Elizabeth Kubler-Ross wrote of the five stages of grieving a loss. Her words are relevant because most people (especially those with a vested interest in conventional methods) are attached to their ways — and to switch to our way entails a loss — a loss of face, a loss of ego, a loss of status. People avoid “beginner’s mind” and The Zone of Incomprehensibility
Her five stages of grieving:
1) denial
2) anger
3) bargaining
4) depression
5) acceptance
In practice, people who hear about HSE, who are not otherwise desperate for help, first deny our validity by ignoring us.
Then, they ridicule or invalidate us, and if not to our faces, then in their minds. (anger). This observation applies to chauvinistic “Feldy” types who prefer to think Tom Hanna was an upstart usurper, as well as to most physicans and physical therapists.
Then, they allow a little of what we have to say to penetrate (“They may have a point — but it’s unproven.”), while seeking to maintain an attitude of superiority or seniority — their usual viewpoint (bargaining/jockeying to maintain position/status). Tom Hanna’s first act, with us Wave 1 people, was to ask us to put everything we knew about bodies and bodywork “on the shelf”. He knew.
Then, when they realize that they’re screwed (by their own condition and/or the limitations of their approach), they begin to submit, but in the mood of “I’ve lost.” (depression)
At last, when they actually take action and get the benefits, they accept HSE and advocate it — and encounter the same pathetic five stages in the people with whom they want to share HSE. (acceptance)
That’s what’s in the way of mainstreaming HSE.
Once HSE gets a toehold in the culture (we scarcely have that, now), and the mass media are giving us some play, they’ll still have to go through the stages, but they’ll go through much faster.
In the meantime, as we do our work and make our communications, we’ll polarize people:
1) driving the most hard-headed away from us
2) gradually infiltrating the thinking of those less hard-headed, getting their skeptical and unsympathetic attention
3) intriguing the attention of those with some curiosity, drawing them toward finding out more about our work
4) attracting people toward us for one-on-one conversation
5) attracting people to use our services
6) having people advocate our work to others
7) attracting new trainees in HSE
In summary, we’ll polarize people either into running away from us as fast as they can or coming to join us — and every stage in between.
Our best candidates are those those know that they’re screwed and they’re looking for something — they don’t know what.
I’ve noticed that I’ve had scant success getting clients from conversations in public places (maybe it’s my personality), or from advertising.
For years, friends and clients have wondered why this work isn’t more popular, why friends they’ve told about somatics don’t come to me. This piece may reveal the heart of the matter: people are attached to what they already know, haven’t realized that they’re screwed without somatic education; they aren’t desperate enough.
The desperate who are looking find me on-line or hear from friends who were clients. They come and they reach “stage 5”.
Hallelujah.
Add your comment — what you would like to ask or tell.
Jaw tension and jaw movement are a very interesting pivotal point in the consideration of balanced movement and stance but also of physiological health and emotional well-being.
Our balance depends much upon where our jaw (mandible) is in relation to our cranium:
clenched or loosely supported mandible forward, head back or mandible back, head down and forward or tighter more on one side than on the other?
or with our cranium well centered and moving in a well-balanced, well-supported way by our free and gently elongated neck?
or pulling our head down and forward as our lower jaw (mandible) pulls back and up seemingly by itself with no doing on our part.
LIKE A NUTCRACKER.
and the position of our jaw reflects our physiological state and shape our arousal state our emotional state our attitude our readiness for what’s next or our unreadiness our “running” old memories as our best understanding of the present without also facing the mystery as this living moment.
The View from Outside
The upper jaw, part of the cranium, connects most intimately with the spine and back (dorsal aspect) of the body.
The lower jaw, the mandible, connects most intimately with the body-core and front (ventral aspect) of the body.
Miscoordination of the jaws, in biting, chewing, and rest position, causes a misfit between the front and back of the body. That misfit causes chronic muscular tensions in the trunk and disturbances to breathing, swallowing, balance, posture and movement. Jaws are a big deal. I say more about that, below.
But for now, I think it’s time we looked something squarely in the face, viz.,
“the grimace”.
The grimace goes with the gag reflex,
but also with coughing,
revulsion, disgust (pulling back of the tongue),
and suppressed anger (pulling back the mandible in suppression of the urge to bite someone
or perhaps say something really rude),
all involving changes to the face, jaw position, the inside of the mouth, and throat.
And to all that, I say, “Blecch!”
But, there we are. We might as well look at it,
particularly if all that describes us.
So, the first question:
Where does our lower jaw go on such occasions?
Why, up and back.
The teeth clench,
the bones of the face compress and the face gets harder,
the tongue pulls back in and presses against the soft palate.
The head pulls forward and down,
the top of the head tips back
and the neck vertebrae come forward,
closing the throat passage from behind.
It’s a response that says,
“Nothing’s going in
and something may be coming out!”
Back to the jaws.
Clenching the teeth involves the muscles of the sides of the head
pulling the lower jaw (mandible)
up against the teeth of the upper jaw (the maxilla),
so the muscles of clenching pull the sides (and therefore, top) of the head down
and the bottom of the head, up
in a big squeeze.
The face shows it.
More is happening, however.
With the closing of the throat
comes also
depression of the front of the chest —
a cave-in
and compression around the base of the head
where the spinal cord enters (foramen magnum)
producing a sensation registered, somatically,
as shrinking inward along our length
and possibly, queasiness.
The change of mouth, throat, and chest shape
impair breathing at two focal locations
the throat
and the chest.
Well, this is a jolly state to be in.
The question arises:
“What is a more wholesome resting position of the lower jaw?”
I say,
“It is hanging freely, floating beneath the upper teeth
and somewhat forward.”
The exact amount of forward depends upon the inclination of the head
but in the neutral or balanced head position,
my provisional stand is, “the incisors match up”
although it’s an error to think of the jaws having a fixed rest position.
It’s more that they have a floating equilibrium that changes with head movement and position.
When our head is more inclined (forehead up)
the lower jaw hangs back, somewhat
as in the gag reflex
or worry.
When our head is somewhat bowed (forehead forward)
our lower jaw hangs forward, somewhat.
When our head is balanced between forward and back
our lower jaw hangs freely at some floating suspension point,
our facial bones feel the downward pull of the lower jaw
and they separate, somewhat
and our face softens.
So when we are revolting against life,
when life seems revolting to us
when “our bodies” are in revolt
or we are confronted with a revolting body,
and the emotion of revulsion closes in
we clench our teeth, somewhat,
or maybe a lot. (TMJ Dysfunction/bruxism)
Repressed anger involves a pulling back of the mandible (lower jaw)
and clenching of the teeth,
the proverbial “gnashing of teeth”,
combined with a pasted-on smile
really, a grimace
not a true grin,
really the action of repressing rage and the urge
to bite someone or, as I said,
say something really rude.
An alternate cause of tightening the jaws in a held position
is pain in the jaws or teeth, whatever the cause,
which triggers the grimace response
of pulling the lower jaw back and up
or clenching the face.
Pain of sufficient intensity or duration
can cause long-term conditioning that outlasts the pain
and causes lingering pain of its own.
The same emotional and functional physiological changes occur from either cause.
It’s not an all-or-none reaction, either, but a matter of degree
according to the pain or emotional state, involved.
A person may experience manifestations of narrowed air passages:
he may snore
or have sleep apnea
or just grind his teeth at night
frightening his spouse
and nearby neighbors.
Freeing our jaws to hang more freely
enables us to feel and release accumulated grimace or pain-cringe
and enables us to move toward overall more wholesome health.
Our face shows it.
AH-MAIN
If you want to know how wholesome your own jaw position is, take a walk and do this:
As you walk, slowly nod your head in a “yes” movement and feel how freely your lower jaw changes hanging position.
If it doesn’t change position very slightly but freely, you have excessive jaw tension.
Instead of a jaw splint, night guard or “appliance”, develop control of your own jaw muscles by the means provided, here, so you don’t need these devices. It’s a faster (and more economical) approach to solving the problem.
preparation for the instructional video, above, if needed self-relief program (video)
___________
Lawrence Gold is a certified Clinical Somatic Educator (Hanna somatic education(R)) in practice since 1990 with two years’ experience on-staff at a community hospital wellness and rehabilitation center in California. He has experience addressing TMJ Dysfunction (TMD) and sleep apnea. Read the articles linked, above, for fit to your condition — and contact Lawrence by email, here.
Add your comment — what you would like to ask or tell.
A T T E N T I O N: P S Y C H O A C T I V E ________________
INSTRUCTION IN THE ABILITY
TO DISSOLVE INVISIBLE GRIPS IN YOU
THAT KEEP YOU STUCK Finding Yourself Out and the Way Out
— preparatory “horse training” —
— You’re the horse. | You’re also the trainer. —
on to the basics of
The Gold Key Release:
a Way to Absorb and Transcendthe Bumps of Circumstances
ACTUAL
RECORDED COACHING:
Optimal use:
Listen once before doing.
(clickable] recorded instruction – basic form (8 minutes, 6 seconds)
recording of someone being coached (12 minutes | earlier version)
Enter your information, above, to get the link to
DOWNLOAD THE APP
EXPLANATION
In this procedure, we’re working with memory, intention, attention, and imagination — four processes that, together, seem to account for the entirety of human consciousness.
Of those four, memory is the one most familiar to people, in general. The others remain somewhat tenuous, to us, by common tendency.
In this entry, I will deliver The Gold Key Release to you in a way you can use as intended — for the sake of opening freedom. I will do so in a few seconds.
Later, I will help firm up our sense of memory and the other functions with explanations, descriptions, and more that express how these four functions combine into faculties we exercise in ordinary life — such as desire, just one example. It’s odd, but they do.
For instance, do you know this one?
The Frustrated Control Freak Stress TetraSeed All four facets combine (in feeling) to create the experience
of being a frustrated control freak.
The Likenesses of The Gold Key Release
in Well-Known Transformational Teachings
MEMORY and IMAGINATION Memory is our sense of anything recognizable persisting. That includes our at-present-moment experience, since our ability to recognize anything in the present moment depends upon memory. You’ve got to know something like it in order to recognize it. Our sense of anything and everything is memory; I’m not saying it’s based on memory; I’m saying that it is memory — and three other functions.
Our sense of the solidity or actuality or substantiality or reality of reality is memory — plus three other functions: imagination, attention, and intention.
Memory forms when we have both attention on something and an intention toward it — whether conscious and deliberate or automatic.
Attention [times][ x ] Intention ==> Memory
MEMORY FEELS LIKE
actuality, certainty of Reality, solid truth MATTER
IMAGINATION FEELS LIKEpossibility and expectation,
“fantasy and ideas coming to me”
dream-like or daydream-like LIGHT
The Teeth of The Gold Key
Every key has teeth.
The teeth fit and unlock the lock.
When you match the lock of your invisible limiting conditioning with the steps of The Gold Key,
you experience a Release
that feels like a Transcendent “Kiss”, a Kiss of Dissolution into Formlessness:
(an actual sensation)
as mind-habits that keep you going round and round in “the same old same old”
dissolve and dissipate freeing you to move in new ways, naturally, spontaneously, more on-target.
(NOTE: “an actual sensation” means that you don’t just come away thinking that you are supposed to get some result, soon, maybe later; it’s that you vividly feel a change in yourself — immediately — something distinct, something unusual, something substantial, something that releases you more naturally to feel different — and more like yourself.)
Herein are the teethof the Gold Key:
GUIDELINES The words I use in these instructions are intended to point to felt meanings, not, to be exact, to “word ideas”. I mean you to feel what I say in each instruction. Get a perception.
Then, in each step, get and hold your attention in the perception and wait for attention to get steadier or the perception to get more vivid before doing the next step.
Apply each next step in The Gold Key Release to the sensed result of the preceding step. At each step, take whatever comes up and work with it. Do not edit, qualify, or reason about it. Whatever comes up, work with it. It will change, as needed, during subsequent use of the Release.
Use the exact wording shown, without paraphrasing (at least not until you are proficient enough to improvise improvements).
(If you want to know why, try paraphrasing and compare.)
PREPARATION
Remember something – – anything – – and notice what “remembering” feels like.
Imagine something – – anything – – and notice what “imagining” feels like.
Alternate and repeat until you can clearly tell the difference — and their connection. It has to do with density and with deliberateness of intention. The difference is that remembering feels solid; imagining feels ephemeral or likely to disappear if effort isn’t maintained. . . . . and the connection? That’s for you to find out.
(Here’s a littleHINT: If you do it enough times, the imagining gets remembered, so imagining becomes remembering — just so you know.)
ACTION #1 Identify the item whose grip you want to unlock.
Your item may be one of those, below. (Choose one and make note of possibly interesting others —or make up your own.) In the beginning stage of practice, you may choose a specific instance or case of an item, below; as you get better, you will become able to deal with general conditions, rather than specific instances.
anything that bothers you
anger
sorrow
fear
guilt
shame
(more … to be suggested in The Gold Key Release Training)
Be artful and clever! Do a thorough Gold Key Release on the feeling you have from reading this entry!
In the very beginning, you may or may not have enough “presence of mind” to catch yourself in patterns. But if you notice repetitive thoughts or moods, THAT’S IT!!! Then, it must occur to you to use The Gold Key Release.
Rule of thumb: If it bothers you, THAT’S IT!!!
In the course, I help get you well-started; your “pilot light” gets lit.
| | Feel, “having it”.
| | Notice where you feel it, in you.
| | Notice the shape of its intensity.
| | Refuse it. | | Intend refusing it.
| | Intend it.
| | Refuse intending it.
| ! | Feel, “It doesn’t matter.”
| ! | Feel how much it all matters.
| ! | Notice that “it mattering” involves me (you).
“Mattering involving me” means I’m the one who makes it matter.
Unlocking the Lock:| ! | Think to yourself: “It’s true. It’s true.” Feel what you feel.
| ! | Think to yourself: “It’s untrue. It’s untrue . . . It’s untrue.” Feel what you feel. |1 | Think to yourself: “It’s true.”
|1 | Think to yourself: “It’s untrue, it’s untrue.” |1 | Think to yourself: “It’s true, it’s true.”
|| Remember the feeling of, “It’s true, it’s true.” || Remember the feeling of, “It’s untrue, it’s untrue.” |2| Allow how remembering involves imagining.
|3| Stop imagining.
|= | Allow it to dissolve, and dissipate. Awaken.
(|=| The Transcendent Kiss feelingoccurs.) [ tongue mudra after or during]
Jiggling the Key: (if it doesn’t unlock easily)
| ! | Imagine remembering.
| ! | Remember imagining.
| ! | Imagine remembering.
| ! | Repeat indefinitely until you get a shift (not too many repetitions are needed).
|*|Stop imagining. Awaken.
(|=| The Transcendent “Kiss” occurs.) [ tongue mudra during or after ]
When you’re brand new at this, you may not get vivid feeling perceptions at first; you may feel like nothing is happening or that you’re not doing it right. Do it again. And again. After a few times through, you will get vivid (and familiar) perceptions during the procedure and wake up more completely. After that, you will get vivid perceptions much more quickly.
If you want me to coach you through it to show you the “teeth”, click coaching; with your permission, we may record the session for instructional purposes or posterity, whichever comes first.
ESPECIALLY POTENT: As soon as you feel The Transcendent Kiss feeling, go intoThe Tongue Mudra. The Tongue Mudra causes faster and more complete release.
Let each Transcendent “Kiss” fulfill itself before moving to the next step of The Gold Key Release. Let it spread through you before continuing.
SPECIAL, FOR “VERY UNBALANCED” ITEMS:
(once you’re accustomed to doing The Gold Key Release)
At the, “It’s true!” step, follow this (entire) sequence:
| “It’s true! It’s true!”
| “It’s untrue! It’s untrue! It’s untrue!”
| “It’s true! It’s true!”
|
| “It’s untrue! It’s untrue! It’s untrue!”
| “It’s true! It’s true!”
| “It’s untrue! It’s untrue! It’s untrue!”
Pause and feel until your attention steadies (optimally, at each step).
This formulation helps balance out bias in either direction, easing recognition-as-imagination and release. Use it once you’ve gotten accustomed to the procedure.
“To study the Buddha Way is to study the self.
To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things,
your body and mind as well as the bodies
and minds of others drop away. No trace of enlightenment remains, and this no-trace continues endlessly.” ~~ Dogen Zenji
Lawrence Gold is a certified clinical somatic educator who has been in practice since 1990. His clients are typically people in pain who have not gotten help from standard therapies. Contact Lawrence Gold, here. Read about his background, here.
This article was originally published at Full-Spectrum Somatics. Reprinted with permission from the author.
copyright 2014 Lawrence Gold
This writing may be reproduced only in its entirety
