BodyWork and Higher Consciousness

Dr. Deana Guadagno, a network chiropractor,[*] and Silas Barr, a massage therapist, work with patients to help them open up the link between higher consciousness and the body. By understanding the blocks and moving through them, we are able to move into a place of freedom and change, where contact with higher consciousness naturally occurs.

Below, Deana and Silas share their knowledge about how bodily energies relate to our ability to contact higher consciousness. And although their particular tools are chiropracty and massage, their comments can apply to the results of doing all kinds of bodywork, including Rolfing, Feldenkrais, T'ai Chi, and Yoga, to name but a few of the many modalities open to us.

Julia: Please tell us what you have discovered about how bodywork can free us up to greater contact with our Higher Self.

Deana: The cerebral cortex is the center that connects us to our higher consciousness. And yet it is also the cerebral cortex that stores memories and energies that occur when we defend ourselves or feel unable to deal with life — when we feel overwhelmed and can't process what is happening.

So if we look at consciousness as a glass slide, the information held by the body and the cerebral cortex is like a film on the slide that distorts our perception.

When bodywork moves out these patterns of distortion, the cerebral cortex begins to release the stored information. This makes space for greater consciousness. In this space, people learn to create happiness, better relationships, and greater freedom. In other words, they begin to become more perceptive about their higher consciousness.

In fact, most of my clients come to me not because of physical symptoms but because they want to make changes in their consciousness. Through network adjustments, we add new patterns to the body that encourage the cerebral cortex to pay attention. And when the cortex pays attention, there is an oscillation or movement that makes space for new information.

This release of the patterns of distortion in the body can end emotional swings, such as swings between anger, depression, and extreme joy, and this balance also creates connection with the Higher Self. A balanced person is intense, creative, and present, and open — there is space for new experience.

Silas: The brain and the body are whole and inseparable. The body and spirit are intricately woven, and the patterns of distortion in the emotions and mental process that block access to higher consciousness are reflected in the body.

Our culture functions from a view of the body that is not congruent with the truth. Everyone should take classes in learning to observe our bodies. This knowledge would change the way we relate to others.

There is a great difference between people who have had extensive bodywork and those who have not. Most people have lumpy or contracted tissue, and it literally holds the stress and the blocks that keep us from integrating our experiences. Almost everyone has armor or protective tissue. This is the cause of most back pain. Clearing the blocks or patterns of distortion can take place through realignment of the body structure, realignment of soft tissue, or realignment of the neurological system.

As Deana said, the most obvious goal of bodywork is to create space in the mind by eliminating the patterns that the body is holding. This can open us up to a higher state of consciousness.

Here's an example: I had one client who experienced back pain for two years and couldn't recall how he had hurt his back. Finally, he remembered a skiing accident in which he had fallen fifteen feet. When he remembered the accident through the awareness exercise, the pain ceased. The pain might have ended through the bodywork session alone, without his remembering. But the movement through his story helped in clearing the memory. This opens a space for a higher state of consciousness, because the memory can move. It is no longer held by the body or mind.

When we stop our stories, it becomes easier to change our lives. Space and freedom can be created in the same space that was previously dominated by the ego.

Julia: How can we access our higher self by learning to become aware of the blocks in the body?

Silas: Simple awareness exercises can bring you back into the body. The technique deepens through practice. When the practice is regular, the awareness is greater, and you will find that you can move into it more deeply. Eventually, you learn to live in a way that is new and outside of the ego, without stories.

Here is a simple awareness exercise I teach my clients to help them move the energy and achieve a shift into higher consciousness.

Find the part of your consciousness that observes, and begin to breathe. If you tend to stay in your mind, then focus on the feeling of the air against your arms, or the contact of your feet with the floor. Take several deep breaths and just breathe for a while. Notice the breath and don't move or manipulate it.

Now, notice the mind. Notice what is going on in the mind, and ask, "Where is the place in my body that reflects the tension in my mind?" Watch the breath and keep your conscious mind from trying to figure it all out. Quiet your consciousness mind.

When the awareness of the self and breath and attention become one, you will finally come to a place of tension in the body. When you access this place of tension, stories and emotions will typically come up. Memories of injuries or traumatic events are stored in our tensions and blocks. Just watch non-judgmentally as the information begins to appear.

The memories or emotions may become intense. When this happens, you may tell yourself you've experienced enough and want to stop. But it's important to continue the exercise beyond this point.

If you keep going, the next thing that happens will be a shift to becoming extremely uncomfortable, after which some of the tension will leave. At this point, the tight spot in your body will begin to relax.

Often, another emotion or memory will come to take the place of the first one, and you can continue with the exercise or continue at another time.

If this exercise brings up more information than you can handle, then you may need to reach out to someone, or take classes in T'ai Chi, Yoga, or deep breathing, or do some type of cardiovascular exercise.

When working with my own blocks, I've occasionally had to use exercise to move through them. I wanted to meditate, but my mental dialogue kept me from being able to focus.

Deana: Most emotions last only for about ninety seconds. If an emotion lasts longer than that, you are probably revisiting a story or event from your past, and that's when you need to go into awareness of it.

Julia: If you tend to be more mental, how do you work through physical blocks? Some of my own stories are so vivid that I have trouble detaching from them.

Silas: You should begin with the philosophy of not judging what comes up, and especially not buying into the stories that come up when you begin to access the energy. The stories are a combination of memories and programming, and they are all about judgment — your beliefs about yourself, who you think you are. For example, you may see yourself as a "white person" or as an "American." You have to just let go of all of that.

If your stories are going crazy, and you are reacting to your memories, just tell yourself that you'll stay with the technique for fifteen minutes, and see if it works or not. Observe the process of what is going on inside yourself.

It's also wise to write down what happens during the process. I keep a journal. I write down the stories themselves, what happens during the process, and what happens during the shift. This helps me to observe my own process of going through blocks.

My own progress in life was not exemplary when I decided to begin this type of work. I was plagued with depression and anger.

I lived in the woods, and so I had learned to observe nature. I also had learned to observe myself. When I began bodywork, I was able to apply this knowledge.

The awareness exercise helps because it is possible to move through blocks in the observer state. You can find their cause and flow through them. You can connect more fully with the flow of life as the blocks move.

Deana: I have learned that a slower process, repeated many times, has a greater effect than a lot of information at one time. It's easier to integrate information in smaller amounts.

Julia: Are there other steps that one can take to create space by freeing up body energy?

Silas: I've found that Chinese herbs help to bring old emotoinal patterns to a place where they can be released.

I say this from personal experience. In the past, I didn't feel comfortable talking to people, and I worked through that by journaling and breathing. This process brought up emotions of depression, anxiety, and hatred, which I also thought that I'd worked through. But two years later, I decided to take Chinese herbs for the heart (which is the mind/spirit connection), and I began to re-experience the earlier emotions in an intense form. I took a two-hour bike ride, and my body released them.

Deana: There is a list of questions that I like to use. In order to attain greater awareness, you can ask yourself these questions each day:

Did I wake up excited today?

Did I have enough energy today?

What was my last creative project?

What was my relationship with my children? Did I play with them? Did I have time for them?

How many stimulants (coffee, tea, etc.) did I use?

What was my diet? What foods was I attracted to?

What kind of movement or exercise did I engage in?

How did I talk to myself?

What was my posture like?

How much weight am I carrying?

What does my body smell like?

What does my skin look like?

How do my eyes look? Nails? Hair?

What is my breathing like — deep, shallow, or half-breaths?

Is the color in my face good?

How do I react to my body?

Where is my spine? Can I feel it? How is it different from my stomach?

How does my body feel when it is relaxed? How does it feel when it is stressed?

Learning to differentiate these states can tell us a great deal about our consciousness and body. Simply thinking in this way can increase awareness so that we can make changes in our physical life.

Looking at the body in this way, we can easily understand that most people want or need to become healthier!

Julia: Do you have any information you want to add in closing?

Deana: All of the Eastern disciplines include body movement as an integral part of their spirituality. Yet we seem to have omitted the body from consideration in Western and New Age philosophy. I think emphasis on Ascension is good. It's important. It has its place. But I don't see much value in the idea of attaining enlightenment through drinking coffee and meditating all day. It's just as important to be inside our bodies as it is to be outside of them.

We're in our bodies for a reason. The body is very important. It can be used to heal our consciousness. If there's one thing I can't emphasize enough, it is that we need to be more present in the body now.

Dr. Deana Guadagno graduated from Boston College and worked for a time as a stylist in the film industry. Becoming interested in healing as a result of a knee injury, she attended chiropractic college, and later founded the Atlanta Holistic Center in Atlanta, GA.

Silas Barr is a licensed bodywork and massage therapist who developed S.M.A.R.T. (Sensory Motor Awareness Retracing Technique), a form of bodywork therapy that brings ease and balance back into the body through increased self awareness.

Silas Barr and Deana Guadagno may be reached at 404-929-0604 or by email at C4HH@yahoo.com.

Note:

*For information about Network Chiropractic, please visit InnateIntelligence.com.