Transcript of the Level I Review video

TRAGER CERTIFICATION TRAINING PROGRAM 

LEVEL ONE REVIEW 

Presented by Roger Tolle, Instructor 

INTRODUCTION 

Welcome, and hello. This is a training video for Trager Level I students. For students who have had the Level I training, it is serving as a review of the various parts of the Level I training protocol. 

All of these parts of the training are to be practiced in the spirit of having a dialog with the partner, with the tissue of the partner’s body . . . not as specific things to do to someone, but to inquire of them. 

Our intention with this video is to support your practice and give you some review of the elements of the class that you have just taken. It will be divided into eight different segments. 

The first segment you will see is about Mentastics that we use to prepare ourselves for giving sessions. 

The second segment is the Interview or Intake with a client, with a partner. 

The third segment is the Head, Neck and Breath work we do at the head of the table. 

The fourth segment covers the Legs and Feet - Supine. 

The fifth segment will be Arms, Chest, and Belly with clients lying face up. 

The sixth segment is the part of the session where we get our partners comfortable on the table face down, or in the Prone Position, and the Back of Legs. 

The seventh session is Shoulders and Back review. 

The last segment is about bringing the client back into vertical, Observing Changes, Describing those Changes, and Contexting the session into everyday life. 

Please enjoy your practice, enjoy watching this video; and please be respectful of this training. Don’t share this video or the training process with people who haven’t yet taken the training. 

Thanks a lot. Enjoy. 

PREPARING WITH MENTASTICS 

Arriving in Sensation 

What helps you get out of your thinking and into your feeling? How do you arrive in sensation? 

Get very intimate with your sense of weight in movement…your weight walking, weight hanging, weight swinging, weight bouncing , ….weight pouring, weight sinking… 

Give yourself time to arrive in sensation… 

Sense the shifting of weight … and fine-tune the sensitivity of the pad of the foot to the subtle shifts of pressure… 

De-contracting and de-compressing one leg, I can play with it, move it easily. 

Arrive in the sensation of the swing of your shoulders and arms, how your spine feels, how your belly feels, how you are breathing, …a scan of your body in movement… Sense yourself through movement. 

The movements can be very ordinary…hanging over, rolling up. 

And of course the movements can feel extraordinary too. Dance-like, beautiful, creative. 

While you’re moving, the internal questions of our Mentastics practice begin to arise. What could be lighter, easier? You can begin to exercise the uniquely human capacity to re-imagine the details of your movement. 

What is really important is the quality of my mind, the quality of my curiosity in myself. The innocent curiosity where I am really paying attention, really exploring, really enjoying being a human body. 

Freeing Our Structure 

Then within the context of our own movement, we begin to explore some freeing up of our structure. 

foot bones, leg bones, thigh sockets… 

I might want to focus on an area of my body that is feeling a little dense, and fluff it up a bit. Maybe my pelvis and legs need a little fluffing up. 

We are de-compressing, de-contracting our own body structure… cause it feels good, of course, and helps relieve some of the effects of stress, … but more importantly, because it awakens sensation and refines perception, particularly our perception of weight… 

And it refines our mind’s awareness. 

Let yourself find a little more freedom in your shoulders…freedom in hands and arms… discover and re-own the potential for freedom throughout your body. 

Freeing our movement, we also free our minds. 

Freeing ourselves to have fun… 

Freeing ourselves to re-discover playfulness …and child-like joy… and to delight in our movement potentials 

Softening and Enlivening Our Tissue 

…What would be softer and easier? Even softer than that would be…? 

Maybe getting a sense of the flow and dangle of the arms as if they were soft willow branches… or fluid, soft and flowing like a scarf. 

Pick the images that invoke or invite you into a sense of ease and softness…and to a new definition of how you experience yourself. 

There might be some images that help you with softening movement, softening muscles, finding softness in your own body. Images like floating in water, letting your head be the bobber that sits up on top, and your tail the sinker drawing you toward the earth…or floating freely like seaweed. 

What would be lighter? How do I find and practice what my body knows about lightness? And lighter than that??? 

In some ways I am invoking joyfulness, the sweetness of delight in being here in my body, being with myself in a new way. Caringly, caring for our bodies as we move quicker or with more vigor, but letting ourselves get a little delighted. 

Now see if you can find a little sense of aliveness, a little bounciness, perhaps a fluid ripple of the muscle tissue around the bones of the body. 

We bring in liveliness because we are alive, we want to feel our aliveness. 

Calming Our Nervous System 

And along with enlivening yourself, begin to weave in relaxing yourself. 

Relaxing your nervous system with movements and gestures that speak to you of letting go, of letting up on yourself. How do you let go a little more of your weight? How do you let up on your self a little more…reduce the self-inflicted pressure to be good, or right, or responsible for a while. 

Focus on some details of your body’s movement and let them get quieter and softer…or focus on the overall sense of easy flow. 

As we develop more articulate perception, deeper connection of mind to body, and more whole bodied presence…we weave in some pausing just to feel…we allow sensation to fill us…. 

These moments of pause, of stillness and resonance after movement, inform our nervous system of the possibility of deep quiet. 

Cultivating a quieter place in ourselves for listening to our partners. 

Becoming more Receptive in Body and Mind 

In the activity of preparing for giving a session, there might be some actions that I do…but what I am cultivating are the qualities of non-doing within each action. Doing less, I allow myself to feel more. 

Mixing in times for me to pause and enjoy something resonant …quiet moments of enjoying what I have begun to create for myself… 

I let myself feel. 

Moving to invite a little more sensation, and pausing to feel the resonance. Repeating this moving and pausing, moving and pausing, we get to a place where we can really feel that our pausing is full of resonant moving, and our moving is full of quiet. 

Feeling spaciousness. Feeling openness… 

The qualities of lightness and ease, softness and freedom…whole body presence…a porousness to life…All of this movement practice is by way of becoming more available to life. 

The primary intention of our Mentastics practice is Hook-up. 

Basking in “Hook-Up” 

Basking in Hook-up I come to create myself. 

Hooking up to that life-giving, life-regulating force that is all around us …. and all inside us. 

Sometimes that basking in hook-up feels like me expanding…sometimes it feels like the life energy around me enveloping and supporting, infusing me … with pleasurable feeling sensations. 

INTAKE/INTERVIEW/MENTASTICS 

We’ve spent some time getting ourselves focused, and softened, and opened with our own personal Mentastics practice. I arrive at the scene when my client arrives, and I’m available for them. I’m ready to listen. I’m ready to be present for them. 

Asking a Question or Two 

“Welcome. Glad you were able to come for a session today. So tell me a little bit about what I need to know about your body.” 

(First client responds that he is having problems with his S/I area. Second client responds that she is having tightness in her left quad.) 

Giving Information to the Client 

At the beginning of the session I may need to give my client or partner a little information about what is going to happen. 

To the client:” I will start my session by asking you to move a little bit, because I need to see the movement as it happens in you at the beginning, and then we will compare that to what the experience is at the end.” 

Part of my interview is that I want to recognize and acknowledge what moves easily too. I want to express to them that we are looking for not only what is wrong, but we’re looking for what is right, what works, what’s already going easily in the body that we could enhance a little bit and get it to flow. 

So that might be information to present to some of your clients 

Intake Forms 

I want to remind you that there is an intake form in your handbook, a couple of different varieties of forms, available for you to use. 

Sometimes it can be helpful to have your client, when they first arrive, sit down and write out something for you as part of the intake. It’s a way of gathering further information about them; and for them to think, in a quiet way, and remember what they need to tell you about their bodies. 

Listening/Observing with Open Body Language 

“What does it feel like in your body right now?” (Client replies minimally. “I feel pretty good.) 

“Are there any particular places that are a little tighter, or a little looser?” (Client replies more fully, indicating tightness in her shoulders.) 

Even though she might be a little resistant at the beginning, I kept asking her more questions…specific questions about specific movements. And so she’s curious and follows along with that. 

This is exactly the kind of situation we run into, with people feeling uncomfortable. First, I need to be comfortable myself, and not let it throw me out of my comfort, my ease, my hook-up … as best as I can. 

Awkwardness into Connection 

Beginnings are inherently awkward. That’s what a beginning is. I can go quickly out of that [awkwardness] with my quality of presence and ease, but even now, after all these years in practice, when I get a new person in front of me, there is a moment of awkwardness. 

I tolerate that moment of awkwardness because I know that right behind it is a moment of connection. If I let the awkwardness be real…I acknowledge that it feels a little awkward standing and moving. I do something to make it a little less awkward, and I immediately feel connected with her because I have recognized it. 

Inviting Client to Walk Around Table 

Ask the client to walk around the table once or twice to see, and feel into, how their restriction or problem effects walking. 

This is a good format to practice so I get into a habit of observing people walk, observing them move. If they are having a particular problem with neck, or shoulders, or back … I may ask them to move in that particular area so I can begin to understand it, see it, feel what the restriction is doing and where it might be referring in other parts of the body. 

Observing Client Move: Close, Far and Side by Side 

To the client: “Let’s take a little walk.” And I start to walk too. I’m with her in this exploration. I walk behind, or beside her . . . or I want to look at what’s happening up close . . . or I want to look at what’s happening from a distance as she walks toward me. 

Part of watching people move is that I can make it more comfortable, or less comfortable for them. Here’s an example of less comfortable: (Roger stands still with arms crossed and says to the client, “Just take a walk for me.” 

Immediately my body language says I’m standing in judgment of your walking. That’s pretty uncomfortable for most humans. And there are probably lots of other not so good ways of being “with” someone. 

Verbalize What You See/Notice 

“Let me just watch you walk . . . Well, I can see it’s not moving so easily. Come again for me.” 

Client replies that he feels he is “moving too forward.” 

“Well, let’s start with that. Let’s say that you feel like you can move a little forward, Try this . . . just being in your feet and letting your pelvis swing forward . . . as if you had a long tail that you were going to swing between your legs . . .” 

When the client is walking around, I’m not going to say, “You’ve got a tight butt.” I don’t want to be in any way judgmental of that. But I recognize it as a beginning place. And I’m glad that there is a beginning. 

I might say, “This is great. Thank-you. This gives me some information about how you are moving. Let me just come up and give you a little bit of feeling here . . .” 

Establish Dialogue 

Asks client, “So it’s mostly still on that side that there is more tension?” (Client agrees.) 

So now . . . I don’t know where we are going with this. I’m just curious about what’s happening in him. I’m curious to know what he gets to know . . . 

. . . and part of my job here in this opening interview is to establish that it’s a dialogue—that I don’t necessarily know what is right or best or going to work for him. I don’t know which movements are going to be really good—but I’m willing to ask. 

I’m willing to ask all kinds of corollary questions. You saw me asking, “What about this, what about that? How about this direction, how about that?” That lets my interview get really interesting to both of us. 

Making “Feedback Contract” 

I think that it’s very important to let them [client/practice partner] know that you are a student, and that the exchange for the session is the feedback. They are not paying you for the session, and the reason for that is because you are still in study. 

And it’s important that the person you are working with can give you good feedback—that that they are not in some kind of impaired state because of emotional distress, or drugs, or alcohol, or anything else that would prevent them from giving you good feedback—because that is our contract. 

Helping Client Get Comfortable on the Table 

Demonstration: the client is lying face up on the table. 

One of the things that I notice right away with Bob, is the angle of his face hanging down just a little bit . . . so part of what I want to do, that will get him more comfortable in the beginning—and that’s our principle—comfort to start—is giving him a little bit of a pad [under his head]. 

A folded sheet works nicely. I’m still leaving some space for my hands beneath his neck, so I can get in there easily. 

Checks in with client: “Does that feel comfortable for you, Bob?” (Client replies that it is good.) 

I’m also glad that we have different kinds of body structures here in the class, because we can see how movement, and the touch, and the approach might be slightly different from person to person. 

[Another client is on the table.] 

“You will let me know if anything feels uncomfortable at all, right?” (Client agrees.) 

With Robin here I’ve got a roll under her knees for a little extra support, and I’ve had her slide down to give some space at the head of the table for me to sit. 

HEAD, NECK & BREATH 

Feel into Yourself 

I take a couple of moments . . . and if I need to or want to, I can say to my partner, “I’m going to take a couple of moments to relax, and get myself a little better prepared . . . and you can just rest yourself into the table.” 

So she settles herself, a natural thing to do when given permission. 

Maybe I soften my arms a little, breathe a little fuller, soften my neck, let my eyes get easy . . . checking that I can feel my sitz bones on the table, and that I’m not hanging over the edge of the table too much. 

And I look down at the landscape of her body . . . seeing how she’s lying right now . . . maybe begin to pick up, in my awareness, the way she’s breathing. I’m breathing, she’s breathing. It’s a good thing. 

Soft Contact 

Feeling my way in, really softly . . . finding a contact place at the beginning that makes it easy to just listen to the body, to listen to the breathe . . . 

We know that the top lobes of the lungs come way up above the collar bones, so if I wrap my hands around my upper neck area, I can feel my own breath, and with my client I can feel their breathing sense here. 

Sensing into breathing is a wonderful way of feeling more connected to somebody. 

Sculpt Shoulders and Neck 

I’m sculpting . . . the feeling of this sculpting action includes the landscape of the skin, the muscle tissue, the soft tissue, and the bone structure . . . 

There’s no hurry with my sculpting . . . there’s plenty of time to feel what’s in my hands. 

I can also feel into the spreading of the collar bones, leaning a little of my body weight, and spreading this sensation of weight as I lean forward . . . spread it down around the whole palm of my hand . . . not pressing into the bone structure directly, but rather wrapping it, so that her feeling sense and my feeling sense is that every single tiny point of contact in my hand has an equal amount of weight as I sink weight in. 

This draws her attention, less into where my hands are, and perhaps more into the connection between my hands, and the possibility of feeling a little movement in the neck and the weight of the head. 

“Cat Paws” 

My first invitation to her body to let go of the neck muscles a little, to allow the head to wobble a little freer--that movement is sometimes called “cat paws,” and has the flavor of a cat kneading a pillow . . . and might be slow and lazy, or with a little bit of alive 

wobbling. 

Weigh Neck, Weigh Head 

Weighing the neck, leaning back, sensing the elongation or lengthening of the spine . . . and repeating a few times. 

Weighing the head, and letting it drift back down to the table . . . a few times. 

This is a message to the central nervous system—if I approach it this way—that everything is okay . . . there’s no hurry . . . we’ve got plenty of time . . . 

We can relax, we can enjoy . . . weighing . . . letting go of weight for her . . . suspending that weight through my body structure, all the way into my sitz bones, for me. 

And giving pauses . . . 

And repeating . . . 

Each time I come back to a movement that I played with, an exploration that I was in a moment ago, I’m prepared to feel it a little differently. It might have a different weight, a different tempo. I’m listening for those changes. The texture of the tissue might shift just a little. 

Elongate Spine 

How long in terms of time has something to do with the length of my breath, and the length of his breath. But it’s not in seconds I would measure it. I would measure it in feeling. 

It’s long enough for me to feel my way down, and really get present with the sensation of the body opening, even if it just opens a tiny bit. 

But not so long that I begin to feel his body pull back against me—because there is a reflexive response to stretching in our tissue that will start to pull back if I begin to pull too fast, or if I stay at my elongation a little too long. I shouldn’t even use the word “pull.” It’s really just a leaning—a sensing into the length. 

How Long? Everything from his head to his tail is connected as part of the spine, so I might be thinking of how far down the spine I can feel. 

There’s also the webbing of muscles that runs down through his back, and I can think of feeling down through that webbing and see where he lets me have him—feel where the elasticity ends. 

So there isn’t really a limit, and often after I’ve done this three or four times, clients will say, if I ask, “Oh, I feel that down at my heels.” Which is just an acknowledgement that they are connected all the way through to the bottom of the body. 

He gets to actually feel that sense of connectedness. I can see it down at his knees. Maybe I don’t yet have his heels— I haven’t been here quite long enough. 

Taking Out the Slack 

As I elongate, what I’m sensing is the taking out of slack in the tissue—taking out slack in his body, but first taking out the slack in my own body. That means that as I rise up, I want to let the rising up underneath his weight—let that rising up spread my collar bones, lengthen my back, open my neck and my whole sense of myself. 

Not coming up underneath and pulling, tightening, compressing myself—but let it spread me—so that immediately the weight of his neck, or head, or shoulders or wherever I am in his body, that weight is felt as additional weight through all my weight bearing structures, all the way through into my feet. 

I come up weighing, and it’s right there in my feet that I have that weight. Weighing the head right here in my feet and legs. If I’m sitting, of course, I’m taking the weight in my seat. 

There—that’s the weight . . . the weighing action. 

And similarly, when I lean in to feel the slack out across the collar bones and across the shoulder girdle in general, I want to feel that I am taking the slack out in me. 

As I lean in I get bigger, I expand into every contact, my hand gets softer and bigger, my arms and shoulders get softer and bigger, my body presence gets softer and bigger as I make contact . . . and that makes it easier for me. 

Weighing . . . feeling length . . . getting bigger in that length. 

Wobble/Rock/Roll Head Weigh 

Now let’s take a look at the rocking of the weight of the head. Sliding my weight underneath, again the hand placement here, leaving the ear hole free, rolling the weight of the head into the shafts of my fingers in the back. 

So I’m really sensing where is the weight of the head—that’s the important part. If I need to, I can adjust my hand this way or that way, letting my hand feel its way into where that weight is the most comfortable for me to handle. 

And because that is the comfortable place, the easy place—it’s easy! That’s my definition of what the “easy place” is—it’s the place where it feels easy. It’s kind of stupid [simple?], but yes, that’s exactly it. 

The place where it feels easy for me to let this head rock with no practically no effort at all, is the place where I communicate the most quality of ease—the most feeling of letting go . . . of, ‘this is no big deal,’ . . . of, ‘gee it’s safe to let your head wobble,” . . . “gee neck muscles, you don’t need to hang on quite so much, you can let that go just a little bit.’ That’s my message. 

One of our curiosities here has to do with how free the weight of the head can be on top of the spine, so I’m going to lay the head slightly off-center in the shafts of the fingers in the underneath hands, and explore what is possible here in terms of the free wobble, it might just be a tiny wobble here at the beginning. 

As her body decides it’s comfortable and okay to let go, that might become a little bit bigger rocking . . . with time to sense what that movement was . . . rolling to the second side and letting there be a little wobble of the weight over here. 

The underneath hand has most of the responsibility. I could let the head wobble or rock without employing the second hand, but it’s nice to give a little support, feather-like touch of the fingers on the back of the head, the back of the neck—supporting the fluidness of the movement—letting it get really easy . . . and then letting it pause. 

One side and then the other. 

My hands behind the head have formed themselves into a basket where I can roll the head to one side and this hand becomes free, and then roll the head to the other side, and this hand becomes free. 

With the location of my hands on the head, I’m not blocking the ear hole. The space between my thumb and first finger is where the ear hole can easily fit, most of the time. I 

have to adjust my hands to fit the space and size of the head, but that is my basic placement. 

And as I roll the head into my hand, the hand stays there on the head so that the weight is really in the shafts of the fingers. 

And that’s really one of the most important things to feel for: where is the weight of the head resting in that underneath hand? I don’t want to hold this hand. I don’t want effort in this underneath hand at all. I want to let the hand rest into the table, and let the client’s head rest through it. 

And then I notice that the weight of the head is right in the middle of the shafts of the fingers, and so very easily as I flex my fingertips up, the way her head rolls up towards the palm and then back towards the fingers . . . back—back—back—back—toward the center of her center line. 

Swan Neck: Side Neck Elongation 

Letting her feel her neck long and elegant like a swan’s neck, so we sometimes call this “Swan Neck.” 

Pausing without any pressure, without trying to open it any further—just opening myself. It’s a subtle movement in me. It doesn’t have to be dramatic. I don’t have to make it visible ten yards away from me . . . just felt within me. 

Closure on Forehead 

The elasticity of the spine has increased a little bit. And I can come to closure with this little gesture across the top of the forehead—my thumbs just resting there for a moment. 

Breathing, relaxing . . . 

And especially if I feel that something has really happened in her experience at this point, I’ll say something about that. I’ll mark this moment with a “There . . .” or “This feeling.” 

I’m not pressing. All I’m doing is letting go. I think of this as making full contact and then melting off—as if my hands were pats of butter that, because of the warmth of his forehead, simply start to melt off his face. 

Not too special. Not too profound or meaningful. But nonetheless, every movement has meaning. Every touch says something. 

What do I want to say to this wonderful person who has been lying here, who has been getting softer, and more open, who is relaxing more deeply. 

I want to say something in an easy, natural voice like, “There you are Bob. That’s you.” Or, “Are we feeling a little more relaxed? Are we starting to get there?” 

He gives me that “Mmmm” response. That’s great. 

SUPINE: LEGS & FEET 

Pause and Observe 

Coming down to the end of the table, I can see up the whole landscape of her body—and notice again how she’s breathing . . . being aware that everything I’m doing at the leg is affecting the whole structure of her body. 

Sculpt Leg 

Let her feel the whole length of her leg . . . this gesture, again, in the quality we call “sculpting,” Letting myself, and letting her feel the volume, the texture, the tissue, the shape, the form, the soft smooth connectedness . . . 

“How’s that tempo for you?” Is that good? Am I going too fast or too slow?” 

Weigh Knee 

Sculpting leads right into, perhaps, weighing the knee. And where do we feel the weight when we’re weighing? In the feet, all the way through my body structure; all of my weight-bearing structures are engaged in sensing this weight, and that includes especially the pressure receptors in the bottoms of my feet. 

Fluff Thigh 

Fluffing the thigh tissue. How soft and free and easy can that muscle tissue be around the thigh bone? 

I might just alternate those—where the bone structure gets the feeling of a little suspension, and the thigh tissue gets a feeling of softening. And then I’m a little freer to feel the weight, and a little freer in the thigh tissue, and then I’m a little freer with the weight again. 

Also, with regard to respectfulness [toward the client], I don’t want to do this fluffing gradually higher and higher. I don’t want her mind to get drawn to the “Oh, when is he going to stop?” question. 

The fluffing motion starts at the mid-thigh and comes on out away from the center of the body. 

“Hello Leg” 

I slide my hand into this “hello leg” position. My inside hand comes down to the instep, that is the inside relative to her body—to the instep, the top of the arch—and the outside hand is underneath the heel, supporting both heel and the arch of the foot, squaring my shoulders, rising up, spreading myself up and back into space, leaning back I say, “Hello up there.” 

We call it “hello leg” because we are primarily focused on the legs, but you’ll notice that this wave of motion—the hanging, dangling of the leg weight away from the body—lets her feel a little wave of motion all the way through the structure. 

It’s related to the movement we practice for ourselves, of releasing the weight from one leg and letting the movement of our standing leg reverberate through our whole structure. 

Another note about this “hello leg” is, especially with people with hyper-extended knees, I don’t want to lift this lower leg up, but rather I just lean back and let the calf “kiss” the table. 

Waggle Leg 

We often alternate that gesture with this waggle waggle movement, either just resting it on the table, letting it roll—letting the thigh bone roll in the thigh socket—or suspending it up, with enough slack taken out of the back of the leg that it stays integrated all the way through into the hip. And here I can feel a little soft wobble wobble of the thigh tissue around the bone. 

Here the thigh tissue is on the table so it’s not so free to wobble around the bone. Not quite so free, but more supported. And remember that balance of safety and freedom that we’re looking for—what’s right for her. 

Well, is this better . . . or is this better . . . you tell me, Nancy. Which is better? Up! Okay! Her body speaks loud and clear. She likes that feeling of a little bit of extra freedom and lightness in the movement. 

A note about this particular gesture—I am suspending quite a lot of weight in my arm. It’s the whole weight of the leg, but I want to do that with my whole body structure, so I’m going to bring my elbow in quite tight to my body and let it bend, and let my knees bend, then keeping the bend in my elbow, I rise up so that the angle of my arm and the angle of her leg is all one line. 

Then my rotation is just the rotation of my forearm bones at the elbow—a simple kind of motion—and I do have some weight in my arm, but I’m attempting, in my best Mentastics, to spread the sense of that weight through my whole body structure. That’s my work to do. 

Rock Leg and Rattle Foot 

The rest of the material that we are practicing is here at the side of the table—a simple rocking of the weight of the leg—framing the knee, so that I’m not pressing any weight down on the kneecap. 

On either side of the kneecap my hands fall easily, and I can let the weight of her leg rock in and out, in and out, in and out . . . and down to the shin to rattle the weight of the foot in the ankle joint. 

Back to the leg rolling . . . and foot rattling . . . and leg rolling . . . and foot rattling. 

Easy, easy, easy . . . I’m really just standing comfortably, my shoulders drop open, my elbows are hanging, my hands soften, not trying to hold on—they’re just landing on the surface to feel the depth of movement. 

Staying relaxed, my legs produce most of this movement and I’ve got a nice little bounce going through my knees, and a nice little rattle of my own structure as I rattle the weight of her foot. 

So, with her leg outwardly rotated, this is a perfect opportunity for me to demonstrate this: I’m leaning my body weight in, letting her roll up onto the top of her heel bone . . . and there I have the rocking, rocking, rocking of the thigh bone in the thigh socket. And then the rattle, rattle, rattle, of the foot in the ankle joint. 

First Sitting Position 

There is a first sitting position—sitting facing sideways out—so that I can give her another feeling of length in her whole body structure. 

Swing the Heel 

You can see how my body lengthens out—way out over the end of the table, and as I hang that body weight, and let it swing—sending a wave laterally up through her body. 

And by way of contrast—I was just saying “hello” sagittally . . . and now I’m saying “hello” laterally. 

“Coffee Grinder” 

A second gesture that we want to practice in this sitting position is extending the toes with the top hand—in this case it’s her right leg, so my right hand is coming down over her toes, extending those toes and then using the ball of my thumb, the [?] eminence, as a ball around which to roll the lengthening toes. 

And this movement, a delicious kind of feeling, is sometimes referred as the “coffee grinder” because it has that rotating around action for us as the practitioners—but it’s really about a soft, mushy feeling, not a grinding feeling at all. 

It’s a feeling of softening and lengthening, and I’m also feeling the length in my body. 

I’m lengthening, lengthening, lengthening as I rotate around each of those. 

And I can take that rotation in the ball of the big toe, second toe, third toe, fourth toe, fifth toe . . . and if there’s a sixth toe, I can do that one too. I haven’t come across that yet, but they tell me there are some. 

Or I can rotate groups of toes—three and four, three four and five, and so forth—with nice soft rolling around—smooshie, delicious, maybe even chewy in quality here. 

[“Bell Clapper” Should this caption be added?] 

Hanging swing—or bell clapper—the ding ding feeling of a bell . . . “Bo-o-oing, 

bo-o-oing.” It’s a lot of leaning of my body weight, and then rotating around in the foot. 

Second Sitting Position 

For the second sitting position—I’m sitting facing downward—facing the toenails and the top of the foot. 

Reminding myself to take time to pause and enjoy the look of this foot—how the light hits it, its proportions—and making sure I get comfortable in my sitting before I start engaging in movement. 

Most of the time this leg will dangle off the table pretty easily and I can easily shift my weight from my standing foot to the hip that I’m sitting on. 

My hands have easy reach to the toes. The foot isn’t right up against my belly, but I’m also not way back here and having to reach. I’m somewhere in that lovely in-between place where I have lots of mobility. My arms are free. My awareness is free. 

And I can bring her toes, her foot, her metatarsals, all of the bones, all of the soft tissue structures, into the feeling of free, open, spreading, and a kind of shucking, or washing-the-socks kind of gesture in the metatarsals. 

There are the beautiful toes there—and I can enjoy the feeling of the soft tissue here. 

We are basically referring to this whole group of explorations as “foot play.” I’m playing in the softness and the openness and length—soft, open, long—feeling in the foot real functional experiences. 

Adding to that the lengthening of the entire leg structure, way up into the whole body behind me . . . I rise and lean forward, and I think of this as moving my body forward, sort of like riding off into the sunset. 

BELLY/CHEST/ARMS 

So we’ve just come from the legs, and we’re moving up into the torso—the belly, the chest, and the arm with our focus. 

Some of our clients will be fully clothed, and draping will not be an issue. We may want them covered for warmth, though, if the studio is a little bit chilly. 

And for some clients, who have decided that they would like to be less clothed underneath, they get to have the sense of draping for privacy. We can use a drape over the whole body, and I can actually work through the drape, if it’s soft enough, as my cloths are here. 

Or if I’d like to get to the belly skin itself, I can create a drape right over the ribs and the shoulders, over the breasts and the shoulders, keeping that in place as I slide this [other cloth] down and give myself a little more access to belly without undraping the breasts. 

Sculpt and Weigh the Arm 

Before I begin with this side of the belly and chest, I’m going to have my partner move a little closer to me, using my hands to give the signal about which direction and how far. 

There are a couple of ways to begin. One possibility is I can start with the arm. A real soft sense of the sculpting of the arm is a good easy, soft beginning, repeating the sensing that we talk about in sculpting—the skin, the form, the volume. 

Along the way I can be feeling the weight, as you remember, feeling the weight is all about the whole body. Weight is an experience that my feet are best at feeling. My legs, my weight-bearing structures down below. 

Feeling the weight of the arm and eventually coming down to the hand to say a little “hello” up to the head. Very light--it requires practically nothing to take the slack out of the arm. Just barely enough so that the wave of motion can bounce up through the shoulder structure, and up into the head. 

I want to lay the arm along the edge of the table. It might want to be draped or tucked in, and then I bring my attention to the ribcage. 

Pinwheel - Shoulder Down and Ribs in 

We have three different ideas here. The first movement is called the pinwheel—or Milton Trager call it a pinwheel— because the movement is going to be like a circle around the center point in the middle of the chest. 

So if you imagine this is the center point, my upper hand is on the superior aspect of the shoulder, way up here at the top. 

My lower hand on the lower ribs, and I’m going to swing her body shoulder weight away from her ear and down toward her hand, and my inside hand here in on the lower ribs toward the belly. 

And feel the elasticity in this direction of spring. 

I’m using my whole body for this, not just my arms; so my legs are a bit spread as I’m leaning my body weight forward to sense, with my structure, that elasticity—not just my arms, but with my pelvis, my legs—all of me is engaged in feeling that elastic pinwheel motion. 

Pectoral Stretch 

A second motion, or direction, we are exploring is the amount of spread for the pectoral area, referred to as the pectoral stretch. 

My [upper] hand is here on the front of the shoulder, very soft, spreading the sensation out through the whole structure, and not just into the bones. 

And my lower hand is at the lower ribs. If I have open, flexible thumbs, this thumb might be draped down the ribs along the side, or I can just keep it as a fifth finger going along the lines of the ribs. 

And my directions of spread is away from each other. The two hands are opening apart. 

In some ways I think of it as dealing with the surface of the ribcage in the front, but I don’t want to feel this as only a surface inquiry, but rather as a real inquiry of the structure opening—the shoulder girdle being opened from and stretching away from the rib cage, which is pulling around in the opposite direction. 

Both hands are moving equally, so there is an equal amount of pressure . . . and I can check with Sharon . . . “Does that feel even with my two hands? Okay, great. Thanks.” 

And I’m using my whole body to convey this feeling of opening—spread . . . open. Spread . . . open—my pectoral area opens with each of these pectoral stretch gestures that I’m using to feel into the opening of her body. 

Boing the Ribs 

With the third exploration here in ribs, I come onto the upper ribs [with my upper hand]. Before I was just on the shoulder girdle. Now I’m going to come off of the shoulder girdle and onto the upper ribs, but not onto the breast tissue yet. 

And [my lower hand] is on the lower ribs yet again. This time finding a little bouncing spring, or ‘boingy-ness,’ ‘springy-ness’ in the ribcage structure. Boing, boing, boing, boing, boing, boing, boing, boing . . . 

I am delighting in feeling the rebound of this elasticity of intercostal muscles, and the whole basket of the ribcage. 

Sculpt/Lift Belly 

And then in the belly—the gathering, or sculpting—lovely soft tissue. 

Using my hands to slide over the tissue, but at the same time gathering it up and into the middle. Slide over and gathering it up and into the middle. 

As I’m gathering, I’m also contacting the sense of the weight rising, and then it sinks out of my hands. It’s only a split second that I really feel that kind of lift. There it is . . . and then it’s gone . . . but I’m repeating it . . .there it is . . . and then it’s gone. There I’ve got a little bit of feeling of weight, and then it’s gone. 

And it’s only the sense that my hands are hanging with this weight slightly away from my rising body so that it’s really quite easy. I’m just letting go gradually. 

Sink in and Rock 

So if your thumbs are open enough, you may drag this thumb up along the waist from the side, and it will feel very delicious because the palm of your hand and the whole surface of your thumb are in contact here. 

If your thumb is not so open, you can use your thumb right alongside the other fingers. 

Gather up close to you . . . you don’t need to come all the way down to make contact. I don’t need to compromise my wrist here, I can start my gesture right here—and gather the hand in toward the other hand—toward the belly. 

. . . Mmmm . . . beautiful, lovely, soft, fluid . . . organized . . . easy . . . 

Fade Out 

It’s always nice to end with a “fade out” instead of suddenly taking my hands away. 

This may also be a moment to give your partner a chance to savor sensation with nothing happening. 

It might be an important moment to check in for feedback. “Are my hands staying soft enough?” 

The kinds of questions you ask, and the tone of voice you ask them in, will effect the kind of feedback…will help you build a really effective practice…will help your work get better and better over the years. 

FACE DOWN COMFORT - BACK OF LEGS 

Face Down (Prone) Comfort 

As my client is ready to roll over, I’m going to handle the sheet for her. “I’m going to ask you to roll over, and we’ll find comfort for you lying face down.” 

And I want to give her some support—a bed pillow can be one of the easiest things [to use]. “If you do a little push up, I can slide this underneath you.” 

I don’t want to make too big a deal of the supporting process, so I want to get really good at having that happen without making too big a “to do” about it. 

There are other places in the body that might like some support. If there is a lot of tension in the lower back or hamstrings, she may like to have a rolled up towel underneath the ankles. “How is that for you? Do you like that?” 

And another possibility for a lot of people is [to have] a little bit of a soft, cushy support underneath the shoulders, or slightly behind the edge of the head. I’ll tuck one pillow under this shoulder and another under this shoulder, and see if you like that. “Is that good?” 

Many other options exist—you can use folded towels, folded washrags, various sized pillows—until you find the comfort for the person you are working with. 

Back of Legs 

Having found the comfortable lying position, then come down to the end of the table, starting in the prone session with the backs of the legs. I’ve set her up here, but I want to get her a little bit closer to this side for me. 

Sculpt and Weigh 

Again a gesture of sculpting is a wonderful way of beginning my contact, but I might want to intersperse the connecting with her with some revisiting of myself—freeing up my structure a little bit more, softening, or awakening myself every step of the way here in my session. That prepares my hands to be better feelers, better perceivers of all the subtle signals that I’m going to get from her body. 

Weighing the lower leg, comfortably, easily in my whole body, using my body as the weigh-er—my inside hand comes around the instep and my outside hand underneath the ankle, and I can rise up, open my collar bones, spread myself wide, and lean back and sense the weight of the thigh bone suspending a little bit in the back of the leg. 

I’ll do that again. 

Hello Leg, Elongate 

Inside hand around the instep—outside hand underneath the ankle, rise up. Lean back, and say, “hello up there, leg, hip,” and maybe even up to the lower back. We’ll see whether that comes into play as we’re feeling into the body. 

Ankle Flexion/Achilles Stretch 

Then the outside hand moves to the outside of the ball of the foot, so both of my hands are around the ball of the foot and my thumbs are up facing toward the heel on the sole. 

And I’m going to lean my body weight in and forward so that she gets a flexion of the ankle, and stretch of the Achilles tendon, and flexion of the knee. I want to feel that going all the way up the leg. “Is that okay?” 

Alternate the elongation with the flexion/compression. And a simple rocking of my whole body weight accomplishes this. I’m leaning in . . . I’m leaning out . . . I’m leaning in . . . I’m leaning out. 

And during this whole leaning out and leaning in I don’t lose my height . . . I’m not scrunching here . . . nor collapsing here, but keeping all of my height and all of my width—the fullness of my volume—as I lean forward . . . and as I lean back. 

I can take a little pause for myself, to shake out, to soften my legs, to get buoyant again. 

Flop the Foot (Foot Shake) 

Next I come around to the side of the table . . . and the foot now is right up over the knee so the knee is [bent] at about 90 degrees, which is usually pretty comfortable for most people. 

With both hands wrapping around the ankle bones—soft thumbs and fingers snuggling in, or noodling in, to the space around the ankle bones as I start to shake, or flop, the weight of the foot forward and back away from me. 

My hands are relaxed. I’m not holding tight hands here—very relaxed, soft hands, so the action is this . . . my whole body is taking her leg for a ride. 

Lift Heel 

And there are some variations on that that can be nice. A couple of them that we frequently add here would be lifting the heel slightly so that the slack comes out of this whole Achilles and gastroc and soleus area, the calf muscle gets lengthened slightly as I continue to flop the foot. 

Play Bass 

Another variation is referred to as “playing the bass,” where I bring my calf hand down into the belly of the calf and softly “slurp” the tissue away from the bone—suction the tissue away. 

So I have this direction of motion, and this direction of motion . . . my two hands are falling apart as I continue to rock the weight of the foot . . . flopping in the ankle bone . . . flop, flop, flop . . . [15 seconds of Roger playing the bass with “singing”] . . . 

It has a little bit of that jazzy flavor to it too, because there’s this reverberation from the bounce of the foot that’s going through the whole body for her. 

Rattle Toes 

And one last little variation—I’m going to wrap both of my hands rather firmly around the arch of the foot—that is the high point of the arch—making a ring around that and holding rather firmly to the heel and to the whole ankle structure so that doesn’t move too much, and send a little rattle right into the toes. 

Rattle . . . rattle the toes . . . rattle the toes . . . rattle the toes . . . It’s a pretty joyful movement actually. It’s kind of fun. 

Then go back to flopping the foot . . . and come into rattle the toes . . . which is a whole different rhythmic structure . . . a quick little rattle . . . sometimes referred to as shaking the maraca . . . that kind of feeling . . . and flopping the foot. 

So we’re going back and forth between those qualities of movement. 

I can rest one hand . . . rest the other hand . . . or even let the foot down and take some time to shake out before moving on . . . into swinging my knee up between her knees . . . it’s almost like climbing onto a bicycle, and letting her shin rest into the crook of my thigh, so that I’ve got easy direction, I’m facing my work here, facing up toward the back of her thigh, and the back of the gluteal area, and the lower back—this is my focus. 

Shimmer Hamstrings 

And I’m going to rest my outside hand on the edge of the table so that the back of the thigh here is easy for me to land into . . . gathering up soft tissue and sending a little shimmer of movement through the tissue in toward the bone structure. 

Letting my hand get softer . . . gather it up . . . send a little shimmer into the tissue. 

It’s this little action . . . 

Shimmer Gluts 

The same quality of feeling now with the other hand—so I can lean on my inside hand and bring my outside hand to the back of the gluteus, and that bottom corner there, for a handle into the whole back of the sitting area. So I bring a little fluffiness into where we normally put a lot of weight when we are sitting. 

This whole area of the body can get pretty dense, packed, and sort of “dumbed down” in its experience of itself; and I want to enliven it a bit . . . bring a little life . . . bring a little life . . . soft . . . fluffy . . . lively. 

Sometimes what we’ll find ourselves wanting to do is to, from this position, get the whole structure of the body moving; but we’re not in a good body position to do that. Our weight will not help us here. This is going to be hard to get this rocking happening here. We will do that later as we come to standing beside the hip. 

As I finish with this one side, draping the leg, taking a moment for myself if I need it. Even if I don’t need it—taking a moment for myself—it feels good. 

Having my partner come close to me . . . using my hands to bring her over, and with some simple words like, “Come closer to me.” 

SHOULDERS AND BACK – PRONE 

So having just come from the legs in this prone position, I’ll come on up to the right side of the upper body here. And again, uncovering my work area, so I get to see and feel into the back. 

Sculpt the Back 

I begin with something, usually, like sculpting that lets me get to know the tissue—the landscape of the sensations here—where are the bony places . . . where is it soft and curved . . . the hills and the valleys . . . 

Spreading Compressions 

Then begin to sink a little bit of weight down and away from the spine—with big, soft hands—spreading some weight toward me on the near side, and also on a little diagonal up and out toward the shoulder. 

I’m painting in for her the feeling of wide. “Here is how wide you are,” my hands say. “Here is how wide you can be.” 

The spread and softness—taking just as long as I need to really pay attention to how the response is in her tissue . . . I’m not rushing, but I’m also not belaboring. I don’t want to make it ponderous, or heavy, or too serious. 

Perch and Play 

Next I’m going to perch up near the edge of the table, near her hip. I might have to have her scootch over just a little so I room to perch here. I’m perching back far enough so that my arms are free to move and my hands can land easily on her upper arm here—and her arm is draped across my knee. 

Sometimes people get up too close, which is, of course, a little too intimate with my private area, but also too tight for my hands to be able to comfortably work. So I’m sitting back so that I’ve got enough freedom of movement. 

Shimmer Triceps 

And here—a soft shimmer of the muscle of the back of the arm, the triceps. Again that sense of shimmer involves this slurp of tissue away from the bone, and the lightness of movement of my hand, my arm, my shoulder, and my whole body—very free and open in this shimmering motion. 

Shimmer Deltoid 

Here’s the deltoid, same action. Sometimes it works a little easier with the other hand—I get to choose . . . I can play even with both hands . . . triceps, deltoid, and both. I’m wanting to convey a feeling of lightness, fluffiness, and freedom to the soft tissue . . . 

Bounce Shoulder 

. . . which is different than, and delightfully in contrast to scooping up the weight of the bone structure and letting the bones bounce. 

Here I have the shoulder joint, that is between my hands—shoulder joint is right in here—my thumbs are right at that place, not pressing into it, and I’ve got one hand underneath the collar bone, and one hand underneath the upper arm bone, the humorous . . . 

. . . and I’m letting those bones just bounce—land and bounce, land and bounce, land and bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce . . . so that’s structure that gets to free itself up, and soft tissue that gets to feel fluffiness and lightness. Bouncing the weight of the shoulder. 

This bouncing, since it’s weight, I’m also bouncing a little bit my own body weight so we can notice how my hip and my leg are also involved in the sense of bouncing. It’s a little like riding side-saddle on a horse. 

Weigh Arm 

And this first gesture of weighing the arm from the elbow—I’m using a curved arm, soft elbow, soft wrist, soft fingers in a curve—this is her right arm—I’m using my right arm to weigh it. My left hand is resting on the table and my left hip is up against the edge of the table. 

So I’m weighing off on a diagonal down away from her ear. 

And that sense of weighing—weighing with the whole body—all the weight in my feet, my legs are part of that, my pelvis is part of that; even all the weight bearing structures of my spine are part of the sensing of this arm weight. 

I’m defining arm, that is, what I’m feeling here is the arm weight all the way to her sternum underneath. So including the collarbone in there—that is her first bone of the arm right here. Here’s my arm and it goes all the way right into here—it is the arm from here that I am weighing. 

Weighing that arm . . . 

Pendulum Swing 

Also, right from the sternum, or the menubrio-sternal hinge . . . doing a little pendulum swing of the weight of the hand . . . 

I keep the curve in my elbow and wrist. I keep the weight sensing in my feet. That lets it be an easy swing—a little forward and back, right along the edge of the table. 

Scoop it up, feel its weight, swing the weight . . . full body use . . . very easy . . . easy upright. 

Left hand has been resting and waiting for this very moment—to catch the wrist. 

Toss and Catch 

From the inside, I’m catching it so I that I have the weight of the elbow supported, and the weight of the wrist supported from the opposite sides as I begin to toss the arm down toward the foot . . . 

Toss it down, toss it down, toss it down, toss it down . . . 

And this gesture—down, down and out, down and out, down and out—of her arm is 

this . . . along the side seam of the body . . . just that. 

It’s the motion that Jackie Gleason, the comedian, used to use when he left the stage, “And away we go!” That’s where the name came from . . . Milton liked that gesture, and we began to refer to it as “the Jackie Gleason move.” 

But it really is all about feeling the rebound of the shoulder girdle right in here . . . the boing, the boing, the boing . . . 

And we can see that really clearly with Lisa—the shoulder blade bouncing there, and the little bit of reverberation up through the trapezius, the upper traps, up into the head weight. 

Very simple . . . no effort . . . and I’m cradling her arm. My hands have no more effort than this as I toss it down. I’m not gripping, not holding on, don’t need to. 

I may then, as a transition for getting in underneath the shoulder, to play with the shoulder, I may play a little with the weight of the elbow, slide my inside hand under the middle of the upper arm, and then that lets me slide in underneath the weight of the shoulder. 

Weigh and Play with Shoulder 

Here again, I can sense weight best if I have my foot under the weight that I am weighing. So with the relationship of my right foot under her right shoulder, which is where I’m playing. 

And this weighing and playing with the weight of the shoulder can go in many directions. 

The shoulder is an extraordinary structure, and has all kinds of possibilities. It can bounce down to the table . . . it can slosh back and forward up toward the ear and back away . . . I can loop it a little bit forward and loop it a little backward . . . 

This is, of course, assuming that the shoulder is free and we’ve got some of this play [available]. You may run into shoulders that don’t let you do any of the above. 

This movement of tossing it in little loops forward, Milton Trager referred to as “dealing cards.” It has this quality to it . . . plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, plop . . . just drop, drop, drop, drop, drop, drop, drop, drop . . . a very simple kind of movement with both hands. 

Reviewing . . . swinging the weight of the shoulder . . . catch and toss it down . . . walking under the shoulder . . . and play with the weight of the shoulder. 

Swing the Pelvis Waist Rock 

So now staying right where I am, I can turn my attention and my movement to this pelvis and lower back, and begin to find right here at the waist, the rocking of the weight of the pelvis. 

And just like we did when we were rocking the body from the belly side, I’m alternating which hand is on the opposite side—changing my hands, and changing my feet with every change . . . my left hand is over on the other side, my left foot’s in front . . . my right hand goes to the other side, my right foot’s in front. 

At first you may want to just practice this simple rocking over and over and over again for a while . . . pause . . . change your hands and your feet, and get the rocking started again. 

But eventually you want to keep the rocking going, keep the weight of the pelvis swinging even as you make those hand and foot changes. 

Toss Pelvis Away - Far Side 

Another idea in bringing freedom to the pelvis and lower back, is to come to the opposite side of the pelvis, so my upper hand is on the crest of the pelvis up here, and my lower hand is on the back of the hamstring on the side away from me. 

And I’m tossing that side away, away, away, away, away—changing my feet so that I don’t get tired on either side—letting my elbows be easy, my shoulders be easy, my head floating up, and my chest staying open—just allowing that rocking to continue and continue. 

And you probably can see, that even though my hands are on the opposite side, the focus of movement, the real freedom of movement I’m giving to her, is here on this near side. 

So if we can get a close up of seeing what’s actually here on the near side, we see the weight of the hamstring and the gluteus on the near side is completely free to swing. And that swing of the muscle bellies against the bone structure inside can be really soothing and quite satisfying. 

Go Away Leg 

So I’m going to slide my upper hand in and let the palm of my hand rest just over the crest of the pelvis. 

My outside hand—the ball of the trocantor comes into the palm of my hand, but the weight is spread out evenly through my entire palm and finger surface, so that there is not any direct pressure of ball of the trocantor into the palm of my hand. 

It’s spread out . . . it’s spread out . . . The upper hand draws the pelvis out of the lower back, and the lower hand draws the leg out of the pelvis. And I keep the slack out of all of that as I rock, rock, rock, rock—swinging the pelvis away, away, away. 

What I’m not doing is bringing my weight into and out of the pelvis over and over again with my arms—but rather taking the slack out of her body, keeping it out, and letting the 

rocking come entirely from my legs. 

Fade Out Rocking 

At the end of this session, I gather it [the tissue] all together into the center and let the rhythm begin to fade out . . . . . . . 

It’s wonderful to feel, and follow the fade out of this rocking . . . so slow and so smooth that neither of us knows exactly when it stops. 

CLOSURE 

She’s been lying on her belly for a while, head turned off to one side—her neck might be just a little uncomfortable. 

For a lot of people it’s really nice to have them roll back onto their back and complete the horizontal table work part of the session by having them receive just another feeling of neck work. 

“So Kathleen if you would just gently roll over . . . I’ll handle the sheet and take the pillow out.” 

I don’t want to spend time repeating all of my neck work now at the end of the session . . . but a little sculpting . . . the feeling of elongation . . . rolling the head to the side . . . repeating this feeling of the swan neck—the openness between the back of the head and the top of the shoulder . . . 

Rolling to Side, Sitting Up With Draping 

I help the client off the table by giving her specific suggestions, especially the first time she receives a session, so that she retains the feeling of ease. 

“Betty, let me have you roll over toward me on this side, mm hmm.” 

Move the sheets so she stays all covered and warm. 

“Betty, I’m going to have your head come up last, so I’d like you to push down with this hand, and your feet will slide off the side of the table . . .” (as she rises). “That’s it . . . Just rest there for a moment . . . 

Check-in with Client Sitting on Table 

“Nice length . . . long . . . it’s that length all the way through the back . . . yes, beautiful. It’s also really lovely to see how soft your face is. 

“Mmm . . . great breath . . . mm hmm.” 

Check-in with Client Standing & Walking 

“When you’re ready, I’m going to have you slide off the table and find the floor with your feet . . . it’s down there somewhere . . . and just stand for a moment, getting your balance and feeling your way onto your feet. 

“Nothing to do—just let your body feel its balance.” 

Observing & Describing Changes 

So at this stage of the game, I’m helping her off of the table, sometimes offering suggestions of what I see, of what I’m observing, describing any changes in her that I notice, or asking her what she notices about herself. 

She volunteered that she felt long, so I used that word “long.” 

“Is there any other feeling quality that you have present that you want to make note of? 

“There . . Here . . . in my body. Standing on the earth . . . that feeling . . . really in contact with the floor too. Yes! So ‘there’ and ‘long,’ both at the same time. Great! 

Can you shift your weight from that place? Just that simple thing, just the weight shifting from side to side, forward to back . . . taking a step . . . Nice!” 

So if my clients will, by themselves, move into something simple like shifting weight or walking, or any other kind of movement, I support that with my presence, with any kind of descriptive language, with my appreciation for the shifts that have happened. 

Implanting Suggestions for Recall 

Or if they are still feeling kind of foggy or unclear, or maybe light-headed at the end of the session, I might offer them some suggestions about how to feel the ground again, how to get themselves connected back through their whole structure again, sensing from feet all the way to top of head, connected. 

Or I might suggest some of the Mentastics that have worked for me at various times in my experience—movements, mind/body explorations that helped me come into a more full feeling, a clearer sense of myself. 

Contexting the Session & Implanting Suggestions for Recall 

And then you can context the session—offering some suggestions about where and how she might like to recall this feeling. “The next time you walk from your house to your car—maybe a little of this feeling?” 

“Feels like walking in water . . . sloshing at the edge of the beach.” 

I get to enjoy this time being with this person that I started with maybe an hour or an hour and a half ago, who is probably now in a different state. And I get to enjoy this time, maybe just walking with her, nothing else having to be said . . . 

Or we might talk a little bit as we go, and compare notes on how this feeling might be useful in everyday life. 

“I like that lightheartedness, the playfulness. That’s great!” 

And somehow from that quiet, very internal place, we’re making a transition, perhaps gradually, with my words or her words, with movement with presence—we’re making a transition to being ready to move into the outer world. 

“Yes? Feels pretty good? Great! Thank-you.” 

Thank-you and Goodbye 

The end of the session is a thank-you, and then some time for feedback. 

You have feedback guides in your handbook that you can use to get the feedback on what worked for your partner on the table; what was particularly wonderful about your presence; and maybe some things about what could have worked better. 

You get some notes, you write your notes for your journal, and that becomes your documentation for your fieldwork. 

Have fun.