What is Bodytherapy

My experience in somatic education and Bodytherapy takes its roots from but, not limited to Zentherapy® which was developed by master body worker William (Dub) Leigh and does not infer any religious or dogmatic connotations. In its descriptive use here, I feel it is best to start with the Cannon or recognition of Dub’s vast and combined experience that led to its development.

Zentherapy® recognizes that from birth to death, life is a flow of energy. This energy takes shape by our attitudes, our emotions and our bodies. Zentherapy® releases the natural form of the body from the aberrations caused by physical, chemical, psychological and spiritual traumas.

These aberrations misalign the body and block the free flow of energy within the body and between the person and the universe. The blocks and misalignment prevent a person from realizing their full potential and experiencing the oneness of all life. Once the blocks are removed and the structure is aligned, the body, mind and spirit will move to a higher plateau.

Zentherapy® is a synthesis of Eastern and Western cultures. Many different methods and techniques are used to process the body; this includes the work of Ida Rolf, Moshe Feldenkrais, Lauren Berry and Raymond Nimmo. Tanouye Tenshin Rotaishi’s teachings are the underlying source of all Zentherapy® sessions.

Consciously experiencing and using universal energy is what makes Zentherapy® unique.

It is the goal of Zentherapy® for both the practitioner and the client to become as a child: free of fear, hate, greed, and pain. Fully living each moment by moment by moment.

The International Zentherapy® Institute set the foundation of the work into three basic units of training and development; Zen Triggerpoint Anatomy®, Zen Bodytherapy®, and Advanced Bodytherapy®.

Zen Triggerpoint Anatomy®

Zen Triggerpoint Anatomy® starts by feeding ki or chi while clearing the body of pain and dysfunction associated with both acute and chronic conditions of trauma. Usually the body has a specific area or symptom of discomfort which can range from just a minor irritation to severe disabling pain. Other areas of the body may be unable to function properly or move a joint without pain or fear of pain due to a broadcasting overload originating at a different site.

What are Triggerpoints?

In the Trigger Point manuals Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction written by Janet Travell and David Simmons, the definition of a triggerpoint is; … “any area of the body with hypersensitive stimuli that when locally compressed give rise to certain autonomic phenomena.”

A triggerpoint is a tight, tender spot in a muscle or other soft tissue, that refers pain or ‘triggers’ pain or tenderness to other areas of the body. They can cause ongoing pain and dysfunction to the affected areas even after an injury has appeared healed. Triggerpoints can be one cause for reoccurring headaches, backache, or almost any problem that perpetuates following an acute injury or accumulated patterns in the soft issue like poor posture and breathing.

These can be like ropes, grains, knots, or similar descriptions for what the soft tissue of the body feels like when palpated or investigated with the hands.

Most of the time, Triggerpoints have a distinctive pain referral source and can make the muscles, tendons, ligaments and even organs in the body unable to perform normal function. Because the tissue tightens and becomes unable to soften properly, nutrients and oxygen cannot get in to nourish the area and in turn, waste products cannot get out. Over time, the area can develop adhesions that glue the individual fibers and surrounding fascial layers and muscle compartments together.

There Two types of Triggerpoints:

1 Active- Current pain, Active Trigger points keep the muscles tight, restricting blood flow and compressing nerves, which perpetuates a pain-spasm-pain cycle in the muscles. The effect of decreased flexibility limits movement, encouraging poor postural patterns and decrease trust in making normal range of motion movement which may sustain the cycle for years.

2 Latent- Hidden pain are points or areas of pain activated by palpation to active Triggerpoints. The tissue can be chronically tight and not contract or relax well but not necessarily painful until a contact point is made.

Zen Triggerpoint Anatomy® works by feeding ki or chi while using a variety of compression or deep gliding techniques. A pain tolerance scale of 0-10 is used to determine the amount of trauma being re-experienced in comparison to the amount of contact pressure from the practitioner which can be applied with a thumb, finger, knuckle, or elbow depending on the size, depth and thickness of the tissue. When palpation detects a point or an area that feels painful or refers pain to another location or distant to the point of contact, a protection response sends a message to the brain, and if the brain feels that the pain is tolerable and not in danger, often the pain will start to drop and the the tissue becomes more pliable. When the nervous system is feeding a large part of available energy to holding and protecting numerous areas of the body, its like too many light switches are turned on all the time, so we try to turn a few off at a time which lets the body actually rest when its time to rest.

Commonly people who start with the Triggerpoint work will come in with symptoms such as:

Zen Bodytherapy®

Zen Bodytherapy® is a series of ten sessions that starts by releasing the pain and then addresses the Structural Integration and Alignment of the body. While feeding ki or chi, we work towards freeing the fascia or webbing that holds the body together then realign it to allow greater freedom in movement, a vertical lift, and reeducate the nervous system by teaching awareness through movement as we proceed.

Essentially with practice it is learning how to breathe, walk, and develop a grounded, conscious feeling of being in the body that can spontaneously adjust. The principal tangible influence of resistance is the field of gravity and its effect on the body along with the history of trauma and patterns built into the structure. When the body lines up better within its self and the earth’s line of gravity, then the ki, chi, or universal energy flows freely again and less energy is wasted, creating renewed strength, balance and harmony in the body.

When we are more alive, conscious, and working towards perpetual refinement of our being, then those around us can be affected in a positive way.

Some of the feedback from clients who go through the ten session series say they:

Advanced Bodytherapy®

Advanced Bodytherapy® work adds to the quality of good work done in the ten session series by continuing to clear pain out of the body then, reposition the joints and strayed tendons, nerves, cartilage, and fascial membranes to create the optimal state of balance in one’s life. There is more emphasis on reeducating the nervous system to feel the movement of the body in relationship to the environment and at the same time working towards developing sensitivity in ones self to know how to keep the results longer.

Clients who go through Advanced Bodytherapy® work have said they:

I have been honoured to work with people from all walks of life from infants up to ninety four years old as of yet. I have been fortunate to have had training in many approaches to facilitating healing and well being but, in my experience, Zentherapy has been the most consistent and time tested single modality of all of the practices. The combination of my experience is what I call Bodytherapy.