RO-HUN TRANSFORMATION THERAPY

This is a form of energy healing in which the therapist manipulates the client’s energy bodies near each chakra. The objective of RoHun is to understand how certain adverse patterns became fixed in the emotional and mental energy bodies and to release the negative effects of these patterns on daily life. Although primarily an energy manipulation method, some noninvasive physical touch is involved.

(See also: RO-HUN TRANSFORMATION THERAPY, Alternative Health, Massage, Bodywork, Body Mind and Soul)

KUNDALINI ENERGIZATION

This is a form of healing energy in which the objective is to raise the client’s Kundalini energy for the purpose of spiritual enlightenment.

First, the chakras and energy bodies are thoroughly cleansed and balanced by undergoing RoHun transformational therapy, a therapy based on Carl Jung and his theory of archetypes, the personal and collective unconscious, and spiritual awareness. The therapist then performs noninvasive, light physical touch and manipulation of the chakras and energy bodies through use of the hands.

(See also: KUNDALINI ENERGIZATION, Alternative Health, Massage, Bodywork, Body Mind and Soul)

Shinkiko {Shinkiko (true ki) Energy Flow, true ki energy flow}: the ultimate healing art from Japan, an intuitive medical science, and the study of the non-physical world. Shinkiko was founded by the late Masato Nakagawa, Ph.D. Somewhat similar to Qigong, it involves application of Shin-ki (healing-energy).

Shinkiko therapists can tap a limitless universal energy source. The Japanese word shin refers toa soul-like divine spirit. (Kiko means Qigong.)

(See also: Shinkiko, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Structural Alignment: Mode of bodywork promoted by BodyMind Therapist Chuck Ruland (see Somatic Dialogue and Structural Bodywork). Its design is to restore Balance physically, emotionally, and energetically. Structural Alignment: makes a new way of being available to clients and precipitates a feeling of being supported by gravity (the earth's energy field).

(See also: Structural Alignment, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Transformational Counseling (ASAT Transformational Counseling): Holistic system of facilitation taught by the American Association of Alternative Therapists (ASAT), in Rockport, Massachusetts. It encompasses Biogram Therapy, dream therapy, Parts Therapy, progression/regression therapy, and Psycho-Neuro Integration (PNI). the main premise of transformational counseling is that beliefs are the real cause of mental, physical, emotional, and etheric problems. (See ASAT C.O.R.E. Counseling.)

(See also: Transformational Counseling, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Past-life therapy (Past Life Regression Therapy, PLRT, past lives therapy, regression therapy, transformational therapy): Form of psychotherapy that emerged in the 1960s and usually involves hypnotism. Past-life "therapists" purportedly trace physical and psychological problems to traumatic events the patient experienced during previous incarnations .

(See also: Past-life therapy, Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

past-life therapy (Past Life Regression Therapy, PLRT, past lives therapy, regression therapy, transformational therapy): A form of psychotherapy that emerged in the 1960s and usually involves hypnotism.

Past-life therapists trace physical and psychological problems to traumatic events the patient experienced during previous incarnations.

(See also: Past-life therapy, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

African holistic health (African holistics, African holistic science, African medicine): Subject of African Holistic Health, whose fourth edition was published in 1993. The paperback's author, herbalist and massage therapist Dr. Llaila [la-ee-la] O. Afrika, developed this ethnic variation of naturopathy. Its design is to treat the physical, mental, and spiritual causes of dis-ease.

(See also: African holistic health, Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

LaSTONE THERAPY

Stones of all shapes and sizes and varying temperatures, ranging from zero to 140 degrees, are used during LaStone massage therapy to elicit physical healing, mental relaxation, and a spiritual connection to earth energy.

Warm stones encourage the exchange of blood and lymph and provide soothing heat for deep-tissue work. Cold stones aid with inflammation, moving blood out of the area, and balancing male/female energies.

Stones are placed in varying positions on the body for energy balancing or may be used by the therapist for specific trigger-point work. The alternating heat and cold of thermotherapy brings the entire body into the healing process, with a rapid exchange of blood and oxygen and alternating rise and fall of respiration rate as the body seeks homeostasis.

LaStone therapy requires less effort from the practitioner’s own body and delivers healing warmth to the hands, benefitting the therapist, as well as the client. Founder Mary Harrigan drew from the wisdom of ancient healers in using thermotherapy as the basis for her approach.

(See also: LaSTONE THERAPY, Alternative Health, Massage, Bodywork, Body Mind and Soul)

UNIFIED FIELD THERAPY

Unified field therapy (UFT) proposes that beyond the body, beyond energy, lies a matrix of consciousness that permeates every aspect of our world. This dynamic, ever expansive matrix forms a single field from which all conscious life flows. This field is called the Unified Field.

All physical, mental, emotional, and energetic patterns known to our world originate from this single source. Present in our every experience, these patterns form the very fabric of our reality. The most subtle shift or change in these patterns can yield immense expansion in our consciousness and bring enormous transformation to one’s life. Utilizing this knowledge, Unified field therapy directly accesses the Unified Field to initiate shifts within a conscious system.

Clients remain fully clothed and are asked to lie face up on a massage table in a comfortable position with eyes closed and attention focused internally. The therapist then begins to evaluate, palpate, and integrate fields of consciousness surrounding and permeating the client. This can be done in a hands-on or hands-off application. Sessions last approximately 40 to 60 minutes. Accordingly, clients must define for themselves how their consciousness integrates and changes as a result of this work. For this reason, therapists are trained not to define or project their perceptions or expectations onto a client’s experience.

Therapists often request that new clients follow up between 48 to 72 hours after the initial visit to discuss any additional “shifts” that may have occurred in the interim.

(See also: UNIFIED FIELD THERAPY, Alternative Health, Massage, Bodywork, Body Mind and Soul)

Rosen Method (Rosen Method bodywork, Rosen Method psychospiritual bodywork): Psycho-physical system of bodywork developed in the 1970s by San Francisco physical therapist Marion Rosen, coauthor of The Rosen Method of Movement. It unlocks the unconscious and integrates body, mind, emotions, and spirit.

The method involves non-intrusive touching, verbal interaction, and experiencing breath as the gateway to awareness. A principle of the Rosen Method is that the body protects one from painful past experiences by separating one from one's essential self (true self). Shortness of breath and chronic muscle tension manifest this protection.

(See also: Rosen Method, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

MAGNET THERAPY

The therapeutic use of magnets may be older than acupuncture, originally involving a material called magnetite applied in a poultice. Today’s magnet therapy is still applied to the skin, but employs steady or pulsed magnetic fields from either electromagnets or less powerful permanent magnets. Fixed magnets may also be taped to the body for a period of time.

Magnet therapy is used to relieve pain and discomfort and to aid in healing with a variety of physical and emotional disorders, such as arthritis and stress. Treatment may be administered by the therapist or, as in the case of taped magnets, by the client.

(See also: MAGNET THERAPY, Alternative Health, Massage, Bodywork, Body Mind and Soul)

BARBARA BRENNAN HEALING SCIENCE

The Barbara Brennan Healing Science program focuses on clearing blocked energy and balancing the body’s energy field through hands-on work and deep healing techniques.

Emphasis is placed on enabling the therapist to discover her own healing process and thus personalize her healing approach. Channeling, use of spiritual guidance, healing with color and sound, and work with auras are among the techniques used. Through the unblocking and balancing of energy fields, the client has access to healing on all levels of functioning - emotional, physical, spiritual, and mental.

(See also: BARBARA BRENNAN HEALING SCIENCE, Alternative Health, Massage, Bodywork, Body Mind and Soul)

BRAIN GYM

Created by Paul and Gail Dennison, Brain Gym (or Educational Kinesiology and Edu-K) is a sensorimotor program based on research by educational therapists, developmental optometrists, and other specialists in the fields of movement, education, and child development.

Brain Gym consists of 26 targeted activities similar to those performed naturally by young children as part of the process of brain development. Brain Gym prepares learners with the physical skills they need to read, write, concentrate, organize, and otherwise function effectively in the classroom or the adult workplace.

(See also: BRAIN GYM, Alternative Health, Massage, Bodywork, Body Mind and Soul)

HYDROTHERAPY

Although ancient Greece and Rome had both adopted the beliefs that water had healing properties, it was the Romans to first integrate hydrotherapy into their social life, building temples and baths near natural springs. Father Sebastian Kneipp from Worshofen, Bavaria, however, was the true father of modern-day hydrotherapy in Germany.

Various hydrotherapy massage techniques exist and are generally utilized by massage/bodywork practitioners, physical therapists, physicians, and spa technicians. These include underwater massage, herbal baths, thalassotherapy, Kneipp therapy, vichy treatments, scotch hoses, and Swiss showers.

(See also: HYDROTHERAPY, Alternative Health, Massage, Bodywork, Body Mind and Soul)

HELLERWORK

Movement education and deep-tissue bodywork are the major components of Hellerwork, named for founder Joseph Heller.

Emphasizing vertical realignment of the body and release of chronic stress and tension, Hellerwork involves 11 sessions: in each session, one hour is devoted to bodywork and 30 minutes to movement therapy.

Additionally, the therapist uses verbal dialogue to explore emotional factors that may be contributing to tension in the client's physical make-up. As a preventative technique, the goal of Hellerwork is to produce permanent, corrective change in alignment and movement.

(See also: HELLERWORK, Alternative Health, Massage, Bodywork, Body Mind and Soul)

primal therapy (primal scream therapy): Mode of psychotherapy developed by child psychologist Arthur Janov, author of The Primal Scream (1970).

Primal therapists dispense with analysis and, through a process of painful catharsis, attempt to resolve neuroses. Janov maintained that, to be effective, psychotherapy must uncover repressed primal pains - unpleasant events undergone not only during childhood and infancy, but even in the fetal and embryonic stages.

According to Janov, patients can dispel primal pains only by re-experiencing them and giving them physical expression (e.g., by screaming). The crux of primal therapy is rebirthing. Variations of primal therapy include Bio Scream Psychotherapy and the New Identity Process (NIP).

(See also: Primal therapy, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Energy Medicine:

Energetic medicine as defined within the mind/body/spirit model, involves therapies that affect energy fields that defy measurement. These therapies are based on the oncept that human beings are infused with a subtle form of energy. This vital energy or life force is known under different names in different cultures, such as qi in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), ki in the Japanese Kampo system, doshas in Ayurvedic medicine, and elsewhere as prana, etheric energy, fohat, orgone, odic force, mana, and homeopathic resonance. Vital energy is believed to flow throughout the material human body, but it has not been unequivocally measured by means of conventional instrumentation. Nonetheless, therapists claim that they can work with this subtle energy, see it with their own eyes, and use it to effect changes in the physical body and influence health.

Practitioners of energy medicine believe that illness results from disturbances of these subtle energies (the biofield). For example, more than 2,000 years ago, Asian practitioners postulated that the flow and balance of life energies are necessary for maintaining health and described tools to restore them. Herbal medicine, acupuncture, acupressure, moxibustion, and cupping, for example, are all believed to act by correcting imbalances in the internal biofield, such as by restoring the flow of qi through meridians to reinstate health. Some therapists are believed to emit or transmit the vital energy (external qi) to a recipient to restore health.

Examples of practices involving putative energy fields include:

• Reiki and Johrei, both of Japanese origin

• Qi gong, a Chinese practice

Healing touch, in which the therapist is purported to identify imbalances and correct a client’s energy by passing his or her hands over the patient

Prayer specifically for health purposes – such as intercessory prayer, in which a person intercedes through prayer on behalf of another.

(See also: Energy Medicine, Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

TRIGGER POINT MYOTHERAPY

Trigger point myotherapy is a noninvasive therapeutic modality for the relief and control of myofascial pain and dysfunction. The goal of treatment is the client’s recovery from or a significant reduction in myofascial pain. The treatment goal is achieved through a systematized approach.

Treatment consists of trigger point compression, myomassage, passive stretching, and a regime of corrective exercises. Success may be measured subjectively by the level of pain reduction experienced by the client and objectively through increased range of motion, strength, endurance, and other measures of improved function.

Trigger point myotherapy relies heavily on client-therapist interaction, including verbal and nonverbal elements. The myotherapist encourages the client to be personally responsible for their improvement, with attention to such factors as nutritional intake, stress, proper exercises, mechanical abnormalities, and other physical components. These elements protect the client from delayed diagnosis, delayed treatment, or contraindicated treatment, which are the concerns of first order.

Trigger point myotherapy is an integrating approach to myofascial pain and dysfunction.

(See also: TRIGGER POINT MYOTHERAPY, Alternative Health, Massage, Bodywork, Body Mind and Soul)

CONNECTIVE TISSUE MASSAGE

Also known as bindegewebsmassage, these techniques are designed to specifically affect the connective tissue of the body. Connective tissue massage was developed in Germany by Elizabeth Dicke. After diagnosis of a serious medical problem, she experimented with different types of massage on herself. She found when she applied light pressure through the skin and connective tissue in one area of the body, there was a related effect at a distant site.

From Alternative Healing, by Hugh Burroughs and Mark Kastner: “The technique consists of the massage therapist subtly hooking her fingers into the skin and superficial connective tissue while performing a dragging or pulling stroke that somewhat stretches the skin. Connective tissue massage leaves a visible mark that looks somewhat like an abrasion or burn, but which goes away without leaving a scar.”

In Germany, it is considered a physical therapy technique; in many parts of Europe, it is considered a medical technique. In the United States, connective tissue massage is taught in many massage schools.

(See also: CONNECTIVE TISSUE MASSAGE, Alternative Health, Massage, Bodywork, Body Mind and Soul)

Reichian Therapy (psychiatric orgone therapy, Reichian bodywork therapy, Reichian massage; called vegetal therapy in Europe): Psychoanalytic form of bodywork developed by Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957), the discoverer of orgone (see orgone therapy).

According to Reichian theory, blockages to orgone cause neuroses and most physical disorders. Muscular contractions (body armor) in various parts of the body manifest such blockages. The Reichian therapist intuitively decides where the greatest body armor is and seeks to dissolve or dismantle it. Approaches to dissolving this armor include massage and having the patient breathe deeply, cry, gag, kick, make faces, scream, and roll his or her eyes. Reichian Therapy is also called Reichian vegetotherapy.

(See also: Reichian Therapy, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Reiki (ray-key) (reiki healing, Reiki system, reiki therapy, Usui method of Natural Healing, Usui Reiki, Usui shiki ryoho, Usui shiko ryoho, Usui shiko ryoho system of healing, Usui System, Usui System of Natural Healing; formerly called leiki): A form of chakra healing and a variation of the laying on of hands. It encompasses Reiki I and a form of distant healing (absent healing). Dr. Mikao Usui rediscovered Reiki in the late 1800s, in Japan. Reiki therapists channel reiki, universal life energy power, through their bodies for storage in the solar plexus, and into dis-eased individuals for rebalancing.

Reiki works simultaneously on emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual levels without limitations.

The Reiki system's principle is that activated Sacred Universal Symbols evoke healing energies. The word reiki combines two Japanese expressions: rei, which means spirit or soul, and ki (energy, life force).

(See also: Reiki , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)