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

R M I J . . .
Volume 4 Issue 1, 2011
The more defended we are, the more alone we are, hidden within our defences. This is a very painful
state of being, so much so that we may cut off from feeling it! Although we may fear being seen (through a
learned lack of trust), the human organism longs to engage in life, to be met and be touched. But denial is
central when the suffering is great, and the nature of Rosen Method Bodywork (I would say the “magic”) is
such that it “speaks” directly to the organism—the embodied self—that is awakened by being truly met.
Resolution
I have now completed my sixth Intensive—and so much has changed as a result of all the interactions.
Towards the end, I was being worked on in a small group by the leader of the Intensive, Johan Siegnul. After
significant work on holding areas around my knees and behind my heart, I turned onto my back. Johan, observing
my chest (which felt to me like a rigidified tank), commented that he could probably drive a steamroller
over me and I wouldn’t even feel it. I agreed! I subsequently felt the reassurance of his hands as reminiscent
of a very early stage of life: my head was not thinking and I felt strangely linked with lying in a pram
on my back as was the way in the ’30s when babies were often put out in the garden to sleep in the daytime
(and, I surmise, would cry for some time on waking before someone heard and responded). Remarkably,
Johan then asked one of the participants to move closer and place a hand on my chest, followed later by
others until there were ten hands on my chest! It felt incredible and so wonderfully safe. I could feel my body
transforming like a deflating balloon until I was like a flat fish flopped on the table! The experience was utterly
transforming and my baby-self could not have felt more met. It was some time before I found myself
able to sit up following the session’s aftermath—it really felt that I was too young an infant to achieve that!
I long ago sensed that my lengthy journey would travel back through time, eventually revealing my earliest
experiences. The starting point was over 40 years ago when, in evening therapeutic groups, I eventually
managed to stop blocking the tears that this “brave little soldier boy” had been conditioned to prevent. I’ve
experienced many different approaches and know that they’ve all facilitated my journey, aided and abetted
by significant shocks along the way. Discovering Rosen has been the culmination for me, reaching organically
to the self through a fulsome meeting with “what is.” I no longer feel so incompetent as Internship beckons:
it’s a journey I truly relish!
Miriam Greenspan (2003) observed in Healing through the Dark Emotions, that “the inability to bear the
core triad of grief, fear, and despair is the source of much of our individual and collective emotional ills” (p.
xii). Our body tissues know all about our suffering and the defences we have employed. These defences
shape our body and our interactions with the world around us, creating a habitual way of being. Until we
begin to discover ourselves with the help of some transforming agency, we are to a greater or lesser extent
reactive. The consequence on the world stage is all too apparent. We cannot properly become part of the
great movement for change in the world without seeking our own healing. The body remembers without
censoring, and Rosen touch “opens a pathway through the protective defenses of the self, into the core of
their essential nature, which leads to a healing of these innermost places” (Rosen & Brenner, 2003, p. x). As
we heal and become accessible to true interaction with others, our authentic self shines through and we
become more able to be present with our hands and truly see and acknowledge the other when we practise
Rosen Method Bodywork. Consideration of extra-ordinary events (even minor ones) that take place when
we are psychically less constrained and our habits less dominating can move us beyond the false certainty
of learned responses and open us to experiencing something much closer to the reality that is within and
around us.
Appendix: Near-death experience
Twenty-three years ago, I went through a near-death experience on my way to hospital after collapsing
from Pulmonary Embolism (I tore my Achilles tendon playing tennis to get fit and the immobilising plastercast
resulted in blood clots that invaded my lungs). The medics considered I had no chance of surviving
long enough to get to hospital 15 miles away. I believe the fact of my survival was due to my state of mind.
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Body of Knowledge