All posts tagged personal growth

Rosi and Neuroplasticity

I grew up in a family of physicians, researchers and academics. My career took a detour in college when I had massive brain damage: amnesia, no memory of childhood, no math skills and meager language abilities. In 1971, people mostly died or didn’t recover from serious brain trauma. Mine was caused by exceptionally severe mercury poisoning from the most commonly prescribed treatment for psoriasis: ammoniated mercury, in conjunction with exceptionally permeable skin. Doctors declared I would be a vegetable the rest of my life.

I looked into alternatives for recovering memory, overcoming cognitive impairments, how to focus the mind with intention and love. How to heal myself. Prayer. Meditation. Nutrition. Louise Hay. NLP. Herbs. Healthy diet. Energy healing. Flower essences. Homeopathy. I worked to develop neuroplasticity while scientists still didn’t believe it was possible in the adult brain. I obtained a B.A. in Speech Communication with a minor in Physics in 1988. I worked for over 20 years with elderly and people with disabilities, cognitive challenges, dementia, Alzheimer’s and neurological conditions, full of compassion born of experience.

A brilliant teacher taught me the importance of integrating movement and posture awareness with emotional authenticity. I started teaching kinesthetic body awareness and movement re-education in 2005, and obtained my massage license in 2009.

I enrolled in Functional Neurology for Bodyworkers in 2012. It was a year-long, rigorous study of human neurology. I learned how bodywork and specially designed exercises could benefit a variety of conditions. I recognized that emotional intelligence–as well as an understanding of how the brain and mind work–are necessary for the neuroplasticity I spent my entire adult life developing, and for others who wish to heal from trauma and chronic pain.

Then the research bug bit me. I started doing informal case studies for people with Parkinson’s in 2012. I continue to observe how painstaking, carefully designed research contributes to innovative approaches to heal seemingly-intractable conditions.

I love the South African song that was born from the struggle against apartheid: Bambelela, Never Give Up.

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by Integration Massage on June 16, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Brain Injury, TBI, Massage research, Mindfulness, Neuro Massage, Pain relief, Posture
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Posted by Integration Massage on June 16, 2013

https://integrationmassage.wordpress.com/2013/06/16/about-rosi-and-neuroplasticity/

Emotional Tone Scale and Point Holding

Dr. John Ray developed Body Electronics and his teachings spread to Portland the early 1980’s. Participants hold physical point holding sessions with facilitated dialogue to move through crystallized memories locked in the body.

Just as light is broken up into the rainbow of colors by a prism, Dr. Ray saw that love is broken up into the rainbow of emotions. The principles I have gathered from Dr. John Ray and my own experience:

  • what we resist, persists. This is how we suppress emotions and decrease our life force.
  • we can move up the scale when we choose to experience “what is”, or what happens, lovingly and willingly, make room for it in our bodies, and feel it fully while letting go of the story;
  • breath is a vehicle for opening us to movement;
  • we are completely responsible for what we have created and who we are;
  • the now, the present is all we have.

Emotional Tone Scale

At the top of the Emotional Tone Scale is Enthusiasm (Greek for “God in you”). When we suppress what is, we move out of Enthusiasm, to Pain, to Anger, to Fear, and further down the scale to not feeling.

However, it is of no use to wish to be where we are not–that automatically suppresses what is. Where ever we are at, when we experience that with love, or gratitude, it will change.

Verbal Point Holding, Facilitated Healing, Coaching

The person on the table is encouraged to breathe through what they are feeling, until they recognize the bodily experience of memories. A Verbal Point Holding session supports people as they move through pain, and they resolve painful or traumatic memories, anger and unforgiveness.

Embracing our role as creator of our experience culminates in alignment with our higher selves. This may not happen with every session. Since we may be feeling a mixture of emotions at any time, related to various situations, we may still have other issues to work on. All of these can be found in the body and released from the body-mind.

Rosi Goldsmith, LMT
www.integrationmassage.com
www.facebook.com/IntegrationBodyworkMassage

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by Integration Massage on August 31, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Healing, Mindfulness, Self Care, Stress Relief
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Posted by Integration Massage on August 31, 2012

https://integrationmassage.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/emotional-tone-scale-and-point-holding/

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional

The Buddhist phrase, “Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional,” has set me to thinking. Events will just happen, they are part of “what is”. There will be pain, so long as we are in the body. Suffering comes from our reaction to our pain.

We can choose to be at peace, whatever comes. This takes training and discipline. We can react to untoward events with anger, frustration, sadness, discontent, disconnection, despair, apathy, resignation. Or we can choose the attitude of “whatever happens to me, it is what it is.” This is not always easy. Even with many years of practice, it may not be the automatic reaction to unexpected news.

Cheri Huber has written Suffering is Optional, with exercises for increasing self-awareness so we can interrupt how we create our suffering. “Something happens, and we tense in an effort to keep the same thing from happening again. You’ve probably noticed that doesn’t work. The same thing never happens again…” She notes that the key to diminishing suffering is mindfulness of how we create a state of non-acceptance, and to examine our beliefs and recognize they are not real, they are based on the past.

As bodyworkers, we see this all the time. The tension, the guarding in the neck, shoulders, or back, is to prevent pain. It becomes a contracted shape to prevent something from the past, which isn’t happening now. It reinforces fear of it happening again, making a habit of suffering. The structure of the turtle shell upholds the illusion that it is your fault, that you did something wrong, and if you hide in a rigid body, you can be safe. This might be one these negative beliefs you have embodied since childhood, or perhaps you hold other tensions as body armor.  When you come into the present, no longer have the past dragging you back,  give yourself love and compassion, and allow your body to release out of pain, you may be empowered to let go of your suffering. May it be so now.

Rosi Goldsmith, LMT
www.integrationmassage.com
www.facebook.com/IntegrationBodyworkMassage

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by Integration Massage on August 31, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Healing, Massage, Mindfulness, Pain relief, Self Care, Uncategorized
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Posted by Integration Massage on August 31, 2012

https://integrationmassage.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/pain-is-inevitable-suffering-is-optional/

Senior Sovereignty™ and myths of aging

Did you resign yourself to inevitable decline, because “I’m getting older”?

Do you find yourself saying or feeling, or worrying about, “it’s getting hard to pick up my grandchildren”, “I have this pain that won’t go away,” “I can’t reach up”, or “I feel stuck.”

Are you only in your 40’s or 50’s and already have mobility issues, digestive problems, or your spouse is complaining you aren’t remembering things the way you used to?

When we adapt to machines or environments, whether it is driving a car long distances, hunched over a computer, or typing endlessly, and override pain or discomfort signals our bodies are sending, we develop habits that distort our bodies, and forget that we can regain voluntary control over muscles that we have ignored. But we can wake up out of postural distortions and pain.

Emotionally, when we stuff our feelings in order to keep up appearances, or continue to carry over from childhood the shoulds/oughts, the blame/shame games or various ways of belittling ourselves or making ourselves bad or wrong or small, or push ourselves to puff up to some image of perfection a parent demanded of us, or strain to win approval for who we really are inside, but are afraid to show, our stuffed feelings accumulate and take a toll on our bodies and minds. No wonder they feel locked up or rigid!

We are a digestive system. When we have life experiences we can’t digest, we feel stuck. Processing and clearing away those stuck places can add years to life.

Some people go to massage therapists or doctors looking for healing. I once saw this placard in a nursing home: “What I do for you makes me stronger. What you do for yourself makes you stronger. Which do you choose?”

A Senior Sovereignty™ mini-workshop offers a three hour educational program to remove self-imposed limitations through improved awareness of your innate structure, while you free yourself to move more easily. Recently, I have  been teaching this to individuals, rather than groups, but maybe need to expand….Any thoughts or suggestions?

Rosi Goldsmith, LMT
www.integrationmassage.com
www.facebook.com/IntegrationBodyworkMassage

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by Integration Massage on August 20, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Healing, Mindfulness, Pain relief, Posture, Self Care, Sensory Motor Amnesia
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Posted by Integration Massage on August 20, 2012

https://integrationmassage.wordpress.com/2012/08/20/senior-sovereignty/

I’m only a massage therapist, you are the healer

Some clients appear at my door with problems or health challenges their doctors cannot solve. I am not a doctor. I cannot solve them, either. I became a massage therapist only after wearing many other labels for the work I have been called to in this life, pushed along by enormous pain and inner growth. I truly believe all healing comes from within, not from without. When I am honest, I can point people in the direction of the truth that is within them, by helping them unpeel the layers of what gets in the way of their knowing what they are doing to themselves.

I do believe we create our experience of reality. Rather, we co-create our lives with our Creator. I also believe that I am 100% responsible for everything I have created. To get to that 100%, takes a lifetime of self-examination, self-inquiry, and endless self-compassion.

Louise Hay was one of my early teachers along this path. Not only did I read her books, I listened to her tapes, I sang the songs she wrote and I was blessed to attend a workshop she gave in Portland.

It was at the time that AIDS was first coming to light. Not much was known about transmission and the public was afraid. She invited AIDS sufferers to her workshops at a special rate. She seated them in a section a few feet from where I was sitting. She embraced them openly. They cried at being touched and loved. For me this forever changed the fearful face of AIDS. I will never forget being in the presence of Louise as she radiated unconditional love.

I sometimes hope to radiate a little bit of that light and love as I touch my clients.

All that I have been through, all that I have learned, impacts how I relate to clients. I can only teach what I know. I don’t know much. The best I can do, sometimes, is just to get out of the way, and allow the healing the person is asking for to manifest. Or not. Perhaps to act as an instrument, a facilitator, a coach, or a witness. You are the healer. How can I be of service to you as you wake up to the power that is within you?

Thank you for being on this path with me.

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by Integration Massage on August 17, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Healing, Massage, Mindfulness, Pain relief, Self Care
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Posted by Integration Massage on August 17, 2012

https://integrationmassage.wordpress.com/2012/08/17/im-only-a-massage-therapist-you-are-the-healer/

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