Feeling versus Thinking
When I place my hands on a client or patient, I don’t necessarily know what their body needs. I can come up with plenty of hypotheses. I can do special tests, and postural analysis, and think critically about their symptoms. But when I place my hands on a client’s body, I listen to their body, not my knowledge.
This is the beauty of myofascial release: it truly allows the body to heal itself. Modalities that allow the body to heal itself has become a cliché concept in the wellness community. However, the difference with myofascial release is the client’s body leads the treatment entirely. So when I place my hands on a client’s body, I don’t decide where to go next. I don’t analyze where my hands to slide. Instead, I listen to the client’s body. I feel the client’s body, and after two to three minutes, my hands move on their own based on where the client leads them.
Trust Your Body
My hands move because they have sunk into the fascial barrier, and the fascial system guides my hands to the restrictions that are ready to let go. My hands feel when to start, when to stop, when to deepen pressure, and when to lighten them. I trust my hands, and I trust your body. The truth of the matter is, you don’t need a modality that allows the body to heal itself, your body’s innate wisdom is the modality that allows it to heal.
Presentations
I frequently do leg pulls at different shows and presentations. I take someone with tight hamstrings, lift both their legs up to show how much they can move. Then, I do a leg pull. To the audience, it looks like I am moving the leg all around. Also, they notice that the range increases dramatically, usually within a minute or two. They often ask me how I know which way to move the leg, or why I was moving it in that pattern.
That, though, is the wrong question. I’m not actually moving the leg at all. The client moves their own leg. They just don’t realize it. I simply follow their body, their leg. I let the body heal itself. Their body heals itself.
Movement Patterns
Several therapies focus on correcting movement patterns. They have theories and techniques about how to change to movement patterns you use to more anatomically correct ones. In addition, they have techniques and strategies and procedures for this. The problem, though, is they don’t realize your body already knows exactly how to move. No preconceived stretch, or exercise, or movement can correct the body better than the body itself.
How to Trust Your Body During Movement
When you closed your eyes, center yourself, feel your body without judgment, and allow yourself to let go, your body will start to move. It doesn’t move the way you want it to move; it doesn’t’ move the way you think it will move. It moves in and of itself. This freeing process is called unwinding. When you move this way, your body can achieve healing in a way no other technique can allow for. Other techniques can create unwinding. Authentic Movement Dance probably does this the best. I personally have ended pain I had for months in one unwinding session. Your body already knows exactly how to move! It doesn’t need a teacher, or a routine, or an exercise regimen. Do you truly trust your body to heal itself? It already knows what it needs: trust it!