Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/665755
Breath this, the instruction to pause quiets the secondary muscles of respiration and allows the client to rely on her diaphragm. Here again, we are bypassing our rational brains, short-circuiting our instinct for action. (By contrast, in this same moment, if you were to tell the client to inhale into her abdomen, or to "take a belly breath," that breath would still be an effort-full one; the client would just replace the typical concentric contraction of the chest and shoulders and neck with an eccentric contraction of the abdominal muscles, as she—eager to do the right thing—forced the belly to expand.) But each time she notices the pause at the bottom of the breath, and waits for the inhalation to begin itself, your client creates a different pattern, reinforcing the fact that she can create everything she needs by not trying to create anything at all. 10 An awareness of the breath is an endlessly fl exible tool; the prompts I've discussed here are just starting points (see "Other Places to Breathe" on page 83). As with all techniques, massaging with the breath will be more effective with some clients than others. Our breath is so foundational to our lives that an increased awareness of it is, I believe, always a good thing. Some of your clients might not yet be ready for your verbal suggestions; perhaps they have experienced trauma and attending to the breath is too emotionally intense. However, you can still utilize the "low" and "sink" and "slow" principles, and then introduce the verbal suggestions as they become more receptive to your work. But even more important, the best way to become more adept at massaging with the breath is to become more aware of these aspects of your own breath. Continuing the Breath Our clients come to us because they want to feel better in their bodies. A breath that is slow, full, and effortless is one of the greatest tools we have to feel better— and literally, to feel more embodied. By making the client more aware of this innate ability, you are helping her to feel 86 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k m a y / j u n e 2 0 1 6 the tension she is holding—tension that is as unnecessary as it is unconscious. That feeling of defl ating on the exhale is the most palpable, most corporeal manifestation I know of the often unhelpful mantra that we should just "let it go." We all know letting go is what we are supposed to do—that letting go will make us spiritually satisfi ed, self-actualized beings. But it is often not clear how we are supposed to do this. By making the client aware of the transformative depths of her exhalation, you are giving her a very concrete tool she can employ at any and every second of her life. Ultimately, what you want the client to feel is that she can fi nd a breath that fulfi lls all of her needs and is still effortless. We want to discourage the recruitment of those unnecessary muscles, but not by replacing one unnecessary effort with another; instead, we do so by revealing the power of being passive. You want your client to feel that the only thing she needs to do to birth a satisfying inhalation is to let her body sink all the way down to the bottom of the exhalation. That's it. The diaphragm (or, technically, the pressure differential between the inside of the body and the outside of the body) takes care of the rest. 9 Realizing the power of passivity is not easy. The fi nal prompt we are going to discuss here helps with that realization. A few minutes after I offer the previous prompts, as I am still working on her back, I say: "Just as before, follow your body all the way down to empty as you exhale. Now, what I want you to do is notice what the very bottom of the breath feels like. Notice there is a moment of emptiness, a pause between the very bottom of the exhalation and the beginning of the next inhalation. Now, once you fi nd the very bottom of the breath, I want you to do nothing. No need to try and inhale. Just let yourself linger in that moment of emptiness." If the client trusts me, and really does allow herself to pause and do nothing, something wonderful happens: she is still for a second, or two, or eight, and then—only when it is needed—an effortless inhalation begins. The rib cage and shoulders stay passive, and the inhalation spreads like a beautiful bloom through the abdomen and lower back. Though the client likely can't articulate