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

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Emerging It seems to me that progression along a growth path (as required for any therapist) takes place predominantly through being helped to jettison false perceptions or beliefs, discovering, as we travel this road, the somatic counterpart that resides in our body tissues, a once-valuable protection that now limits us. As a simplifying concept, I characterise the impediments to blossoming of our true self as “knots” within our being; these physical and non-physical “knots” inevitably distort our perception of the world around us. But knots lend themselves to being undone, and unexpected circumstances may move us in a non-linear fashion—a “quantum leap”—beyond the grip of our familiar prejudices. It appears that reality is far more bountiful than our distortions allow us to see. Awareness of this fact can have a major influence on our journey and certainly affect our connection when we engage with another through the medium of Rosen Method Bodywork. That connection was such, when receiving in a recent Intensive, that I was enabled to experience a truth hidden from me for nearly 70 years. I was five years old at the start of the Second World War, and living in Bristol which was heavily bombed. During the many onslaughts, nearby houses were demolished and an incendiary bomb landed on our front fence. We moved to a safer part of the country two years on and, in adult life, my sister and I believed we had experienced only excitement over the war-time escapades, being too young then to understand the horror of it all. In my Rosen session, I discovered otherwise. Part way through the session I experienced something new, and commented that my belly felt full of sharp steel pins. I was in no way prepared for the response: “That sounds like shrapnel,” and its acuity rocketed me back to those war-time experiences. For the first time in all these years, I felt the legacy of fear and anxiety that must have been prevalent at the time, especially in parents of young children, that I must have picked up at a more unconscious level. Another knot was unravelling and I experienced a great feeling of release as the reality surged through my body. I think this illustrates the particular nature of Rosen Method Bodywork, which isn’t a remedial process, a “doing to,” but a deep engagement with the client as a result of which the self is able to emerge; essentially, the body-self is able to trust—our cells respond to the authenticity of the connection and we “let go” of habitual defences. There can be significant emergence of the self through other modalities, but Rosen Method is unique in its form of engagement with the client process. The soft hand is not manipulating, not “doing” something to relax tense muscles (however valuable that may be), but rather engaging with held tissues in a mutuality experienced by both client and practitioner: the organism experiences itself as known and thereby is brought in touch with itself. The verbal contact aids this process; whilst the words are inevitably processed in the mind of the receiver, the content resonates with the bodily experience—as discussed by Dorothea Hrossowyc (2009) in a previous issue of RMIJ. I believe that the Rosen process is similar to the increased connection we can have with reality when we are psychically less constrained. As with an infant responding to its mother’s touch, there is a mutuality that is felt by being “met.” We needed the defence, the ever-watchful guard, because we found we could not be at one with the world around us: we were not met when vulnerable and in need, and so the organism became cued to protect itself by anticipating danger wherever it might appear, programmed by past experience. Our bodymind becomes constrained through its ever-present vigilance. Paradoxically (because it maintains an unconsciousness), it is simply impossible to be truly present when in this state. The soft hands used in Rosen Method Bodywork inform both client and practitioner, and the in-touch words— “evocative language” as described by Alan Fogel (2009, pp. 31-33)—assist the ever-deepening process of embodied self-awareness, to bring the client in touch with their truth, their “being.” I can only describe this as a “happening” because the experience is so active, so fluid—literally, an awakening! Einstein and the legacy of Descartes I think that my intuitive linking with the distant field of flax that brought solace for my partner could be an example of “instantaneous non-locality,” a consequence of Einstein’s equations of quantum theory that Maliphant 13 R M I J Volume 4, Issue 1, 2011
R M I J . . . Volume 4 Issue 1, 2011 one part of the universe may have instantaneous knowledge of another part through the quantum interconnectedness of all things. Instantaneous, here, means exactly that, without any transfer through time even at the fastest rate possible, the speed of light (86,000 miles per second). Einstein found it difficult to accept this metaphysical outcome; he called it “ghostly and absurd” and concluded that his equations must be incomplete. But his objections arose from a common sense view of the world which, like ours, was highly determined by the legacy of René Descartes. This 17 th century philosopher sought to know what is real by discarding any perceptions he could doubt until he was left with something that was certain. He finally came to a fundamental truth that he expressed as “Cogito ergo sum”—I think therefore I am. This led Descartes to view the mind as primary, so he divided reality into two parts: mind or thinking substances (res cogitans) and matter or mechanical, extended substances (res extensa) which he concluded could then be examined in greater and greater detail as though any element was independent of the realm in which it existed. This Cartesian division formed the basis of Isaac Newton’s mechanics from which classical physics was born. Not only physics, but the whole of Western thinking, medicine in particular, became subdivided into more and more specialities—as though each was independent of the other—with “the mind” and “the body” being treated as quite separate and independent aspects of a human being. This perception, passed down through the generations, forms the basis of what we think of as “common sense.” In The Tao of Physics, Fritjof Capra (1991) informs us that rational knowledge (largely the province of the left hemisphere) is derived from the experience we have with objects and events in our everyday environment. It belongs to the realm of the intellect that simplifies into representations of reality and we need to be aware of its limitations: “Because our representation of reality is so much easier to grasp than reality itself, we tend to confuse the two and to take our concepts and symbols for reality” (p. 35). The natural world is one of infinite varieties and complexities with events happening simultaneously, not in an orderly linear sequence that our rational mind can handle—Newton’s model of the clockwork universe. Western civilisation, dominated by a patriarchal hierarchy for thousands of years, has invested almost exclusively in left-hemisphere processing in education, politics, economics, religion, etc., concentrating on linear, analytic, verbal and reductionist skills. The right hemisphere of our brains with its intuitive, holistic processing is strongly linked with the feminine and has been undervalued and under-employed in our culture. And yet its faculty for synthesis is crucially needed now. We know that early experiences hugely determine our future passage through life, and many of our clients will be struggling with bodyminds affected in this way. But the perceptions determined by the milieu in which we live can also affect our outlook and can lead to a distorted sense of “what is.” Examples in this paper illustrate how greatly our perception influences what is possible and, I believe, provide a fertile ground of guidance for anyone seeking to gain more complete connection. Quantum mechanics Quantum theory has shown how much our view of the world determines what is available to us, and this links in with processes by which we become disconnected from the fullness of available healing. But quantum mechanics is a recent discovery developed during the past century and it is far from intuitive; it will be many years before its insights become part of the Western zeitgeist. Our common-sense perception of “what is” was founded on limited knowledge, and this perception clouds our seeing. As Claude Bernard (1813-1878), a French physiologist, said: “It is what we think we know already that often prevents us from learning.” 2 The ability to walk with bare feet on red-hot coals without getting burnt is difficult to accept unless one has experienced it, because we “know” that fire burns. But the most important factor in being able to walk without getting burnt is the mind-set. While walking on the coals, it is essential to “know” that you won’t get burnt and to hold yourself almost “aloof” whilst progressing. When I experienced this, we were instructed not to celebrate until told we were off the coals. A celebratory mind-set is just as scattered as a fearful one 2 Cited in Duncan Barford (2002), p. 226. 14 Body of Knowledge
Page 2 and 3: Fogel Editorial Alan Fogel, Editor
Page 4 and 5: makes it so. I often tell new clien
Page 6 and 7: It seems to me that it is of the hi
Page 8 and 9: Less isolated individuals who enjoy
Page 10 and 11: Maliphant Body of Knowledge: In Tou
Page 12 and 13: whilst free of the rational focus I
Page 16 and 17: and it appears that this sets up th
Page 18 and 19: Therapy aims to alleviate suffering
Page 20 and 21: During the journey, I experienced m
Page 22 and 23: Weaver Commentary on Marjorie Huebn
Page 24: Huebner Response Judyth Weaver’s

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