Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/1492048
L i s te n to T h e A B M P Po d c a s t a t a b m p.co m /p o d c a s t s o r w h e reve r yo u a cce s s yo u r favo r i te p o d c a s t s 59 contact with the entire person. While that could be said of any bone, muscle, or organ, I am reminded of this most strongly when connecting with the femur. When I want to reach someone as deeply as possible, I seek to touch bone—not with brute force, but with the clinical skill called imagination. If I envision bone, then my client feels my work at that deep bone level. When I want to communicate safety or well-being to the whole person, I connect with the femur with that in mind, and often the client feels met. From an engineering perspective, the femur is a marvel. Twenty-three muscles attach to it, including such muscular superstars as the psoas, all three of the gluteal muscles, the pesky piriformis, four adductors, three quadriceps, one of the hamstrings, and the gastrocnemius. It forms the hip joint at its proximal end—the joint that Ida Rolf said determines symmetry in the body. Another riddle has served as a kind of koan for osteopaths for decades. I call it "The Riddle of the Thighbone." Dr. A. T. Still, the founder of osteopathy, would hold up a femur and ask his students what he held in his hands. The obvious answer was a thighbone, but Still wanted his students to dig deeper (in fact, Still often said that the initials "D. O.," which ordinarily are short for Doctor of Osteopathy, metaphorically stand for "Dig On," meaning to pursue continual learning). The answer he was looking for was "the Alpha and Omega." Yes, he was holding a femur, a simple thighbone, which also contained the whole body, the whole person, the universe disguised as a humble bone. He wrote, "To answer all the questions that are suggested by a human thighbone would open and close an eternity." What makes the positive changes we routinely observe in massage therapy, osteopathy, chiropractic, Rolfing, and other forms of body-mind work? To me, it is awareness—not pressure, force, or any other mechanical measures. When I work with or around the femur, I may be addressing hip or low-back pain. Perhaps I am intending to relieve some form of pelvic dysfunction. But I also open my awareness to include other deeper things that this bone may represent: territorial stability, familial attachments, losing and regaining one's bearings. But first and foremost, I hold in my awareness the whole person, the fullness of the miracle of human embodiment. FROM DAVID LAUTERSTEIN: LOOKING FOR ANSWERS A famous photo of Still looking at a femur (Image 2) has the quality of the femur regarding him as much as he is regarding it—not like a ventriloquist's 2