Many of you know that I practice a Yin Yang approach in my vision of therapy. It has worked for me brilliantly in many ways, not the least of which is creating a more expansive palette for me to use. I would like to share one aspect today that may be of interest to you.

When I studied at the Rolf Institute in 1989, many of my teachers had studied cranial sacral therapy, visceral manipulation, and some chiropractic – which they dovetailed at one time with Dr. Rolf’s structural integration work, essentially a form of myofascial manipulation. A few of those teachers actually continued to practice both those disciplines and one very notable one abandoned the structural work completely and moved deeply into the exploration of craniosacral therapy.

I am sharing this with you because I believe there is value in practicing myofascial manipulation and cranial sacral therapy together. As massage therapists we often split the body into equal segments for the allotted amount of time that we are going to work with a client. If a massage therapist or a Rolfer, or anyone that does myofascial work, combines their work with cranial, they have a bit of an advantage. If you can feel the fluid moving through the body and somebody comes into your practice with a particular challenge, you can ascertain which of the limbs, or other parts of the body, have more fluid movement and which is more congested. That allows you to focus on the more congested area, spending more time there until you feel a balance between the two sides. You have the ability to be more focused and efficient with your time.

There is also the economic advantage of having your feet in both disciplines. There are some people that just don’t want to take their clothes off, and do not want the more aggressive touch that Rolfing and myofascial work can literally inflict on them. They prefer to be in their clothes and they prefer the light touch of a more esoteric approach like cranial sacral therapy. Conversely, you may have clients who initially come for a cranial session, but could benefit from some myofascial work. There is a possibility that your practice can be more expansive or fuller because of the additional tools you possess. There are many disciplines such as chiropractic that use an additional alternative therapy, like acupuncture, along with their base discipline to support a more positive outcome. Having both disciplines in your tool belt will potentially create a more successful outcome.

Have you ever wondered why some people are capable of achieving amazing results with a particular technique, but others, who have been taught and use the exact same approach, are unable to produce the same results? This question has been on my mind for many years.

Even in my own practice there are times when using the knowledge and the techniques that I was taught at the Rolf Institute or the Cranial work I was taught at the Upledger and Karuna Institutes can produce very different outcomes. What that has taught me is to be unattached to results. It has been an enormous help to just let go and do the work. This will ultimately “raise the bar” on positive outcomes.

Why did I get better results from not being attached to outcomes? It is because I got out of my thinking mind!

I know that you have all experienced situations where you just have a difficult time focusing on the task at hand, pun intended. There are many reasons for this. Life’s challenges continue occupying your mind even when you have people under your hands! Its normal. But, If I am a tuned to what my hands are feeling, as opposed to letting my mind wander off on some issue that has nothing to do with the task at hand, my outcomes improve and I feel different after the session, having delved into the Mysterium.

We are all living in a field or matrix and as Walt Whitman said, “what lies in front of you, and what lies behind you pales in comparison to what lies within you.” Jesus said, “Be still and know that the kingdom of God lies within you.” Eckhart Tolle, in his seminal work called the “Power of Now,” makes it very clear how one can present themselves in the matrix that allows for a more profound experience.

Healing arts go well beyond just techniques that you’ve been taught. The techniques are the gateway, but the mind, and the stillness that you hold, is where the profound power is generated. I believe that focused power equals more profound healing! Rumi told his followers, that the quieter you become the more you’re able to hear. That is our goal; to quiet the mind so our clients’ bodies can speak to us in the silent language of our intuition.

I was exposed to the Heart Math Institute in the early part of my career and that changed everything. I learned that the breath guides the mind to focus at deeper levels and allows your energy and intuition the capacity to create a different response. Now there have been no double-blind placebo studies done with me, or other people in the healing arts, using the breath to evaluate healing outcomes. But I do know for a fact that in my 35 years of practice, the more focused I am, the better the results.

The heart has a much larger electromagnetic field than the brain. We want you to explore the felt sense you begin to experience by bringing the breath and the mind to the heart area. So, you must get out of the brain and focus your breathing in the heart center! This is what I learned from the Heart Math Institute in the 1990’s which is an integral part of not just my practice but my life’s journey.

Here is what they teach. For thousands of years, the human heart was viewed as the center of thought, emotion, memory, and personality—the master organ of the body. Traditions to honor the role of the heart were created and passed down generation after generation. Ceremonies were performed. And techniques were developed to utilize the heart’s function as a conduit of intuition and healing. When we think about this statement, it should come as no surprise that the heart would play such a vital role in the body. After all, it’s the heart, not the brain, that’s the first organ to form in utero, at about six weeks after conception. And it’s the pulse from our heartbeat that sets into motion the cascade of developments leading to the formation of the other organs in our bodies. As we develop, the heart begins to work in harmony with the brain to regulate these vital physiological functions in ways that science is only beginning to recognize. Beyond the physical pumping that we can see and measure with conventional technology, now we know that the heart does much more. The discovery of specialized cells within the heart itself that are commonly found in the brain has opened the door to new and intriguing possibilities when it comes to what this organ means in our lives

While our hearts obviously do pump the blood that nourishes our organs and each of the 50 trillion or so cells that make up our bodies, recent discoveries suggest that the purpose of the heart may reach far beyond the function of a pump. The benefits of harmonizing our hearts with our brains to empower us with deep intuition, precognition (knowledge of future events), and the direct wisdom of heart intelligence can immediately catapult us beyond traditional thinking when it comes to the way we live and solve our problems. It’s these capabilities, as well, that provide the resilience to embrace big change in our lives and to do so in a healthy way.

Here is the start of your mind/heart breathing journey. If this is something you find valuable, please let us know as I can delve much more deeply with techniques to further support your journey in the healing arts. All I want you to do next time you are sitting with a client is to bring your attention to your heart and breathe. Nothing more, except every time you become aware that you are thinking of something unrelated to the task at hand, bring your wandering mind back to your heart and just breathe for as long as you can stay focused and then return to your physical technique. Please don’t judge yourself. Try that and listen. This practice will deepen your connection to the field of your client and hopefully your intuition will accelerate and your outcomes with them will improve.

And of course, this technique can be used any time outside of your practice in a variety of situations. More on that in our next newsletter. If you have any topics you would like discussed, please feel free to write me and I will be happy to explore them with you.

Have you ever asked yourself when you are doing a bodywork session, regardless of the discipline, why the outcomes are often different? I have posed this question to my students of both disciplines, “What would it be like if you didn’t have to know the answers to the needs of the system you are palpating, but to just be deeply present with what is happening at that moment?” That quality of consciousness flies in direct opposition to how so many of us have been educated! But, fascinatingly enough our outcomes are often quite good. Go figure. Actually please don’t!

I think by now many of you realize that the value of our work is oftentimes our ability to reflect for the patient’s system, so that their homeostatic response is powerful enough to create a level of healing. Two different practitioners, same basic techniques, two different outcomes. What is truly important beyond the obvious of being able to be a part of a positive outcome, is how we transform ourselves deeper and deeper into the Stillness and Lightness of Being, and the joy of that essence permeating our daily lives.  [Read more…]