My client today asked why she was feeling the pain in her back. She is young and active and has tried a number of things, including exercise, PT’s, which seemed to make things worse, DC and DO, which didn’t help.
She has seen me a few times and is feeling better, but asked me why she has the pain. Were tight muscles pulling on her back?
I reflected and said that she was an open, perceptive, positive, loving person who seemed to enjoy lif, which is wonderful. Being sensitive – she may have some difficulty really being in touch with her physical body. It is as if we have three bodies – all wrapped up in on – our mental, emotional, and physical. Most of us have challenges integrating all three, as they tend to be developed to different levels of embodiment.
I felt that she wasn’t integrating her physical body as much as the others, into her awareness. So the body was getting her attention and trying to balance her by sending her sensations of pain.
I recommended that she could start to pay more attention to sensations in her body – the heat and cold, the feelings of walking, moving, touching things. In an integrated body – all these things are a constant pleasure. There is always an upwelling of good feelings and sensations – just the joy of being alive in an exquisite physical body.
It is as if we have a certain amount of physical sensations we need. She could begin to pay more attention to the pleasurable ones and there wouldn’t be as much room for, or need for the pain.
There is a strain of thought in our society that views the body as a machine. If a part isn’t working, we can replace it, or adjust it so that it is doing its job.
I like to look at it more as an intelligent, sensitive animal or child. It does everything it can to maintain our life and to serve our intentions. If it isn’t working perfectly, we need to revive our relationship with it and listen to it. It is on our side – it is trying to help us.
What seem like problems in our life, walls that we can’t pass through, we later see as great gifts, after we have received their teachings and allowed ourselves to expand and be transformed by them
They can seem so big and impenetrable on one side of them and so wonderful on the other side, after we’ve gone through them.
My client felt great at the end of her session – no pain, free and alive, just the way she knows that should be normal.
The deep touch in Rolfing helps to integrate the physical body into a coherent, connected structure; and to integrate all the three bodies. Removing pain, restriction, unprocessed experience, blocked energy, holding, stress, tension, allows good sensation to be the dominate experience of our physical body.
