By Tim Newman

One of the assumptions of ZB theory is that when a person’s energy fields are organised, more harmonic, and holding less vibratory residue of passed stress or trauma, then that person will be clearer of surplus/disruptive tension, (and better able to ‘throw off’ new stresses that they encounter).

For instance, an over-stressed bone held in a chronically uncomfortable orientation within the skeletal structure, is more likely to crack or rupture on impact than one that is able to transmit forces through and out of it: Or, a person struggling with financial
commitments, work overload, family problems, (i.e., at the limit of their ability to absorb the combined stresses), is less likely to manage a further crisis (sudden illness, death of a close friend) than someone less chronically overloaded, or someone who deliberately engages in activities/therapies that support them in clearing stress on a regular basis.

Very often a combination of the above stresses are found in the same individual – feeling at or over our limit is a commonly heard complaint.

A lot of our stresses come from lifestyle; too many demands, too much choice, over stimulation of our energy fields by electrical appliances and environmental stresses, general over doing combined with a lack of appreciation that rest and recuperation are part of the natural health cycle.

For many people, lying still for the first time on a therapist’s couch, is an extraordinary pause in the constant activity of their day; and some people use such a session as the “One time in the month that they truly come to rest”. More is gained however from regular attention and repetition than very occasional treats.

Re-education is not usually learnt in an instant – and especially when dealing with dense tissues, such as bone, it takes time to establish new and more functional patterns. This is as true of self-help disciplines such as yoga and Tai Chi as it is of bodywork therapies such as Zero Balancing.

In the case of S. she had been inadvertently terrified by well-meaning
over-protectiveness from her mother, which left her cowering in fear of ‘something happening’ (a neighbour attacking her), whenever she was left
on her own at home.

She would be locked in the house afraid of any and every noise. At some point she internalised this mortal fear and managed to forget the experience Later, when she became pregnant with her daughter she was seized with inexplicable dread and tried to abort the foetus – unsuccessfully.

Her child, now grown up, has just entered prison and S. feels that it is her fault for not having wanted her earlier. She also had picked up the idea, incorrectly, that her father didn’t love her because he had “wanted a boy”, and she only found out on his deathbed that he really had loved her.

This caused a huge feeling of loss and regret for the misperception that he hadn’t loved her when in fact he had. S. has currently stopped sleeping with her husband and wants to separate from him.

All these different fears and emotions have become one great bundle of tension – when one is touched all are affected and S. doesn’t know how to deal with it. She defines herself as a bad person and bad mother.

A major part of a Zero Balancing session in this case is to support and reinforce her ability to remain stable whilst under seemingly impossible pressures. Another part of the work will be to allow such tension as can be released through respectful touch to be contacted and eased away.

By engaging and stretching her energy field in relation to her body and then holding it in neutral balance for a number of moments (FULCRUMS) – the ZB’er allows the chaos and overlay of events and responses to start separating out at a vibrational level, into their respective parts, and to reorganise themselves into a less disruptive configuration.

Each time the expanded field to allowed to return to normal, it will still hold aspects of her personal history, but in such a way that individual parts can be processed and completed in due course: Some just fade out or into the background: others may present themselves for attention in the order of priority that best suits her.

S. had already had a number of ZB sessions, which had begun the process of supporting and recognising her current crises: however she was unconsciously afraid of the old childhood fear which she had managed to contain and only related her current state to more recent events.

In the last ZB session she received, almost from the first fulcrums, she began to tremble as the release of tension held in the lower back and sacrum touched into the deeper events of her early childhood; and she quickly passed, (without any intention on my part), from the known regret and anguish of recent events to the nameless terror of something that had never actually happened to her – but only might have. At this point I stopped working and just sat with her, ‘holding the space’ as the wave of memory/emotion passed through her.

It is not usually the concern of the Zero Balancer to interpret or work the content of such spontaneous moments, and we are especially careful not to give undue attention to the ‘excitement’ of dramatic release.

Our aim is to stabilise the person as the wave of release travels through their system without them ‘collapsing’; They then have the added satisfaction of having been able to ‘stand in the storm’ and survive.

In this case S. came to a number of important realisations on her own without any direction from me.

We then completed the session with some integrating fulcrums and she got down from the couch in great peace and clarity and with a real sense of achievement.

[boxibt style=”success”]About the Author

Tim Newman : Acupuncturist (Lic.Ac.) & Zero Balancer (Cert.ZB.)

I practise near Penzance in West Cornwall and sometimes in London. I teach about half-a-dozen 28 workshops from my home on a residential basis each year, as well as about the same number in various European countries. I also run individual retreats from time to time in the exceptionally quiet and beautiful village that is Perranuthnoe(with the option of bodywork on the spot combined with nestling in) I can be contacted at:
“West Cottage”
Churchtown
Perranuthnoe
Cornwall
TR2O 9N0
Tel: 01736 711405[/boxibt]