Tools of the Trade: Calming and Focusing the Mind

We are about to embark on an odyssey. Can’t really call it Homer’s or Judah’s because it’s steeped in all the Eastern mystery schools and is still practiced today!

If all it took to be a successful bodyworker was learning the original technique, everyone would be great. To improve you have to tweak your listening machines and in the ensuing posts I hope to elevate your skill set to an obvious new height. Not with new bodywork techniques, but by installing some new software into your lives.

If you have bought the cranial approach we offer, then you know about the practitioner fulcrum from which all the work springs forth. But, in those teachings we didn’t go too deeply into the concept because it would be inappropriate to inundate you with the deepening of the work unless you had done the footwork up to this point. One has to understand in their core how little control we have over our mental facilities. Anyone who does bodywork, or is attentive to their minds, is painfully aware of this fact. So, it’s my opinion that in order to elevate our capacities as healers, or whatever term you use, we have to ramp up the ability to rein in our wandering minds. Otherwise we are constantly disconnecting from our client’s field. The elementary practitioner fulcrum, that I taught you in the first cranial program, gave you the tool. It is an essential tool to use if you want to go to the deeper states, not only in yourself, but in your patient’s dysfunction. You need to get out of your own way and be still and attentive to what is being presented at that moment.

Let’s expand a bit on this. Here is what I know is going on in many of your minds from time to time. Ah, what is happening here? Am I doing this correctly, as Judah has laid down in the series? Am I not only not making progress, is it possible that I am actually going backwards? Or do I just suck at this and am not talented enough to make a living as a bodyworker? Well, I think most likely everyone who has tread the path before you has had the exact same thoughts. I know I did.

I have been asked over and over again (I wish I had a thousand dollars for every time) if there was one tool that I could employ that would bring me to a higher level as a bodyworker, what would that be? The answer is simple. When your mind cruises off from the bodywork that you are doing, just come back to being present with what you are beholding. NOTHING else! And do it without regret or condemnation. Patience is a virtue, you have heard that a few times I am sure. And to accompany that, remember the guitar analogy. Do you think you are ready for Paganini as a beginner? NO!

If you have dozed or drifted off into the myriad of fantasies that you entertain, and you are aware of that, simply and with the kindest of attitudes towards yourself, even grinning, bring yourself back to the fulcrum. The ego wants your attention and energy! By bringing your attention back to your body and that of your client, you are breaking an addictive quality of mindful madness, you are training the mind to pay attention to the task at hand. This is part of your evolutionary process as a human and that of helping that person on your table.
I dare say if you practice this you are beginning to entrain more powerfully with the unseen energy of that patient. Eventually, by using this tool over and over again and again, we begin to relax more deeply, which allows us to be more of the Witnessing Presence and a powerful reflective force for the body in deploying its homeostatic response. Remember the words of Dr. Sutherland, “The body has an Intelligence in its fluids that is much more aware of what it needs then some external force!”

In the beginning of your work you took my knowledge, or that of another teacher, and you rapidly made progress in the discipline. You were hopefully juiced about the potential that lay before you on the new path you had chosen. Then came that “oops” moment where you felt lost. Join the club. One of my teachers at the Rolf Institute, that had been practicing for 20 years, said every time he was about to throw in the towel, his skill set was brought to the next level. Maybe it has something to do with being humble, I don’t know.
The practice of returning to your fulcrum again and again will change who you are and your level of expertise as a therapist. Lao Tsu said something to the effect that there really is no concept of time. If you say you don’t have time, what you are really saying is I don’t really want to. Fair enough. It can be hard to take the time to do this. We have been conditioned to want to know things now at the speed of light. Many people don’t have the temperament for the slow and steady progress of a discipline that will pay off eventually. The only enduring discipline is self-discipline. Want to get better at your trade and charge more money for what you do? Then pay attention to what I am about to share with you and just be Nike about it and JUST DO IT!

Moshe Feldenkrais, as I said, told me that if we just lie down on a hard surface, carpeted or with a yoga mat or something, huge insights will follow and much of the tension we are totally unaware we hold, will be brought to your attention and can be resolved. But not just by doing it one time. Try taking 15-30 minutes a day out of the 1440 in a day as a welcome respite from the chaos of modern living and take a break! An educational break that will have far reaching consequences on you and your practice. Lie down, feel all the tension, and just relax! Now do this daily! It will be your temple vacation spot. Make sure you are undisturbed. PLEASE, allow whoever is dinging you to wait. Best thing to do is turn off all forms of electronic communications, music, everything. Just give yourself this time to be the original human. If you have a comfortable spot on the ground where you won’t be stampeded by little critters and you can relax, by all means do so. Earth grounding is awesome. If not, a yoga mat or something like that on the floor is also perfect. Settle in for a few minutes and watch as your body melts into the floor. It’s the corpse pose of yoga, but it’s going to last longer then then in most yoga classes. This exercise is so profound for its attributes based on its simplicity, please don’t overlook it.

SCAN your body from bottom to top. There are all kinds of ways to do it that people will share with you. I don’t care how you do it. Start from distal to proximal. Start with the most distal part of your feet – the toes. One at a time or all together, just scan and work your way up and through the foot, lower legs, etc. Take your time and really feel what is going on there. Maybe no awareness at all. No worries, just do it! Bottom line is the more time you spend on each part of the body, the more open you become as you begin to give the unnecessary tension back to the Earth. You might get up later and have only tuned into your left knee, that is success! But, try to scan the entire body, every part seeping the tension back into the Earth!

We are all very busy, so I am not asking you to do this next thing for any another reason other than to help each other. But, after a week or two or whenever, please take the time to share a comment below for others to hear the potential outcome of this technique. And as you know, I have students who have bought our materials, who have been asking for guidance for 10 years or more. This forum gives all of us an opportunity to share what has been gained. I will post the next stage of the enhancement tool of the practitioner fulcrum once you have grounded this practice somewhat. I promise you if you just give yourself the space to put this into practice you will begin to change the neurological wiring and your capacity to help others. It’s time to get out of the left brain for a while and reside in the other side! This is about prioritizing who you are at the deepest level and healing the accumulated neurosis. There is enough stress in our modern life interfering with everything! Lie down and empty everything out of your body into the earth. Please, just try it! Give yourself a break and watch the magic unfold! Next, we will show you how to integrate this technique while working on a client.