Issue link: http://www.bodysensemagazinedigital.com/i/115377
The Body Tells a Story " I began my career as a bodyworker and massage therapist in 1977, and have been privileged to deliver more than 40,000 hours of therapy since then in all kinds of settings: urban and rural, private practice and hospitals, for physical health and mental health. I found that touching painful, numb, or otherwise problematic areas of the body often led people to remember, and sometimes talk about, traumatic experiences they'd endured. I once worked with a 65-year-old Brazilian woman who had terrible pain in her shoulders. As we worked together, she began to remember— for the first time in 50 years—an experience from her childhood. In order to correct her posture, the nuns in the convent she attended placed a broomstick between her elbows, pulled her arms behind her back, and made her sit still for several hours. She had forgotten this experience until we touched an area of pain, allowing her to listen to the story her body had to tell. People who have chronic pain often have underlying issues, such as anxiety, chemical dependency, chronic depression, fibromyalgia, or a history of exposure to trauma. The body tells the story that the psyche cannot find words for. My work in this area led me to the study of psychology, and I have spent much of my career identifying how different massage and bodywork methods can address the physical and mental symptoms of trauma. One of these ways is to allow the body to reestablish its natural rhythms, which are often disrupted by trauma. Rhythms of Recovery We are rhythmic, pulsating, vibrating human beings governed by nature's rhythms. Many physical and mental illnesses can be understood as a disruption of these psychobiological Bodywork for these conditions often focuses on stress reduction; when someone relaxes, their autonomic nervous system resets, as do all the rhythms it modulates. and physiological rhythms. For example, we are attuned biologically to the rhythms of light and dark. This is called the circadian rhythm—the 24hour sleep/wake cycle. This rhythm can be disrupted by trauma, leading to chronic insomnia and chemical dependency. Disruption of the circadian rhythm is also seen in depression, fibromyalgia, and sleep disorders. The circadian rhythm governs the stress hormone cortisol, which follows a 24-hour cycle of peaks and valleys and which is also severely disrupted by trauma. Normally, cortisol levels should be highest in the morning and slowly drop during the day so they are lowest at night. However, in depression and traumatic stress, the opposite is often true; they might be lowest in the morning and highest at night. Bodywork for these conditions often focuses on stress reduction; when someone relaxes, their autonomic nervous system resets, as do all the rhythms it modulates. For example, peristalsis is a natural rhythm that can be regulated by gentle abdominal massage. Peristalsis is the undulating movement of the colon required to eliminate food, which