Several years ago, I purchased Thomas Hanna's books "Somatics" and "The Body of Life: Creating new pathways for sensory awareness and fluid movement" and I am just now having a chance to look at The Body of Life". One of the things that I found that is so similar to my training in Ortho-Bionomy(R). "When muscle are painfully contracted involuntarily, the last thing one should do is to attempt to pull the muscles and force them to release and lengthen; they will not do so. If one forces the muscle to lengthen, the immediate result is pain and increased involuntary contraction of the muscle."
Much of what my clients seem to expect is a treatment will be painful and will be forceful. However, according to Hanna and the teachings of Arthur Lincoln Pauls, D.O., this is the worst thing that can be done. Instead, as Hanna continues, "I did not try to correct this curvature, but, instead did the reserve. I lightly encouraged the curvature of the low back by softly pressing down on it... As soon at I began doing the work of these muscles for them, a curious thing automatically occurred: They began to relax, because they had no work to do; it was being done for them, so their program of contraction became superfluous."
I look forward to exploring this topic further and seeing what else Hanna has to say. This "unwinding" or "moving into ease" is so pivotal to how I work and what I see as effective bodywork for the resolution of issues instead of a sensation in a given area.
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