THE HEART-HEAD FULCRUM
“The heart’s so far from the head it doesn’t even know there is a head.” - Dr. Elvin Semrad
A central issue of humankind is how to integrate emotion and thought. Too often these days we see emotions being expressed or acted upon thoughtlessly. Likewise, we see technological innovations proceeding without enough thought given to the emotional consequences of so-called progress. This is an evolutionary and cultural problem built into the lack of optimal coordination of the lower, middle and upper centers of the brain and the bodily aspects related to those.
Fulcrums and bodywork to help bridge and amplify the positive connection between heart and head can be extremely helpful. I’d like to describe the “Heart-Head fulcrum”. This is an advanced Zero Balancing fulcrum I’m sharing because it is relatively easy to do and so deeply needed in our world.
It does involve putting one’s hand or at least one finger on the center of the chest or at least on the sternum overlying the heart (normally in Zero Balancing and Deep Massage the client will be clothed or a drape is over the chest). Honoring the client’s boundaries here is particularly important. Before the session explain this fulcrum and how may be helpful, then ask the client if they are fine with receiving it or if not, clearly honoring them if they are hesitant, by not doing it.
Assuming you have their permission, when the person is face up and relaxed through whatever previous work you’ve done, place the fingers of one hand so that you can just feel the underledge of the occipital bone. (Remember, the underside of the occiput goes anteriorly quite a ways, ultimately surrounding the spinal column.)
Now slightly curve your fingers so you can make, with your fingertips, a gentle bone-to-bone connection with that posterior inferior surface of the occiput. Your fingertips are pointed at about a 45° angle, gently angled up toward the eyes.
Lean back a tiny bit, taking the looseness out of the neck. This should feel like a refreshing engagement, a gentle lengthening of the neck and possibly down through the upper thorax as well.
Curve the fingers just a tiny bit more to also introduce a slight flexion, so that the chin nods down just a little toward the chest. This is called the “half moon vector through the neck.”
Now place your other hand on the area over the heart. This may be, to be super clear with the physical and energetic boundaries of this personal area, just a finger or two on the very center of the sternum, around the 4th rib or, where there is room and the client is fine with it, you may use the palm.
Now while maintaining the half moon vector with the “head” hand, add a slightly inferior vector with the “heart” hand. The idea of is to facilitate an experience of connection, like a gentle hammock in which both the heart and head, the mind and emotions can both rest. In this gentle connection, ideally compassion and communication between head and heart is furthered. Allow time for an imaginative, bodymind dialogue between heart and head to take place.
Hold it. Hold it. Hold it. Do not add anything more. Just give the client at least a couple of breaths worth of time to experience this fulcrum. Do not stay too long - often six seconds is a relatively long fulcrum! Then clearly disengage the heart hand and then the head hand, setting the head and neck down in length, allowing the person to keep that gently elongated feeling through the neck.
Now take a moment with your hands off and let the client assimilate their experience. Then proceed with the rest of the session in whatever other ways will seem most helpful.
