The Four Fulcrums of Embodiment – Part 1 of 4

Biodynamic work is a study of perception and living wholeness. The perceptual process that unfolds for the therapist during a session is largely dependent on the quality of his or her attention on their own body especially its fluid nature. This is the starting point for the therapeutic process that eventually leads to the physical contact with our hands in various windows to observe the shape and movement of wholeness in the client. I have put together a sequence of meditations that I call the four fulcrums of embryonic embodiment. I would like to outline these four fulcrums and specifically their stages of practice with more experience. This is particularly beneficial not only when working with a client but also throughout one’s own daily life. Primary Respiration in general means the quality of slow attention that moves like a tide throughout the whole body and space around the body. Stillness refers to the specialized cells in the embryo and fetus that are quiescent or pockets of fluids called lagoons that induce proper growth and development by their relatively low metabolic activity.

1. Body shape
a. The beginning point is sitting or standing and developing a sense of one’s whole body, specifically at the surface of the skin. This involves a body scan starting at the feet and going up to the top of the head. The intention is initially to simply stay on the surface of the body as the observation point for the experience of wholeness. The nervous system has several areas in the brain that manage representations of wholeness. Since we live in the day and age of fragmentation and speed, the nervous system has lost this most fundamental capacity, so the first step is a body scan, staying at the skin. In later perceptual practices, we will come back to this place of observation.
b. The entire molecular content of the body is 99 percent water. The next discovery of body shape is to come into relationship with the enormity of the fluid body under the surface of the skin. Biological water has its own intrinsic motion and since the water molecule is the smallest molecule in the body, it can go through anything. The first discovery of the fluid body is the spontaneous micromovement or the ripple effect, as I like to call it, under the surface of the skin. For some, it’s more like a vibration, but nonetheless, I encourage students to find their own metaphor, as long as the nervous and soft tissue systems of the body are not engaged. So it really is subtle movement.
c. The next step is to dedensify the entire musculoskeletal system. All structures in the human body began as an empty sac that filled with fluid. Then it became a gel and gradually more and more dense. The fluid matrix of all structures in the living body is still available. I call this the seaweed effect. Whether it’s the spine or other parts of the skeleton, it is simple to imagine all of it is like seaweed that is anchored to the floor or pelvis.
d. The process of dedensification leads to a gradual sensibility of buoyancy. Buoyancy is the lift we experience or upward streaming of the seaweed from the feet and pelvic floor up through the top of the head and out through the fingertips. The more a body de-densifies from held stress and related trauma, the more we can experience lift and fluidity.
e. As this perceptual sequence unfolds in one’s unique embodiment process, then the therapeutic process can start with what I call stress dissipation. This means that the fluid body perturbations and stresses both at a biochemical and morphological level connect right through to the therapist’s own fluid body. During the first few minutes of placing one’s hands on a client, it is important to immediately return one’s attention to one’s own fluid body and feel how the seaweed and overall shape is moving as we allow the client’s fluid body to merge into ours. This merging is natural and normal, since it is already happening at the level of the central and cardiovascular systems.

I want to invite all of you to attend a 3 hour course I am offering at the Open Center in New York City on December 11, 2015. CLICK HERE for more information.

Note. This class, for laypersons as well as health practitioners, can be taken alone but can also serve as an introduction to the three day Biodynamic Cardiovascular Therapy training.