Summer Mind + Body Therapy
Where does the mind end and the body begin?
Perhaps these 2 have never existed separately but more like 2 fish swimming in tandem, mirroring each other’s every move.
This connection is what makes the healing art of bodywork so potent. Unraveling the body also undoes the grip of the mind.
My work as a Rolfer dances this line of mind-body. The tissues hold the issues and contacting them with touch, pressure and movement allow the body to speak the language of the unconscious. What has always been there is surfaced, literally massaged and given a way to move through the mind-body in a safe space.
One of my favorite healing arts tools for this mind-body connection is aromatherapy.
In the summer, I gather fresh plants on my walk to my office. With a client resting on the table, I let them inhale the fresh herbs, rub them along their temples or weave them between their toes. Some times I let the herbs soak in a sun bath for a few hours before sprinkling my client with a flower infused bath. I curate my own aromatherapy spritzers for therapy on the go and in my car.
I find this therapy so simple to apply and so deep in its affect.
Aromas bypass our prefrontal thinking brain and directly speak to our lower brainstem; our more basic state of fight + flight or rest + digest.
They have power to radically shift our state at the root of our nervous system without actually changing our life circumstance or solving our big problems. The smell can immediately switch the neuromuscular system into rest mode. Think of a smell that always makes you melt? Maybe it is lavender or palo santo? I bet just thinking of it is relaxing you right now! This summer, if you feel the pressures of life and stress levels are up, remember these aromas are a little island of mind + body respite literally at your finger tips.
