Massage & Bodywork

May | June 2014

Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/296580

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 81 of 141

� place in relation to the great mystery, the Breath of Life, and its fi eld movement, primary respiration. BCST focuses on working with the "breath" in the human energy fi eld. The fi eld fl uctuation of energy (primary respiration) is the substrate for the tissue movements, motility and mobility, and fl uid dynamics. All rhythms in the body's physiology are harmonics of the basic fi eld pulsation. The power of BCST is its ability to work at this essential level of the fi eld fl uctuation. Additional advantages are the ability to work with fl uid dynamics and the particular features of tissue patterns. The Power of Effortless Effort My experience with other bodyworkers when they encounter polarity therapy or BCST is that they often have an "Aha!" moment that immediately shows them a deeper understanding of the work they've already been doing. Then, when they go further and actually study the details and practices of the profession, they begin working at higher levels with less effort. Stone used to advocate "effortless effort" in therapeutic work. The work becomes more effi cient, more effective results happen, and clients notice the difference. In my own practice, I have found that a combination of these two disciplines is amazingly effective. The healing power of being able to relate to life's most essential dynamics, to work with the forces underlying the conditions, to understand the movement of energy through the body and how it is the real foundation of health, all lead me to a very integrative awareness with my clients and their processes. It is truly humbling to begin to appreciate the self-corrective functions in life, and the ways that nature reestablishes balance on its own. Being able to support this process therapeutically, when necessary, is profound, and knowing that this process takes place on its own is even more profound. The wisdom to know the difference is a sign of therapeutic maturity. While polarity therapy describes the essential "breath," or movement of life energy, BCST describes the forms that this energy takes as it moves through the living body, and provides a range of skills to use in working with it. This relationship between essence and form is the dynamic at the heart of the mystery of life. In honor of this mystery, I will close with some phrases drawn from the ancient Sanskrit Heart Sutra: "Form is not different from Emptiness. And Emptiness is not different from Form. Form is Emptiness and Emptiness is Form. The same is true for feelings, perceptions, motivations, and consciousness." Notes 1. Elmer E. Green et al., "Anomalous Electrostatic Phenomena in Exceptional Studies," Journal of the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine 2, no. 3 (1993). 2. Randolph Stone, Polarity Therapy: The Complete Collected Works of Dr. Randolph Stone (CRCS Publications, 1986). 3. William Garner Sutherland, Teachings in the Science of Osteopathy (Rudra Press, 1990). 4. Rollin E. Becker, Life in Motion (Rudra Press, 1997). 5. Mae-Wan Ho, The Rainbow and the Worm: The Physics of Organisms (World Scientifi c Publishing, 1998). Roger Gilchrist, MA, RPE, RCST, teaches polarity therapy and biodynamic craniosacral therapy internationally. He is a past vice-president of the American Polarity Therapy Association, author of Craniosacral Therapy and the Energetic Body (North Atlantic Books, 2006), and director of the Wellness Institute (www.wellnessinstitute.net). Visit the Wellness Institute's YouTube channel for new videos on polarity therapy. Contact Gilchrist at info@wellnessinstitute.net. � I t p a y s t o b e A B M P C e r t i f i e d : w w w. a b m p . c o m / g o / c e r t i f i e d c e n t r a l 79

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Massage & Bodywork - May | June 2014