Issue #9

December, 2000

By Grettal Gantwerger. S.R.I., C.S.T.

Our Bodies, Our Selves

When you touch an area of your body and you allow your breath to flow into that area you are showing it compassion. When you can be present with whatever you feel and let your voice make the sound or tone it needs to, you are engaging in an incredible journey of healing, self-acceptance and self-knowledge. Somato Respiratory Integration is a protocol that combines breath, touch and dialogue in such a way as to reunite you safely and lovingly with repressed, shamed and forgotten areas held in your body. It has been discovered that tapping into our bodies can be therapeutically rewarding because so much of our personal stories in the way of struggle, lost dreams, and bruised spirits are waiting to be listened to. As a body-mind therapy I find Somato Respiratory Integration will actually change the tension system of the body to shift old ways of behaving and thinking.

Our bodies hold memories of abuse, rejection, abandonment, trauma, and feelings that we label as bad or wrong. As Dr. Andrew Weil writes in his book Health and Healing, “...painful experiences, emotions and memories can find their way to the musculature and simply remain there as frozen patterns of energy.” When you have areas that are holding onto old hurts, it is important to recognize and acknowledge them. It is like embracing a lost child that does not know it is part of a family. It feels separate. Only when the hurt is acknowledged through breath, touch and words, will it be able to share its information with the rest of the body and enter into the body’s community.

Life Can Activate A Raw Place

For anyone going through an illness, a divorce, depression, loss of a job, loss of a loved one, or loss of part of ourselves life feels hopeless and dark. These events activate a raw place deep inside that says something is terribly wrong with our lives and there is nothing we can do about it. You may have previously gone through various medications or undergone various procedures and finally come to the conclusion that ”nothing is working” or “there must be something out there that can help me”. As we enter into admitting our helplessness and surrendering we are actually bringing ourselves into one of the most essential steps of the healing journey. Here, doing the “stage one rhythm” with a facilitator will allow you to fully participate in embracing your hurt.. It will move you through this stage faster and bring you to a new perspective.

By the time you have reached stage eight with its distinct position and breath, you will have released an old pattern or an old way of looking at things that no longer serves you. There is a wonderful sense of lightness and of renewal. Many of my clients have discovered that once the emotional tension is released the pain they carried is gone. Furthermore when the energy can flow more fully in their bodies, many people have found their health improves in a variety of ways: increased energy, self-confidence, ability to enjoy life more, creativity, improved concentration, and less self-criticism. Many have been able to move towards goals they were unable to because of depression and fatigue.

Battles and Cures

Dr. Donald Epstein, founder of Network Spinal Analysis observed thousands of his patients opening up to their inner healer, “innate intelligence,” by going into spontaneous rhythms. He categorized them into twelve stages. Once a person learns how to do the exercises of the rhythms for themselves they have a powerful system for self-healing and transforming. He noted how most of us avoid the initial stages he calls Suffering and Polarities. He feels there is a crisis in humanity and we have lost the means of resonating with and fully experiencing our full range of rhythms or life expressions.

As a result we continue to battle against sickness. We are at war with our bodies, our minds, our instincts, and our spirits. Just the other day I noticed an add in a woman’s magazine: “Face it- women are predisposed to cellulite ...we’re fighting an uphill battle against Mother Nature”. Our Western Society is so adamant about the pursuit of happiness that it distracts itself and avoids at any cost the down side of life or tries desperately to eradicate “the enemy” with new discoveries and cures. But the internal forces of our own bodies have a way of carrying out the healing we need. Starting with the rhythm of Suffering or Polarities and surrendering to feeling hopeless or helpless is in itself liberating and empowering because we can stop lying to ourselves. When we do this we also experience our energy and our bliss.

Redefining Health

In my practice I find S.R.I. is integral for anyone going to a Network Chiropractor to help them to move successfully through the levels of healing. I also use S.R.I. in conjunction with a number of other modalities such as craniosacral therapy and acupressure because it is so synergistic with other therapies.

As a facilitator the first thing I do is show you how to scan your body so that you can get the brain to work with the body. The scan gets you to initiate the rhythm you are in. There is less analysing or figuring out mentally because you will get understanding as you move through the stages. You depend less on outside advise as you feel the rewards of doing S.R.I. You learn how your inner world of thoughts and emotions are at the bottom of everything you do. You wake up to a greater awareness of self and a need to honour all our parts.

We can stop letting our learned unconscious patterns run our lives, but it can’t be done with the brain alone. Health is acquired through the interplay of body and mind. Pain is the messenger for the need to start looking inside.

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