Into The Wild

Our skin is the outer layer of our brain, the furthest extension of our localized consciousness. Your skin and central nervous system (which includes the brain and spinal column) once shared the same cells, called the ectoderm. Since the time you were an infant, it was through the surfaces of your skin that your nervous system received all the information it needed to develop into a unique human being. All that input from the outside world, fed and still feeds into your nervous system where it is stored and constantly drawn upon, influencing your behavior. It creates millions of tiny building blocks that act as a reference library steering you through life. A more accurate term for the nervous system would be the awareness system as every one of the 10-billion neurons is intimately connected with each other, conscious of everything that is going on, holding the entire history of one’s life within itself.

When you are touched, every part of you is touched. The whole system ripples with the effects. Thoughts, dreams, and trauma can hide, begin or end at any place within your system. We are a 24-hour absorbing, processing and reacting bundle of life. Combine this with genetic information that we were born with and we get the complete you, moment-to-moment

Ask yourself about the nervous or vascular system, and you might conjure up a brief description that is much like household plumbing or wiring, something reminiscent of high school biology. Ask many doctors and you will get a similar boiler plate description.

Our inability so far, to truly grasp and understand a whole person perspective in terms of the body could be attributed back to the era of Rene Descartes, and what could be termed as ‘Cartesian jet lag’. We are wrestling with an outdated concept that separates mind and body, one that science and western medicine have been nursing for years despite the mountains of evidence to the contrary. One such concept is that of the brain sitting on top of our shoulders as an all-controlling dictator and our organs are minimized to their functional roles. This view results in a mechanized model of the self, devoid of consciousness and beauty. The cures and treatments that we are offered by most mainstream approaches, match these un-conscious stories.

When you think of your body, think of a mountain that is thick with forest and animals. A place where rain falls from leaf to leaf and seeps into the deep rich soil creating countless minute streams. These little channels, like our nervous system, are infinite and pull in from the outside deep into the core. They are part of a cycle of nature, perpetuating life-supporting streams and rivers that are rich with minerals and the molecular memory of the mountain itself. This is much like you, drawing in experiences and expressing them out into life.

We are walking extensions of nature and as a practitioner, treating such a complex and beautiful creature is sacred work. If you charge into a forest, the animals scatter, the trees go silent and you can’t see the trees for the wood. Instead one must adopt a forest whisper, a soft voice that comes naturally when we find ourselves surrounded by nature. It is then that we become an assimilated respectful visitor, not a threat, but a companion sharing the space. This is the same space that all good therapists share when they start the healing path with their clients.

The task then of a good therapist is to listen to the client’s body and to allow the dysfunction to lead them through the skin, the body’s forest floor and into the tributaries of the awareness system. This skill requires from the therapist not just physical competence, but also to have walked the same path themselves and to know the lay of the land through their own personal healing. The skilled massage therapist uses the same forest whisper spoken through their hands, to invite the body back to health through skilled pressure, gentle glides and an ear to the ground.

Healing has to be slow. It is the gentle art of your personal evolution, your healing path. There is no quick fix, no silver bullet cure. The body speaks for itself through every cell in every part of the body, always on the brink of healing and ready to step… into the wild.