Freeing Emotions and Energy Through Myofascial Release
Noah Karrasch
Freeing Emotions and Energy Through Myofascial Release
Singing Dragon, Philadelphia, PA. 2012
In the frazzled pace of today's world most of us are not using our foundational muscles to efficiently maneuver our body machinery. We've either forgotten how or perhaps never learned. Says veteran Rolfing instructor Noah Karrasch, "We've dug in our heals, hidden our hearts, and/or tied our guts in knots to get ahead." Working on the body is not enough to heal body complaints and emotional traumas; the entire bodymindcore must be united and addressed.
Freeing Emotions and Energy subscribes to the Rolfing founder Ida Rolf's principle, "When gravity gets flowing appropriately through the body, then the body spontaneously heals itself." Fascia, the sheath-like connective tissue network that surrounds our muscles, is a communications system that connects all the body's tissues. This tissue stores our energetic slowdowns and physical reactions, so we need to dislodge embedded thought patterns to release the stored tension.
Many issues begin with a disconnect between the top half and bottom half of the body, where the diaphragm muscle is located. Visualize an hourglass going through the body's center, front to back. The diaphragm can be viewed as the floor of the heart, the ceiling of the stomach and the connector of the upper and lower chakras. Trauma and stress causes us to tighten this area and hold our breath, creating a barrier between the upper and lower chakras. A great exercise is to visualize the stuck hourglass throughout the day. By gradually expanding and increasing the time it takes to inhale, and then exhale, see if you can get sand to pour freely through the hourglass.
Although directed at bodyworkers and other healers, this experiential manual combines easily understandable postural and emotional releasing techniques, commonsense medical wisdom and superb chakra system explanations, making it completely accessible to both therapists and clients.
