as much as you can in your lower belly. I know that there are some very advanced practitioners of the work who suggest the heart center. If that has been your focus just try the belly for a few months, and you can always revert back to the heart area. Also, when playing with the various fields, as you have been taught, you can play with the two areas and see which reflects back more insights. But, I would prefer the Tan Tien area for a while. I would like you to play with something I call “ocean breathing.” It is a practice from martial arts that has been around for a long time. Inhale in through every pore of the body and exhale through the pores. Try that for the first initial contact with your clients. In cranial we teach that the first 10-15 minutes can be a total space for observation. The trick will be for you to be aware of the client’s field at the same time you do this ocean breathing technique. It’s as if you are in the ocean and breathing in the chi from the water to survive on.

All these techniques are to bring you into a coherent field with your client’s field. It creates a safe relational place to begin the work. There are no time limits for this. This is a tool to play with and entertain the possibilities. For those who practice Structural Integration only, please email me or ask a question in the comments section and I will share with you how I use these techniques in my Rolfing practice to enhance the work and create a positive outcome.

This technique is great when you are synchronized with flexion and extension. Breathe in and expand on flexion. Exhale through every pore in your body on extension as your body narrows. Like a bellows, in and out. Not big huge breaths, just subtle imaginary breathing. Of course, you can add this to your breathing practice while lying on your back, dissolving tension in your body. Try it!

Just substituting this for a little of the time you spend watching or listening to the depressing news will have a lovely, beneficial effect on your body and mind. Pose the question, “What is going on here”? Do this for any technique of bodywork you use. It moves you out of the mechanical/total knowing modality and into more of the magical mode of doing things. Even a minute of this will make a difference. Don’t push this, just relax and wait. Try it at night before bed and if you have insomnia it might be a helpful practice to fall into deep sleep. You can do it anytime or in anyplace.

Next week I will send off the core practice (literally) that this has all been building towards. Then all the techniques that you have been practicing up to this point will happen naturally, without you thinking about them. And that is the whole point of what I have been sharing with you. How one creates a felt sense of the field that they are palpating and a deeper level of being in a relationship with the Mysterium!