Originally published in Mosaic Magazine, November, 2016 issue and reprinted here with permission of the editor, Connie Brisson.
by Cinnamon Cranston
Certified Rosen Method Bodywork Practitioner
“If you do not let yourself be the way that you are, your body cannot function. The same is true for the emotions. The only way you can be who you are is through surrender and self-acceptance.” Marion Rosen
Rosen Method Bodywork Practitioners understand that when they are touching the body they are touching the mind and when they are speaking to the mind, they are speaking to the body.
In this way Rosen Method Bodywork practitioners use gentle responsive touch and words to meet areas of chronic non-conscious holding in the body and connect with aspects of the mind that have been long forgotten. Through making contact with tight muscles that are limiting breath and aliveness, the practitioner is inviting the clients to drop into their body awareness more and experience themselves at that moment.
The practitioner does not seek to fix or manipulate the holding; this would not invite self-awareness. Rather the practitioner supports and meets the holding in a way that the client is able to feel their own barrier to relaxation and well-being.
Self-acceptance, the ability to allow and accept yourself exactly where you are in the moment, is a crucial first step in shifting any long held physical/psychological pattern. The contact between the practitioner and the client reminds the muscles that they are holding and simultaneously reminds them of the possibility of relaxing. The practitioner follows the client’s process continuing to invite awareness and relaxation.
As the client begins to allow their barriers to be in their awareness they begin to experience more of themselves in the present moment. Then it becomes possible for the body/mind to differentiate between the old pattern of holding once needed for protection, from the new possibility of relaxation in the current moment where protection is no longer necessary or desired. Now a shift can occur as the client experiences a new level of relaxation and surrender which then allows them the possibility of experiencing more of their authentic self while also validating their past experience. Feelings arise naturally and can be released. The Rosen Method Bodywork practitioner is a mid-wife for this process, following, tracking and validating the client as they embrace more of their true selves.
My clients are often surprised at the feelings and experiences that emerge into their awareness. After a session clients report feeling more relaxed, more grounded and different in their bodies. Often they report feeling more space or ease inside. There is more breath coming into the body and with less effort than before.
As sessions progress with a client I often hear how they make changes in their life that they weren’t able to before, or meet relationships and circumstances differently than before. The well-being and spaciousness that accompany the authentic self begin to emerge, replacing the closed off, habit ridden, protected self. Broader ranges of experience become accessible when unconscious barriers are brought into self-awareness.
In my own personal experience of receiving this work, allowing myself to really experience the barriers I had created (in order to not feel my pain) was absolutely crucial and incredibly profound. Surrendering to what I was experiencing in the moment instead of trying push past it in order to make myself “better” was, for me, the real breakthrough of this work; nothing else did this for me.
To accept myself for whom I was in that particular moment was the difference between being fully alive and being stuck in my old habits. Self-acceptance allowed me to connect with my deeper, true emotions, the ones I had to repress, and it also allowed the possibility for the real me to emerge from the shell of protection I had buried it behind.
Cinnamon is a Certified Rosen Method Bodywork Practitioner and the Vice-President of the Rosen Method Institute Canada. Contact her at cinnamon@rosenmethod.ca or 780-203-5159.
Note: This information is for educational purposes only. It’s intended to supplement your current health program, not to replace the care of a licensed medical doctor. Thoroughly research all topics for yourself.