Whole-body Blog

She arrives. She is in a foul mood. She huffs and puffs about her husband, criticizes my flowers, her children, the government. She says that she feels “pretty much the same,” but different—good different, she says, “I think it’s doing something.” But she doesn’t know what the “something” is. Her arm hurts: “Work on my arm,” she says. She still suffers Plantar Fasciitis. Her lower legs are pale and tight and full of sadness. A scan reveals energetic blockages in her shin. A book on the shelf says the shin is related to issues of not being true to one’s values or ideals. She says that she is not sure what her values or ideals are. Do I loosen the tissue in her calves and relieve the strained nerves in her foot? Do I talk with her about her values and ideals? Do I do both of these things? Neither? Maybe all that she needs is for me to hold the points in her energy field that connect her with her source. We talk. Now I am “pushing her buttons.” The room is charged and dark like a pre-tornado sky. I move to her head and cradle it. The storm breaks up in parts. She is coming back to herself. Her Self is coming back to her. I have worked on her feet before and the Plantar Fasciitis left—for a while. But it’s back. I believe that there are other issues. This is a science and an art. She is together with Buddha, with the cosmos. My job is to remove the obstacles that obscure this alignment, this flow. That is the art part. The pain in her foot comes from inflamed nerves, made worse by fascial strains. The pain can be relieved. That is the science part. Holistic therapy is art and science. So I ask myself, why does her pain come back-what is the cause: emotional, spiritual, mental, physical? What is the best way to treat her? The session is over now. There is relief. Her arm feels much better. She is radiant, but not at peace. I can help, I can support, but she has work to do—we all have our work to do. I will use whatever I can to help her: from Rolfing to meditation instruction to referring her out. But it is too early to know. There is progress, and there are signs of her manifest peace.