ORIENTATION
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A. Introduction
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to The Body of Information. You are about to look into a new way of working with yourself.
Here's how it works. From log-in you will be brought to a series
of three pages. The first is a series of
line-scales for measuring how you feel right now: pain, tension, energy and
mood. You can re-measure these feelings
when you save your work, so you can 
make
a before-after comparison.
The second page is the Pyramid. We have divided it into several workable chunks or levels (see Table below). If you click on the Pyramid level you want, you are brought to a third page, the Workbook for that level. While the Workbook is loading the Guidance for that level appears. The Guidance provides ways of thinking about and attending to experiences you want to address. Once the Workbook loads, the Guidance can be accessed from there.
The
Workbook is like an illustrated diary. You
can use it in several ways. You can
describe with it, you can draw and label with it, or you can simply sit with
it, using the guidance and tutorials.
Each level of the Pyramid has its own Workbook Page with its own
guidance, prompts, and list of possibilities for titling the page and labeling
your experience on the canvas. These
lists provide you the opportunity to distinguish and describe your experience
more precisely and deeply.
Tutorials, charts and other workbook entries can be accessed in the third column, beside the work canvas area. So if you want to see a chart about muscle-point locations that release hip pain, or see how you worked with it in the past, you can look at that file while you’re working.
You can also look at other people’s posted workbooks in the third column. When you look at other people’s postings, be it for physical pain or for more personal experience, you are collaborating. Collaborating in this way not only provides new information from others in similar circumstances, it is mutually rewarding and supporting.
We are also developing the tools for you to collaborate live with a healthcare provider. In this way you can receive immediate guidance and feedback in your Workbook and through Instant Messaging text. Whether it be for physical problems or emotional processing, online work with a provider can help you find your way when you need it.
THE BODY OF INFORMATION
TABLE OF LEVELS
|
LEVELS |
KEY POINTS |
SAMPLE WORDS |
GUIDANCE SAMPLE |
|
LEVEL 1: RECOGNIZING THE DIFFICULTY, URGENCY, … |
Being aware of the
way you’re feeling and acting. A. Paying attention to what you’re saying to yourself. B. Noticing whether there’s a sense of urgency, distress or pain. C. Describing the feelings and sensations. |
I’m feeling: Worried Agitated Distressed Tense Pressured Anxious Upset Unsettled Scared Frantic Stuck Threatened Out of control Lonely Isolated Out of balance Overwhelmed Angry Sad Depressed Hopeless Burdened Constricted Heavy hearted In pain Unwell Achy Stiff Weak Numb Exhausted Sick Feverish |
To be human is to sometimes encounter pain and distress. Whether it is physical or emotional, pain
is usually accompanied by distress.
The sensation and the emotion work their way inside together. They feed off each other. The physiological responses of distress
heighten symptoms of pain. They cause
the body to work harder than it has to.
Meanwhile, physical pain can be frightening and easy to project into
the future. Long-standing physical symptoms can cause difficulty
adjusting and depressed mood. When symptoms are chronic, there’s little opportunity
to rest and recover. Like a plane waiting to land, you go into a holding
pattern. If you can’t land, the body begins to exhaust. Health and belief in
oneself start to break down. Old
habits sneak up that may soothe momentarily, but over time circumscribe the
richer pockets of one’s living. It’s as if the body tricks the belief system
into thinking that distress is actually pleasure. The first step in managing holding patterns of
distress and pain is to recognize them.
Simply noticing the sensations and feelings allows you some space from
which to operate, to rest and take care of yourself. |
|
LEVEL 2: REACHING WHERE IT CLUTCHES, … |
“Reaching” the
tense, tired or uncomfortable places in the body. Points: A. Locating what’s needing attention and touch in the body right now. B. Touching it, breathing with it. C. Marking and labeling it for future reference.
|
It is … here: Tight Jittery Clutched up Tense Knotted up Shaky Agitated Weak Depleted Stuck Painful Strained Excruciating Pounding Pressing Throbbing Trembling Digging in Wrenching Stabbing Shooting Searing Gripping Constricted Aching Dull Sore Stiff Tingly Numb Burning Laboring Collapsing Feverish Weak Tired Dead Depleted |
Holding patterns of distress and pain are like an
onion. With their release the tender
layers underneath become exposed and healing can be encouraged. What exactly is distress? It is like a switch in the
body that does at least 3 things: it elevates the heart rate, it causes the
breath to become shallow and rapid, and it creates tension in the muscles. Fortunately, all of these are noticeable
events. Is your breath shallow? Place your hands on your diaphragm and
feel. What about your muscles? Is there tightness in your chest? Shoulders?
Extremities? Facial muscles? Touch the tight places lightly. Massage them if it helps. Refine the feeling there. Often it is the place that’s not being noticed that
holds the tension most. Where is this place now? The chest, jaw, eyes, throat? Breathe with that. Does it want to move? Stretch? Rest? Listen to your
body. What about pain?
Pain is an alerting sensation. What it alerts you to may be about the
way you sit or stand; or it may be about what you take time with and don’t
take time with. While the causes of pain can be many, surprisingly
often the remedy can be found in a tight band of muscle. We can show you how
to release that. Other times you can work with the sensation, to
soothe it, cool or warm it, and even pass it out of your body. |
|
LEVEL 3: REMINDING HOW IT OPENS |
Encouraging the next intuitive step. Points: A. Being open to the possibility that what you’ve found has been there for quite a while. B. Noticing how it’s stirred when you think and feel a certain way. C. Paying attention to what helps it drop down and rest. |
It wants: Relief Soothing Softening Easing Relaxing Release Calming down Dropping down Slowing down Loosening Unlocking Stretching Spreading Streaming Moving Penetrating Opening up Filling up Resonating Shifting Realigning Expansion Enervation Stimulation Exercise Resistance Challenge Contact Touching Gentleness Clarity Care Warmth Rest |
What is needed to release distress and discomfort is
the understanding that the body is your ally in this work. Because we live in a society that relies on
“experts” and pills, we lose touch with something we knew as children, that
we have powerful healing capacities within us. As you learn to rely more on
these intuitive powers you may surprise yourself. The intuition we go back to again and again resides
in the body. Reflexes, motor memories,
habitual behaviors all become data for observation. As they do, beliefs about oneself and
others become subjects for self-scrutiny.
What unfolds is likely to become richer as you release the tension in
these holding patterns. In fact, the
information becomes richer and richer as the tension falls away. If you pay attention to the small shifts you create
in your quieting body you will also notice their effects on your state of
being. You’ll be better able to ask the harder questions.
You’ll be better able to reach where it hurts, struggles, digs in. Even when the tender place lies beneath where you
are comfortable working, you’ll find breakthroughs simply by going back to
the body and allowing your experience to unfold. What’s important is to acknowledge this
place for its hard work. Then you can more easily let it go. |
|
LEVEL 4: REMAINING BY WHAT’S TOUCHED |
Allowing what’s
underneath to unfold. Points: A. Listening quietly to what’s stirred up, tender, struggling. B. Refining what you sense there as it is in the body. C. Keeping company with that. |
I feel it: Shifting Opening Moving Sighing Welling up Gathering Releasing Letting go Holding back Struggling Holding onto Carrying Hurting Crying Avoiding Pushing away Blocking out Stuck in Piling up Pressing Weighing on Digging in Ingrained in Heavy with Whispering in my Being careful with Tugging at my Streaming into Resonating with Tingling Tinged with |
Whenever
there is distress, and often when there is pain, something is not
being responded to clearly and fully. It is
work that you carry in your body, the work of an as-yet unresponded-to experience. The
meaning of this experience remains unclear until contact is made with that
which seeks response. There’s a particular kind of
asking that allows this contact. Like a tourist visiting
for the first time, or a small child playing with
bathwater, it surprises you. Have you ever noticed when you
touch the surface of water how it clings to your finger? Contact is maintained through
the sensation of light touch. Stillness is the key. If the surface is choppy or the touch isn’t
gentle, contact is lost. In this same way, when your pool of thoughts and feelings is still enough, visit it
with a light touch. What are you shouldering? Holding back? What wants to get off your chest? Trust the metaphors you find. Acknowledge this place. Give it permission to let go. Once recognized, that which is bound up in tension
or pain can come alive. The shoulders
ease, the back bends, the chest sighs. |
|
LEVEL 5: ARRIVING WITH THIS |
Beholding what lives there. Points: A. Remembering when it was like this. B. Noticing now what you didn’t see before. C. Completing. |
I am… (you): |
Sometimes we are offered a glimpse of the energies of our living. You’ve seen it in a
posture, a glance or a telling face. Sometimes it’s the person in the mirror we see this way. What is glimpsed is likely to have been there for quite a while. This is a large kind of knowing that may not as yet
have words. Perhaps it is a place you can speak from, but not
yet about. When else have you felt a quality like this? With whom? Further open the panel in your field of living. Bring to mind one who knew you like this, one who felt and saw
things that others did not. What is it in you that he or she saw? What do you know now that for so long went unnoticed? |
ã Copyright 1998-2003. Stephen R. Scholle. All rights reserved.
This site is the project of Stephen R. Scholle, Ph..D., L.Ac., licensed psychologist and acupuncturist. Programming is by Terry Henning and Brian Vanduzee.
Click here for acknowledgements
Click here for the research and ideas behind the site