Tension: A Relational View (Part II)

Written by Shaina Cantino, edited by Adam Brady

https://www.tendbodyworks.com/

As a bodywork practitioner, I enter as an advocate for any parts holding uncomfortable experiences that need to surface in order to get folded back into a present-time alignment. Part of my work is to tune into a pattern that doesn’t know how to ‘find its way back’ to integration.

This can also be seen from the perspective of the nervous system. Through bodywork, we aim for a position of greatest ease (expanded soon in a coming blog). Old habits, no longer relevant to present-time needs, can interfere with ideal musculoskeletal posture. In order to allow the body to find its ideal posture without diminishing its ease, we start from the position in which we are currently most comfortable. This place may not be the ideal alignment in the long term. From there, we allow the body to assume that position of ease, eventually encouraging this ease to spread to include a less confined positioning. By celebrating the intentions of support these stuck energies hold, we guide them through to resolution.

Below is an example of how we may begin this process.

To start, locate ‘the loudest voice in the room’ of your body. That can easily change from moment to moment and you get to change with it. Once you’ve located that very loud voice -the place in your body that most wants our attention- place a hand there, if reachable. Let that part of you lead. Let the tension fully express…