Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/1191154
country with a phrasebook in hand will know that thinking outside the box, being observant of the communication around you, and using improvised body language is the only way to get by. A language reflects a culture, so full immersion, observation, and openness will bring understanding without having to forcibly memorize random lists of phrases. This observation method applies to actual languages like French or Spanish, but it is also true for field-specific languages and jargon, such as those used in mathematics, astrophysics, or bodywork, which all have their own communities and insider cultures, even though we don't often think of them that way. It is often said that if we don't have the words for a concept, we cannot think about the idea. This is the essence of my interest in language. Even if we are all speaking English, we are not necessarily speaking the same version of it. 3 BUILDING A COMMUNICATION BRIDGE My educational background took me through communication studies—a hybrid modern field that grew out of a multidisciplinary cluster of social sciences (anthropology, sociology, psychology, and philosophy), literature, and cultural history. For my PhD on a niche topic within cultural history, I developed an interdisciplinary methodological framework that aimed to build bridges between fields that would not talk to each other—and could often not understand each other, due to this disparity in "culture" and "language." It became a running joke how a literature scholar just down the hall from a historian never really spoke to each other. To my father Leon Chaitow, integration meant two different things: the integration and cross-fertilization between bodywork professions, and the integration of therapies and techniques once (or still) considered "fringe," "alternative," and "complementary" into mainstream medical practice. In order to bridge the communication gap, I had to connect literature, history, art history, aesthetics, communication studies (again), and sociology. To some in each of those fields, this was pure heresy, but I did it anyway. To achieve my aims, though, I was obliged to work twice as hard to support and document my argument—which needed to be watertight against criticism—and convince my university to provide an interdisciplinary examination panel. In parallel, I created a short-lived, but influential, online academy aimed at outreach teaching to the general public. I also organized conferences on the same topic and clashed grievously with my professors over expending my energy on non-specialists. My risky ventures were, nevertheless, successful, and after my PhD was awarded, it led to more teaching, speaking at universities and to lay audiences, and publications. After a decade of arguing this point, my field has now moved in an altogether more interdisciplinary direction. Many of my former colleagues focus more on outreach teaching than on academia alone. SOCRATES AND BODYWORK? I hear some of you asking, what does any of this article have to do with massage and bodywork? And I bet you're also wondering why I'm writing for Massage & Bodywork. Well, many of you know I am the daughter of Leon Chaitow, and his influence on my thinking and my path has been all-encompassing throughout my life. Readers familiar with my father's work will be aware that he is primarily known as an integrator and synthesizer whose holistic outlook—a result of his osteopathic training—was applied to everything he did. 46 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k j a n u a r y / f e b r u a r y 2 0 2 0