BODYWORK WITH YOUR EYES

A COLLECTION OF FOUR HOMAGES TO THE MIRACLES OF OUR EYES

I

"While with an eye made quiet by the power
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things"
~ William Wordsworth

I've heard a study was done from films of Feldenkrais, Trager and Ida Rolf working. The study was looking for what made them masterful, what distinguished their work from their students. It turns out they were not apparently "doing" any different moves than their students. What they were observed to be doing quite differently, is they were paying attention to the client, "tracking" the client with a far higher degree of concentration.

It turns out observation skills and the sensory aspect of bodywork is as important as or more so than the motor actions we take.

So use your eyes brilliantly and you will SEE what needs to be done.

II

In EYES AND TEARS, Andrew Marvell remarks,

"How wisely Nature did decree,
With the same eyes to weep and see..."

I am tempted sometimes to just massage the eyes for all they've seen and for all that may have caused them to weep.

Certainly if we want to quickly reconnect to what miracles we are, the eyes are a revelation. The capacity of eyes to move; the fascinating arrangements of their intrinsic musculature, moving unconsciously and almost all the time; the optic nerve diving through the sphenoid bone and conveying all the data back to the occipital lobe, where binocularity and image reversal is achieved; barely to mention the unconscious and conscious recognition of images and associations, and the projecting out so we experience the image as out there after all the work done so beautifully in here.

This reminds us how incredible each person is. Touch is another way of seeing, informed by a respect for each incredible part of us, moving almost as effortlessly as the gazing eye, conveying to each person how he or she is a walking miracle.Can we really have health without seeing what miracles we are?

III

SEEING IS ANOTHER WAY OF TOUCHING

"Thought is gazing on to the face of life and reading what can be read."
–- D. H. Lawrence

We do our work with our hands and almost equally with our eyes. The role of the eyes in massage and bodywork is essential to the presence of thought-fulness in our touch.

Observing posture and movement and, during our sessions, unconscious physical responses and micro-expressions gives us valuable information that guides us in the non-verbal conversation that constitutes our sessions. Really “seeing” the person (as in understanding them) is as important as being touched.

Trust that the eyes and mind, having seen millions of people, looked upon and into millions of eyes, have a vast knowledge, much of which lives in us unconsciously, yet which guides us in all human interactions.

People want to be seen, to be understood, to be accurately “read,” to be acknowledged for who they really are. Children often just want the blessing of the parent's acknowledgement, “Look at me! Look at what I’m doing!!” Then the parents’ seeing affirms a deeper reality and acceptance that nourishes them for their whole lives.

So your “gazing onto this face of life, and reading what can be read,” adds a kind of blessing to the session. When clients are thoughtfully touched with mind as well as body, they respond in kind, with greater physical ease and peace of mind and often with a transformation evoked by being touched with hands that truly see.

(disclaimer: of course, for therapists with visual impairment, their minds are deeply engaged equally, since we see with so much more than just our eyes). 

IV

TASHLIKH

 A New Year’s suggestion. Anywhere from 20-60% of the brain is involved in vision. Therefore, so much of what you’ve seen this year has involved your eyes, your brain and, through them, it’s affected your emotions, your memory, and your thinking. Rather than leap to New Year’s resolutions, it may be useful for us first to let go of the effects of what you’ve seen, remembered, thought, and felt this past year. When we let go of what we don’t need from the past, we free the present and the future.

One suggestion, if it resonates with you, is simply to lie down and to place your open palms centered over your eyes. Feel the warmth and comfort in your eyes. After a little while, breathing and relaxing your eyes, imagine letting go of the residue of the past that no longer serves you. Review what you’ve seen, appreciating the beautiful things, and letting go of anything you recall that may not serve you – feel it flowing out of your eyes, your brain, your whole self and being released. Hold your warm hands there and breathe until you feel finished with that.

In the Jewish tradition, there is a lovely ritual performed at the new year – “Tashlikh,” meaning "cast away." it is a ritual performed as a physical reminder of the human effort to cast away one's sins. By casting crumbs of bread into the water and reciting the verse from Micah—"cast all our sins into the ocean's depths"—we state our intention to return to our true selves.

I plan to dive into our wonderful body of flowing water, Barton Springs here in Austin and cast some crumbs of bread there in. But I’m also going to place my palms against my eyes and face the new year more true to myself. Dive into yourself - after all, you’re mostly water - let it go and let it flow.