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R M I J ... Volume 4 Issue 1, 2011 - Rosen Journal

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Fogel<br />

Editorial<br />

Alan Fogel, Editor<br />

<strong>Rosen</strong> Method International <strong>Journal</strong><br />

<strong>Rosen</strong> Method Bodywork Practitioner, PhD, LMT<br />

fogel.alan@gmail.com<br />

In this <strong>Issue</strong> of the RMIJ<br />

This issue, <strong>Volume</strong> 4, <strong>Issue</strong> 1, Spring <strong>2011</strong>, is anchored by two exceptional articles, one by Kerstin Zettmar<br />

and the other by Ralph Maliphant. Although both these articles just happen to have been submitted for<br />

publication in this issue of the RMIJ, come from authors of very different backgrounds, and are written in different<br />

styles, they are remarkably similar to each other. Zettmar, a native of Sweden who lives and works in<br />

Newport, Rhode Island, USA, is a bodywork practitioner and a visual artist. Maliphant is from Gloustershire,<br />

England, lived for many years in Canada, is currently beginning his bodywork internship, and has a background<br />

as a scientist and massage therapist.<br />

These two articles are similar because both authors create a beautiful interplay between their own life<br />

history, their encounters with <strong>Rosen</strong> work and how it has affected them and their clients, and scientific findings<br />

that illuminate and deepen their perspectives. Both authors range from the implications of quantum<br />

mechanics for interpersonal relationships, to recent discoveries in neuroscience that bear on the practice<br />

and outcomes of <strong>Rosen</strong> Method Bodywork. Don’t be scared off by this description because each author humanizes<br />

and “<strong>Rosen</strong>izes” their unique mix of science, practice, and life wisdom in a way that is both engaging<br />

and informative.<br />

In the previous issue of this journal, <strong>Rosen</strong> Method Bodywork practitioner, movement teacher trainer,<br />

and RMIJ archives editor Marjorie Huebner (USA) wrote a review of the work of Elsa Gindler, whose ideas<br />

about movement, breath, and awareness are similar to Marion <strong>Rosen</strong>’s work. The “legend” that has come to<br />

be part of the history of <strong>Rosen</strong> Method is that Marion studied directly with Lucy Heyer, and that Heyer had<br />

met and studied with Gindler, and therefore Gindler’s work influenced Marion indirectly through Heyer.<br />

In the current issue, Judyth Weaver, a practitioner of Gindler’s Sensory Awareness work and also a <strong>Rosen</strong><br />

Bodywork practitioner and teacher, tells us that after extensive research on her own and with colleagues in<br />

Germany, she can find no concrete evidence that Heyer ever studied with Gindler. Nor is there any indication<br />

that the two ever met personally. Weaver suggests that even if there was no contact between them, we<br />

still are left with the invaluable legacy of their individual work and that of Marion <strong>Rosen</strong>. Marjorie Heubner<br />

responds with further insights about the complexity of finding accurate information during a period of upheaval<br />

in Germany. Like all fields, <strong>Rosen</strong> Method was born into a particular time, place, and life history.<br />

Please write for the <strong>Rosen</strong> <strong>Journal</strong><br />

Submissions for articles and book reviews for the next issue of this journal are due no later than August<br />

1, <strong>2011</strong>. I encourage you to contact me at editor@rosenjournal.org soon if you have an idea for an article or<br />

book review so that I can help you prepare it for submission. Guidelines for preparing your articles for submission<br />

can be found on the journal web site at www.rosenjournal.org.<br />

As exemplified in the current issue, the RMIJ provides space for commentaries on articles from previous<br />

issues. If you would like to comment on any article in any of the past issues for the next issue of the RMIJ – to<br />

agree, disagree, or discuss – please submit to editor@rosenjournal.org by September 1, <strong>2011</strong>. Commentaries<br />

should be in the form of a WORD document and no more than two pages in length. Please include your<br />

name and your level of certification within the <strong>Rosen</strong> community.<br />

1<br />

R M I J<br />

<strong>Volume</strong> 4, <strong>Issue</strong> 1, <strong>2011</strong>


R M I J . . .<br />

<strong>Volume</strong> 4 <strong>Issue</strong> 1, <strong>2011</strong><br />

How Love Heals<br />

Kerstin Zettmar<br />

<strong>Rosen</strong> Method Bodywork Practitioner<br />

Newport, RI<br />

kerstin@zettmar.com<br />

Abstract<br />

For eons spiritual masters have been teaching that we are all part of one indivisible whole. Now scientific<br />

research reveals that what we carry in our hearts and minds influences the world around us. It has been<br />

discovered that cultivating inner qualities like peace, compassion and appreciation is not only good for our<br />

own physical and mental/emotional health but also for the health of those around us. As <strong>Rosen</strong> Method<br />

practitioners it is of utmost importance that we better understand our interconnectedness so that we can<br />

become more mindful of what we bring to the table<br />

On the second day of attending my first <strong>Rosen</strong> Method bodywork class in Stockholm in 1988, I noticed a<br />

burning sensation in and around my heart. I asked one of our teachers, Sara Webb, what was going on with<br />

me. She responded that she was familiar with the sensation even if she could not explain in physical terms<br />

what was going on in my chest. “I have a sense it is related to your heart opening through this work,” she<br />

said. Her answer resonated with my own intuitive hunch, and just knowing that other people also had this<br />

feeling helped me be more at ease.<br />

During my childhood, I sometimes felt that I was too sensitive for this world and, like many of us, built an<br />

insulating layer around my heart. But being around people in this workshop (several who were vulnerable<br />

enough to share their feelings much more openly than me) activated my compassion and awakened something<br />

deep and forgotten that now burned within my chest. In a way, it felt similar to what I had experienced<br />

in my body at other times in my life when someone had been exceptionally kind to me or when I had been<br />

touched by a magnificent landscape. Beauty, kindness and gentleness can often burn away defensive layers<br />

that no pushing, forcing or analyzing ever could.<br />

Besides the powerful combination of truth seeking and compassion I found in the <strong>Rosen</strong> Method, it<br />

was also the strong emphasis on relationship that beckoned me to want to take the training and become a<br />

<strong>Rosen</strong> Method practitioner. <strong>Rosen</strong> Method helps a client, over time, to connect deeply with his or her own<br />

truth and capacity for love and creativity and to find ways to share that with others. In my worldview, everything<br />

is about relationship: to self, to others, to nature, community, creativity and to the energy that connects<br />

us all.<br />

About seven years ago, I became very interested in quantum physics and quantum mechanics and<br />

learned that even the smallest building blocks of the universe form “relationships” with one another. The<br />

Danish physicist, Niels Bohr, claimed back in 1928 that when two subatomic particles (such as electrons or<br />

photons) connected, they remained cognizant of and influenced by each other forever. For instance, when<br />

one of the particles changed magnetic orientation, it influenced the other in the same or the opposite direction,<br />

regardless of how far they are separated geographically or how much time has elapsed since they<br />

were in physical contact. Erwin Schrodinger, who named this engagement “entanglement,” felt that nonlocality<br />

was the central property and premise of quantum physics. Once particles had been intimately connected<br />

they remained so even from a distance. Non- locality was considered proven in 1982 by Alain Aspect<br />

(Aspect, Granger, & Roger, 1982). <strong>Rosen</strong> Method Bodywork is intimate work. Touch and truth in combination<br />

2<br />

How Love Heals


makes it so. I often tell new clients that this can be extremely intimate work with therapeutic boundaries.<br />

Clients often hear themselves share things they have never told anyone. They encounter unconscious material<br />

they may not have had the courage to look at alone before. Since English is my second language, I sometimes<br />

hear things differently and more literally than my American friends. When I hear the word “intimacy,” I<br />

actually hear “Into me you see.” I hold the space for the client so that we both can see into ourselves. I make<br />

it clear, however, that because of the therapeutic boundary, it will be more of a one-way street than if it was<br />

a regular friendship. The focus is on the client. Still, at times, it is obvious that the client also “reads” me.<br />

I suspect I am not alone in having had experiences with <strong>Rosen</strong> clients where we at times seem to have<br />

tapped into the body-mind of each other. On many occasions, it has been as if our individual spheres of<br />

consciousness overlapped. For instance, the client may share something unusual that I just had on the tip of<br />

my tongue to ask about. Or I may use a metaphor in regard to what I sense under my hands and the client<br />

chuckles in surprise and says that an image, very similar to that metaphor, had been on his or her mind right<br />

then.<br />

One of the strongest experiences I have had of this kind was with a client who I was seeing twice a week.<br />

We were doing some rather intense work. As she was driving home from work one day, she had insistent<br />

images in her head of me being badly burned. She could not figure out why on earth she would conjure up<br />

such horrible images about a person she really cared about. She berated herself and thought she must be a<br />

“sick puppy.” Imagine how startled she was to get a phone call from me wherein I told her I had to reschedule<br />

our appointment because I had burned my hand quite badly (2 nd and 3 rd degree burns) on exactly that<br />

day. We talked about it at our next visit and I said I hoped she did not hold any fears that she had somehow<br />

“caused” my accident. “No,” she said. “I may be troubled, but I am not deluded. I know I am not that powerful.<br />

I take it more as a sign that I have been really tuned in to you because of our work the last few weeks and<br />

therefore picked up on what was happening with your hand.”<br />

Many people would just shake their head hearing an account like this; but, there is scientific evidence<br />

confirming that signals in the electromagnetic field of one person’s heart (ECG) can be picked up in the brain<br />

waves (EEG) of another who is in close proximity. While the signal is strongest when people actually touch,<br />

the effect is still detectable, and has been measurable when the two people are up to three feet away from<br />

each other. There is speculation that the signal transferred is electromagnetic in origin and that some component<br />

of it is radiated. Perhaps this could explain a portion of what happens when we, as caring bodyworkers,<br />

put our hands on a client and they instantly feel better (Institute of Hearthmath, 2010)<br />

There have been a number of studies showing that it is possible for a person seated alone in a room to<br />

register in his or her nervous system what happens to a partner in another room. One of the earliest studies<br />

of this kind was conducted in a rather brutal way by Charles Tart. He administered shocks to himself while a<br />

volunteer isolated in another room was being monitored to see if he picked up on Tart’s reaction. Each time<br />

Tart got jolted, the volunteer registered an unconscious empathic response in decreased blood volume and<br />

increased heart rate as if he were also getting the shocks (Mc Taggert, 2007).<br />

In a more recent study done in 2005, a group of researchers from Bastyr University and The University<br />

of Washington gathered 30 couples with strong emotional and psychological connections. Some also had<br />

a great deal of experience in meditation. The couples were split up and put in different rooms 10 meters<br />

away from each other with an EEG amplifier wired up to the occipital (visual) lobe of the brain of each participant.<br />

The moment each sender was exposed to a flickering light they were asked to “transmit” an image<br />

or thought of this light to the partner. They found that the pairs who had a high degree of experience with<br />

meditation showed the highest correlation between sender and receiver. The Bastyr Study represents a major<br />

breakthrough in research on direct mental influence. It demonstrated that the brain wave response of<br />

the sender to the stimulus is mirrored in the receiver and that the stimulus in the receiver is in an identical<br />

place in the brain of the sender. The receiver’s brain reacts as though he or she is seeing the same image at<br />

the same time (Radin, 2006).<br />

Zettmar<br />

3<br />

R M I J<br />

<strong>Volume</strong> 4, <strong>Issue</strong> 1, <strong>2011</strong>


R M I J . . .<br />

<strong>Volume</strong> 4 <strong>Issue</strong> 1, <strong>2011</strong><br />

When we speak of the intuitive mind, we should not only associate that with the brain but also with the<br />

heart. In 2004, Rollin McCraty and his colleagues reported on an experiment involving presentiment where<br />

people were seated in front of a computer screen and hooked up to instruments measuring the skin-conductance,<br />

heart rate variability and EEG, as they were shown random images. Some images were calm and<br />

neutral, others more disturbing and/or evocative in nature. What they learned was that the heart responded<br />

to these images before the brain did. Before the brain could respond, the heart rate tended to slow down<br />

when seeing the emotional pictures as compared to the calm pictures with odds against chance of 1,000 to<br />

1. McCraty summarized, “There is evidence that the heart is directly involved in the processing of information<br />

about future emotional stimulus seconds before the body actually experiences the stimulus. . .” The<br />

study also revealed that women had a stronger response in this regard than men (Radin, 2006).<br />

When I read this study, it made me think of how we, as <strong>Rosen</strong> Method practitioners, sometimes see in<br />

the breath and the body of the client the indications and movement of an emotion about to emerge before<br />

it reaches the consciousness of the client. There may be a change in the rhythm of breathing, skin color, fluttering<br />

of eyelids, or muscle spasms moments before the client seems to know what is about to bubble up.<br />

It appears, in those moments, as if the heart of the client knew something that had not yet reached his or<br />

her brain.<br />

The heart generates an electrical field 60 times stronger than that of the brain and a magnetic field 5,000<br />

times stronger than that of the brain. This electromagnetic field surrounds the body in a kind of donut shape<br />

and can be measured 5-8 feet in diameter around a person. Although the heart field is not the same as the<br />

body’s aura, or the Prana as described by ancient Sanskrit scriptures, it may well be an expression of the energy<br />

that begins in this area (Braden,2007).<br />

For eons, spiritual masters have been teaching that the heart is the seat of the soul and have stressed<br />

the importance of cultivating compassion. Yogis and shamans of various indigenous cultures have always<br />

sensed intuitively that we all are, in essence, part of one great big indivisible whole. That is terrific. I am<br />

all for intuition. But for people like me who have been ridiculed and scorned for believing in the mystical<br />

traditions, it is both comforting and very exciting to partake in the interface that is now happening between<br />

ancient spiritual teachings and modern, cutting edge, scientific research. If we wish to see a positive<br />

shift in human interactions in the future we need to use both our hearts and our minds wisely. Or as Joan<br />

Borysenko, author of Minding the Body, Mending the Mind once said in a lecture at Salve Regina University in<br />

Newport, Rhode Island: “Keep your mind open, but don’t let your brain fall out.”<br />

I know many <strong>Rosen</strong> Method practitioners who feel they are working toward a more peaceful world<br />

one person at the time. When it comes to the hope of bringing more peace into the world via our own<br />

emotional systems, a demonstration study conducted in 1993 is very encouraging. 4,000 participants in<br />

Transcendental Meditation (TM) – Siddhi programs, gathered in Washington, DC from June 7 to July 30 th .<br />

They wanted to demonstrate scientifically that focusing on feeling peace and love would create greater coherence<br />

in the collective consciousness of the district. They felt confident in doing so, since they had already<br />

witnessed this phenomenon take place in 24 US cities in 1972. The only difference was that they now had<br />

a 27 member Project Review Board comprising independent scientists and leading citizens who approved<br />

the research protocol and monitored the research process. The effect is called the Maharishi effect in honor<br />

of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who stated that when 1 percent of a population practiced the techniques of meditation<br />

he offered, there would be a reduction in violence and crime for that population. Even though the<br />

police had laughed at this experiment and said it would take a major snowstorm in July to lower the violent<br />

crime rate in Washington, DC, the results were clear: homicides, rapes and assaults (HRA) dropped significantly<br />

-- just as the meditation group had predicted. They learned that the effect of the experiment was cumulative.<br />

During the final week, there was a 23.3 percent fall of HRA in Washington, DC, and it persisted even<br />

after the project ended. There were predictions that a permanent group of 4,000 “coherence experts” would<br />

have a long-term effect (Hegelin, 1999).<br />

4<br />

How Love Heals


It seems to me that it is of the highest importance that we, as bodywork practitioners, therapists or<br />

healthcare professionals, become as conscious as possible of how we regard our clients and patients. If we<br />

do not trust that they can come to greater wholeness, if we cannot hold the slightest possibility that they<br />

can find their way and transform in a beautiful way in their own time, we are not the right person to work<br />

with them. It will affect the electromagnetic field around our hearts and it will hinder, rather than help, the<br />

person’s progress. In that case, the kindest thing we can do is refer that person to someone else who may<br />

feel more hopeful about their healing.<br />

Marion <strong>Rosen</strong>, the founder of the <strong>Rosen</strong> Method, once said that when meeting a new client she often<br />

does not always like them right away, but as soon as she puts her hands on them, she feels a love for them.<br />

<strong>Rosen</strong> work connects client and practitioner through touch, compassion and an unconditional presence. It is<br />

a profound human-to-human meeting, beyond personalities, and because of this, it is important that there<br />

is a bond of mutual caring and respect. Even though we do use words in this work, so much is communicated<br />

silently.<br />

At a 2009 conference in Boston with Bruce Lipton, Gregg Braden and Alberto Villoldo, I was introduced<br />

to The Heart Math Institute which was founded by Doc Childre. ( www.heartmath.org ) Childre and his team<br />

have been researching how emotional states and feelings affect the physiology of the body, brain function,<br />

hormonal balance, immune function and interpersonal relationships. One of the concepts they have spent<br />

a great deal of time on is coherence. What exactly is coherence? In physics, the term is used to describe two<br />

or more waves that are frequency locked to produce a constructive waveform. When waves of any kind are<br />

not working together, it is as if all the musicians in an orchestra ran off in different directions playing their<br />

own tunes, thusly creating total chaos. Coherence, on the other hand, is as if those same musicians listened<br />

to each other and focused their energy towards one composition and all moved in one direction together<br />

creating beautiful music.<br />

At Heartmath Institute, it has been discovered that emotions like compassion, caring, love, appreciation<br />

and gratitude not only strengthen the immune system but synchronize all the systems of the body to work<br />

together more efficiently. When the physiological coherence mode is driven by a positive emotional state it<br />

is called psychophysiological coherence. This state is associated with sustained positive emotion and a high<br />

degree of mental and emotional stability leading to reduced stress, anxiety and depression, decreased burnout,<br />

hormonal balance, improved cognitive performance, enhanced learning and improved health. Some<br />

of the findings show that when a person is under stress or experiencing emotions like anger, frustration or<br />

anxiety, heart rhythms become less coherent and more erratic, indicating less synchronization between the<br />

sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the nervous system, which if sustained, creates a lot of wear<br />

and tear on the bodily organs. The two branches of the nervous system fight each other and it is similar to<br />

when you drive a car with the emergency brakes on. It causes premature aging and breaks down the flow of<br />

information between all the systems of the body (McCraty et al., 1995).<br />

Between 1992 and 1995, Glen Rein and Rollin McCraty of the Heartmath Institute conducted several<br />

studies that revealed that people can intentionally get into the mindframe of coherent emotions and<br />

thereby have a measurable effect on DNA samples in a glass beaker. By using specially designed mental<br />

and emotional self-management techniques, the person would shift the focus to the heart and intentionally<br />

generate positive emotions. Without touching it or doing anything other than creating precise feelings in<br />

their bodies, the participants were able to influence these isolated DNA molecules in the beaker. And various<br />

intentions of making the DNA wind or unwind produced these different results. The results were unmistakable:<br />

human emotions can change the shape of DNA! (McCraty et al., 1995; Rein, 2004).<br />

We all know that we feel good in the presence of some people and not so good when we are around<br />

others. There seems to be evidence suggesting that this, at least in part, depends on what level of coherence<br />

we sense in that person’s heart field. Sometimes, I have wondered how healthy it may be for me, a sensitive<br />

person to begin with, to expose myself to unhappy and troubled people day after day. What cumulative ef-<br />

Zettmar<br />

5<br />

R M I J<br />

<strong>Volume</strong> 4, <strong>Issue</strong> 1, <strong>2011</strong>


R M I J . . .<br />

<strong>Volume</strong> 4 <strong>Issue</strong> 1, <strong>2011</strong><br />

fect on my health could that have? I believe that my best protection against negative influences is to take<br />

care of myself and make sure I get enough rest and enough exposure to the light and beautiful side of life to<br />

balance things out, and then to set an intention to generate as much compassion as possible for the people I<br />

take on as clients.<br />

In the book The Field, Lynn McTaggert mentions a study in Mexico that showed that when two people<br />

in separate rooms were asked to feel each other’s presence, their brainwaves began to synchronize as measured<br />

by EEG. At the same time, electrical activity within each hemisphere of the brain of each participant<br />

also synchronized--a phenomenon which usually only occurs in meditation. Nevertheless, it was the participant<br />

with the most cohesive brain patterns who influenceed the other. The most ordered and coherent brain<br />

pattern always prevailed (Grinberg-Zylberbaum & Ramos, 1987; Grinberg-Zylberbaum et al., 1992).<br />

As <strong>Rosen</strong> Method bodyworkers, we not only connect with the client’s body with our hands; we touch<br />

with our whole being. We touch with curiosity, empathy and an intention to meet the client no matter what<br />

comes up for them. <strong>Rosen</strong> touch is a loving touch and loving touch is powerful. Researcher Robert Nerem<br />

found this out by chance in the late 1970’s. He was not really interested in love, but was simply focused on<br />

finding out to what extent high cholesterol diets cause arterial blockage around the heart. He took a large<br />

group of genetically similar rabbits and put them in cages one by one along a wall. After feeding them the<br />

same high fat, toxic diet he confirmed upon autopsy that most of the rabbits had what he expected--a significant<br />

amount of blockage (Poor bunnies!). However, one particular group of rabbits showed virtually no<br />

blockage. What made it more puzzling to Nerem was that all the rabbits who had very little blockage were in<br />

the bottom cages.<br />

Upon further investigation, he discovered that his lab assistant, a short woman, loved rabbits and would<br />

pet and cuddle the ones in the lower cages when she was feeding them because those were the cages she<br />

could reach easily. When she fed the rabbits in the top cages she could only reach high enough to give them<br />

their food and water so the rabbits in those cages were isolated and relatively ignored.<br />

Nerem was skeptical about the supposed cause of the difference in disease so he repeated the study, this<br />

time making sure the only difference between the groups was touch. He reproduced the same results and<br />

reported in the journal, Science, that there was more than 60% less blockage and significantly less arterial<br />

damage in the rabbits that were touched and cuddled compared to those that were not (Lefavi, 1999).<br />

So if we can strengthen the immune systems of rabbits by stroking them, it should not come as a huge<br />

surprise that the immune systems of humans also are influenced in a favorable way through receiving compassionate,<br />

respectful touch. Many studies at the Touch Research Institute (TRI) in Florida have confirmed<br />

this same thing. But touch is a two way street and the people who do the touching also benefit. In one<br />

study at TRI, half a group of retired volunteers were offered 3 weeks of massage therapy 3 times a week.<br />

The other half of the group were instructed on how to give infants a massage and were taken to a shelter<br />

for infants who had been physically and sexually abused and massaged these infants 3 times a week. After<br />

that they switched so that both groups got to enjoy the two different activities. This study was designed to<br />

measure anxiety and depression levels, stress levels (saliva cortisol), levels of being sociable, visits to doctors,<br />

self-esteem, etc., in the volunteers. At the end of the study, it was evident that although the elderly volunteers<br />

had benefitted from both activities they showed the greatest improvement from having given massages<br />

to the infants. The researchers guessed it might be because they had been so happy to massage and<br />

spend time with the children and may have felt a bit embarrassed and awkward about getting massages for<br />

themselves. Although these infants had experienced inappropriate and abusive touch prior to being placed<br />

in the shelter, they too showed lowered stress levels, more alertness and more sociability after being massaged<br />

by these “grand parent volunteers” (Field, 1993).<br />

It appears that people are not really meant to be independent of each other, but are wired for connection<br />

and interdependence. A Swedish study found that women who lived alone, had very few friends, and<br />

no one to call on if they needed help, tended to have heart rates that varied little over the course of the day.<br />

6<br />

How Love Heals


Less isolated individuals who enjoyed more fulfilling lifestyles and had more support from other people<br />

showed a much greater heart rate variability. A low variation in heart rate is correlated with heart disease<br />

susceptibility and premature death (Mc Craty et al., 1995).<br />

In 1991, a scientist named Andrew Armour, discovered that the heart has its own nervous system with<br />

neurons, neurotransmitters and proteins just like the brain. It has an independent ability to learn, feel, sense<br />

and remember; and being part of the neuroendocrine system, it can produce as much oxytocin as the brain.<br />

Oxytocin has been commonly referred to as the “love hormone.” Beyond its well-known function in bonding<br />

mother and child and the high amount of this hormone found in lactating mothers, there is recent evidence<br />

indicating that this hormone is also involved in cognition, tolerance, adaptation, complex sexual and maternal<br />

behaviors as well as learning and social cues and the establishment of enduring pair bonds (Institute of<br />

Heartmath, 2010).<br />

Dorothea Hrossowyc (2009), a fellow <strong>Rosen</strong> Method Bodywork practitioner, wrote an excellent article<br />

related to this topic. She writes: “Science is just beginning to explore the physiological importance of human<br />

connection and how <strong>Rosen</strong> work has been indirectly involved in some scientific research into the human<br />

connection system.” Kerstin Uvnas-Moberg, a researcher from Sweden, has published a book called<br />

The Oxytocin Factor: Tapping the hormone of calm, love and healing. Knowing that oxytocin was stimulated<br />

by touch, she used massage practitioners in her research. Some of those were also trained as <strong>Rosen</strong> Method<br />

Bodywork practitioners even though they did not practice <strong>Rosen</strong> Method, per se, in the studies that were<br />

used in the research. Unvas-Moberg’s research shows that oxytocin is elevated after only one session of<br />

touch therapy, but then goes back down. After four sessions, it tends to go up and stay elevated. After seven<br />

sessions, it tends to stay elevated for longer periods of time. The research also shows that oxytocin is best<br />

stimulated by gentle touch, not heavy, deep tissue work, and especially by stroking on the belly.<br />

I find this fascinating. It has also been my experience, in both giving and receiving <strong>Rosen</strong> Method<br />

Bodywork, that there is a cumulative effect of coming to peace and acceptance within, that we eventually<br />

can hold onto for increasingly longer periods after a session is over. Eventually, we can take this inner freedom<br />

with us out of the treatment room and into our other relationships and out into the world.<br />

Hrossowyc concludes that, “Relationship, through the healing cascade of the human connection system,<br />

regulates and revises our neurological health and our physiological functioning. In loving and caring, in<br />

connecting through touch and otherwise, we modulate each other’s emotions, neurophysiology, hormonal<br />

status, immune function, sleep rhythms, and stability. Through touch, and also through the connection that<br />

is the essence of <strong>Rosen</strong> work, we are stimulating a whole physiological system in the body, the physiological<br />

system of trust and human connection, facilitating the evolution of the human species toward more and<br />

deeper intimacy, connection and safety” (Hrossowyc, 2009).<br />

There is something very grounding about conscious touch for both the giver and the receiver. Seeing<br />

the very real person that emerges when a client is willing to take time out to look at him or herself deeply<br />

and work through the difficult parts is immensely rewarding. We live in an era where many people get<br />

caught up in the appearance of things and run at top speed much of the time to the point that there is no<br />

time for our human emotions. We humans do not know what we feel until we slow down and inquire into<br />

the deeper layers of our being and take time to listen to the language and melody of the body.<br />

I always set an intention to be as present and welcoming as I can when I greet my clients and think I do<br />

a pretty decent job at that. Still, when I wash my hands after a session and look in the mirror, I can often tell<br />

that something shifted in me as well. In order to do the work, I have to be focused and fully present myself.<br />

There is more color in my face. I feel more “landed” within my own body. How precious it is to be part of the<br />

moment when the client finds the courage to face and move through something that was held in for a long<br />

time and very hard to express. The wave of free breath in the body afterwards, the spaciousness and a lightness<br />

of being under my hands feels sacred. It feels like grace.<br />

As I sit with clients, I remind myself that I am not there to “fix” anyone. All I need to do is love the men and<br />

women who find their way to my door. For those of my clients who struggle to accept themselves, I do my<br />

Zettmar<br />

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R M I J . . .<br />

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best to communicate with my hands and my presence that they are loveable and also worthy of having their<br />

boundaries honored. I hold this possibility for them until they are ready to claim that for themselves. That<br />

is my main intention. If I got too caught up in other results my clients would feel my unspoken impatience<br />

and silent expectancy and <strong>Rosen</strong> work is not about them performing well for me or for anybody else. The<br />

most healing moments tend to take place when we manage to go beyond any rigid grips on our own egos<br />

and flawed personalities and give ourselves space to just be people together. Then we enter that wonderful<br />

space of connection where we are like tuning forks for each other.<br />

References<br />

Aspect, A., Grangier, P. & Roger, G. (1982). Experimental realization of Einstein-Podolsky-<strong>Rosen</strong>-Bohm<br />

Gedankenexperiment: A new violation of Bell’s inequalities, Physical Review Letters, 49, 91–94.<br />

Braden, G. (2007). The Devine Matrix. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House Inc.<br />

Field, T. (1993). Infant massage. Zero to Three <strong>Journal</strong>, October/November.<br />

Grinberg-Zylberbaum, J. and Ramos, J. (1987). Patterns of interhemisphere correlations during human communication.<br />

International <strong>Journal</strong> of Neuroscience, 36, 41-53.<br />

Grinberg-Zylberbaum, J. et al. (1992). Human communication and the electrophysiological activity of the<br />

brain. Subtle Energies,3, 25-43.<br />

Hagelin, J. S., Rainforth, M. V., Cavanaugh, K. L., Alexander, C. L., Shatkin, S. T., Davies, J. L., Hughes, A. O., Ross,<br />

E. & Orme-Johnson. D. W. (1999). Effects of group practice of the transcendental meditation program on<br />

preventing violent crime in Washington, D.C.: Results of the National Demonstration Project, June--July<br />

1993. Social Indicators Research, 47, 153-201.<br />

Hrossowyc, D. (2009). Resonance, regulation and revision; <strong>Rosen</strong> Method meets the growing edge of neurological<br />

research. <strong>Rosen</strong> Method International <strong>Journal</strong>, 2, 3-9.<br />

Institute of HeartMath (2010). Science of the Heart: Exploring the Role of the Heart in Human Performance, An<br />

Overview of Research Conducted by the Institute of HeartMath.<br />

Lefavi, R. (1999). Reasons to Believe. Carol Stream, Il: Hope Publishing House.<br />

McCraty, R., Atiller, M. A., Rein, G., Watkins, A. D. (1995). The effects of emotions on short term power spectrum<br />

analysis of heart rate variability. American <strong>Journal</strong> of Cardiology, 76, 1089-1093<br />

McTaggert, L. (2007). The Intention Experiment. New York: Simon and Schuster<br />

Radin, D. (2006). Entangled Minds. New York: Pocket Paraview.<br />

Rein, G. (2004). Utilization of a new in vitro assay to quantity the effects of conscious intention of healing<br />

practitioners. In R. Rustum (Ed.), Science of Whole Person Healing: Proceedings of the International Forum of<br />

New Science. Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, Inc.<br />

Rozman, D., McCraty, R. & Goelitz, J. (1988). The role of the heart in learning and intelligence. A summary of<br />

research and applications with children. Institute of Hearthmath.<br />

8<br />

How Love Heals


Maliphant<br />

Body of Knowledge: In Touch with Healing<br />

Ralph Maliphant, Dip APNT<br />

Massage Therapist and <strong>Rosen</strong> Method Bodywork Intern<br />

Leonard Stanley, Gloucestershire, UK<br />

ralph@maliphant.fsbusiness.co.uk<br />

Abstract<br />

This article draws on a long therapeutic journey to discuss unexpected shifts of awareness beyond the normal<br />

everyday state. Studying such experiences throws light on ways in which we limit ourselves and distort our<br />

perception through conditioned responses: there is the possibility for change when we allow ourselves to be<br />

reached and affected. I see parallels here with <strong>Rosen</strong> Method Bodywork and use examples from my own experience<br />

to illustrate the process. We can assist our growth as individuals and our “in-touchness” with our clients<br />

by paying attention to insights obtained at moments of “awakening,” and I discuss some of these processes by<br />

reference to quantum mechanics, chakras, and the perceptual domains of the left and right hemispheres of<br />

our divided brains.<br />

I am reminded of the title of C. S. Lewis’s spiritual autobiography Surprised by Joy when I review personal<br />

experiences far beyond my expectation. Many of the events described here took place long before I discovered<br />

<strong>Rosen</strong> Method Bodywork, but in their unexpected nature they guided me to this path and speak to the<br />

complexity of interactions taking place outside our normal awareness. As a Research Scientist now practising<br />

as a Massage Therapist, and a <strong>Rosen</strong> Method Bodywork Student, I have a special interest in the long-term<br />

consequences of formative experiences, especially those distressing events that could not be managed and<br />

became lodged in our soft tissue: as Caroline Myss (1998, p. 111) has said, “your biography becomes your biology.”<br />

Our response to significant events from pre-birth to the present is recorded in our physical body and,<br />

if retained as chronic tension, will be played out in our characteristic attitudes (see later). We then become<br />

cut off from the fullness of natural healing processes and the true richness of life. Under appropriate circumstances,<br />

however (as exemplified in the practice of <strong>Rosen</strong> Method Bodywork), the hold these strictures have<br />

on us can be diminished and we may then find ourselves in an unknown space—surprised by joy!<br />

There is much to be learned by studying such experiences: not only can we contrast the possible with<br />

the usual to discover the extent of our cutting off; by reaching out to the implications, we can begin to see<br />

the true nature of “what is” and marvel at the possibilities if we seek appropriate healing. Freud (1933/1973,<br />

p. 90) said that “pathology, by making things larger and coarser, can draw our attention to normal conditions<br />

which would otherwise have escaped us.” In like manner, we can gain insight into our normal workings by<br />

examining those rare events that accompany a significant change in consciousness. Steve Taylor (2010, p.<br />

xiv) views these moments as waking from the sleep of our normal state:<br />

Some materialistic scientists believe that awakening experiences are just ‘tricks of the mind’ caused by<br />

abnormal brain functioning. As a result, they claim they have no more validity than a hallucination or a<br />

dream and the vision of the world they give us is an illusion. But I believe that the reverse is true: these<br />

experiences are more real than our normal state. It’s more accurate to see them as a kind of ‘waking up’<br />

from the sleep of our normal state. Our normal consciousness is narrow and restricted and gives us a<br />

false and limited experience of reality. That’s why, in awakening experiences, there is a sense that our<br />

consciousness has become wider and clearer and that we have gained access to a deeper and truer<br />

level of reality which is normally hidden from us.<br />

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We cannot be fully awake at all times, but by investigating changes that take place when we “wake up”—and<br />

perhaps gain some sense of how this happens—we can be helped to move in the right direction.<br />

I do not imply that <strong>Rosen</strong> Method Bodywork is directly linked with non-ordinary states (although, of<br />

course, being truly in touch is not ordinary, being rather rare in the modern world). However, I suggest that<br />

if we want to be truly present and “in touch” with another, we need to become aware of processes that distort<br />

or limit our perception of “what is.” It is also instructive to “feel into” the <strong>Rosen</strong> experience—into the<br />

processes that take place as we become less held. Surely, this is a “waking up.” When distressing experiences,<br />

finding no resolution (particularly likely within the child-mind), become somatised in body tissues, there is a<br />

(necessary) loss of “in-touchness:” we are not fully being. If this constrained state remains unmet, it will affect<br />

our interactions and increase the probability of further strictures. We are left in a state of semi-consciousness.<br />

In truth, this is the norm, varying only in degree. In her book Healing through the Dark Emotions, Miriam<br />

Greenspan (2003) states that “To let it go, you have to let it flow” (p. 78). This certainly seems to be what takes<br />

place in the <strong>Rosen</strong> experience as some examples in this paper will illustrate. As we heal, we become more<br />

whole. But, sometimes, extra-ordinary circumstances can work in a similar way, freeing us temporarily to see<br />

more clearly: we can gain insight into our own distortions and thus be encouraged to persevere along our<br />

therapeutic path.<br />

The left and right hemispheres<br />

Some years ago, my partner was feeling very low and, beyond my understanding, I experienced an immediate<br />

awareness that I could take her to something that would provide the needed solace. I didn’t know<br />

what this was or where it was, but I somehow knew that I could take her there if I “let it happen.” She agreed<br />

that we would set out in the car to travel to this unknown destination. I took care to drive sensibly whilst allowing<br />

myself to be guided in some way. We wound our way over the Cotswold countryside for about an<br />

hour, discovering ourselves some 40 miles away travelling down a little lane I could never rediscover that<br />

ended where we knew we were intended to be. There, as we stood outside the car, was a wonderful sea of<br />

blue flax, unseen until now. That balm was utterly healing—a magic beyond our own divining! We couldn’t<br />

see any of this until reaching the end of the lane, and I never detoured on the journey. The result was perfect<br />

… we had indeed been taken to what was needed.<br />

This was an unusual experience for me; I am not normally so attuned. But on that occasion something<br />

changed. I’m aware that—perhaps typically for a man—I tend to “think through” issues: I use the rational,<br />

analytic ability of my brain’s left hemisphere to seek for a way forward. There was none of that this time. My<br />

partner’s condition reached to a different part of me, quietening linear thoughts that could provide no solutions<br />

and allowing insights for connection to be received, aided by the intuitive faculty of the right hemisphere.<br />

It’s clear that we can enhance our connection with “what is” by improving access to the functions of our<br />

right hemisphere. 1 This is crucially relevant for our current society, as evidenced by Iain McGilchrist (2009)<br />

in his book The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World (Maliphant,<br />

2010; book reviewed in this journal, <strong>Volume</strong> 3, <strong>Issue</strong> 1), and I believe that it is central to the practice of <strong>Rosen</strong><br />

Method Bodywork. The issue is not so much about “how to be in touch,” as “how to stop distracting ourselves<br />

or cutting ourselves off.” I can illustrate this with an example from a recent <strong>Rosen</strong> practice exchange. My “client”<br />

was lying face-down with my right hand on her lower back and my left hand curling over her left shoulder.<br />

My attention was focused on the activity sensed by my right hand. My client commented: “That pressure<br />

is just perfect: things are really happening!” Checking in, I queried, “Around your lower back?” “No, around<br />

my shoulder,” I was corrected! Only then did I realise the subtle work that was going on through my left hand<br />

1 Betty Edwards (2008) describes methods for enhancing this in her updated classic The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, and comments<br />

(p. xx), “In order to gain access to the subdominant visual, perceptual R[ight]-mode of the brain, it is necessary to present the brain<br />

with a job that the verbal, analytic L[eft]-mode will turn down.”<br />

10<br />

Body of Knowledge


whilst free of the rational focus I was giving to its partner: essentially, my predominantly left-hemisphere attention<br />

limited the “in touchness” possible through my right hand, whilst my left hand was “free to be.” I don’t<br />

yet know whether the left hand is generally a more-sensitive tool (the province of the right hemisphere), but<br />

I have certainly become aware that allowing the left hemisphere to dominate is counter-productive.<br />

Similar evidence can be found elsewhere. In a small singing group I joined a year ago (for those “terrified”<br />

of singing), in the middle of a practice round I recently found myself anxiously thinking “I don’t know<br />

what comes next” whilst observing my voice continuing perfectly—it was only my intellectual mind that<br />

“didn’t know.” During my time in Canada, in the ’50s and ’60s, I was fascinated with research work on computer<br />

chess, particularly the fact that top players were still able to beat the best computer programs in spite<br />

of the fact that many more steps could be analysed by the computer than any human could process linearly<br />

(in the way I and other novices played). I concluded that the best players were not processing linearly with<br />

a dominating left hemisphere. When I apprehended the board as I might a face, without consciously analysing,<br />

my game improved considerably: it is apparent that we have access to much more information than we<br />

normally utilise because we habitually filter it through the dominant left hemisphere.<br />

I don’t think this will be news within the higher echelons of the <strong>Rosen</strong> Movement (training processes are<br />

clearly designed to work with the whole person), but I do think that understanding it can help pave the way<br />

for those setting out on the path.<br />

Realizations<br />

I attended my sixth Intensive during the writing of this paper. The preparation time seemed like a crossroads:<br />

I know the effectiveness of <strong>Rosen</strong> Method Bodywork but am all too aware of my current limitations—<br />

it feels like I have a long way to go! In writing this paper, I am largely speaking to myself, drawing attention<br />

to the profound difference that can result from perceptual changes, seeking to aid my journey along the<br />

path towards Internship and Practitioner status. At 76, this is quite a challenge, but one that I have reason to<br />

feel fairly confident about (see Appendix).<br />

For 20 years of my life, I was a research scientist working in the field of Electromagnetic Radio-wave<br />

Propagation (in Canada, the Arctic, and the UK). I’ve since discovered an unexpected relevance to my current<br />

work (Barbara Ann Brennan, who wrote Hands of Light: A Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy<br />

Field, was previously a scientist in atmospheric physics at NASA; I was a Principal Scientific Officer involved<br />

in atmospheric physics at GCHQ, Cheltenham). It was the magical conveyance of information over vast distances,<br />

embedded in the invisible radio wave, that enchanted me when, at the age of 14, I started building<br />

shortwave receivers and listening to distant countries. Now, I marvel at the energy fields carrying communications<br />

within and around the human organism.<br />

The actions of our cells are determined by subtle energies and therefore affected by our perception: in<br />

Molecules of Emotion, Candace Pert (1999) indicates that emotions and their biological components establish<br />

the crucial link between mind and body; and in The Biology of Belief, Bruce Lipton (2005) shows that DNA is<br />

controlled by signals from outside the cell, including the energetic messages emanating from our thoughts.<br />

I think I see evidence of this when observing <strong>Rosen</strong> Method Bodywork being carried out by those at the top<br />

of their profession: comparison with myself at this stage helps me identify where I limit myself and thus reduce<br />

my connection with the client. This situation does little to relax primitive elements of the client’s organism<br />

primed to detect risk. But when I experience the “flow,” I can appreciate that so much more is becoming<br />

possible.<br />

The potential influence of another caring person, particularly the presence of a concerned therapist, can<br />

be deduced from this statement by Ariana Faris and Els van Ooijen (2009, p. 32):<br />

We see the self as constructed through interactional processes via responses to internal and external<br />

feedback, and human nature as dependent on the processes of being seen and acknowledged by another.<br />

Maliphant<br />

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The authors were referring to their work within the field of psychotherapy and counselling but the observation<br />

holds true in any context and is a useful construct by which to view the approach of a <strong>Rosen</strong> Method<br />

practitioner. Being seen and acknowledged by another is an experience that is difficult to analyse or even to<br />

clarify with words, but it appears to be a fundamental requirement for the human being and is a quality that<br />

makes all the difference in a therapeutic setting. The extent to which we can “see” another depends on much<br />

more than technical know-how, or even intention, and my purpose in writing this paper has been to show<br />

how greatly we limit ourselves through processes related to our everyday state of mind.<br />

Insight<br />

The certainty with which we view the world around us maintains the perceptions we hold to be true, but<br />

remarkable events can take place when circumstances free us of the tyranny of our preconceptions—our<br />

prejudices. I know all too well how damaging such a judgment can be, as illustrated when I formed a false<br />

opinion about one of the participants collecting together for a therapeutic workshop:<br />

I gazed round the group and witnessed one individual twisting his body and stretching his limbs like a<br />

body-builder. I thought he was “showing off.” When the circle formed and each of us indicated how we<br />

felt about the group, I was horrified to find myself being singled out by this man pointing at me and saying:<br />

“He looks right through me, thinks I’m fake!” Sitting in the middle of the circle subsequently, he and<br />

I confronted each other and spoke out feelings from our different places. Part way through our sharing,<br />

something in his words caused me to reach out and touch both sides of his body. I was mortified: my<br />

hands pressed against steel; he was encased in armour with no give at all! That experience shattered my<br />

illusions and, comprehending his experience and endeavours to be free of strictures, I melted in a wave<br />

of compassion. As he became visible to me, so I became visible to him.…<br />

That event took place over 30 years ago, but I’ll never forget it. I needed to be brought in touch with my<br />

own prejudice before I could “see” the other. It was the start of a significant sharing and a true seeing of each<br />

other. Perhaps a prejudice against another should make us look for something similar in ourselves, as I discovered<br />

and wrote to myself in the following poem:<br />

THE ENEMY WITHIN<br />

I built a castle all mine own –<br />

A fortress fit to bear<br />

The onslaught of a thousand foes –<br />

Not one could reach me there.<br />

The walls, they gleamed like solid gold,<br />

Reflecting in the eyes<br />

Of anyone who gazed thereon,<br />

An impenetrable disguise.<br />

And yet, no safety there was found,<br />

No hiding place for me:<br />

The walls could only act their part<br />

If the foes outside would be.<br />

What good was there in walls so strong<br />

And battlements so fine,<br />

When the foe was waiting for his strike<br />

Within this tomb of mine?<br />

12<br />

Body of Knowledge


Emerging<br />

It seems to me that progression along a growth path (as required for any therapist) takes place predominantly<br />

through being helped to jettison false perceptions or beliefs, discovering, as we travel this road, the<br />

somatic counterpart that resides in our body tissues, a once-valuable protection that now limits us. As a simplifying<br />

concept, I characterise the impediments to blossoming of our true self as “knots” within our being;<br />

these physical and non-physical “knots” inevitably distort our perception of the world around us. But knots<br />

lend themselves to being undone, and unexpected circumstances may move us in a non-linear fashion—a<br />

“quantum leap”—beyond the grip of our familiar prejudices.<br />

It appears that reality is far more bountiful than our distortions allow us to see. Awareness of this fact can<br />

have a major influence on our journey and certainly affect our connection when we engage with another<br />

through the medium of <strong>Rosen</strong> Method Bodywork. That connection was such, when receiving in a recent<br />

Intensive, that I was enabled to experience a truth hidden from me for nearly 70 years. I was five years old<br />

at the start of the Second World War, and living in Bristol which was heavily bombed. During the many onslaughts,<br />

nearby houses were demolished and an incendiary bomb landed on our front fence. We moved<br />

to a safer part of the country two years on and, in adult life, my sister and I believed we had experienced<br />

only excitement over the war-time escapades, being too young then to understand the horror of it all. In my<br />

<strong>Rosen</strong> session, I discovered otherwise. Part way through the session I experienced something new, and commented<br />

that my belly felt full of sharp steel pins. I was in no way prepared for the response: “That sounds like<br />

shrapnel,” and its acuity rocketed me back to those war-time experiences. For the first time in all these years,<br />

I felt the legacy of fear and anxiety that must have been prevalent at the time, especially in parents of young<br />

children, that I must have picked up at a more unconscious level. Another knot was unravelling and I experienced<br />

a great feeling of release as the reality surged through my body.<br />

I think this illustrates the particular nature of <strong>Rosen</strong> Method Bodywork, which isn’t a remedial process, a<br />

“doing to,” but a deep engagement with the client as a result of which the self is able to emerge; essentially,<br />

the body-self is able to trust—our cells respond to the authenticity of the connection and we “let go” of habitual<br />

defences. There can be significant emergence of the self through other modalities, but <strong>Rosen</strong> Method<br />

is unique in its form of engagement with the client process. The soft hand is not manipulating, not “doing”<br />

something to relax tense muscles (however valuable that may be), but rather engaging with held tissues in a<br />

mutuality experienced by both client and practitioner: the organism experiences itself as known and thereby<br />

is brought in touch with itself. The verbal contact aids this process; whilst the words are inevitably processed<br />

in the mind of the receiver, the content resonates with the bodily experience—as discussed by Dorothea<br />

Hrossowyc (2009) in a previous issue of RMIJ.<br />

I believe that the <strong>Rosen</strong> process is similar to the increased connection we can have with reality when<br />

we are psychically less constrained. As with an infant responding to its mother’s touch, there is a mutuality<br />

that is felt by being “met.” We needed the defence, the ever-watchful guard, because we found we could<br />

not be at one with the world around us: we were not met when vulnerable and in need, and so the organism<br />

became cued to protect itself by anticipating danger wherever it might appear, programmed by past<br />

experience. Our bodymind becomes constrained through its ever-present vigilance. Paradoxically (because it<br />

maintains an unconsciousness), it is simply impossible to be truly present when in this state. The soft hands<br />

used in <strong>Rosen</strong> Method Bodywork inform both client and practitioner, and the in-touch words— “evocative<br />

language” as described by Alan Fogel (2009, pp. 31-33)—assist the ever-deepening process of embodied<br />

self-awareness, to bring the client in touch with their truth, their “being.” I can only describe this as a “happening”<br />

because the experience is so active, so fluid—literally, an awakening!<br />

Einstein and the legacy of Descartes<br />

I think that my intuitive linking with the distant field of flax that brought solace for my partner could be<br />

an example of “instantaneous non-locality,” a consequence of Einstein’s equations of quantum theory that<br />

Maliphant<br />

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R M I J . . .<br />

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one part of the universe may have instantaneous knowledge of another part through the quantum interconnectedness<br />

of all things. Instantaneous, here, means exactly that, without any transfer through time even at<br />

the fastest rate possible, the speed of light (86,000 miles per second). Einstein found it difficult to accept this<br />

metaphysical outcome; he called it “ghostly and absurd” and concluded that his equations must be incomplete.<br />

But his objections arose from a common sense view of the world which, like ours, was highly determined<br />

by the legacy of René Descartes. This 17 th century philosopher sought to know what is real by discarding<br />

any perceptions he could doubt until he was left with something that was certain. He finally came to a<br />

fundamental truth that he expressed as “Cogito ergo sum”—I think therefore I am. This led Descartes to view<br />

the mind as primary, so he divided reality into two parts: mind or thinking substances (res cogitans) and matter<br />

or mechanical, extended substances (res extensa) which he concluded could then be examined in greater<br />

and greater detail as though any element was independent of the realm in which it existed. This Cartesian<br />

division formed the basis of Isaac Newton’s mechanics from which classical physics was born. Not only physics,<br />

but the whole of Western thinking, medicine in particular, became subdivided into more and more specialities—as<br />

though each was independent of the other—with “the mind” and “the body” being treated as<br />

quite separate and independent aspects of a human being. This perception, passed down through the generations,<br />

forms the basis of what we think of as “common sense.”<br />

In The Tao of Physics, Fritjof Capra (1991) informs us that rational knowledge (largely the province of the<br />

left hemisphere) is derived from the experience we have with objects and events in our everyday environment.<br />

It belongs to the realm of the intellect that simplifies into representations of reality and we need to be<br />

aware of its limitations: “Because our representation of reality is so much easier to grasp than reality itself, we<br />

tend to confuse the two and to take our concepts and symbols for reality” (p. 35). The natural world is one of<br />

infinite varieties and complexities with events happening simultaneously, not in an orderly linear sequence<br />

that our rational mind can handle—Newton’s model of the clockwork universe.<br />

Western civilisation, dominated by a patriarchal hierarchy for thousands of years, has invested almost exclusively<br />

in left-hemisphere processing in education, politics, economics, religion, etc., concentrating on linear,<br />

analytic, verbal and reductionist skills. The right hemisphere of our brains with its intuitive, holistic processing<br />

is strongly linked with the feminine and has been undervalued and under-employed in our culture.<br />

And yet its faculty for synthesis is crucially needed now. We know that early experiences hugely determine<br />

our future passage through life, and many of our clients will be struggling with bodyminds affected in this<br />

way. But the perceptions determined by the milieu in which we live can also affect our outlook and can lead<br />

to a distorted sense of “what is.” Examples in this paper illustrate how greatly our perception influences what<br />

is possible and, I believe, provide a fertile ground of guidance for anyone seeking to gain more complete<br />

connection.<br />

Quantum mechanics<br />

Quantum theory has shown how much our view of the world determines what is available to us, and this<br />

links in with processes by which we become disconnected from the fullness of available healing. But quantum<br />

mechanics is a recent discovery developed during the past century and it is far from intuitive; it will be<br />

many years before its insights become part of the Western zeitgeist.<br />

Our common-sense perception of “what is” was founded on limited knowledge, and this perception<br />

clouds our seeing. As Claude Bernard (1813-1878), a French physiologist, said: “It is what we think we know<br />

already that often prevents us from learning.” 2<br />

The ability to walk with bare feet on red-hot coals without getting burnt is difficult to accept unless one<br />

has experienced it, because we “know” that fire burns. But the most important factor in being able to walk<br />

without getting burnt is the mind-set. While walking on the coals, it is essential to “know” that you won’t get<br />

burnt and to hold yourself almost “aloof” whilst progressing. When I experienced this, we were instructed<br />

not to celebrate until told we were off the coals. A celebratory mind-set is just as scattered as a fearful one<br />

2 Cited in Duncan Barford (2002), p. 226.<br />

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Body of Knowledge


and it appears that this sets up the conditions we are more familiar with. A rogue coal apart from the rest,<br />

even though it may be cooler, is likely to cause burns under these conditions. Perhaps this is linked with<br />

wave/particle transitions taking place at the elemental level. Such a change might also explain reports of<br />

indigenous Africans, under trance, being seen to pass a spear through an arm and subsequently withdraw it<br />

without leaving any injury.<br />

The quantum-mechanical aspect of consciousness needs to be appreciated in order to understand the<br />

unified nature of bodymind. This physical/non-physical duality is analogous to the wave/particle nature of<br />

electromagnetism. 3 Danah Zohar (1990, p. 9) comments:<br />

The most revolutionary, and for our purposes the most important, statement that quantum physics<br />

makes about the nature of matter, and perhaps being itself, follows from its description of the wave/<br />

particle duality – the assertion that all being at the subatomic level can be described equally well either<br />

as solid particles, like so many minute billiard balls, or as waves, like undulations on the surface<br />

of the sea. Further, quantum physics goes on to tell us that neither description is really accurate on its<br />

own, that both the wave-like and the particle-like aspects of being must be considered when trying to<br />

understand the nature of things, and that it is the duality itself which is most basic. Quantum ‘stuff’ is,<br />

essentially, both wave-like and particle-like, simultaneously.<br />

This “both … and … simultaneously,” so characteristic of quantum “stuff,” has been clearly stated in regard<br />

of body-mind by Shunryu Suzuki (2003, p. 25):<br />

Our body and mind are not two, and not one. If you think your body and mind are two, that is wrong; if<br />

you think that they are one, that is also wrong. Our body and mind are both two and one.<br />

Zohar continues (pp. 9-10):<br />

This Janus-like nature of quantum being is summed up in one of the most fundamental tenets of quantum<br />

theory, the Principle of Complementarity, which states that each way of describing being, as a<br />

wave or as a particle, complements the other and that a whole picture emerges only from the ‘package<br />

deal’. Like the right and left hemispheres of the brain, each description supplies a kind of information<br />

that the other lacks. Whether at any given time elementary being displays itself as one or the other<br />

depends on the overall conditions – crucial among which, as we shall see later, may be whether or not<br />

anybody is looking, or when they are, what they are looking for!<br />

Human and universal energy fields<br />

When our rational minds take full control we are likely to limit the possible to fit in with our expectations.<br />

I experienced the significance of this in a remarkable workshop 4 led by John Pierrakos (1921-2001)<br />

who founded Core Energetics in 1973 (see Pierrakos, 1990). At the end of the weekend, for the first time, he<br />

began to talk about the nature of his work (as distinct from working with us). We had formed a circle, sitting<br />

on the floor, and I was diametrically opposite Pierrakos. He commented that his work was “a manifestation of<br />

Christ consciousness in this age.” I found myself unmoved by this, presumably relying on a left-hemisphere<br />

viewpoint. But then, suddenly, I experienced myself up on the ceiling, looking down at myself cross-legged<br />

on the floor 5 and saying “I would have thought that would have affected you, Ralph.” Just as I was denying<br />

3 For further information, see: Jim Al-Khalili (2003, pp. 42-51) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/wave-particle_duality (accessed 28 March <strong>2011</strong>).<br />

4 Held at the Gerda Boyesen Institute (Biodynamic Psychotherapy Center) in London in 1980. Dr. Pierrakos’s wife, Eva (1915-1979), a spiri<br />

tual teacher, had channelled a series of lectures over a 22-year period which formed the foundation of Pathwork and guided John in<br />

transforming his practice of bio-energetics into Core Energetics.<br />

5 Similar “out-of-body” experiences are discussed by David Chamberlain (1998, pp. 187-189), including scientist John Lilly’s experience of<br />

watching his own birth!<br />

Maliphant<br />

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any affect, I was utterly overwhelmed by a massive energy stream pouring into the crown of my head, coursing<br />

through my torso, along my arms, and shooting out of my fingertips. I felt as though I was in an electric<br />

chair: it was all I could do to withstand the throbbing current, but I had no way of turning it off. The energy<br />

field around me felt like a sorbo-rubber barrier preventing me from touching anything, and I’m utterly convinced<br />

that anyone with clairvoyant vision would have seen red, orange and yellow plumes spurting out<br />

of my fingertips. Time seemed eternal but I think it could only have lasted seconds. When we all eventually<br />

stood up, my legs wouldn’t support me and I had to be helped to my feet by those next to me.<br />

I’m not sure what brought about the change but am clear that, for that period of time, I became a conduit<br />

for some kind of cosmic energy (the “Universal Energy Field” 6 ), presumably through opening my crown<br />

chakra. I suspect that my experience of looking down at myself from the ceiling came about through a projection<br />

outwards following the opening of my previously “closed” (reversed/inverted) crown chakra. Perhaps<br />

my left hemisphere, finding it impossible to explain my experience, gave up (see Note 1), thereby freeing its<br />

hold on what is possible.<br />

In Hands of Light: A Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy Field, Barbara Ann Brennan (1988, p. 79),<br />

herself a protégé of John and Eva Pierrakos, indicates that:<br />

The crown center (chakra 7) is related to the person’s connection to his spirituality and the integration of his<br />

whole being, physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. If this center is closed, the person probably does not have<br />

an experiential connection to his spirituality. He probably does not have “cosmic feeling” and does not understand<br />

what people are talking about when they speak of their spiritual experiences. If this center is open, the person<br />

probably often experiences his spirituality in a very personal form, unique to the individual. This spirituality<br />

is not one defined by dogma or easily related with words. It is rather a state of being, a state of transcendence of<br />

the mundane reality into the infinite. It goes beyond the physical world and creates in the individual a sense of<br />

wholeness, peace and faith, giving him a sense of purpose to his existence.<br />

Well-being<br />

It appears to me that energy is the sine qua non of life, and our well-being is a function of how much or<br />

how little we block its flow. Before I experienced <strong>Rosen</strong> Method Bodywork, I was aware that therapeutic massage<br />

engages with more than just the physical constrictions: as energetic freeing takes place, emotional and<br />

psychic changes are apparent. For me, as a practitioner, this is the ultimate purpose of any therapy—movement<br />

from a state of dis-ease to well-being—and so it was with delight that I later discovered the power of<br />

<strong>Rosen</strong> Method Bodywork in this regard.<br />

I once attended a therapeutic group where a young woman who experienced herself as “held,” in the<br />

sense of being held-in, presented with a very stiff jaw. This is a classic control situation: if parents impress<br />

upon their child that crying is an expression of weakness and should be avoided, the child will learn to tighten<br />

the jaw and push out the chin to hold back tears, “swallowing” the emotion. This conditioning is likely to<br />

continue into adulthood. The therapist saw this as a primary blockage—locking in repressed emotions—and<br />

worked bioenergetically 7 to ease the strictures. Personally, I had not viewed this woman as being attractive;<br />

however, as I watched changes taking place as the blockage was eased and colour rose up in her face, I saw<br />

a transformation: the lady was beautiful! She was truly alive; her inner beauty flowed out through the physical<br />

for all to see. It was a wonderful and wondrous transformation—as an old English proverb says: “Peace<br />

within makes beauty without.” 8<br />

Beauty, as I see it, is in the blossoming of the organism, whether it be a human being, a tree, or any other<br />

living entity. Beauty is seen through the natural flow: beauty is a process. We make ourselves less beautiful<br />

(less alive) when we block this flow—when we hide ourselves within our armour. And we suffer; we become<br />

ill or dis-eased.<br />

6 See Lynne McTaggart (2003)The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe.<br />

7 See Alexander Lowen (1983).<br />

8 Cited by Judith Lasater (1995) in Relax and Renew: Restful Yoga for Stressful Times (p. 42).<br />

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Therapy aims to alleviate suffering. This might be focused on a specific aspect, but all therapy seeks to<br />

aid the flow of “being” within the organism. This is particularly apparent in therapeutic massage, and <strong>Rosen</strong><br />

Method Bodywork takes the process further through its enhanced level of attention.<br />

Changes taking place in a person become manifested on all levels. The blocking of experience that can<br />

be clearly identified on the physical and mental/emotional level distorts and blocks or even “closes” the corresponding<br />

chakra (each chakra is related to a specific psychological function), see Brennan (1988, p. 71):<br />

Whenever a person blocks whatever experience he is having, he in turn blocks his chakras, which eventually<br />

become disfigured. The chakras become “blocked,” clogged with stagnated energy, spin irregularly,<br />

or backwards (counterclockwise) and even, in the case of disease, become severely distorted or torn.<br />

In A Dictionary of Mind and Body, Donald Watson (2003, p. 86), comments:<br />

The various chakras are associated with specific aspects of the personality and with parts of the endocrine<br />

system. The solar plexus chakra, for example, is regarded as the centre of emotional life, and<br />

if overactive may result in strain on the pancreas, indicating the possible onset of diabetes (which can<br />

follow emotional shock). An underactive solar plexus, on the other hand, suggests someone who represses<br />

deep feelings, and has often been seen in cancer patients.<br />

Awakening<br />

Some years ago, I experienced something remarkable when I drove to pick up my partner from a one-toone<br />

therapy session. I had done this several times previously but I wasn’t prepared for what I encountered<br />

on this occasion. When I opened the door, I saw her radiating! Settled on a rug, she appeared to be in a state<br />

of bliss. In amazement, I asked her what had happened. Apparently, through bioenergetic bodywork, she<br />

had been able to experience herself within a “spiritual garden” that she always knew was there for her but<br />

had never before been able to enter. She had undergone a radical change of consciousness, literally being at<br />

one with everything 9 —experiencing utter peace—and in that state, as I saw her, she was radiating throughout<br />

the room!<br />

What I particularly like about that experience is that it was objective. I had no expectations at all, simply<br />

providing transport for the occasion. It wasn’t my state that caused me to see the energy radiating out.<br />

Whether others would have seen it, I don’t know; perhaps my intimate relationship with the lady in question<br />

brought me into harmony with the energy—tuned me in to the same wavelength—but there can be<br />

no doubt that the event took place as I describe it. We are told that “oneness” is our true state, experienced<br />

when our mind with its “common sense” viewpoint no longer controls; perhaps the radiation of light (electromagnetic<br />

energy) is fully consistent with the remarkable energy flow that results when we are truly “being”—as<br />

depicted in early images of Jesus.<br />

I was reminded of this event when listening to a radio interview 10 which included an account of time<br />

spent in the remote mountains of Norway. When nature is experienced entirely free of man-made artefacts,<br />

there is a remarkable experience of being in the present—in “now.” I suspect that being lulled away from<br />

“now” by commercial advertising, or drawn into the past or the future through other agencies, takes us<br />

away from what is and brings about a kind of fragmentation. As Alan Fogel (2009) has demonstrated in The<br />

Psychophysiology of Self-Awareness: Rediscovering the Lost Art of Body Sense (reviewed in RMIJ <strong>Volume</strong> 2, <strong>Issue</strong><br />

2), when we are “out of touch,” regaining in-touchness with the body can be a crucial way into the “now,” towards<br />

healing and wholeness.<br />

9 James Austin (1999) discusses “oneness” and “unity” in Zen and the Brain (pp. 530-534) and comments on merging: “No longer does the<br />

central witnessing awareness feel that a proprioceptively informed physical self is remaining ‘inside,’ isolated from the rest of that other<br />

physical world ‘outside,’ as it had seemed to be previously.”<br />

10 Sandi Toksvig: “Excess Baggage,” BBC Radio 4, 10.00-10.30, Saturday, 29 May 2004.<br />

Maliphant<br />

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The more defended we are, the more alone we are, hidden within our defences. This is a very painful<br />

state of being, so much so that we may cut off from feeling it! Although we may fear being seen (through a<br />

learned lack of trust), the human organism longs to engage in life, to be met and be touched. But denial is<br />

central when the suffering is great, and the nature of <strong>Rosen</strong> Method Bodywork (I would say the “magic”) is<br />

such that it “speaks” directly to the organism—the embodied self—that is awakened by being truly met.<br />

Resolution<br />

I have now completed my sixth Intensive—and so much has changed as a result of all the interactions.<br />

Towards the end, I was being worked on in a small group by the leader of the Intensive, Johan Siegnul. After<br />

significant work on holding areas around my knees and behind my heart, I turned onto my back. Johan, observing<br />

my chest (which felt to me like a rigidified tank), commented that he could probably drive a steamroller<br />

over me and I wouldn’t even feel it. I agreed! I subsequently felt the reassurance of his hands as reminiscent<br />

of a very early stage of life: my head was not thinking and I felt strangely linked with lying in a pram<br />

on my back as was the way in the ’30s when babies were often put out in the garden to sleep in the daytime<br />

(and, I surmise, would cry for some time on waking before someone heard and responded). Remarkably,<br />

Johan then asked one of the participants to move closer and place a hand on my chest, followed later by<br />

others until there were ten hands on my chest! It felt incredible and so wonderfully safe. I could feel my body<br />

transforming like a deflating balloon until I was like a flat fish flopped on the table! The experience was utterly<br />

transforming and my baby-self could not have felt more met. It was some time before I found myself<br />

able to sit up following the session’s aftermath—it really felt that I was too young an infant to achieve that!<br />

I long ago sensed that my lengthy journey would travel back through time, eventually revealing my earliest<br />

experiences. The starting point was over 40 years ago when, in evening therapeutic groups, I eventually<br />

managed to stop blocking the tears that this “brave little soldier boy” had been conditioned to prevent. I’ve<br />

experienced many different approaches and know that they’ve all facilitated my journey, aided and abetted<br />

by significant shocks along the way. Discovering <strong>Rosen</strong> has been the culmination for me, reaching organically<br />

to the self through a fulsome meeting with “what is.” I no longer feel so incompetent as Internship beckons:<br />

it’s a journey I truly relish!<br />

Miriam Greenspan (2003) observed in Healing through the Dark Emotions, that “the inability to bear the<br />

core triad of grief, fear, and despair is the source of much of our individual and collective emotional ills” (p.<br />

xii). Our body tissues know all about our suffering and the defences we have employed. These defences<br />

shape our body and our interactions with the world around us, creating a habitual way of being. Until we<br />

begin to discover ourselves with the help of some transforming agency, we are to a greater or lesser extent<br />

reactive. The consequence on the world stage is all too apparent. We cannot properly become part of the<br />

great movement for change in the world without seeking our own healing. The body remembers without<br />

censoring, and <strong>Rosen</strong> touch “opens a pathway through the protective defenses of the self, into the core of<br />

their essential nature, which leads to a healing of these innermost places” (<strong>Rosen</strong> & Brenner, 2003, p. x). As<br />

we heal and become accessible to true interaction with others, our authentic self shines through and we<br />

become more able to be present with our hands and truly see and acknowledge the other when we practise<br />

<strong>Rosen</strong> Method Bodywork. Consideration of extra-ordinary events (even minor ones) that take place when<br />

we are psychically less constrained and our habits less dominating can move us beyond the false certainty<br />

of learned responses and open us to experiencing something much closer to the reality that is within and<br />

around us.<br />

Appendix: Near-death experience<br />

Twenty-three years ago, I went through a near-death experience on my way to hospital after collapsing<br />

from Pulmonary Embolism (I tore my Achilles tendon playing tennis to get fit and the immobilising plastercast<br />

resulted in blood clots that invaded my lungs). The medics considered I had no chance of surviving<br />

long enough to get to hospital 15 miles away. I believe the fact of my survival was due to my state of mind.<br />

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During the journey, I experienced myself transported to a wondrous realm, beautiful beyond words and incandescent<br />

white! It gave me the impression of a landscape, as though trees were present all around, but I<br />

cannot say that I saw trees, only that it seemed like that to me. It appeared as an opportunity; I knew I could<br />

enter that world if I chose and that it was the most perfect place to go. If I’d had no earthly connections I<br />

would have entered willingly, but I could not bear the thought of leaving those behind to their inevitable<br />

suffering. In moments of consciousness in the ambulance, I had been agonising over the fact that our mortgage<br />

might not get paid off in the event of my death. I’d just transferred to a new company and wasn’t sure<br />

about the insurance: it seemed imperative to me that I survived. Although the doctors in the emergency<br />

room couldn’t explain my survival, I knew it related to my perception of the consequences on my family if I<br />

died and the mortgage wasn’t paid off!<br />

Returning from the edge of death is inevitably life-transforming—it feels as though there has to be<br />

meaning in the event, that there is purpose in the remaining journey. When, six months later, a gypsy approached<br />

me in a car-park, saying “You nearly died recently,” I took particular note when she then said “And<br />

you’ll live to 96” (of age, not 1996 as a sceptical colleague quipped). I took all this into account later on when<br />

I discovered <strong>Rosen</strong> Method Bodywork and began giving serious thought to training at a rather late stage of<br />

life.<br />

Maliphant<br />

References<br />

Al-Khalila, J. (2003). Quantum: A guide for the perplexed. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.<br />

Austin, J. H. (1999). Zen and the brain: Towards an understanding of meditation and consciousness. Cambridge,<br />

MA: The MIT Press.<br />

Barford, D., Ed. (2002). The ship of thought: Essays on psychoanalysis and learning. London: Karnac.<br />

Brennan, B. A. (1988). Hands of light: A guide to healing through the human energy field. New York: Bantam<br />

Books.<br />

Capra, F. (1991). The tao of physics, (3rd edn). London: Flamingo.<br />

Chamberlain, D. (1998). The mind of your newborn baby. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.<br />

Edwards, B. (2008). The new drawing on the right side of the brain. London: HarperCollins.<br />

Faris, A., & van Ooijen, E. (2009). Integrating approaches. Therapy Today, 20(5), 32-35.<br />

Fogel, A. (2009). The psychophysiology of self-awareness: Rediscovering the lost art of body sense. New York:<br />

Norton & Company.<br />

Freud, S. (1933/1973). The dissection of the psychical personality. In New introductory lectures on psychoanalysis,<br />

pp. 88-112. London: Penguin.<br />

Greenspan, M. (2003). Healing through the dark emotions: The wisdom of grief, fear, and despair. Boston:<br />

Shambhala Publications.<br />

Hrossowyc, D. (2009). Resonance, regulation and revision: <strong>Rosen</strong> method meets the growing edge of neurological<br />

research. <strong>Rosen</strong> method international journal, 2(2), 3-9. http://rosenjournal.org/journal3.php<br />

Lasater, J. (1995). Relax and renew: Restful yoga for stressful times. Berkeley, CA: Rodmell Press.<br />

Lipton, B. (2005). The biology of belief: Unleashing the power of consciousness, matter and miracles. Santa Rosa,<br />

CA: Mountain of Love/Elite Books.<br />

Lowen, A. (1983). Bioenergetics. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books.<br />

Maliphant, R. (2010). Review of The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the<br />

Western World. <strong>Rosen</strong> Method International <strong>Journal</strong>, 3 (1), 15-16.<br />

McGilchrist, I. (2009). The master and his emissary: The divided brain and the making of the Western world. New<br />

York: Yale University Press.<br />

McTaggart, L. (2003). The field: The quest for the secret force of the universe. London: HarperCollins.<br />

Myss, C. (1998). Why people don’t heal and how they can. London: Bantam Books.<br />

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R M I J . . .<br />

<strong>Volume</strong> 4 <strong>Issue</strong> 1, <strong>2011</strong><br />

Pert, C. (1999). Molecules of emotion: Why you feel the way you feel. London: Simon & Schuster.<br />

Pierrakos, J. (1990). Core energetics. Mendocino, CA: LifeRythm.<br />

<strong>Rosen</strong>, M. & Brenner, S. (2003). <strong>Rosen</strong> method bodywork: Accessing the unconscious through touch. Berkeley,<br />

CA: North Atlantic Books.<br />

Suzuki, S. (2003). Zen mind, beginner’s mind. New York: Weatherhill.<br />

Taylor, S. (2010). Waking from sleep: Why awakening experiences occur and how to make them permanent.<br />

London: Hay House.<br />

Watson, D. (2003). A dictionary of mind and body. London: André Deutsch.<br />

Zohar, D. (1990). The quantum self: A revolutionary view of human nature and consciousness<br />

rooted in the new physics. London: Bloomsbury.<br />

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Weaver<br />

Commentary<br />

on Marjorie Huebner’s review:<br />

The Life and Teachings of Elsa Gindler.<br />

By:<br />

Judyth O. Weaver, Ph.D.<br />

Sensory Awareness Leader<br />

<strong>Rosen</strong> Method Practitioner and Teacher<br />

Somatic Psychologist and Teacher<br />

T’ai Chi Ch’uan Practitioner and Teacher<br />

Seattle, Washington<br />

judyth@judythweaver.com<br />

I am writing to comment on the wonderful article that Marjorie Huebner wrote in the previous issue<br />

of this journal (Huebner, 2010; http://rosenjournal.org/journal/4/5.pdf). It was refreshing and inspiring to<br />

read the review and to learn what someone not in the Sensory Awareness Foundation has to say about<br />

Elsa Gindler. I was interested in the connections Marjorie found in what she researched and I loved the way<br />

she brought together so many quotes and thoughts and related them to <strong>Rosen</strong> work. I wish all Sensory<br />

Awareness practitioners could also read this review.<br />

My other response to this review is my desire to inform everyone of something that I realize not many<br />

people know and I am happy to be able to share with the readers of the <strong>Rosen</strong> Method International <strong>Journal</strong>:<br />

Marion <strong>Rosen</strong> and Charlotte Selver did meet. They met two times. In fact there are video recordings of both<br />

of these meetings. One was an evening, May 3, 1992, in which we, the Somatic Psychology Program faculty<br />

at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), arranged to bring together Marion, Charlotte and Ilse<br />

Middendorf. I called them “the three grande dames of the somatics field.”<br />

This gathering happened because each of them was doing a workshop that very same weekend in the<br />

San Francisco Bay Area. (Marion was doing a weekend workshop at CIIS, Charlotte was also doing a CIIS<br />

workshop, and Ilse was giving her own workshop in Berkeley.) I had seriously studied with each of these<br />

amazing women; they were each my teachers, and I was upset that I could not attend each of their workshops.<br />

At a faculty meeting prior to this weekend I was moaning because I couldn’t manage to be with each<br />

of them, and we decided to bring them together as a school event. I am the one who video taped that evening.<br />

I am sure the Berkeley Center of the <strong>Rosen</strong> School has a VHS copy of that precious event.<br />

The other meeting between Marion and Charlotte was at the 1995 International Somatics Congress –<br />

The Living Body conference in San Francisco, October 18-22. The presentation that time was Marion and<br />

Charlotte talking and Elizabeth Beringer was the moderator. I have a video of that presentation also, and I<br />

think the Berkeley Center has a copy of it as well. It was a wonderful coming together of two special elders<br />

in the somatics world.<br />

There is another issue I feel I need to communicate to the <strong>Rosen</strong> community. I am hesitant to do so<br />

because it is a very confusing and upsetting point. I have just recently become aware of it myself while<br />

co-writing an article with two colleagues from Europe. The article was on the influence of Elsa Gindler on<br />

Wilhelm Reich and body psychotherapy throughout the world, and I of course wanted to include the influence<br />

that Gindller had on Marion <strong>Rosen</strong>’s work through her teacher Lucy Heyer. I had always taken as gospel<br />

what Marion said about Lucy Heyer’s influence from her studies with Gindler. I have actually stated that fact<br />

in several of my articles.<br />

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In this instance however, without clear details, dates, etc., my colleagues were not willing to accept my<br />

anecdotal comments as proof nor would they accept the statements about this that Elaine Mayland made in<br />

her book, and so we researched further. One of the authors is German and so he could go to references that<br />

I could not read. I must admit now that to this date, no one has been able to find any proof that Lucy Heyer<br />

studied with Elsa Gindler. I was shocked and after more than one year I am still, frankly, uncomfortable with<br />

this. Unfortunately the facts are leaning to the other side and consequently in our article I had to agree that<br />

we write: “…but, as Gindler never left Berlin, and Lucy Heyer never lived in Berlin, it seems to be very unlikely.<br />

It could be that she took part in courses that Gindler gave outside Berlin, e.g. on the island of Sylt in the<br />

North Sea, but there is no confirmation from autobiographical statements of Heyer, nor from people staying<br />

with her together in a Gindler class, nor from any written records” (Geuter, et al. 2010, Vol. 5, No. 1, Pp 59-73).<br />

Geuter et al. also write that Lucy Heyer “…was the wife of psychotherapist Gustav Heyer, but separated<br />

from him in 1933. Consequently she did not follow Heyer to Berlin in 1939…” “From 1932 to 1945, Lucy<br />

Heyer practiced in Munich as a psychotherapist. After the war, she became known in Germany for a book on<br />

psychotherapy and breath training (Heyer-Grote, 1970).”<br />

Even after the publication of our article we are still researching. In September of last year I received an<br />

email from one of my colleagues with whom I wrote the article. It said, “today I got mail from historian of<br />

psychoanalysis Regine Lockot who years ago had two long oral history interviews with Lucy Heyer-Grote.<br />

She has checked for us all her handwritten notes of the two interviews and wrote me that she found no<br />

mentioning of any training in Berlin or with Gindler” (email communication from Geuter, 2009).<br />

It seems that we do have an upset here. In one way it is very frustrating that things we believed may not<br />

be true or that we can’t put all the little pieces together neatly and clearly. The knowledge and the links, if<br />

we have them, certainly enrich and deepen our backgrounds and the field of work. And on the other hand,<br />

in my humble opinion, it really doesn’t matter who did what in the past and exactly what connections we<br />

can or cannot make. I think it is wonderful that we are able to find correlations. It is mostly inspiring and<br />

exciting to me that some very fine teachers (in this case, women, coming from the same country), in doing<br />

their own work in their own individual ways and singular histories, found common tracks and voiced similar<br />

opinions and developed wonderful, deep, sensitive work to pass on to their students. Of course how could<br />

it not be similar? If we are working for the benefit and wholeness of the human being it is not a surprise to<br />

me that we would come up with similar ways of working. The importance to me is that the work was created<br />

and developed and that it is being passed on to others. And may it go out into the world in myriad ways!<br />

References<br />

Geuter, U., Heller, M. C., & Weaver, J. O. (2010). Elsa Gindler and her influence on Wilhelm Reich and body psychotherapy.<br />

Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy, 5, (1), 59-73.<br />

Huebner, M. (2010). The life and teachings of Elsa Gindler. <strong>Rosen</strong> Method International <strong>Journal</strong>, 3, 17-21.<br />

22<br />

Commentary


Huebner<br />

Response<br />

Judyth Weaver’s Commentary on Marjorie Huebner’s review<br />

The Life and Teachings of Elsa Gindler<br />

By:<br />

Marjorie Huebner<br />

<strong>Rosen</strong> Method Bodywork practitioner<br />

<strong>Rosen</strong> Method Movement Teacher Trainer<br />

Authentic Movement Facilitator<br />

Minneapolis, Minnesota<br />

wren@mm.com<br />

Thank you Judyth, for taking time to read and comment on my review of The Life and Teachings of Elsa Gindler.<br />

I can see from your investigations that the information we assumed was correct about the Gindler/Heyer/<strong>Rosen</strong><br />

connection hasn’t been substantiated. It reminds me of family “stories” that have been passed down generation<br />

to generation that may have some truth, but also may not be true at all. This knowledge may change our ideas of<br />

the exact lineage of influence for Marion <strong>Rosen</strong> and, at the same time, it doesn’t change our understanding that<br />

there is resonance between the work of Elsa Gindler and Marion <strong>Rosen</strong>. I appreciate your honesty and efforts to<br />

set the record straight and your willingness to upset what we have thought was “gospel” about who influenced<br />

Marion’s work. Living from the truth is what <strong>Rosen</strong> is founded on. So if the truth brings less clarity, so be it.<br />

What makes it challenging about investigating these connections between Marion <strong>Rosen</strong> and Elsa Gindler, in<br />

part, comes from the disruption and destruction of WWII, the diaspora of Jews and others from Europe, language<br />

differences and then the passing of time and the loss of people who lived at that time. This makes me appreciate<br />

all the work going into the Marion <strong>Rosen</strong> Film Project. It is important to gather information from Marion while<br />

she is with us in body.<br />

How did the connections between Marion <strong>Rosen</strong>’s work and Elsa Gindler’s teaching happen? It makes me<br />

wonder about how we get information. How does consciousness and awareness come through “the times,” culture,<br />

and society. How do people arrive at similar ideas through explorations unconnected from one another?<br />

What is universal about being a human being and is this how we arrive at similar ideas? One of the points I tried<br />

to make in my article is that much of what happened in Europe during that era influenced the world of psychology,<br />

movement, art and bodywork. How that happened is indeed complex.<br />

I’m so glad you spoke up about the meeting of Marion <strong>Rosen</strong> and Charlotte Selver, and that there is a video<br />

of that meeting. I have contacted the Berkeley Center to see if they can find the VHS of the meeting of Marion<br />

<strong>Rosen</strong>, Charlotte Selver and Ilse Middendorf at CIIS on May 3, 1992. Gloria Hesselund and Sara Webb are checking<br />

the archives. If it can be found they agree that it should be preserved on a DVD. I’m waiting to hear what they<br />

discover.<br />

I agree with you that what is most important is that “we are working for the benefit and wholeness of human<br />

beings,” and that who influenced whom isn’t as important as bringing this presence into the world. And do I think<br />

it is important to honor those who have come before us, knowing we are always supported by what came before<br />

us. Alice Walker said it well, “And so our mothers and grandmothers have, more often than not anonymously,<br />

handed on the creative spark, the seed of the flower they themselves never hoped to see—or like a sealed letter<br />

they could not plainly read” (http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alicewalke408670.html).<br />

23<br />

R M I J<br />

<strong>Volume</strong> 4, <strong>Issue</strong> 1, <strong>2011</strong>

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