by Alan McAllister, CCHt PhD-phys
When I was still in college I started doing massage on my friends. I hadn’t studied anything so it was purely intuitive, but it seemed to work fairly well. I would use my fingers to “look” for places that were tight and then work on them. I realized that I could extend my mind into my fingers and through them into someone else’s body, finding knots that were deeper as well as those on the surface.
During that time I came to think of this work as leading my friend on a tour through their body. As I touched them it would bring their awareness to that part of their body. Some places were open and relaxed and felt good when I brought their attention there. When I found some tension, however, it was like saying, “hey, do you remember this? are you ready to let go of it?” then some “massage” would help create a context for them to release it.
Over the years I’ve experienced some powerful physical healers, and in doing so have learned deeply that the more I can open and be present the less it hurts and the more “effective” they are. They were leading me on a tour of my body, bringing my attention to a place, and I would follow, open and release. Its really a joint process, we co-create the healing together. Perhaps you have had similar experiences.
On the other hand if a body worker is not really paying attention, or is working mechanically, or following habitual routines, something is missing. It may even be painful, especially if they are fighting my tension, trying to fix me etc. They are not leading, but pushing; automatically I resist and there is no healing.
A conversation with a friend recently helped me connect this old experience with more recent experiences in pure energy healing. I was explaining that often it is the simple attention of the “healer” on something that allows it to shift. I remembered a time when I had an issue that I had worked with for many years. I had analyzed it, knew the back story, everything. I remembered one night in a class when someone was reading things in my space. She spoke about an old energy I had worked with for many years. I had analyzed it, knew the back story, everything, but it never shifted. This night she read it and then immediately observed that I had just released it. I didn’t do this consciously, so on one level “it just happened”. All she did was look at it, and speak to it, and my being released it. I often wonder if all healing can be this easy?
I have had the same experience reading others. There is a great power in witnessing and naming something neutrally, ie without judgment. So often, energies just want recognition.
But whatever the reason/s, in my conversation I realized that this is the same as the massage tour through the body. Energetically there is a more direct “viewing”, no fingers in the middle, but it is still letting your attention tour through a person’s space, and as you speak what you see the other person’s attention follows. It comes to things and you say, “hey, do you remember this? are you ready to let go of it?” If they are ready it moves instantly. In other cases a bit of energetic “massage” is necessary to help it release.
Taking it one step further, and my friend made this connection for me, this is how spirit works with us all the time. Its often called karma. When we are holding something that’s incomplete, or stuck, the universe creates situations that mirror, poke, or activate this energy. Often these situations repeat, each time the universe is asking “hey, do you remember this? are you ready to let go of it?”
In life situations “letting” go often means being neutral, relating to a situation without attachment or resistance. This was well illustrated in “Groundhog Day”; a slightly silly movie, but it does get this very right. Its not what he does with the day, but the attitude he brings to the day that matters. Whatever you call it, Life, the Universe, Spirit, God/Goddess, personal mirrors, the things that happen to us, that present us with “challenges” or healing opportunities, are the universe’s way of giving us a massage, asking us if we are ready to let go of whatever is stuck. They are a stop on Life’s tour through our being.
In traditional t’ai chi training a teacher will throw their student against a wall over and over, each time using a tension in the student’s body as a handle, asking the body, “hey, do you remember this? are you ready to let go of it?” When you can let go of it, there is no more handle to be thrown with. When we have let go of the things we are holding energetically, emotionally, mentally, nothing in the universe can throw us. But then the universe would have no reason to try anymore anyway.
So the next time something in life throws you, ask yourself “hey, what am I remembering here? am I ready to let go of it?” Give yourself permission to make that choice, no judgment. Maybe you are, and maybe you’re not. But if the answer is no, you might want to work on it before the next time the universe comes around and asks again.
May all your “tour guides” be gentle, and may you have the courage to be listening the first time.
(© 2/2010)
