Mainstreaming Hanna Somatic Education, part 6 | the five stages of acceptance
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross wrote of the five stages of grieving a loss. Her words are relevant because most people (especially those with a vested interest in conventional methods) are attached to their ways -- and to switch to our way entails a loss -- a loss of face, a loss of ego, a loss of status. People avoid "beginner's mind" and The Zone of Incomprehensibility
Her five stages of grieving:
1) denial
2) anger
3) bargaining
4) depression
5) acceptance
In practice, people who hear about HSE, who are not otherwise desperate for help, first deny our validity by ignoring us.
Then, they ridicule or invalidate us, and if not to our faces, then in their minds. (anger). This observation applies to chauvinistic "Feldy" types who prefer to think Tom Hanna was an upstart usurper, as well as to most physicans and physical therapists.
Then, they allow a little of what we have to say to penetrate ("They may have a point -- but it's unproven."), while seeking to maintain an attitude of superiority or seniority -- their usual viewpoint (bargaining/jockeying to maintain position/status). Tom Hanna's first act, with us Wave 1 people, was to ask us to put everything we knew about bodies and bodywork "on the shelf". He knew.
Then, when they realize that they're screwed (by their own condition and/or the limitations of their approach), they begin to submit, but in the mood of "I've lost." (depression)
At last, when they actually take action and get the benefits, they accept HSE and advocate it -- and encounter the same pathetic five stages in the people with whom they want to share HSE. (acceptance)
That's what's in the way of mainstreaming HSE.
Once HSE gets a toehold in the culture (we scarcely have that, now), and the mass media are giving us some play, they'll still have to go through the stages, but they'll go through much faster.
In the meantime, as we do our work and make our communications, we'll polarize people:
1) driving the most hard-headed away from us
2) gradually infiltrating the thinking of those less hard-headed, getting their skeptical and unsympathetic attention
3) intriguing the attention of those with some curiosity, drawing them toward finding out more about our work
4) attracting people toward us for one-on-one conversation
5) attracting people to use our services
6) having people advocate our work to others
7) attracting new trainees in HSE
In summary, we'll polarize people either into running away from us as fast as they can or coming to join us -- and every stage in between.
Our best candidates are those those know that they're screwed and they're looking for something -- they don't know what.
I've noticed that I've had scant success getting clients from conversations in public places (maybe it's my personality), or from advertising.
For years, friends and clients have wondered why this work isn't more popular, why friends they've told about somatics don't come to me. This piece may reveal the heart of the matter: people are attached to what they already know, haven't realized that they're screwed without somatic education; they aren't desperate enough.
The desperate who are looking find me on-line or hear from friends who were clients. They come and they reach "stage 5".
Hallelujah.
The Effects of Jaw Tension -- Is the gag on you?
Jaw tension and jaw movement
are a very interesting pivotal point
in the consideration of balanced movement and stance
but also of physiological health
and emotional well-being.
self-relief program (video)
Our balance depends much upon
where our jaw (mandible) is
in relation to our cranium:
clenched or loosely supported
mandible forward, head back
or mandible back, head down and forward
or tighter more on one side than on the other?
or with our cranium well centered and
moving in a well-balanced, well-supported way
by our free and gently elongated neck?
or pulling our head down and forward
as our lower jaw (mandible) pulls back and up
seemingly by itself
with no doing on our part.
LIKE A NUTCRACKER.
and the position of our jaw reflects our physiological state and shape
our arousal state
our emotional state
our attitude
our readiness for what's next
or our unreadiness
our "running" old memories
as our best understanding of the present
without also facing the mystery as
this living moment.
The View from Outside
The lower jaw, the mandible, connects most intimately with the body-core and front (ventral aspect) of the body.
Miscoordination of the jaws, in biting, chewing, and rest position, causes a misfit between the front and back of the body. That misfit causes chronic muscular tensions in the trunk and disturbances to breathing, swallowing, balance, posture and movement. Jaws are a big deal. I say more about that, below.
But for now, I think it's time we looked something squarely in the face, viz.,
"the grimace".
The grimace goes with the gag reflex,
but also with coughing,
revulsion, disgust (pulling back of the tongue),
and suppressed anger (pulling back the mandible in suppression of the urge to bite someone
or perhaps say something really rude),
all involving changes to the face, jaw position, the inside of the mouth, and throat.
And to all that, I say, "Blecch!"
But, there we are. We might as well look at it,
particularly if all that describes us.
So, the first question:
Where does our lower jaw go on such occasions?
Why, up and back.
The teeth clench,
the bones of the face compress and the face gets harder,
the tongue pulls back in and presses against the soft palate.
The head pulls forward and down,
the top of the head tips back
and the neck vertebrae come forward,
closing the throat passage from behind.
It's a response that says,
"Nothing's going in
and something may be coming out!"
Back to the jaws.
Clenching the teeth involves the muscles of the sides of the head
pulling the lower jaw (mandible)
up against the teeth of the upper jaw (the maxilla),
so the muscles of clenching pull the sides (and therefore, top) of the head down
and the bottom of the head, up
in a big squeeze.
The face shows it.
More is happening, however.
With the closing of the throat
comes also
depression of the front of the chest --
a cave-in
and compression around the base of the head
where the spinal cord enters (foramen magnum)
producing a sensation registered, somatically,
as shrinking inward along our length
and possibly, queasiness.
The change of mouth, throat, and chest shape
impair breathing at two focal locations
the throat
and the chest.
Well, this is a jolly state to be in.
The question arises:
"What is a more wholesome resting position of the lower jaw?"
I say,
"It is hanging freely, floating beneath the upper teeth
and somewhat forward."
self-relief program (video)
The exact amount of forward depends upon the inclination of the head
but in the neutral or balanced head position,
my provisional stand is, "the incisors match up"
although it's an error to think of the jaws having a fixed rest position.
It's more that they have a floating equilibrium that changes with head movement and position.
When our head is more inclined (forehead up)
the lower jaw hangs back, somewhat
as in the gag reflex
or worry.
When our head is somewhat bowed (forehead forward)
our lower jaw hangs forward, somewhat.
When our head is balanced between forward and back
our lower jaw hangs freely at some floating suspension point,
our facial bones feel the downward pull of the lower jaw
and they separate, somewhat
and our face softens.
Our chest spontaneously reshapes, sternum higher
breathing fuller,
and we sit at a new balance.
Some contrast with the gag reflex, eh?
So when we are revolting against life,
when life seems revolting to us
when "our bodies" are in revolt
or we are confronted with a revolting body,
and the emotion of revulsion closes in
we clench our teeth, somewhat,
or maybe a lot. (TMJ Dysfunction/bruxism)
Repressed anger involves a pulling back of the mandible (lower jaw)
and clenching of the teeth,
the proverbial "gnashing of teeth",
combined with a pasted-on smile
really, a grimace
not a true grin,
really the action of repressing rage and the urge
to bite someone or, as I said,
say something really rude.
An alternate cause of tightening the jaws in a held position
is pain in the jaws or teeth, whatever the cause,
which triggers the grimace response
of pulling the lower jaw back and up
or clenching the face.
Pain of sufficient intensity or duration
can cause long-term conditioning that outlasts the pain
and causes lingering pain of its own.
The same emotional and functional physiological changes occur from either cause.
It's not an all-or-none reaction, either, but a matter of degree
according to the pain or emotional state, involved.
A person may experience manifestations of narrowed air passages:
he may snore
or have sleep apnea
or just grind his teeth at night
frightening his spouse
and nearby neighbors.
enables us to feel and release accumulated grimace or pain-cringe
and enables us to move toward overall more wholesome health.
Our face shows it.
AH-MAIN
If you want to know how wholesome your own jaw position is,
take a walk and do this:
As you walk, slowly nod your head in a "yes" movement and feel how freely your lower jaw changes hanging position.
If it doesn't change position very slightly but freely, you have excessive jaw tension.Instead of a jaw splint, night guard or "appliance", develop control of your own jaw muscles by the means provided, here, so you don't need these devices. It's a faster (and more economical) approach to solving the problem.
MORE ON CAUSES:
articles on TMJ Dysfunction /TMD
Causes of TMJ Dysfunction
PRACTICAL ACTION:
instructional video
preparation for the instructional video, above, if needed
self-relief program (video)
___________
Lawrence Gold is a certified Clinical Somatic Educator (Hanna somatic education(R)) in practice since 1990 with two years' experience on-staff at a community hospital wellness and rehabilitation center in California. He has experience addressing TMJ Dysfunction (TMD) and sleep apnea. Read the articles linked, above, for fit to your condition -- and contact Lawrence by email, here.
An Easier, More Thorough Way to Release (Dispel) Stress and Enhance Creative Ingenuity: The Gold Key Release Balanced Intelligence process
The Gold Key Release
INSTRUCTION to DISSOLVE the GRIP
of STRESS PATTERNS
THAT KEEP US STUCK
~ a Way Out ~
INSTRUCTION to DISSOLVE the GRIP
of STRESS PATTERNS
THAT KEEP US STUCK
~ a Way Out ~
________________
on to the basics of
The Gold Key Release:
Relieving Ourselves of Accumulated Stress, On-Demand
RECORDED COACHING:
(since improved upon;
to be updated)
(since improved upon;
to be updated)
Optimal use:
(clickable] recorded instruction - full, two-segment form
(22 minutes, 30 seconds)
recording of someone being coached, (published with permission)
(12 minutes | earlier version)
(22 minutes, 30 seconds)
recording of someone being coached, (published with permission)
(12 minutes | earlier version)
EXPLANATION
It may seem odd that four functions can account for the entirety of possible experiences, but they do seem to. The unevenness of their development in people explains a lot about the world.
MEMORY and IMAGINATION
Memory is our sense of anything at all persisting at some level of intensity. That includes our at-present-moment experience, since our ability to recognize anything in the present moment depends upon memory. You've got to know something like it in order to recognize it. Our sense of anything and everything is memory; our imagination "fits" our memories to what we are sensing and that's what makes things seem recognizable. I'm not saying experience is based on memory; I'm saying that it is memory -- and the three other functions: imagination, attention, and intention.
Our sense of the solidity or actuality or substantiality or reality of reality is memory -- co-arising with, and filled out, by the three other functions.
Memory is our sense of anything at all persisting at some level of intensity. That includes our at-present-moment experience, since our ability to recognize anything in the present moment depends upon memory. You've got to know something like it in order to recognize it. Our sense of anything and everything is memory; our imagination "fits" our memories to what we are sensing and that's what makes things seem recognizable. I'm not saying experience is based on memory; I'm saying that it is memory -- and the three other functions: imagination, attention, and intention.
Our sense of the solidity or actuality or substantiality or reality of reality is memory -- co-arising with, and filled out, by the three other functions.
Memory forms when we have both attention on something and an intention toward it -- whether conscious and deliberate or automatic.
Attention[ x ] (times) Imagination [ x ] (times) Persistence
==> Memory
==> Memory
MEMORY FEELS LIKE
actuality, certainty of Reality, solid truth
MATTER
IMAGINATION FEELS LIKE
possibility and expectation,
"fantasy and ideas coming to me"
dream-like or daydream-like
LIGHT
The Teeth of The Gold Key
Every key has teeth.
The teeth fit and unlock the lock.
When you unlock your invisible limiting conditioning
with the steps of The Gold Key Release,
with the steps of The Gold Key Release,
you experience a Release
that feels like a Transcendent "Kiss"
an actual sensation probably unlike anything
you've experienced, before --
a Kiss of Dissolution into Formlessness
(please tolerate the metaphor).
an actual sensation probably unlike anything
you've experienced, before --
a Kiss of Dissolution into Formlessness
(please tolerate the metaphor).
(NOTE: "an actual sensation" means that you don't just come away thinking that you are supposed to get some result, soon, maybe later; it's that you vividly feel a distinct change in yourself -- immediately -- something unusual, something substantial. You feel more natural and different -- more like yourself.)
As the mind-habits that keep you going round and round
in "the same old same old"
As the mind-habits that keep you going round and round
in "the same old same old"
dissolve and dissipate
you come free to think, feel, and move in new ways --
spontaneously, more fittingly, naturally.
you come free to think, feel, and move in new ways --
spontaneously, more fittingly, naturally.
GUIDELINES
The words I use in these instructions are intended to point to felt meanings, not to "word definitions". Each step stimulates our sensibilities. So, catch the feeling you get as you hear each step -- then rest and await the next step.
At first, some people may not feel much, depending on how deeply they feel life, in general. If you don't get much, the first time, the solution is simple: Repeat the Gold Key Release. Each pass through is different.
At each step, take whatever comes up without evaluating it for correctness or dredging for more. Whatever comes up, take it, as is. There's nothing you need to remember.
The words I use in these instructions are intended to point to felt meanings, not to "word definitions". Each step stimulates our sensibilities. So, catch the feeling you get as you hear each step -- then rest and await the next step.
At first, some people may not feel much, depending on how deeply they feel life, in general. If you don't get much, the first time, the solution is simple: Repeat the Gold Key Release. Each pass through is different.
At each step, take whatever comes up without evaluating it for correctness or dredging for more. Whatever comes up, take it, as is. There's nothing you need to remember.
Use the exact wording shown, without paraphrasing (at least not until you are proficient enough to improvise improvements). (If you want to know why, try paraphrasing and compare.)
What follows is a full explanation of how to use The Gold Key Release. However, the process works without this explanation if you follow the recorded instructions.
The following section is for people who require some foreknowledge before trying anything new. However, the process works without explanation, so consider this an optional preview.
The first part of Gold Key Release takes about four minutes; the second part, about seven minutes.
PREPARATION
- Remember something - - anything - - and notice what "remembering" feels like.
- Imagine something - - anything - - and notice what "imagining" feels like.
This section is to awaken and sharpen your power of attention.
Alternate between remembering and imagining and repeat until you can clearly tell the difference -- and the connection -- between imagining and remembering.
One difference has to do with the degree of density of the experience and with the deliberateness with which you hold it.
Remembering feels solid; imagining feels ephemeral or likely to disappear if effort isn't maintained. . . . . and the connection? That's for you to find out.
(Here's a little hint about the relationship between imagination and memory: If you imagine something enough times or with enough intensity, the imagining gets remembered. Imagining becomes remembering. Imagining is like "the mouth of experience"; remembering is like the stomach.)
One difference has to do with the degree of density of the experience and with the deliberateness with which you hold it.
Remembering feels solid; imagining feels ephemeral or likely to disappear if effort isn't maintained. . . . . and the connection? That's for you to find out.
(Here's a little hint about the relationship between imagination and memory: If you imagine something enough times or with enough intensity, the imagining gets remembered. Imagining becomes remembering. Imagining is like "the mouth of experience"; remembering is like the stomach.)
ACTION #1
Identify the item you want to release (unlock).
Your item may be one of those, below, or anything that has substance, to you.
(Choose one and make note of interesting, possible others.)
(Choose one and make note of interesting, possible others.)
In the beginning stage of practice, you may choose a specific instance or occasion (memory you have) in which you experienced one of the items, below. As you get better, you will become able to deal with the conditions, below, in general, rather than requiring specific memories on which to run a Gold Key Release.
So, select an item that has some intensity, to you. It's a good practice to choose conditions that keep showing up in your life.
- anything that bothers you
- anger
- sorrow
- fear
- guilt
- shame
- (more ... to be suggested in The Gold Key Release Training)
- Be artful and clever! Do a thorough Gold Key Release on the feeling you have from reading this entry!
At the very beginning, you may or may not have enough "presence of mind" to catch yourself in persistent patterns. Those are good "items" -- but you've got to catch yourself at them to recognize them. Don't choose "hypotheticals" or things you've read about. Choose something actual, in your life.
Rule of thumb: If something bothers you, THAT'S A GOOD ONE!!!
If there's something you think about, often, that's it. If you're buried in a mood, that's a good one. If you're in a situation that brings up strong emotions, that's a good one. When you recognize one of those, it must occur to you to do The Gold Key Release.
In a formal Gold Key Release on-line training, I can provide more, and more interesting, "items".
UPGRADE as of 2024-5-8
Comments?
ACTION STEPS: (next version to be published)
"Holding the Lock in Your Hand"
Regarding your selected, "work-with" item: (to be read aloud)
State it to yourself two or three times, distinctly.
| | Feel, "having it".
| | Notice where you feel it, in you.
| | [ the name of your item ]
| | Feel the intensity of identifying [ the name of your item ].
| | [ the name of your item ]
| | Feel the intensity of its intensity.
| | [ the name of your item]
| | Listen.
| | Listen.
| | Feel the shape ... of its intensity.
| | [ the name of your item]
| | [ the name of your item]
| | Think to yourself:
"Intending [ the name of your item ]
"Intending [ the name of your item ]
"Intending [ the name of your item ]
"Intending refusing.
"Refusing.
| | "Refusing [ the name of your item ]"Refusing.
| | "Refusing [ the name of your item ]
| | Feel how it mattering involves YOU.
| | [ the name of your item ] [ the name of your item ]
| | It matters.
| | [ the name of your item ]
| | [ the name of your item ] doesn't matter.
| | It doesn't matter.
| | [ the name of your item ]
| | ... It matters.
| | Feel how it mattering involves YOU.
| | Feel how it mattering involves others.
Unlocking the Lock:
| ! | Think to yourself and feel: "It's true. It's true."
| ! | Think to yourself and feel: "It's untrue. It's untrue . . .
It's untrue."
| | "It's true."
| ! | Think to yourself and feel: "It's true. It's true."
| ! | Think to yourself and feel: "It's untrue. It's untrue . . .
It's untrue."
| | "It's true."
| | "It's untrue, it's untrue."
| | "It's true, it's true."
| | "It's true, it's true."
| ! | Remembering remembering, "It's true. It's true." (pause and feel)
| ! | Remembering, remembering [your item], "It's true."
| ! | Remembering remembering, "It's untrue. It's untrue."
| ! | Remembering, remembering [your item], "It's untrue."
| ! | Remembering [your item], "It's true."
| ! | Remembering [your item], "It's untrue."
| | Allow how remembering involves imagining.
| | Stop imagining.|=|
Allow it to dissolve, and dissipate.
Notice: You are awake.
Notice: You are awake.
(|=| The "Transcendent Kiss" feeling occurs. You'll know it when you feel it. It's the feeling of your mind feeling amorphous -- losing its form, empty, silent)
That completes the first part of Gold Key Release. Repetition gets more done, until the item is so gone, it doesn't affect you, anymore.
The Transcendent Kiss feeling may occur at any point during The Gold Key Release -- or after several passes through. When it happens, relax and rest. Prevent nothing, hold on to nothing.
Variations of The Gold Key Release exist to address common issues. Get training in those after you have become familiar with the basic Gold Key Release and with the feeling of The Transcendent Kiss.
copyright 2014-2025 Lawrence Gold
This writing may be reproduced only in its entirety
with accurate attribution of authorship.
CONTACT: 
No Memory of Eternality | No "The" | No "Time"
Do we confuse persistent, present conditions with permanence and eternality?
Intellectually, perhaps not; emotionally, it seems, we may.
To us, permanence is exactly like a memory that never fades
or that one thing you feel like will never come to an end or go away.
Gawwd.
Of course, there is no such thing as "permanent" or "eternal", but it may seem like there is.
A very interesting property of space-time
makes it seem as if temporary conditions
are permanent.
It has to do, in a roundabout way, with motion.
Everything is in motion. Period.
Even apparently static conditions are in motion -- if only from their molecular vibration due to their temperature being above Absolute Zero.
Everything is in motion in its own way.
and the way everything is, to be in motion,
has to do with the way everything else is in motion.
Anything that is not in motion is not a part of this universe,
because not exchanging energy with anything else,
and cannot be perceived in any sense. By definition.
What is in motion gives substance to space-time,
defining the amount of space it has moved
in terms of the time it took to cross it
and defining time by the use of events perceivable in space.
But something more than motion is necessary to create the appearance of time.
That "something more" is memory.
MOTION plus MEMORY are what our experience of TIME is -- nothing more.
Permanence is a concept derived from memory --
the memory of the perceiver (felt as if permanent)
and the memory of what the perceiver is perceiving
both, inseparable.
The perceiver's idea of "how it was" compared to "how it is",
contrasting long-term memory with short-term memory,
-- that comparison
and that contrast --
makes the sense of time.
It is always a memory of change occurring.
a memory of movement or of motion.
The seeming permanence of anything of the world
depends upon the seeming permanence of the perceiver--
which is really the sense of duration,
dependent on movement + memory.
Given that what does not move is not part of this universe
it follows that all things persist by moving
and seem to be durable or permanent
exactly because they are moving and impermanent.
Why must it be that way?
because the sense of permanence
cannot be perceived if it does not change.
It fades out into its unknown nature,
as happens when you stare at anything for long
and it washes out and vanishes from your field of vision
until you move or it moves, again.
To perceive permanence,
what seems permanent must actually be impermanent and moving.
What is impermanent
seems permanent
by being impermanent.
Just as we, perceivers,
must move to be alive
we must move to perceive what is apparently permanent
durable,
having duration
enduring over time.
So, all we take for permanent
even what is seeming to take forever to change,
we take that way
because we feel the potency of the permanent
through the force of the impermanent.
Eternality is form
and form is eternality
even as it changes.
Right?
Intellectually, perhaps not; emotionally, it seems, we may.
To us, permanence is exactly like a memory that never fades
or that one thing you feel like will never come to an end or go away.
Gawwd.
Of course, there is no such thing as "permanent" or "eternal", but it may seem like there is.
A very interesting property of space-time
makes it seem as if temporary conditions
are permanent.
It has to do, in a roundabout way, with motion.
Everything is in motion. Period.
Even apparently static conditions are in motion -- if only from their molecular vibration due to their temperature being above Absolute Zero.
Everything is in motion in its own way.
and the way everything is, to be in motion,
has to do with the way everything else is in motion.
Anything that is not in motion is not a part of this universe,
because not exchanging energy with anything else,
and cannot be perceived in any sense. By definition.
What is in motion gives substance to space-time,
defining the amount of space it has moved
in terms of the time it took to cross it
and defining time by the use of events perceivable in space.
But something more than motion is necessary to create the appearance of time.
That "something more" is memory.
MOTION plus MEMORY are what our experience of TIME is -- nothing more.
Permanence is a concept derived from memory --
the memory of the perceiver (felt as if permanent)
and the memory of what the perceiver is perceiving
both, inseparable.
The perceiver's idea of "how it was" compared to "how it is",
contrasting long-term memory with short-term memory,
-- that comparison
and that contrast --
makes the sense of time.
It is always a memory of change occurring.
a memory of movement or of motion.
The seeming permanence of anything of the world
depends upon the seeming permanence of the perceiver--
which is really the sense of duration,
dependent on movement + memory.
Given that what does not move is not part of this universe
it follows that all things persist by moving
and seem to be durable or permanent
exactly because they are moving and impermanent.
Why must it be that way?
because the sense of permanence
cannot be perceived if it does not change.
It fades out into its unknown nature,
as happens when you stare at anything for long
and it washes out and vanishes from your field of vision
until you move or it moves, again.
To perceive permanence,
what seems permanent must actually be impermanent and moving.
What is impermanent
seems permanent
by being impermanent.
Just as we, perceivers,
must move to be alive
we must move to perceive what is apparently permanent
durable,
having duration
enduring over time.
So, all we take for permanent
even what is seeming to take forever to change,
we take that way
because we feel the potency of the permanent
through the force of the impermanent.
Eternality is form
and form is eternality
even as it changes.
Right?
Mainstreaming Hanna Somatic Education, part 1
I'm too busy.
Between clients, consultations by telephone, filling orders, creating new instructional videos, writing, answering email messages, answering questions as a featured authority on AllExperts.com, developing new somatic exercises and refining somatic education techniques, my days are used up, even working as fast as I can (Imagine what that's doing to my Landau Reaction). I'm getting behind on my creative work -- and on the work of mainstreaming Hanna somatic education.
-- and I have the idea that it's time for somatics to get bigger.
After twenty years since Wave 1 students gained certification, it's a good time for Hanna somatic education to get "mainstream" enough to make meaningful differences to public health and to national economics. I would like to see that to happen (far better than it's happening, now).
Hanna somatic education can go beyond being a small discipline practiced by a number of people small in comparison to the general population -- to -- a discipline carried on and spread by the general population. With certified practitioners serving those with needs beyond what somatic exercises, alone, can do, and with us training people embedded in special advantageous positions in mainstream culture, who can teach somatic exercises in their own place, we can set the stage for somatics to go "mainstream". Then, we can reasonably expect a stream of referrals from somatic exercise teachers to clinical somatic education practitioners.
I can't bring that about, alone, and I know that a few enterprising practitioners are making some inroads. However, I believe we could go about this in a much better organized way, generate a smooth mindset for gracefully taking our place far more deeply in human cultures, take some artful steps, end up with a much more solid standing as a discipline serving the public, and fulfill the mission Thomas Hanna envisioned.
I need more hands.
But failing that due to my own genetic limitations, I'm asking people to lend me their ears.
We have an opportunity and we face a potential danger -- that being the definition of risk.
The danger? the success of Thomas Hanna's contribution -- in other people's hands than ours -- at a lower level of contribution than we could make.
The opportunity?
The potential to have somatics integrated into mainstream culture with such poise, mastery and assurance as to take our place as a matter of course.
Why now?
Three reasons:
Thomas Hanna's Reason
1. It's what Thomas Hanna envisioned when he spoke of "the millions" in his lecture to his Wave 1 students. He was speaking of a long-term project, since the thirty-eight people he was addressing, and the ~300 who practice, now, can hardly serve "millions".
The Other Reasons:
2. A need exists beyond the need for people to be out of pain.
In today's health care system, disability, pain management, and rehabilitation are stupendous costs to the American economy and to the world-economy. Somatic education can cut those costs down to size and transform people's health and aging expectations; it can be part of "health care reform" (where what we have with Obamacare is "health insurance reform").
3. Hanna somatic education could easily be "eaten" by two teaching streams well-established in mainstream culture: Pilates and Myofascial Release (Barnes) -- and there's talk in the Feldenkrais camp about mainstreaming Feldenkrais Somatic Integration, a good thing, but also a contrast to how we are handling mainstreaming.
Both teachings are close enough to Hanna somatics that the addition of pandiculation and the "three-reflex theory" would put them well within eating range of Hanna somatic education. Thomas Hanna's book, Somatics, is out there, and so is Jim Dreaver's book, Somatic Technique, with step-by-step illustrations of Lessons 1, 2 and 3.
They wouldn't necessarily be as good as Hanna somatics practiced masterfully and with right understanding, but they might be close enough to take top position in mainstream culture, doing what Hanna somatics uniquely does best. Remember, "The race doesn't always go to the swiftest, nor the contest, to the strongest."
I have it from one of our practitioner colleagues that:
- One school of Pilates has developed enough sophistication about movement and coordination that it could incorporate pandiculation.
- John Barnes has said that his advanced training incorporates something similar to pandiculation, if not pandiculation, itself.
If we don't overcome their advantages, Hanna somatic education could, in effect, be eaten.
There are reasons why Hanna somatics isn't already mainstream, and I'll address those in a future message. They surface when we ask, What would happen if Hanna somatics went mainstream?
Meanwhile, I'll leave you with, "I need your help."
MORE TO COME
What You Can Do Right Now:
- Feel whether you agree with the gist of this message.
Religion, Myth and Dreams
Religion is a placeholder for the imagination and aspirations of human somas.
Imagination is the field of desire and resistance.
Aspiration is eros, being drawn to the attractive unknown.
We perceive the mythic realm when attention rises from immersion in concrete actions and memory, and is allowed to spread out into imagination and memory.
The spreading is into what some call "subtle realms" or "dream zones" or "dream time",
the field of possibility,
a subset of the field of all possibility.
The mythic realm is an ongoing subtle pull upon attention by currents of the world-mind
a movement that pulls us into our memories,
induces drift of attention,
and submerges us in dreams and reveries.
There, one finds the world of myth --
"concretizations of mind" (memories),
a world of possibilities that may have or may yet
show up as actuality.
Actuality seems concrete.
But actuality is always in motion.
It is the reliability of the motions of something we take as actual
that indicates or suggests something is actually concrete.
So it is that the brain can't tell the difference
between an imagined occasion
and an actual occasion,
if their vividness -- or the spell they cast upon (and captivate) attention -- is equal.
Thus, literature may move us to tears or laughter
by the spell of words we call,
story.
And so also may our own stream of thinking
move us to feel things,
whether the stream be about what is actual
or about what is imagined.
Myth is Dream,
saved and made common.
Dreams may be the precursor
of actualities.
Religion
is a placeholder for our imaginings,
upon which rests our faith,
save for us until we can take flight, for ourselves
in flights of imagination and acts of faith.
Religion is "training wheels"
supporting our own sense of integrity, of balance
before we have found integrity and balance, for ourselves.
Religion is "training wheels"
for our nascent intuiting of the field of all possibility
both those possibilities that seem most accessible
and those possibilities that extend our reach
beyond.
Religion
Myth
Dream
Possibilities in The Field of All Possibility
and beyond.
Imagination is the field of desire and resistance.
Aspiration is eros, being drawn to the attractive unknown.
We perceive the mythic realm when attention rises from immersion in concrete actions and memory, and is allowed to spread out into imagination and memory.
The spreading is into what some call "subtle realms" or "dream zones" or "dream time",
the field of possibility,
a subset of the field of all possibility.
The mythic realm is an ongoing subtle pull upon attention by currents of the world-mind
a movement that pulls us into our memories,
induces drift of attention,
and submerges us in dreams and reveries.
There, one finds the world of myth --
"concretizations of mind" (memories),
a world of possibilities that may have or may yet
show up as actuality.
Actuality seems concrete.
But actuality is always in motion.
It is the reliability of the motions of something we take as actual
that indicates or suggests something is actually concrete.
So it is that the brain can't tell the difference
between an imagined occasion
and an actual occasion,
if their vividness -- or the spell they cast upon (and captivate) attention -- is equal.
Thus, literature may move us to tears or laughter
by the spell of words we call,
story.
And so also may our own stream of thinking
move us to feel things,
whether the stream be about what is actual
or about what is imagined.
Myth is Dream,
saved and made common.
Dreams may be the precursor
of actualities.
Religion
is a placeholder for our imaginings,
upon which rests our faith,
save for us until we can take flight, for ourselves
in flights of imagination and acts of faith.
Religion is "training wheels"
supporting our own sense of integrity, of balance
before we have found integrity and balance, for ourselves.
Religion is "training wheels"
for our nascent intuiting of the field of all possibility
both those possibilities that seem most accessible
and those possibilities that extend our reach
beyond.
Religion
Myth
Dream
Possibilities in The Field of All Possibility
and beyond.
Click below.
SOMATOLOGY | The Physical Body, The Field of Mind, Memory and The Great Mystery
Though it may be taken to be otherwise,
what we call, "body"
is a resonant field
imbued with feeling (sentience)
the property of occupying space
the capability of movement,
and with the ability to move among other resonant fields
living beings.
It is what we mean by, "soma".
Our minds are not entirely our own,
but resonate with the field of all minds
modulate that field of thought and feeling
through interaction with memory and original activity
and reflect it back into the field of all minds
transformed.
What we call, "body"
is really, "soma",
sentient,
resonant in the field of all minds,
responsive,
initiatory,
remembering,
intelligent,
changing,
accelerating the process of change
occurring in and as the Field of All Possibility.
Physiology resonates and physically manifests
the ways of mind.
The ways of mind
are not "the" mind,
since there is no fixed identity
no permanent identity
to earn the appelation, "the"
(though personal names imply such a permanent identity).
There is only a persisting and yet changing process
constantly inscribing upon memory
endless moments of time
connected by memory
or disconnected in amnesia.
The amnesia shows up,
somatically,
as awkwardness
both in terms of clumsiness of movement
and in terms of dis-ease or disgrace,
as discontinuity of feeling during movement
as lack of sensibility during action,
of which we are unaware, oblivious,
since a long-term lack of sensation goes unnoticed
as lack of fluidity,
a kind of stodginess in certain movements, such as walking
slowed walking or unsteady walking
as dis-comfort in certain positions
as somewhat crude control of movements,
so that they're "all on" or "all off",
but not so well controlled in "the in-between"
The amnesia, the obliviousness
shows up as habits of behavior and memory
which we take to be ourselves
and which others recognize as ourselves
all lumped into one as our way of moving
and of going into and coming out of rest,
Psychology and the physiology are the same one
perceived from two different viewpoints.
Psychology is the experience of physiology
and
physiology is the play of psychology as living matter.
Experiential memory holds them as one.
Conceptual memory holds then as two.
We, somas, are the musical instruments that play
the Music of the Spheres,
the "music" (and noise) of the centers of influence we all are
resonant fields apparently centered as "selves"
located by others
and experienced by ourselves
as centers of memory
memory, embodied physiologically
memory, resonant with the Field of All Minds
the Field of All Possibilities
ever-changing
ever appearing to persist as a center-self
a resonant field of mind
transforming physiologically and psychologically
as changes of our level of rest or activity
as changes of our state of attention,
as changes of our muscular activity
of our neurology,
as hormonal changes
and changes of our blood pressure and breathing rate.
Thought is the flickering of attention among memory patterns
among arousal states
inscribed upon memory
as things sensed
things felt
and impulses to act or react
to feel or not to feel,
all inscribed upon memory
with gaps of amnesia,
things forgotten
like a Hitchcock tale.
Emotion is the tension set within which thoughts occur.
Emotion gathers related, mutually triggering memories
together
into a state of suspense
that may persist or that may change
over short or very long periods of time.
The physiology gets stabilized at a certain pattern of homeostasis
or "best approximation of 'home'"
which, as we know
has gaps and deviations
both physiologically (as perceived from one perspective)
and psychologically (as apperceived from another).
The kicker is that apperception (the perception of self-soma by self-soma)
has amnesias and unawakened potentials
and so soma-self's image
is subject to
"The 'not-knowing" of all I never knew I didn't know." (oblivious ignorance)
and
"All the 'knowing' that I've forgotten that I know, that's still running the show." (amnesia and habit)
-- in other words,
incomplete and inconclusive
beset by seemingly hidden influences,
but seeming, because of memory,
to be complete and conclusive,
present as physiological states of readiness
to take actions remembered
toward different things as they are happening, now.
And they call that maturity.
But it's incomplete.
The perspective of "the other", another person,
another viewpoint toward oneself that one is capable of taking in,
may reveal the hidden memories and blind spots
that have been running the show from behind the scenes.
And the two somatic perspectives,
from outside
and
from within
give a more complete view,
but still,
always,
incomplete and inconclusive
subject to
"The 'not-knowing" of all I never knew I didn't know." (oblivious ignorance)
and
"All the 'knowing' that I've forgotten that I know, that's still running the show." (amnesia and habit)
-- whatever we may know in memory
and mistake for the present moment.
what we call, "body"
is a resonant field
imbued with feeling (sentience)
the property of occupying space
the capability of movement,
and with the ability to move among other resonant fields
living beings.
It is what we mean by, "soma".
Our minds are not entirely our own,
but resonate with the field of all minds
modulate that field of thought and feeling
through interaction with memory and original activity
and reflect it back into the field of all minds
transformed.
What we call, "body"
is really, "soma",
sentient,
resonant in the field of all minds,
responsive,
initiatory,
remembering,
intelligent,
changing,
accelerating the process of change
occurring in and as the Field of All Possibility.
Physiology resonates and physically manifests
the ways of mind.
The ways of mind
are not "the" mind,
since there is no fixed identity
no permanent identity
to earn the appelation, "the"
(though personal names imply such a permanent identity).
There is only a persisting and yet changing process
constantly inscribing upon memory
endless moments of time
connected by memory
or disconnected in amnesia.
The amnesia shows up,
somatically,
as awkwardness
both in terms of clumsiness of movement
and in terms of dis-ease or disgrace,
as discontinuity of feeling during movement
as lack of sensibility during action,
of which we are unaware, oblivious,
since a long-term lack of sensation goes unnoticed
as lack of fluidity,
a kind of stodginess in certain movements, such as walking
slowed walking or unsteady walking
as dis-comfort in certain positions
as somewhat crude control of movements,
so that they're "all on" or "all off",
but not so well controlled in "the in-between"
This is part of clumsiness.
Elite athletes excel in "the in-between" between "all on" and "all off",
and not just in "the extremes" of high performance
and so exhibit uncommon grace.
The amnesia, the obliviousness
shows up as habits of behavior and memory
which we take to be ourselves
and which others recognize as ourselves
all lumped into one as our way of moving
and of going into and coming out of rest,
Psychology and the physiology are the same one
perceived from two different viewpoints.
Psychology is the experience of physiology
and
physiology is the play of psychology as living matter.
Experiential memory holds them as one.
Conceptual memory holds then as two.
We, somas, are the musical instruments that play
the Music of the Spheres,
the "music" (and noise) of the centers of influence we all are
resonant fields apparently centered as "selves"
located by others
and experienced by ourselves
as centers of memory
memory, embodied physiologically
memory, resonant with the Field of All Minds
the Field of All Possibilities
ever-changing
ever appearing to persist as a center-self
a resonant field of mind
transforming physiologically and psychologically
as changes of our level of rest or activity
as changes of our state of attention,
as changes of our muscular activity
of our neurology,
as hormonal changes
and changes of our blood pressure and breathing rate.
Thought is the flickering of attention among memory patterns
among arousal states
inscribed upon memory
as things sensed
things felt
and impulses to act or react
to feel or not to feel,
all inscribed upon memory
with gaps of amnesia,
things forgotten
like a Hitchcock tale.
Emotion is the tension set within which thoughts occur.
Emotion gathers related, mutually triggering memories
together
into a state of suspense
that may persist or that may change
over short or very long periods of time.
The physiology gets stabilized at a certain pattern of homeostasis
or "best approximation of 'home'"
which, as we know
has gaps and deviations
both physiologically (as perceived from one perspective)
and psychologically (as apperceived from another).
The kicker is that apperception (the perception of self-soma by self-soma)
has amnesias and unawakened potentials
and so soma-self's image
is subject to
"The 'not-knowing" of all I never knew I didn't know." (oblivious ignorance)
and
"All the 'knowing' that I've forgotten that I know, that's still running the show." (amnesia and habit)
-- in other words,
incomplete and inconclusive
beset by seemingly hidden influences,
but seeming, because of memory,
to be complete and conclusive,
present as physiological states of readiness
to take actions remembered
toward different things as they are happening, now.
And they call that maturity.
But it's incomplete.
The perspective of "the other", another person,
another viewpoint toward oneself that one is capable of taking in,
may reveal the hidden memories and blind spots
that have been running the show from behind the scenes.
And the two somatic perspectives,
from outside
and
from within
give a more complete view,
but still,
always,
incomplete and inconclusive
subject to
"The 'not-knowing" of all I never knew I didn't know." (oblivious ignorance)
and
"All the 'knowing' that I've forgotten that I know, that's still running the show." (amnesia and habit)
-- whatever we may know in memory
and mistake for the present moment.
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