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technique ENERGY WORK 98 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k m a r c h / a p r i l 2 0 1 8 The Body as Metaphor Support Clients By Applying the Body's Meanings By Cyndi Dale We've all seen Leonardo da Vinci's sketch of the Vitruvian Man, his arms and legs spread apart, the entire figure contained within a circle and a square. Leonardo believed that this image depicted the ideal human proportions. Of course, no one's physical measurements meet these benchmarks. And if a client is coming to you for healing, their physical health doesn't meet optimum standards either. However, no matter what hardships a client is experiencing, through an energetic point of view, the body perfectly explains what is wrong and what is required. The body is a mechanical system, but it also reflects a person's essential self, or spirit. Because of this, the body can be considered a metaphor, mirroring exactly what is occurring within a person's deeper self. In fact, every bodily area relates to a specific life concern and conveys a spiritual idea. By understanding the meaning of various body parts, you can better illuminate the nature of the illness, pain, or struggle reflected in a bodily challenge. After bringing that part of the body back "online," you can take another leap forward. You can activate the spiritual quality innate to that body part. The body is supported in healing. In the end, it might not exactly resemble Leonardo's sketch, but it can serve as the expression of the divine that it is. In this article, I'll bring this rather philosophical idea down to earth and straight into your practice. Applying the theory that the body is a metaphor can be as easy as employing the listing on page 100. In order to best understand what a client's bodily challenges are revealing, however, it's helpful to first understand the basic idea behind my concept. The simple answer to the question, "How can the body be a metaphor?" lies in a one-word response: "energy." ENERGETICS OF THE BODY While a bodyworker must understand the complexities of the mechanical body—such as the locations of various muscles, organs, and other tissues—it's equally vital to comprehend the function of subtle energies. Physical reality is based on subtle energies, which serve as a sort of lattice on which physical energies climb and organize. A disease