TCM Psychiatry – Qing Zhi Bing – Bodywork and Neuro-Somatic Therapy

Supportive Therapies

Bodywork and Neuro-Somatic Therapy

Neuro Somatic Therapy

An evolutionary and comprehensive approach

to the treatment of physical pain, emotional distress and exhaustion.

What is Neuro Somatic Therapy?

NST is a form of manual or “hand’s on” therapy that integrates several existing methods of Body-Work, Breath-Work and Energy-Work.  Such as;

Neuro Muscular Therapy

Myofascial Release Therapy

Somato emotional Release Therapy

Chinese Therapeutic Massage

Cranio-Sacral Therapy

Medical Qi Gong (Daoist Energy Work)

As well as methods of Body-Work and Energy-Work from Indigenous systems of healing.

These skills prepare practitioners for assisting people with physical pain, emotional distress and exhaustion in a direct and practical way – usually with some immediate improvement.

NST also includes training in

Nutritional Medicine,

Postural Rehabilitation,

Therapeutic Exercise (Dao Yin),

These skills prepare practitioners to assist people suffering from chronic or degenerative diseases with their diet and with their suffering as beings.

NST is also influenced by the leading edge sciences Psycho-Neuro-Immunology (PNI) and Quantum Physics.  PNI is the first science to prove conclusively, through the discovery of Neuro Peptides, that the Mind and Body are the same.    This holistic science has shown that Body-Work, Breath-Work and Energy-Work are profoundly influential to our health.  Physics, through the studies of the Electromagnetism of the human heart and brain, and through the Liquid Crystal model of organic life, has also greatly influenced the development of NST.   Quantum physics has also shown that intension is a profound influence in healing.

The Experience of Neuro Somatic Therapy

As a system of healing, Neuro Somatic Therapy focus on the treatment of physical pain, emotional distress and exhaustion.  The most common and most erosive medical challenges that people face today.

As an experience NST is a journey through, and a restoring of, injured tissues, embodied patterns of distress or the inner emptiness of exhaustion.   During this personal and revitalizing journey NST focuses on several qualities of treatment, including:

Guiding a person into deep states of Mind-Body and breath integration to assist them during their recovery from injury, exhaustion and/or personal trauma.

Relieving sensations of distress throughout a persons whole body.

Increasing circulation to tired and sore muscles as well as the internal organs.

Relaxing hyper-tonic (tight) muscles and encouraging full range of motion in all of the joints.

Encouraging a conscious relationship with each persons bodily sensations and to the way that their Mind-Body subconsciously protects itself from further injury.

Creating a comfortable environment for a person to relax into, and let go of, old patterns of embodiment.

Understanding Pain and Distress

When we feel pain or distress our instinctual Body-Mind acts to protect itself.  For example, if we injure a muscle in our shoulder our Body-Mind instinctually tightens the muscle of our shoulder to avoid motions similar to the original injury.  This is a process called Neuro Somatic Recruitment, which a fancy way of saying “limping”.  This natural process protects our shoulder from further injury.

Gradually, if untreated, the tension in our shoulder can “recruit” muscles in our neck, our arm, our lower back and jaw, and eventually our other shoulder.  This can change our posture, our ability to sleep and even change our ability to respond to the stress of life.

Emotional distress is similar, our Mind-Body instincts protect us by “containing” overwhelming and unwanted feelings in our Neuro Somatic system – creating embodied states of distress.  This is something like making a facial expression on the inside of your body, perhaps an inner scowl or inner disappointment.

Our instinct to control our feelings relies on another instinct for balance, the instinct to loose control of our feelings. Look at the wisdom of children, when they get upset “enough” they have a tantrum, get some sleep and wake up feeling playful.  This is not to suggest that we all need to have a tantrum, there are many other ways to express our emotions, just that we must empty our emotional “containers” once in a while.  NST is a thorough way to relax through this natural and necessary process.

When we contain our emotions and learn to hold them in for an extended period of time, some very erosive changes can occur – most importantly the way we feel in our Body-Mind day in and day out.  Long term distress keeps our nervous system, hormonal system and immune system, not to mention our thoughts in a chronic state of fight or flight.  This puts an immense strain on our vitality and on our adaptability. It also changes our posture, and can recruit muscles into very similar patterns of tension that occur in physical injuries.

Physical injuries and emotional distress go hand in hand and are often difficult to look at as separate.

Treating Pain and Distress

NST works by treating the whole pattern of Neuro Somatic Recruitment (embodiment of distress).  This usually occurs in five stages, regardless if the cause is physical or emotional.

The first stage is to resolve the most acute manifestations of tension, or to reduce the experience of pain.  In a physical injury this involves releasing the muscles that are in spasm.  In an emotional injury NST involves relaxing the barriers that are created in containing feelings or body memories that are too intense for us to experience safely.  A person must feel safe enough and available enough to begin this kind of process.

During the first stage of the treatment process we ask patients to draw a somato-graph, which is a picture of how their body feels.  This keeps the therapist focused on the tissues in distress and it gives the patient some choice in what they are ready to bring into a session.

The Second stage is to increase the range of motion or flexibility of the involved tissues or emotions.  In a shoulder injury this increases circulation, comfort and returns full use of the arm.  Emotionally this stage focuses on encouraging resourcefulness through breath-work practices that assist the patient in working WITH their embodied feeling of distress.  This can have a profound impact on our sense of vitality and adaptability – in a way this stage allows us to feel a lot more resilient.

The third stage focuses on postural retraining and correcting any bio-mechanical imbalances that are present.  Physically this speeds up the healing process by taking any postural stress off of a joint, especially the spine.  It also reduces the likely-hood of another injury considerably.  Emotionally this stage focuses on practicing positive body language through movement and awareness practices.  This greatly improves how we respond to distress and also improves how we are responded to.  At this point we usually refer patients to other therapies such as Chiropractic, Physiotherapy, Yoga, Qi Gong, Tai Ji, etc.

The fourth stage focuses on strengthening the muscles that have been weakened by an injury. As well, we strengthen the Heart and Mind through practices like meditation and, if necessary, going deeper into Somato-Emotional Release practices and energy work practices.  At this point we often refer patients to Cranio-Sacral therapists or Medical Qi Gong practitioners.

The Final stage is preparing for self care through developing consistent exercise routines, proper diet, and engaging in other preventative medical therapies.

Exhaustion

When life becomes a struggle, it is natural to struggle back, sometimes with everything that you have, or until you have nothing left. When life becomes too challenging it is natural to want to escape, even if it means losing your sense of pride and control. Life will always present us with challenges, and our instincts naturally run their course.

The physical and emotional stress of a family and a career are no different to your instincts than the stress of a chronic disease, a poor diet, a toxic environment, or even a hungry lion chasing you. At present over 40% of adults suffer from the physiological and psychological effects of chronic stress. Recent research has also shown that over 80% of visits to a health care professional are related to the impact that stress has on physical and emotional health.

Exhaustion, in modern society, usually occurs as a gradual transition from struggling against something, to feeling unable to struggle or withdraw any  farther. In some instances, exhaustion can occur very suddenly after an infection or a serious physical or emotional trauma; the proverbial “straw on the Camel’s back”.

As a society and as individuals, we must begin to respect the most erosive force in our lives, or we are just going to get better at believing that we are supposed to use our lives in this way.

In NST we focus on resolving the physical and energetic recruitment that keep our Mind-Body on red alert, exhausting our resources.  In Applied Neuro Somatics® theory there are six primary states of arousal; the first three are instinctual and happen “before your mind”, and the last three are deepening states of mental and emotional (personally experienced) distress.