
November 22, 2011

Shama,
I really liked the abdominal therapy program. This offers some very different tools in dealing with the whole person. For someone into yoga therapy this is great. I have had the emotional release happen in a Thai session. They happen in yoga also. I have never known for sure what triggers them but it makes sense that many emotions are stored in the gut areas. I tend to carry problems there also. Those who have been sexually abused do for sure. We recently had an older yoga student who had been sexually abused in her youth. She came to class regularly but had many breakdowns in class. Unfortuantly she didn't talk it through with the right person and ended up committing suicide. It was a hard one to deal with. Her husband was a prominent attorney here and she had two loving daughters. She was just unable to cope with or deal with whatever abuse was in her past. We are not counselors and this is an extreme instance but in most instances, an emotional release is a good thing. I am fine with triggering such a reaction in those needing such a release. Phoenix Rising yoga therapy works in this idea, that our body speaks our mind or carries our emotions. As you move the client through a sequence of postures, you are attempting to trigger emotional responses and encouraging them to process and move through them. My background has been in therapy and some counseling training so have had an interest in the Phoenix Rising program. It also incorporates Thai massage techniques in the session. Anyway, I am looking forward to this being part of my tool kit.
I am glad you liked this course. I have had a lot of success with it. Initially many people just don't know how to react to abdominal work because most therapists just don't do it. However whenever my clients went for the abdominal work, they always liked it and found it very unique.
Strange things can happen when you work on the abdomen. I agree with you, it is much better for emotions to be released than being kept bottled up. It helps if you have some experience with some type of process work or counseling. I have seen some pretty wild releases, and I am always ok with what happens, and I tell my clients that.
I find abdominal work a really fascinating part of massage in general. Here in Thailand the abdomen is almost never touched during Thai Massage sessions. That's why I decided to study Chi Nei Tsang and develop an abdominal system that works well with Thai Massage.
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