Whole-Body Integration

A Dancer Speaks of His Body, a Rolfer Interprets

Here is a beautiful video, "Body of a Dancer," a cinematic poem about Tim Persent, a South African dancer based in the Netherlands. While it is stunning to watch, there's so much wisdom in the words he shares, which I'll discuss through the lens of my experience as a Rolfer™ working daily with people and their bodies, their injuries, their pain, their posture, and their transformations.

Body of a Dancer from Daniel Gallenkamp N.S.C. on Vimeo.

I was struck by so many of the things Persent says about his relationship to his body. While I'm not a dancer, it parallels what I have learned from my own trajectory of embodiment, and from my work as a Rolfer with so many other bodies. Let's start with Persent's opening statement: "I am a dancer – my body is my instrument. I take good care of it. It has treated me well. I have been dancing for the past twenty-five years." There are so many key ideas here, I want to parse it out:

• "I am a dancer – my body is my instrument." For all of us, our bodies are instruments. Most basically, they are our vehicles through life, but more than that, they immediately express our presence, our energy, our emotions.
• "I take good care of it." How many people take good care of their bodies? And what does good care mean? To me, good care is more than just the right food, sleep, and exercise, good care is about a dialogue and relationship with your body. This is something that many people awake to only when their bodies fail them, when an injury or illness prevents "business as usual." But has the body failed them, or is it trying to say something? (More on the dialogue with the body coming below.)
• "It has treated me well."  This is an expression of gratitude, not rejection. How many of our statements about our bodies reflect appreciation and gratitude, rather than rejection and complaint? From so many of my Rolfing® Structural Integration clients I hear negative statements, things like"I hate my legs," "I don't like how I look," or "Because of this injury I can't do xyz." What if we instead spoke of our bodies in a relationship of appreciation? If you are in relationship with a person and only complain, how good will that relationship be? A relationship benefits from scrutiny, but also from efforts to improve it and to enhance the appreciative elements.
• "I have been dancing for the past twenty-five years." I would venture that part of the reason Persent has been dancing so long is that he has treated his body so well, and that has allowed him a long career.

After this opening statement, Persent describes how he warms up, and how he "asks" his fingers to relax. This is so important! When we ask our body something, and listen for a reply, we are in dialogue. If the body says something hurts, we listen and attend to it. If it says it's tired, we find ways to rest. If it says it wants to move, we allow that. If we try a new form of exercise, we ask the body how it feels, and modify the activity accordingly.

This type of feedback loop is the antithesis of the Nike slogan "Just do it," which encourages us to force ourselves and our bodies to do things along a one-way circuit without feedback. I see many clients who have injured themselves through this attitude, and who delay their recovery by continuing to "just do it" even though the bodies is saying "I can't run ten miles right now." Thankfully I also see many clients who are working with their bodies and dialoguing and learning what is uniquely right for each of them. For one Seattle Rolfing client, the Nike attitude and her friend's encouragement got her to sign up for a Boot Camp exercise program. Through the pain and muscle tension that were aggravated, her body told her to find a different form of exercise, at least for now, while her body was releasing old patterns through Rolfing sessions and learning how to regain length and flexibility.

Persent says he imagines his fingers to reach out so they become longer. Thus, even in stretching there's a gentle touch and an invitation to the body, through the mind, to expand. This is very different from an ethos of stretching that sees the body as a series of mechanical levers (bones) and muscles to be pulled on as if objects. In asking the body, imagining, and listening for a response, he is working with the mind-body as a unity, an embodied, intelligent presence. As Persent states, "By thinking an idea, something will happen to the body." Yoga and tai chi are wonderful body disciplines because they invite you into an idea (an asana, a form) with a mindfulness that works this mind-body loop, but mindfulness can be present in any activity, whether eliptical at the gym or a charge down the basketball court.

Persent also says, "Dancing is spirit made flesh: it physicalizes ideas, emotions, thoughts. That's why it is beautiful, powerful, and freeing." As a bodyworker, I see daily how many of us use out bodies to either contain and restrain our energies and emotions. The fascia, or connective tissue, that I work with as a Rolfer is the shrinkwrap that locks the muscles and bodies in physical constraints, and often those physical constraints involve a history of emotions, or injuries, of old self images. We could call this the "personal history made flesh." In freeing the fascia, we free those energies and emotions and make space for a new self image. In doing a Rolfing series, or any transformative bodywork, there is potential for every body to be more "spirit made flesh." This is a renewal, so it's also spirit and body made fresh.

While the average body, not trained for years in dance, will never be able to do many of the things Persent can do, we all have the potential to evolve to experience our bodies with the presence, consciousness, and embodiment he exemplifies. 

Thanksgiving - The View of Gratitude, Inspired by Leonard Cohen

One of my Rolfing® clients recently mentioned a book he is reading about "rewriting your life story." Without knowing more about the book, that snippet led me to a contemplation that evening where I reviewed my life, not from the nitty-gritty of what issues and conditioning I had to overcome but rather from what I appreciated about the twists and turns and how that has brought me to growth, situations, and people I might never have otherwise been open enough to encounter. For example, I can't imagine that my "disembodied" upbringing could have led me to my life now, self-employed in this strange but profound bodywork profession of Rolfing Structural Integration, were it not for various people, situations, and opportunities that each allowed me to open a little further, expand a bit more, develop mind-body-spirit and transform past what was the restrictive norm in my family and community. It was a very heartening exploration, appropriate as we approach Thanksgiving, a time of gratitude and appreciation.

On the same theme of gratitude, yesterday I came across this lovely speech by Leonard Cohen, given on his being awarded the 2011 Prince of Asturias Award for Literature. This Spanish award honors Cohen whose "poems and songs have beautifully explored the major issues of humanity in great depth." In the speech, Cohen acknowledges the mysterious vagaries of life, the twists and turns by which unexpected pieces led him to his poetry - through the inspiration of the great Spanish poet Federico García Lorca - and to his song - through a random meeting with a young flamenco guitar player who taught him a six-chord progression that "has been the basis of all my songs and all my music."

He thus honors the artistry of Spain and concludes his speech by saying, "Everything that you have found favourable in my work comes from this place. Everything, everything that you have found favourable in my songs and my poetry are inspired by this soil. So, I thank you so much for the warm hospitality that you have shown my work because it is really yours, and you have allowed me to affix my signature to the bottom of the page."

Read that again, if you will. Let it impact you. Have you ever heard an artist pay such selfless tribute to another person, country, or lineage? Cohen is an extraordinarily selfless being, or perhaps it's that his life and Buddhist practice has led him to that over time, as he is now in his 70s. The same humility, the same graciousness, was evident when I saw him perform in Seattle in 2009: Cohen would respond to solos from members of his band with a bow, palms together, and he ceaselessly thanked the audience for coming to hear him perform, as if we were doing him a favor. 

Inspired by this, may we all grow into humility and grace. May we all remember to thank those who have helped us, guided us, taught us, inspired us. And may we all remember to pay tribute to the mystery that unfolds us ever so gently.

Awesome "Yoga Breakdancing"

OK, here's the latest edition of "I wish I could do this!" I do yoga, but not the contortionist moves, and dancing is not my forte, so I don't think it will happen in this life.

 

I did have a breakdancer as a Rolfing® Structural Integration client in Seattle, and saw how the discipline puts major stress on certain joints, depending on the moves (with my client, it was her right mid-thoracics from twists). She related that many times breakdancers will have a preferred direction to spin, and that of course will put a certain twist into the fascia. Obviously, like any other athletes, they learn to deal with pain and injury, but what a discipline for developing mental control, core strength, flexibility, rhythm...

This guy, Arthur Cadre, seems to rotate mostly to the right, and mostly using his right arm for support of his full weight. I notice the video seems to be an edit of at least three filmings, as we see him without an elbow brace, and with two different elbow braces, always on his right arm. If he were my client (wishful thinking!) I'd love to see what bracing patterns are there, and what torsional patterns, and how to support him with even more options of movement. 

A Rolfer's Thoughts on Barefoot Running

There's been alot of talk about barefoot running since Christopher McDougall published his book Born to Run a few years ago. The premise is that humans walked and ran barefoot for millenia, and that running injuries were not the plague they are now until the "sports shoe" industry developed all those high-fallutin' shoes with cushioned heels. McDougall himself had had to give up running due to injuries, but tossing his running shoes and learning to run barefoot allowed him to resume running without pain or injury. To help understand why, read this article about barefoot running, and watch the video with Harvard scientist Daniel Lieberman (chairman of the human evolutionary biology department) showing the impact of heel strike in a shod runner versus a barefoot runner. 

Not everyone wants to run completely barefoot, and in response to the barefoot running premise, new minimalist sports shoes have been developed, the most well known being Vibram FiveFingers®. Such shoes have a thin rubber sole that lets you feel the texture of the surfaces you move on, and also lets all the joints in the feet have mobilty and play.

I ran some in my 20s, but haven't run for years - especially since my surgeon for a lateral tibial plateau fracture in 2003 advised against it. I became curiuos when other Rolfers™ on our community email forum began talking about barefoot running after reading McDougall's books. They reported that barefoot walking and running were completely synergistic with the ideas of Rolfing® Structural Integration: in our form of bodywork we are concerned with the natural alignment of the body, and the mobility and integration of body segments. They reported that in barefoot walking and running, your toe hinge functions as it should for push-off, because the toes are not engaged in a wad of leather and rubber. And they reported that the increased mobility of the foot was working its way up through the chain of muscles, fascia, and joints and improving issues with knees, hips, and low backs. At that point I went out and bought a pair of Vibrams, to give barefoot walking a try.

I remember my first walk in them. It was late evening, a damp and cold autumn night in Seattle, and I was tired and reluctant to go out, but I hadn't walked my dog yet. So I put on my new Vibrams, put the furry girl on a leash, and headed out for our usual 20-min loop around the neighborhood. Astonishingly, within a couple of blocks, I felt pure unadulterated joy surging through my body and I was wide awake. It seemed like having my feet in such deeply felt contact with the ground was awakening dormant energy and enlivening me. I've always believed in the mind-body-spirit connection, - it's what drew me to Rolfing - but this still surprised me, the intensity and immediacy of the response. I spend the entire work day barefoot, yet something about being "barefoot" and actually striding and moving with a purposeful gait was waking up my feet and my energy in startling ways. I've been a convert to barefoot walking ever since, and I've also noticed improvement in my knees. I'm even starting to run tiny bits again.

Besides McDougall's book, there's alot to read on the web about barefoot running, including this article from today's New York Times, where McDougall updates the barefoot running world on the importance of form for good effects and also mentions Dr. Lieberman's research on unshod runners in Kenya. In other words, it's not just the shoes (or lack of shoes), you have to re-learn how to move so that you minimize heel strike and move more to the forefoot. I believe that Rolfing sessions can greatly assist in this process as part of what keeps us in habitual movement patterns is the familiar tension patterns in the body. So I would recommend that anyone transitioning to barefoot walking or running read up on the available literature, but also schedule a session with a local Rolfer to work on, especially, the sole of the foot, the calves, the knees, and hips. Getting more freedom through these areas will make for an easier transition and quicker benefits, and also help to attain proper running form.

I have recommended minimalist shoes to any number of my Seattle Rolfing clients, and many take me up on the idea. (I recommend REI locally, because they have a great selection of minimalist shoes (not everyone likes the toes on the Vibram FiveFingers, and a shoe that fits like a second skin is key to the benefits), and because you can return shoes if you don't like them, even if they have been worn. One friend who switched to Vibrams has also found that she no longer has flat feet. This makes total sense, as the arch of the foot is based on a balance of muscles and fascia through the legs. Rolfers have known this and worked to "create" arches through balancing fascia, but my friend's story shows it can also be done through proper foot mechanics from barefoot running.

 

 

 

Viniyoga: This Rolfer's™ Favorite Form of Yoga

Rolfing® Structural Integration and yoga make a perfect pair. The Rolfing work gets your body aligned and open, freeing both surface and deep restrictions, and yoga is the perfect practice to keep you body supple, elastic, and toned. Yes I have clients who don't do yoga – or other stretching – and that's ok, they just need Rolfing tune-ups a bit more frequently. That's beneficial for my business bottom-line, but my real business is to help clients become more embodied, and a yoga practice increases body awareness and reduces your reliance on outside help from chiropractors, Rolfers, massage therapists, physical therapists, etc. 

There are many types of yoga, suited to different body types. If you are young and flexible and energetic, power yoga may be for you. Many of my clients, however, need to 

• recover from an injury or get help with chronic pain,
• reduce the impact of aging,
• regain lost mobility, or
• reduce stress

My favorite form of yoga to recommend to these folks is Viniyoga, and my favorite Viniyoga studio in Seattle is Whole Life Yoga in Greenwood. Whole Life Yoga has a new blog, and one of the early posts is "What Makes Viniyoga Different?" She outlines the 4 main factors, which I'll explain below from a Rolfer's perspective.

1. Adaptation – This means the yoga asanas (poses) are adapted to fit your body – you don't have to become a pretzel to fit a strict form. This is important for me in recommending Viniyoga to my Rolfing clients who have had injuries that limit flexibility, range of motion, and the like. It's a form of yoga that works for all bodies.
2. Use of Repetition and Stay – In a Viniyoga class you do sequences that move you in and out of a pose a number of times before holding it. I support this as a Rolfer because it prepares the body for change by gradually signaling stretch receptors in the muscles to give a little more, then a little more. You are also working your awareness of your body in motion, and noticing the changes with each repetition. If you can't notice something, you can't embody it – that's why at the end of every Rolfing session I ask my client to "stand up and see what you notice, what's different." Repetition helps to focus the mind and enhance awareness. 
3. Moving with the Breath – It sounds so simple – as you breathe in, move this way, as you breathe out, move that way – yet coordination of breath and movement is magic balm for the nervous system. I see hypertoned (too tight) bodies every day in my Rolfing practice, and a portion of that tightness comes from a wound-up nervous system. As you coordinate your breath and movement you automatically slow down, become more fluid in your movements, and bring your nervous system back into balance.
4. Sequencing – Viniyoga practice combines poses intelligently into a fluid moving practice based on class goals. For example, I often recommend that clients with back pain try out Tracy Weber's Yoga for Healthy Backs as I know that her Viniyoga training has taught her to string poses together in a way that will pose-by-pose prepare the body to gradually and sensitively open painful areas. (Tracy owns Whole Life Yoga; you can read here how yoga resolved her severe back pain.

If you see me for a session, be sure to ask me for a free class pass for Whole Life Yoga, to experience for yourself what Viniyoga is.

 

 

 

Parenting for Happiness Rather Than Success

Pop quiz: You are about to be born. Who do you want for a mother, the woman whose mothering style has the aspiration of Raising Happiness or the woman who marches to Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother?

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is Amy Chua's book about parenting, which was excerpted in the Wall Street Journal to much ado on the internet, including my furious response. Raising Happiness is a book by Christine Carter Ph.D., who gives an articulate rebuttal to Amy Chua's ideas here.  Chua advocates a demanding form of parenting – expecting perfect grades, allowing no playdates, insisting the child master violin or piano, etc. – that she believes is the key to the child's future success. As I noted in my post, Chua is a "success" in the world – a law professor at an Ivy League school – but has no credentials in psychology, child development, or parenting. In contrast, Carter is a sociologist and parent educator, and her article shows a broader understanding of what constitutes "success" than mere outward achievement. Refreshingly, Carter speaks to happiness as the key component of success, noting that "three decades of research clearly suggests that such a narrow focus on achievement can produce wildly unhappy people." Validating what I mentioned in my post, where I commented on research presented in the book A General Theory of Love, Carter also articulates that "social connections are the foundation for happiness, health, and success in life." 

Carter's book Raising Happiness is about "the science of raising happy kids," and part of her mission is to help parents be happier. On her blog, she has a pledge you can sign: "I understand that improving my own happiness is a way to make the world a better place. Over the next nine months, I will take steps to increase my happiness." I like this. While happiness is not something you can make happen in your life, we all know things that make us happy and we can create time to do those things and cherish those moments. Paradoxically, many of the things that make us happy can often be traced back to the qualities and things we most loved as children – another reason that it's important for kids to have fun and play. 

For many of my clients, creating and enjoying freedom and movement in their bodies makes them happy –whether it's through yoga classes or exercise or bodywork. One of my Seattle clients, who did the 10-session Rolfing® series a couple of years ago, was in for a tune-up in November. We were talking about the upcoming Christmas holidays, and what she and her family would do, and she decided on the spot that what she wanted for Christmas was to gift herself an Advanced Rolfing Series. For her, the quality of life she experiences getting in touch with her body brings happiness, more than the various things she could buy. 

I encourage you to find what it is that makes you happy, to enjoy it, and to make happiness contagious in your families and in the world.

 

Save Us from "Chinese Mothers" and Bless Us with Neuroscientists – Comments on Amy Chua's Wall Street Journal Article "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior"

An article called "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior" appeared in the Wall Street Journal and is getting attention in the blogosphere. The author, Yale Law School professor Amy Chua, contends that stereotypical "Chinese mothers" who force their children to excel academically are the best mothers. Frankly, I feel like a victim of child abuse / neglect just from reading this article.

Chua shares about how she raises her daughters who were "never allowed to:

• attend a sleepover, 
• have a playdate, 
• be in a school play, 
• complain about not being in a school play 
• watch TV or play computer games
• choose their own extracurricular activities
• get any grade less than an A
• not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama
• play any instrument other than the piano or violin
• not play the piano."

She writes "Chinese parents believe that they know what is best for their children and therefore override all of their children's own desires and preferences." It seems that the methodology is to break your child's will, and insult them if necessary. In Chua's mind, that's okay, because the result is a child who excels in school and music. The example she gives "in favor of coercion" discusses relentlessly drilling her 7-year old daughter for a piano recital, threatening to give away her toys, and calling her "lazy, cowardly, self-indulgent and pathetic." (When her husband suggested that this was "insulting" the girl, Chua's response was that she wasn't insulting her but "motivating her.") She won't let her leave the paino to go to the bathroom, she loses her voice yelling at her daughter, and "still there seemed to be only negative progress." (Somehow I'm not surprised.) Then suddenly her daughter can do it (angelic intervention?), followed by hugs, etc., and a perfect recital. For Chua, the results justify the means.

Yes, the little girl learned the piano piece. She also learned a pattern of relating that is based on coercion, degradation, love as a reward for compliance, and a compulsion to succeed. This groove is being dug deeper and deeper into her brain with each similar interaction. It is how she will raise her own children, and it will stymie all of her relationship so that love becomes equated with performance goals. She will have the tendency to find relationships that mimic this, where she is either the rejecting coercer or the rejected coerced. She will equate love with performing properly.

How Neuroscience Shows Us That This Form of Parenting Is Not "Superior"

Chua states that she learned her parenting model from her parents. She doesn't question it or look further because she values the results. She is completely blind to the emotional side of the equation. I am not a psychologist, but over the past few years I have been reading and studying extensively on the subjects of child development and psychology. I have also experienced therapy and am engaged in a spiritual path where my colleagues and I work with material from our early childhoods, and it is clear from our work that episodes like these leave devastating imprints on the psyche. Everything I read by experts in child and developmental psychology is counter to what Chua writes. While Chua is a law professor, she has absolutely no credentials in anything to do with child psychology or child development or education. Her only credential is the biological achievement of having borne a child. In the human species, bearing a child does not automatically make one a good parent.

Most recently in my studies I read the book A General Theory of Love – which should be required reading for every human being, and particularly all parents. Written by three psychiatrists, it is an easy-to-read, poetic and passionate rant about how the human race has strayed so far from understanding what we need as human beings to feel happy, loved and valuable, and to be able to relate in healthy ways. Our emotional needs are hard-wired in our limbic systems. As infants/children we need love and holding. We need parents who love us unconditionally and will spend one-on-one time with us. We need reflection from and dialogue with our parents. We need time to cultivate relationships as much as we need time spent drilling math exercises or practing violin. There is research behind this, from both animal and human studies.

Children who are driven to become performing automatons may excel academically, may play piano perfectly, but will they be able to have authentic, valuable, successful, dynamic relationships with their peers, with future romantic partners, with their own children? Will they be happy? Will they know who they are uniquely as individuals, their own preciousness?

One commentator on the Huffington Post, raised by Chinese parents under similar methodology, writes as an adult: "I was good at my job. But I had chronic hives. I couldn't sleep, and when I did I would wake up with fingernail imprints in the palms of my clenched hands. I couldn't get pregnant. I was 30, a success, but felt a failure." 

There's much we as humans can learn about optimal parenting – as evidenced by all the unhappiness, malaise, and delinquency we see in young people and in ourselves. I sincerely hope that no parent takes Chua's advice to heart. There are compassionate and loving models out there that will guide us better and are substantiated by our increasing understanding of the human mind and soul.

Rolfing® Series Timing and Life Cycles

Yesterday I posted about calculating one's personal year using numerology, something I do every new year. This got me thinking about other timing cycles based on astrology, where key planetary aspects relate to rites of passage. It's interesting to note that sometimes clients doing the 10-session Rolfing® series – a big structural overhaul for the body – are in their Saturn return, Uranus opposition, or Chiron return. This makes sense, as I'll explain below. Knowing this timing can give me a sense of some of the other forces moving through their lives, besides whatever body issues they come in with.

Saturn Return (28-30, 57-59, 86-88)

Saturn orbits the sun in 28-29 years, so it "returns" to its place in your own birth chart every 28-29 years. Because the planet Saturn governs structure, each Saturn return is a time of reexamining the structure in one's life and determining whether it still fits and making readjustments to one's trajectory.

The first Saturn return at age 28-30 is often tumultuous. Up until this point, your life has often been structured by others – your parents, society, the school system, etc. In a sense it's the time of coming into true adulthood when the individual decides what old structures didn't work and what new ones s/he wants to put in place. So we can find people quitting jobs, changing direction, divorcing – if those things were "wrong" for them – or instead getting married, starting businesses, going back to school to build structure. I can't count how many Rolfing clients I've had who are choosing to do a series at this point in their lives, it's quite common. They are usually bursting with energy and trying to feel out their next step in life and wanting to get their bodies and energies in alignment with that. 

The second Saturn return at around age 57-59 is more about moving into wisdom and spirit. In the first 28-30 years you did life the way society wanted. In the second time around, you did it your way. Now, at the threshold of the senior years, many individuals begin to wonder again about the deeper meaning of life. They've had careers, raised families, done alot of externals, so they may ask more about what's inside, or about what they can contribute in a bigger sense. In traditional India, this is the time that one would delve deeply into the spiritual, having fulfilled their obligations in the world. In our culture, it could be the time one seeks in one's profession to become more the mentor to others, to share what one has learned. The Chiron return (below) and this second Saturn return often lead clients to Rolfing sessions as they begin to look inward and become more interested in their bodies not as tools of action but as sensate fields of beingness that crave awakening along with a general inner awakening.

A third Saturn return would occur around age 86-88 for those who make it that far – rare in the past but increasingly common in the our times. It may be a time of transition and looking toward the next stage – death – whether examined consciously or reluctantly because of illness, or it may be a time of deep reflection on one's life as a whole. I have had a few Rolfing clients in this age group. They have sometimes been people who are fighting age and pain with difficulty, and sometimes elders who still have optimism and enthusiasm for life and are looking for ways to keep mobile to keep enjoying life.

Chiron Return

The Chiron return is another event, at about age 50, that signals a turn inward, toward wisdom and maturity. You can read about it here, where the author says that it "delineates the end of the heroic youth, as we enter the realm of 'elder.'" This transition is easier for those who have had an inward or spiritual orientation already in life (who have "done their work" on themselves), harder for those who have sought their identity in the externals (looks, status, income...). Sometimes bodywork at this life stage can help give a person ground for this turning, as well as ease some of the accumulated aches and pains and restrictions from their life out in the world.

Uranus Opposition

The Uranus opposition occurs at around age 42 and correlates to what we commonly term the "midlife crisis." While Saturn builds structure, the planet Uranus is about awakening, freeing oneself from constraints, and opening to dynamic energy. At age 42, Uranus has moved halfway around your birthchart and is opposite to where it was at your birth, bringing with it a torrent of energy. Remember the lyrics to the Talking Heads song "Once in a Lifetime"?:

You may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
You may find yourself in another part of the world
You may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
You may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
And you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here? 

 This is the wake-up call when suddenly you see your life afresh and ask yourself, "well, how did I get here – and what am I going to do about it?" Barbara Hand Clow, in her uniquely titled astrology book "Liquid Light of Sex: Kundalini, Astrology, and the Key Life Transitions", believes the kundalini energy of the body may spontaneously awaken at this time and try to move up the spine through the various chakras. Wherever you have a block, that's where your "midlife crisis" issues will manifest; in her view, this is commonly around the heart chakra for men (therefore the red sports car, jettisoning the wife, and falling freshly in love) and the throat chakra for women (issues of creative expression, "being heard" in ones life). This is another great time to get a Rolfing series as it can help free the body from the sense of restriction many people have from tight fascial wrapping, allowing more vitality and energy flow. 

In Conclusion

There's no one "right" time to get a Rolfing series – except when you feel compelled by life to work with what presents through your body. What is interesting to me is how often that coincides with one of these life cycles, and how often these life cycles unfold as stated, which says to me that there's something here for even the skeptic to consider.

I'm not an astrologer, but for anyone wishing to delve deeper, I recommend Frederick Woodruff and Shakti Carola Navran. Check out their websites and blogs and see who's a fit for you.

 

 

 

 

 

Life Cycles and Calculating Your Personal Year

It's a new year, which brings a new energy. Already the phone is ringing with some new clients wanting to get Rolfing® sessions - must be New Year's resolutions or the return of the light in Seattle as our days start to get a little longer. Or maybe alot of them are entering a numerological "personal year" that motivates their attention toward the body.

When I was in my 20s I was very interested in astrology, tarot, and numerology. Now my spiritual interests have taken a different direction, but I still give note to certain timing cycles. Yesterday I posted about an astrologer friend's outlook for 2011. Here I'll say a bit about personal life cycles from numerology and what I might correlate to the motivation to get Rolfing sessions or other bodywork, and tomorrow I'll write about life cycles in astrology. 

Numerology is fairly simple. There are things you can learn from your name, and also from your birthdate. Adding up the month, day, and year you were born gives you your "birth path" number. Then each year you add up the month and day of your birthday with the number of the current year, and tht gives you your current "personal year" according to numerology. This is a nine year cycle, starting with 1, going through 9, then back to one.

Here's how you calculate it. Say you were born today, January 7, in 1970. That would be

1 + 7 + 1 + 9 + 7 + 0 = 25, which you reduce to a single digit as 2 + 5 = 7.

The birth path is indicative of one's career or life path with seven being someone who is spiritual, inward, a thinker.

To calculate that person's personal year for 2011, we substitute the current year for the birth year and do the math:

1 + 7 + 2 + 0 + 1 + 1 = 12, which you reduce to a single digit as 1 + 2 = 3.

A 3 personal year is said to be an outgoing year of social activity, expansion, play, creativity.

The years I pay the most attention to are the ending years of a cycle (8, 9) to consider what is outmoded in my life, and the early ones in a new cycle (1-4) as that is when you are building the base for what you want to accomplish.

I'm more conscious of correlation between clients getting Rolfing sessions and the larger astrological cycles (which will be in my post tomorrow) because I can determine that just from someone's age, but I imagine there are relationships with numerology too, nuances that may alter the focus of why the person seeks my services. For example, someone getting bodywork in a 1 year may be looking to support a new start, while someone getting work in a 9 year may be trying to end old troublesome patterns. 

I'm in a 3 year in 2011, and this is proving to be kind of fun (fitting the theme of play and social activity), trotting out and sharing something that was a very creative endeavor for me in my 20s. I don't have a numerologist to recommend, but you can find alot of do-it-yourself info on the web. Tomorrow I'll share my recommendations for astrologers.

An Astrologer's View of 2011

Happy New Year everyone!

Here's what my astrologer friend Frederick Woodruff has to say about 2011. It might make you want to fasten your seatbelts, but his advice is to jump.

This is the macrocosmic view; in a few posts in the days ahead I'll make some comments on personal life cycles and what I notice in my Rolfing clientele going through these cycles.