Pushing your boundaries

Like the fence around our property, the skin and connected soft tissues are the boundary between us and the outside world. It may be a hard fence - bricks and mortar with well protected entrance points - the ‘hard one’, bristly, always on guard; or ramshackle and run down easy to get in and out - chaotic and scatty, never on time, all smiles, constantly chatting, not letting a word (or feeling) in edgewise. Sometimes no fence at all at the back, but heavily protected at the front - the big chested body builder, ‘don’t mess with me, mate!’ or no fence at the boundary but in close the doors are double locked, the windows are barred and there is a security system.

We all build and maintain our own unique boundary in response to hurts we encounter as we grow: If a burglar gets in and steals the TV and video, I install stronger locks on the doors and an alarm system and invite the burglars to ‘steal that ya b@*#s’ … If a person gets in and steals a bit of my heart, I ‘harden my heart’ and say ‘I’m not going to let that happen again’  ‘I won’t be such a fool next time’.

The expressions; thick skinned, hard hearted, flighty; big softie, bark’s worse than his bite, edgy, describe some of the physical protections we build in the body. If I’m edgy, I only present an ‘edge’ to the world and the bad stuff from out there can’t land on me; or if I am flighty the bad stuff can’t catch up with me; thick skinned it can’t penetrate the armour.

Softening the tissues during a bodywork or massage session can allow some of the feelings that were present when the boundary was created, to emerge. This can result in tears, or feelings of anger, and resistance. Paul’s boundary (see page 3) ‘I can’t have’ presented as pain when he was reaching out for something he wanted. It was protecting him from the hurt of his belief ‘I am not worthy’. Pushing the boundary with deep massage strokes and PI exercises brought the belief to Paul’s conscious awareness thereby allowing him to acknowledge the belief (and the fact that he had created it), and then let go of it.

We encourage you to explore any feeling which may arise during a session and identify for yourself any deep seated emotion/ belief that may surround and support it. You may no longer need it, and by identifying the source of your pain you can come to terms with it, then determining if it is still useful to you, you have the choice to keep it or let it go.

By letting go of a feeling your armour will no longer be necessary. This does not mean that you will no longer have difficulties or feel tension. There is a continuing need for us to express our anxieties and frustrations, but we can now more quickly recognize, confront, and let go of them.

The full Postural Integration (PI) program is ten sessions of up to two hours over a 20-week period. It includes release of over 140 muscles, postural realignment, journal keeping, self-expression, and bio-energetic release exercises.

By Ross Housham

The body doesn’t lie

I have recently completed a therapeutic course in Postural Integration (PI) with Ross at Sea Change. I had heard a lot about this series of 10 sessions designed to improve my body and mind connection. Already being a bodywork practitioner, I had an existing awareness of how our bodies’ ‘store’ emotions and how these often surface in our daily lives. The postural integration techniques used by Ross were instrumental in reinforcing and expanding my body mind awareness.

The concept of emotions registering in our physical bodies is obviously not a new one. It is expressed by the medical intuitive Caroline Myss in her phrase “your biography becomes your biology”. It is a succinct phrase indicating that over time our beliefs (resourceful and un-resourceful ones) become crystallised in our bodies. A flexible body generally denotes a flexible mind.

This is why if you have ever had a good massage/ bodywork session you can sometimes activate old or repressed memories at the most unexpected touch of a part of the body. I have consolidated my thoughts in the last few years that our bodies and emotions are the messengers of our beliefs. Let me explain.

In about the seventh session I mentioned to Ross that I had had this very acute and painful condition in my right arm for the last month. I could find no physical cause for a muscle strain or the like. I noticed that applying massage and pressure on certain muscle points alleviated the condition for a short time only. It is exceptionally easy and expedient for me in my busy life to put this occurrence down to the fact that I  must have ‘slept on it the wrong way’. Or that I am are under some ‘stress’ at the moment and I need to move on. Trouble is, my/our body doesn’t move on. It remembers ... and the body doesn’t lie.

So what was the message that my body (through acute pain) was trying to tell me? Symbolically, the emotion generated was one of restriction in that I could not reach out and grasp things in front of me without excruciating pain. Ross agreed with me that I was restricting my needs in some way through a belief that was not serving me. Neither of us were sure of the exact nature of the belief(s) at this juncture.

Through the use of a powerful PI technique Ross brought me to my emotional centre - the heart. I was flooded with an intense emotion of not being worthy and then relief to know that this was ultimately not true. It was an amazing breakthrough to find that for all these years I did not think I deserved a wonderful intimate relationship! 

In the lead up to these sessions and coinciding with the pain in the arm I had been dating a woman who I thought could become my life partner. At the time this outcome was far from certain and my body was telling me to attend to and heal this belief so that I could positively move on.

So you see, it took a bit of work on my part and Ross’s to discover the message - but in the end our bodies never lie, and oh … in case you are wondering,  I got the girl!

Got some pains you can’t figure out? I’d highly recommend you go see Ross for a program of postural integration.

by PB. originally published in our BodyLanguage newsletter 2004