Day 50: Emotional Release

For the past few weeks, I've felt that I needed to do a breath session. In the advanced bodywork system that I studied (

Structural Energetic Therapy

), we learned a technique in releasing emotional energy in the body that we call Emotional Energy Release Therapy, Emotional Release Therapy, Emotional Release,...you get the idea. It is based on techniques used in Alexander Lowen's therapy called Bioenergetics. We use a process of continuous, facilitated, deep breathing to charge the body with energy, break through energetic/emotional blockages, and allow more life/awareness/consciousness to flow through our body.

I've been feeling for a few weeks that I was due for a session. I would find myself being more upset about things than I knew I needed to be, or taking a long time to let something small go.  There were times of heaviness, of a lingering sense of unease, of only being able to see the things that were not going my way. I know better than this, but the funk was still there. Its because our bodies hold onto way more than we need it to, often the negative thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Those then come to shape our reality in negative ways, perpetuating the problem, and sometimes it is hard to get out of it.

As much as I didn't want to do a breath session today, my neck had been hurting the past few days and my throat was even a little sore (I think from yelling a lot this weekend at the Dance Party), I did it anyway. I breathed deeply in and out, knowing that I'd feel better in the end. I cried, yelled, screamed, even got up and hit the punching bag. I felt tingling throughout my body, a large concentration in a band around my diapragm/mid-torso and my hands. I got insights on the truly important things in life.

So many things went through my mind; though much of it are things that I worry about, I feel much better about them now. They don't have the charge they did previously. There is this feeling that everything really will BE OKAY.  I feel lighter and more clear-headed. Again, like whenever I return to yoga, I think, "What the heck took me so long?"

Oh yeah, and that neck pain, totally don't have it anymore. Amazing.

Day 32: My Job

I don't think I posted this gratitude exactly yet, but it was coming. I've said it before and I will say it again:

I LOVE MY JOB!!!

This is what I did at work today:

First I saw a client who is recovering from a concussion.  He has been seeing me every week for therapeutic bodywork, which has been fun because I have been experimenting with various techniques and approaches. Today I incorporated vibrational healing from a Tibetan Bowl and a chime, both with sounds that evoke the sacred space within. After the session he said that it was the best session he's had so far. Yeah!

Then I saw my weekly Traumatic Brain Injury client. I've wrote about him before on the Upward Spiral blog.  Though his movement and communication is limited, we've worked together so much that I feel a fond friendship with him. Today when he came in he said hi to me for the first time. It may not have sounded like that to someone else, but I heard him. For an hour I got to help him feel relaxed in his body that he may often otherwise feel trapped in.  I even got some good laughs from him in sharing some funny stories.  He may not say much but he sure loves to laugh.

Last I saw a client that came to me originally for physical pain and in that we've found other emotional traumas that were tied up with it. We had a long discussion about where she's at and where she'd like to be. She left saying that it was like counseling and massage all-in-one place, and that she feels like she can get through the rough road she's been traveling. We brought in some light where there was darkness. To top it all off, we helped make significant difference in her chronic pain.

And I get paid for all of this!  That's just the icing on the cake of transformation. More please!

Day 24: My Unfolding Journey

Yesterday I got a taste of my own medicine.

Long story short, there is more to cranial work than what I learned in SET training. The unwinding of the spiral pattern in the body is crucial to our SET treatments and the way we've been taught to unwind the cranium is effective, but I see now there is more to the story.

My teacher, Don McCann, learned his cranial work from Dallas Hancock. Don did an incredible job at integrating the cranial work with releases in the soft tissues as well as awareness of the emotional components; all SET therapists are indebted to him for this contribution.  But now several SET therapists have gone on to learn the cranial work by Dallas, our teacher's teacher, and I am lucky enough to get to work with one of them.

Dallas's main contribution to cranial releases is what he calls the Master Release.  This release is very similar to what every client that come to me for SET receives on their first treatment, but there is more to it.  In our sessions we spend about 30 minutes on the cranium and 60 on the body; Dallas spends the entire 90 minutes on the cranium.  It makes me wonder what we are missing.

So yesterday it was my turn to be worked on in our office trades and I wanted to experience this complete Master Release.  My therapist released sutures on my head, face and mouth that I hadn't experienced before and I could feel my body letting go in new ways.  After the session I felt both lighter and more grounded, though a bit wobbly as I felt the spiraling energy release out of me.

I feel that this is a turning point in my life.  I am ready to be fully in the world, share all that I have to share.  My focus now is on embodying my own potential and travel this upward spiral that I keep talking about.  In just the past 24 hours since the cranial session, I feel like I am more confident in who I am and feel more free to be just who I am.

I thought I was already fairly good at this but it just goes to show that there is always more to the story. I must continue on my own healing journey if I want to help more people. There's no turning back now.