A Somatic New Year's Resolution
This is Part 31 of a serial blog originally titled 'Martha Carter's Healing Journey'. In Part 30, I wrote about surprising forgotten memories of early somatic experiences, alongside a glimpse into the world of dance and the Montreal and NYC scenes in the 1980s. In Part 29, I share a recent story of waking up in the midst of a ‘healing crisis’; for seemingly no reason, muscle spasms forced me to stop, and a friend and teacher stepped in to help me figure out WHY. Missed the earlier posts? Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25, Part 26, Part 27 and Part 28.
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“The body does not need to be corrected. It needs to be understood.”
This is what my friend and osteopath, Simon, said to me today as he gave me a treatment. It made me sigh, then smile, then frown. I immediately wondered if there was any chance my teenage scoliotic body could have been better ‘understood’ – rather than ‘corrected’ through dramatic fusion surgery – so many moons ago…
But I digress.
Simon often comes up with poetic comments as we discuss different treatments and healing processes. Once, when I asked him how he helps people sense their own bodies, he replied, “I tell them - the ocean is your matrix”. In other words, we can all benefit from the realization that we are fluid and vast in our potential.
And today, as I feel him do his magic to unwind my twisty body, I feel more than ever what he says in this regard. I came in asking him to help me with a new annoying complaint – my right foot keeps getting cramped up – and I observe him as he appears to listen closely, making me listen as well. He touches, in apparent random order, a vertebra, then my tibia, then my ankle, then my neck, then my chest. One thing leads to another; one release leads to another. The treatment becomes an intricate conversation of body parts; a collaboration between his hands, my tissues, our imagination, our breath.
He went on:
“The reason to do body work, or massage, or any other kind of supportive care is so you can create the condition to have a dialogue with your body. And through that dialogue, you will listen and learn and find your way to healing. With that understanding you can trust your body, and come to peace with yourself.”
When he says it, I am reminded how it is SO simple.
Easy in concept, but not very easy to learn.
As I detailed in my last blog, it is a long process of learning to feel from the inside out.
I ‘will’ myself to stop thinking so much and relax into the treatment. I take a deep breath as I observe his ‘conversation’ with my body. I comment that it’s as if he is on a treasure hunt to find the source of my issues. He responds by saying that it is not a treasure hunt to find the problems, but rather to uncover the special ‘gems’ of tension or blockage that lead to unlocking the resulting negative chain of events in the body; a hunt to find solutions that allow healing in the most organic way.
No correcting. Just understanding.
He finishes his thoughts with this:
“The conversation with your body starts with your breath. This helps you feel your fluidity. The more you sense your energy, the more you can guide yourself. Just listen.”
Once again (it seems to keep coming up for me everywhere these days!), this is a totally SOMATIC approach.
Rather than separating the mind and the body, the lesson is to let them inform each other.
It’s not enough to just think things through. It’s much more important to sense yourself.
This is SO important for everyone, especially for people with scoliosis.
And even more so for people with ‘corrected’ scoliosis!
From my own experience, I know that scoliotics are often made to feel that we have to FIX ourselves. There is an implication that something is wrong with us, or that we have done something wrong, and therefore we need to CORRECT our bodies / patterns / habits / attitudes / ways.
And of course we often want to change, but how exactly?
I regularly read questions on various scoliosis and fusion chat groups that illustrate the lack of awareness and education out there, and it astounds me. Many people seem to have no idea what is going on with their twisted bodies, and especially after a lot of medical intervention.
They ask the most basic questions, such as:
Is it normal to have pain? Indigestion? Headaches? Depression? Anxiety?
Does anyone else have a crooked shoulder? Hip? Ribs? Leg? Foot?
What painkillers are the best? Muscle relaxants? Antidepressants? Sleep aids?
Is it ok to do exercise? Get pregnant? Go on a road trip? Go on a rollercoaster?
What should I eat? How should I sleep? Is it ok to dance?
And I can’t help but think – don’t the doctors tell them anything...?
The answer to the vast majority of the questions above (aside from what to eat and how to sleep!) is YES — but everyone is so unique, no one answer will work for everyone.
So where to get the answers, and what to do with them?
The somatic approach, just like the one Simon describes, teaches and shows us how to take the ‘whole’ of us into consideration, and learn how to sense ourselves from the inside out.
Starting with our breath, we create a connection with ourselves that can lead to mindfulness and awareness. This gives us all the answers we need, directing us to our personal path of healing.
This is a wonderful approach for connecting to yourself, others, and even the whole world.
More breath.
Less correcting.
More listening, conversing, understanding.
First, create possibility – and then you can act on it.
Happy Somatic New Year.
Simon Alarie is an Osteopathic Practitioner who lives and works on Salt Spring Island, BC.
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