| In my twenty-two years as a professional | | | | human history before technology and chemistry when |
| bodyworker I have gone through many phases of | | | | this type of hands-on-healing was the prevalent mode |
| developing my practice. For the first few years I | | | | of healthcare. Maybe there is a misunderstanding of |
| followed the protocols I was trained in as closely as I | | | | technology and we have forgotten that the highest |
| could. I got good results, but there were still | | | | known form of intelligence is consciousness as |
| shortcomings that left me dissatisfied. So I started | | | | manifested in human beings. Perhaps our fascination |
| what has become a lifelong journey of investigation | | | | with artificial intelligence has caused us to overlook the |
| into any form of healing that seemed to offer promise. | | | | fact that we are much more complex and have vastly |
| I checked out everything from light touch energy | | | | greater potentials than any machine ever created. |
| healing to deep tissue bodywork. I also studied body | | | | I became frustrated. All the protocols will always fall |
| centered psychotherapy. I learned a great deal. But the | | | | short. If I tried to teach all I had learned I would just |
| most astounding discovery was made on my own | | | | have students approaching the healing situation with a |
| while treating clients. | | | | lot of ideas and really missing the point. I wanted a |
| Although I practice eight different modalities, my | | | | completely new approach, an attitude of asking |
| personal favorite has always been Cranio-Sacral | | | | questions and waiting patiently for an answer. I wanted |
| Therapy. After following the prescribed protocol for | | | | to teach a way of combining meditative awareness |
| several years, I began to yearn for more. It seemed | | | | with hands-on healing. But I couldn't see any way of |
| that there was more potential to this form of healing | | | | doing this. I was lost. So I just experienced all the fear, |
| than I was tapping into. At the same time, I was | | | | confusion and anxiety. Then I let it all go and forgot |
| practicing meditation regularly and noticed that my | | | | about teaching. |
| meditation practice was beginning to affect my | | | | One morning Carly called and asked me to teach a |
| cranio-sacral treatments. Instead of staying with the | | | | workshop at her yoga center. I thought why not? It will |
| prescribed protocol, I began to venture into new | | | | be fun, a good change of pace. I experienced a new |
| territory. The result was that I expanded what could | | | | sense of excitement. I laid down on my bed and asked |
| be treated, going beyond just bones to include the | | | | myself how I could do this, where to begin? The first |
| whole body and aspects of the mind as well. The | | | | answer was emotions. They are so powerful, so |
| results improved dramatically. I also became more | | | | energetically charged and have a strong influence over |
| patient with the healing process, being willing at times to | | | | us. I decided there would be no fixed plan, just choices |
| do nothing, just wait and observe. This went against | | | | that are made by asking the bodymind what is needed |
| the prevailing mentality of trying to fix the problem as | | | | through muscle testing. The practitioner would focus on |
| quickly as possible. | | | | awareness while the client embodies the emotion. A |
| My experience of the innate intelligence of the body or | | | | laying on of hands would complete the healing circuit. |
| "bodymind" greatly deepened. I noticed that the | | | | After much consideration, I decided to call it Emotional |
| bodymind has its own agenda and time frame. It's like | | | | Awareness Practice. Each word succinctly describing |
| watching a baseball game and hoping they would | | | | what this technique is about. I became imbued with a |
| hurry up. The bodymind, like baseball, has its own pace | | | | strong sense of mission. |
| which doesn't always fit our schedule. Although some | | | | The practice that resulted from all this is so simple that |
| protocols seemed to be more in tune with the | | | | I now to teach it to the general public in one day. |
| bodymind than others, overall they seemed to be an | | | | Emotional Awareness Practice (EAP) is done fully |
| imposition. The real agenda of the bodymind changes | | | | clothed while sitting in chairs. The treatment is |
| moment to moment and no fixed protocol could ever | | | | completed in around ten minutes. "Homework" is |
| be completely in sync with it. | | | | included that can be practiced after the treatment to |
| I felt humbled and at the same time excited by my | | | | enhance the positive results. I also teach a way that |
| experience of the body's inner wisdom. I was doing | | | | you can treat yourself. EAP is now part of my daily |
| more observing and less fixing. I felt like the first man | | | | practice. |
| on the moon, excited and daunted. All I had to do was | | | | EAP brings the experience of meditation and hands on |
| listen to the bodymind and give it space to do what it | | | | healing to a larger audience. After doing this practice |
| needed to do, what it was able to do far better than I | | | | people have reported that they feel less overwhelmed |
| or any healer. I discovered relationships in the energy | | | | by negative emotions. Negative emotions still come on, |
| body that were not part of any modality that I had | | | | but their duration is shorter and less intense. Their grip |
| studied, sometimes complex and then appearing so | | | | on us is loosened allowing our saner and more mature |
| simple. I observed an innate intelligence that was ready | | | | side to manifest. As one client put it, "It gets us beyond |
| and able to resolve its issues. All that was needed | | | | ourselves", beyond our little internal wrestling match so |
| was conscious observation and permission to heal. I | | | | that we can relate to the larger world. EAP gives us |
| simply observed and learned to get out of the way | | | | greater clarity about how we really feel without having |
| while still being present. I found that there was | | | | to act on it. There is also a significant release of |
| tremendous power in just bearing witness. | | | | muscular tension. This is because negative emotions |
| While this was going on I was repeatedly asked to | | | | cause muscles to chronically tighten. As our muscles |
| teach. I usually declined. How could I teach all of this? It | | | | relax our posture improves leaving us standing |
| was challenging enough to explain it to my clients. How | | | | straighter and feeling more grounded. |
| could I teach what I had learned through being trained | | | | There is now an extensive body of evidence indicating |
| in eight modalities, twenty-two years of practice and | | | | that negative emotions have a significant impact on |
| twenty years of meditation? The answer was the | | | | our physical health. And of course if they really get out |
| same as before. Learn to relax with it, let go and let it | | | | of hand they can cause us to do things that we later |
| happen. I needed to stick with the essence of the | | | | regret. Emotional Awareness Practice is a significant |
| experience and not get bogged down in the details. | | | | step towards developing greater clarity about how |
| I knew in my heart I believed that if I could do this work, | | | | emotions affect our daily lives and it also improves our |
| anyone could do it. This capacity must be in all human | | | | ability to manage emotions through body awareness. |
| beings. It just lies dormant. Maybe there was a point in | | | | |