Moving energy

As a biodynamic massage therapist, I interact with my client's energy. For me, this is an almost entirely intuitive process -- I make contact, and immediately there's a sense in me which kind of says "What's needed?" or "What does this body want?". It's not as cognitive as that though: images or impressions may come to mind, and things that happen may seem to make sense at some level, but mostly my hands just get on with it.

That's not to say I'm not involved. I am! It's very absorbing -- sessions just flow very naturally. For it to be otherwise would seem wrong to me - unnatural.

I remember a conversation with chi kung teacher Chris Chappell in which he was reminiscing about his own experiences of doing massage. He described becoming frustrated that his clients weren't moving their energy for themselves. This comment struck me very much and has since occupied my thoughts from time to time. Several things arise from it:

People do change as a result of regular biodynamic massage sessions -- i.e. they do start to move their own energy. This happens very spontaneously, and sometimes surprisingly: "My gosh, I actually told my boss that I couldn't do what he asked me to do!" ... or those clients who find themselves starting to relax more, doing more of what they want to do, or putting up a punch bag in order to get in touch with pent-up anger and aggression. People also become more aware of their bodies and of their natural inclinations -- rather than just of their ego-driven thoughts.

From another standpoint, there's also the argument that we actually can't move our own energy. We more allow it to move -- or maybe even it moves us!

In chi kung, small movements create the biggest energy movement. It doesn't take a huge amount to create a big shift. The way that small movement is made -- with what degree and nature of focus, awareness, intent -- is however all important. Chris's chi kung teaching happens within a space which fosters this kind of attitude; other chi kung classes I've been to don't. Similarly, other experiences of biodynamic massage that I've had don't.

In my earlier blog, I talked about meeting the client. This seems to be a linking factor through all of these points. A key result of feeling met is that I feel free to be most myself. My awareness is not engaged in resisting anything, so I can just be as I am. As Jean Klein is quoted as saying, "In your absence is your presence" -- in moments of feeling met, the struggle to hold my position as someone who is in opposition to other people, or to life, disappears. You could almost say that I disappear -- and life just happens. Energy flows. And, ironically, I then truly come to meet myself in a very real and authentic sense.

In any case, can I really move my client's energy? It's an interesting question! Perhaps all I do is interact with the client in a way which they feel met and get an experience in which their energy is allowed to flow. In order to do this I have to both get out of the way as much as possible for them, but also be entirely present within myself. It's a curious balance, but a most enjoyable one!

What's in a name?

If there was one thing I wished about biodynamic massage, it would be that it had a different name. Biodynamic doesn't mean a lot to most people. The usual explanation goes that bio means life, and dynamic means force or movement; from this, it doesn't take a huge amount of intelligence to come to a meaning of life force or life movement--terms often used for energy in complementary therapy speak.

But what does this mean, exactly? Your average GP likely wouldn't have much of a clue what energy is within the context of the human body. Even if he or she did (and if he or she cared), they wouldn't necessarily be much better informed as to what biodynamic massage actually involves--does it work with meridians, pressure points, reflex zones, chakras or auras? might it involve some kind of channelling?

For me at least, biodynamic massage has a pretty simple notion of energy. Someone with a red face has a lot of energy in their face. Someone with cold feet doesn't have a lot of energy there. If I feel that someone's sacrum feels stoney or tight, then there's contracted energy and little movement--but if it has a quality of soft, juicy aliveness then energy is flowing through that region of the body.

Put the other way around--from the client's perspective--if it feels good, then it's likely healthy. If it doesn't, then it's probably not.

Energy therapy theories can get terribly complex and the complexities can be either terribly exciting or frustratingly boring to get into. Either way, it's easy for things to get too mental so that you miss the wood for the trees--you miss the client, and therefore fail to meet him or her as they are, right here and right now. Energy work is a real time phenomenon. How someone thinks and feels affects their energy; I may be predominantly a bodyworker, but there's a lot more to energy work than just the body.

This is, for me, the heart of what biodynamic massage is about. In one way, it's incredibly simple. Meet the client in the here and how--bodily, mentally, energetically, emotionally, spiritually (whatever the latter means to you)--and energy flows. Fail to do so, and things stagnate; old patterns of resistance continue to do their thing within the client's system, and nothing changes. It's not just a way of adding the often rather trite holistic label to my practice; it's absolutely fundamental.

Biodynamic massage involves relaxation for sure, but not in the sense of becoming still (nor it is about instilling some energising effect within someone; so many people seem to hear dynamic as invigorating). It's about a more dynamic relaxation--an inner relaxation into life, whatever it holds. Activity levels--experiences--will rise and fall because that's their very nature, to change. Challenges will appear in our lives (and even in my treatment room!). Joy, sadness, grief, anger and fear are inevitable. Biodynamic massage is about helping people to find themselves within all this change--trusting that they can weather the storms of life, that there is some part of them that will emerge unscathed. They can then stop holding on (in all senses of the phrase), start to relax into life, and thus become more alive. And--note--this means they feel more alive themselves--not just because I say they're that way.

Or at least that's how I see it. Ask another biodynamic massage therapist and they might give you a completely different explanation!