Posts Tagged ‘touch’
The End of the Modern World?
I just re-read The End of the Modern World (1956) by Romano Guardini, a Catholic priest and professor of religion and philosophy. I don’t share his beliefs precisely (being more or less a Jew-dist), but he makes a compelling and frightening case for what we have lost by not having a religious perspective play a…
Read MoreREADING EMOTIONS THROUGH THE ENERGY BODY
by Jim McCormick CLIENT: MALE, 45, Engineer, healthy ZB FRAME: “I WANT YOU TO HELP ME REMOVE MY DOUBT.” ZB SESSION: The client didn’t specify exactly what doubt he wanted to get rid of. He was not really open to doing a lot of processing about it verbally. When he asked for that frame I…
Read MoreTHOUGHT ACUPRESSURE
For years I’ve said deep massage of cranium is “like” working on the brain. Lately I’ve come to realize that, in important ways, it’s not “like” it, for practical purposes, it IS massaging the brain. When you create an alternative focus other than thought, in the cranial region, almost inevitably thoughts turn down in volume…
Read MoreGO WHERE THEY’RE NOT / GO WHERE THEY ARE
“Thought is the welling up of unknown life into consciousness.” D. H. Lawrence One of the first and most powerful ways we evoke the mind, is we touch the person and they then naturally bring their awareness to what and where we’re touching. Immediately they are : aware of HAVING a body aware what they feel…
Read MoreOur hands speak volumes
How many times does bodywork give rise to spiritual or religious experiences? About this level of life, the philosopher Wittgenstein said, “Whereof one can not speak, thereupon we must be silent.” Well, in the silence of bodywork, something deeper sometimes “speaks”. Call it what you will – soul, energy, bliss, spirit, God, just the right…
Read MoreWhat Happens When Your Massage Client Disappears?
I have received student sessions for years – it’s a requirement at our school (I know – tough life for us teachers!) I commonly have the experience that, in the best sessions, one forgets the therapist is there. The touch feels so trustworthy and clear that the focus is not on the therapist’s touch, but…
Read MoreWhere are You Going? – Massage and the Nervous System, Part 3
by David Lauterstein I once got a greeting card, “On the Family Trip to Nirvana,” with parents sitting in the car’s front seat and two kids in the back, asking their parents, “Are we there yet?” With this next deeper level of the nervous system, we are not at Nirvana but, in a way, we…
Read MoreWhen First We REALLY Meet – Massage and the Nervous System, Part 2
It is not the therapeutic intention that is fruitful, but it is how we really meet that is therapeutically fruitful. (paraphrase of Martin Buber) The nerve cells which sense pressure and vibration were discovered in 1831 by the Italian anatomist, Giovanni Pacini, who also discovered the cholera bacteria. Named “Pacinian corpuscles” in his honor, these…
Read MoreWhen First We Meet – Massage and the Nervous System, Part I
Meissner’s corpuscles were discovered by the anatomist Georg Meissner in the 19th century. They are located in the skin, just underneath the epidermis. These are the main receptors uniquely designed and located to detect specifically light touch*. So these are what our clients first sense with when we lay our hands on a body. When…
Read MoreMassage – A Blessing for Everyone
In Deuteronomy it says, “Blessed be the work of thy hands.” When I was a child, I was entranced by the beautiful book, The Family of Man. This had incredible photographs from all over the world. People in families, giving birth, dying, at war, at work, playing, kissing, making music, leaping up in the air. …
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