Release

In my last blog, I attempted to connect how our tension as individuals accumulates, and how that influences society. Like most people I presume, I'm stuck in what I perceive as a culture ridden with various pathos. Unlike many people, I don’t think our problems can be lessened by top-down approaches. I believe whatever improvements that have been made and will be made comes from the individualistic often unnoticed and underappreciated work so many have done. I see the cumulative effects of us struggling to be more honest, more patient, more aware of our ignorance as what will rise up. So I made a case for my theory. What I did not do is offer any solutions, which I wish to do now.

So first off let's discuss briefly what tension is. At its root stress is a response pattern, the body uses. If I hear the sound of an alarm clock I will become more stressed. I have learned to associate the sound of a clockwork cry with relinquishing dreams and leaving a warm bed. There a subtle dread that I at least have when I hear a clock infernal buzz. Whether or not I am sleeping does not change my response. I could be anywhere and the sound of an alarm will induce a certain amount of stress even if it's signaling something pleasant for me.

This is just one of many example. The body is a voracious learner. If we stub our toe walking in a dark room we will walk with more caution the next time we are in that same darkened room. Even if we removed the stumbled upon the object we will have learned to walk more cautiously when in similar circumstances. If we been subjected to violence our body will have a tendency to stay in a flight or flight mode, regardless if we are in present danger or not. Our bodies are in a continual state of adapting to their environment.

When we injure ourselves physically our bodies will create compensation patterns as to allow injured tissue to heal. What our bodies are not so great at is unlearning all these patterns it acquires. If we sprain an ankle our bodies naturally contort itself so the minimum amount of weight is on the injured joint, which allows us to heal our damage tissue. Our body does this because it made an association between putting weight on our leg with pain. When this association is made it is difficult and require conscious effort to break once it no longer is needed. And it should be pointed out that although we may not be regularly spraining straining or breaking, we do tend to overuse and misuse our bodies pretty regularly. We are constantly accumulating pattern that helps us navigate the everyday stress we place on our body’s. These patterns are what allow us to function, but if we don’t cleanse ourselves of them they will set unnecessary limits to how we can move.

So then how do we break these stress-inducing compensation patterns? Of course, there are many ways each with there own enthusiasts and detractors. In my professional opinion for us to break out of patterns, we need to make conscious of these patterns. We need to stimulate the part of our nervous system that located in the damaged tissue. The more we can create awareness where we are damaging the more we will heal ourselves. Of course, there are other issues at play too. Increasing circulation, working on flexibility, cultivating strength. I do not want to diminish these factors but only say these as far as I am concerned only happens once we can bring our consciousness to the affected areas.

This may sound easy, we just have to have a basic awareness of where we been hurt. Of course, it is more complicated. Our injuries are a deep physical reminder of our mortality. They wake us from the slumber state of awareness that allows us to ignore just how finite life is. There a lot of psycho-spiritual drama I like to map out at a later time, but suffice to say bringing awareness into our most compromised self is a skill we can all improve on. I say this after doing massage for 5 +years and having various movement practices throughout my life, I still often surprised at the state of my body when I get a message. I have become more impressed with how good the body can hide the pain from us.

So how do we create the somatic awareness that cultivates healing? We need to know our bodies. We can deepen our kinesiological knowledge. The more precision we can use to describe our pain, limitations, and weakness the more aware we are of it. Their a difference in saying my back hurts and saying my left Quadratus Lumborum ( the muscle between our bottom rib and hip that attaches to the lumbar spine.) hurts when I twist to the right. Even though both these may describe the same sensation the later description has put a limitation on where the pain is. It has provided us with a clear indication of what we should not do. (twist to the right.) It has given us clues as to other muscles that may be compensating. What other muscles twist to the right. While there are hundreds of muscles in the body we can devote all our intellectual energies to learning, learning just a dozen or so key player on an intimate level will provide us with much of the knowledge we need to begin this practice.

As we increase consciousness to the body we become free to change our movement patterns. Most of the things we physically do become routine pretty quickly. Our body finds a reasonably efficient way to perform a task and will mindlessly run the somehow to program every time it is faced with the said task. These patterns can be harmful to the body though. We can interfere with this process, once we are aware of the process though. Having to put that much more thought into how I am moving forms new neuro-muscular pathways. This gives us more choice in how I move, as well as more awareness of how we are moving. The more movement options we have the more muscle we can strengthen and less we are forced to overuse and over-stressed muscles.

There are many ways to increase our bodily awareness. Pain and injury are all too often what inspires people in the first place to explore what is going on with their physical self. There are some people wish to be better athletes, so they learn how to better operate their body under the pressure of competition. Massage, of course, is also a way many people past and present have learned to connect with their bodies. Whatever our method of raising somatic awareness (and I recommend we all have a few ways) its is this cultivated consciousness that I believe is at the heart of all our healing.

Anthony Bruni