Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/1501042
move ment 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 55 CREATING SPACE FOR WHAT MATTERS KEY POINTS • Whatever your technique, there is a delicate dance to creating space without destabilization, in going deep without feeling invasive. • Our role as healers is not always about taking all the barriers away, but sometimes inspiring a new way to dance around a challenge. and the client By Lauri Nemetz v"I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same."—Martha Graham 1 When people come to a therapist, either in manual or movement disciplines, there is a desire to function and feel better, not just in the moment on the table, but out in the world. An elite athlete will want to take care of their body to optimize movement performance, but we are all practicing for life through our daily work in it. Being able to reach the box on a top shelf may be as meaningful to one person as pitching the perfect game is to another. If your client can't pick up their grandchild or move through the day without pain, their world is limited in a significant manner. As part of our job, we try to make meaningful space in and for their bodies. In many ways, life expands and contracts to the possibilities or restrictions that surround it. This may be on the level of the body in its internal system, or with others. If I am in pain and I don't move well on either a micro or macro level, my world is limited in some very real manner. Pain (emotional or physical) changes movement. We hopefully are guiding, and not dragging, our clients through the metaphorical pathways. The work is still their own movement pathway to "hike" or explore. The work you do as a massage therapist or bodyworker is important because your clients are trusting their traumas and tissues to the safe space of your hands. Whatever your technique, there is a delicate dance to creating space without destabilization, in going deep without feeling invasive. Beyond the hour on the table, your work carries into their movement. Assist their range of motion in their ankle and hip, and suddenly their running stride may get easier. Working to soften contraction in the torso may allow opening from the holding of emotional grief from a family loss and allow a different breath pattern to emerge.