-1.png){kind=small}
SomatoEmotional Release is a therapeutic process designed to rid your mind and body of the residual effects of past injuries and negative experiences, so called "Energy Cyst's".During the therapeutic session the release of the energy cyst frequently results in a re-experiencing of the pain, fear, anguish, anger, resentment, etc. that was attendant with the original incident. The re-experiencing of the negative aspects of the original injury is a very good sign that the treatment has released at least a part if not all of the retained problem. When this type of reaction occurs you should not try to suppress the pains and emotion. You should concentrate on the memory and try to re-experience it to the fullest extent possible. Once you are very familiar with the whole incident we must then eradicate the attendant destructive negativity and convert it to the positive energy.
SomatoEmotional Release is not always a pleasant experience but the results are worth the effort required to complete the process.
Physical forces that were put into your body at the time of an accident or injury may be dealt with by your body in one of two ways:
1.) Your body may immediately begin dissipating these forces and the natural healing process will follow.
2.) The physical forces imposed upon your body may be retained rather than dissipated.
If these forces are retained, your body must adapt to this deposit of abnormal physical force. The adaptive response is to isolate or "wall off" the abnormal force so that a sort of "energy cyst" is formed. This energy cyst represents a localized area of increased particle activity that is synonymous with increased entropy. By this we mean that the ions and molecules are moving in a disorganized and chaotic way so that they are not performing usual work and serving the whole body efficiency.
This situation of localized, disorganized particle activity or energy cyst formation within your body produces the necessity for adaptation so that normal "body business" such as eating, sleeping, walking, etc. can be carried out. We call the energy cyst an area of dysfunction. Normal body energy must detour around the energy cyst. The dysfunctional area does not cooperate with normal and healthy tissue and fluid motion. The energy cyst actually inhibits normal body function.
The most powerful determining factor that causes energy cysts to form is the emotional status of you at the time of the injury. When powerful negative feelings are dominant in you at the time the external injury forces are imposed, these forces will probably be retained and energy cysts will be the result. It has been seen over and over again that those people who retain the effect of injuries and accidents are those same people who harbor anger, resentment, fear etc. regarding the incident. Once these negative feelings are discovered and released the bodily dysfunction with its attendant symptoms are free to leave the patient's body.
It has been observed, that the patient's body seems to be of two "minds". Part of the patient wants to maintain the status quo. After all, life is present and the body is working even though that work may be inefficient and painful. Why risk a change? Another part of the patient is striving for improvement, which means that the energy cyst must be dissipated, thus ridding the body of need for adaptation and discomfort.
During the therapeutic process of SomatoEmotional Release the therapist acts as facilitators in cooperation with the part of you that wants to get rid of the abnormal energy cyst formation. In order to do this the therapist encourages the positive aspects of your body-mind and discourages the negative aspects. The therapist will help you to expel the energy cyst from your body by facilitating your body's memory of the injury and thus ending the suppression.
This facilitation is accomplished by touching you, tuning in to what your positive body would like to do and assisting in this process. The usual result is that your body will assume the positions it was in when the external injury forces were imposed upon it. As this occurs the therapist can feel the tissues of your body relax as the energy cyst is expelled. The therapist can also feel heat radiating from the areas that have been retaining the injury forces and can frequently sense the force leaving your body along the same direction line from which it entered.
You have probably guessed by now that the SomatoEmotional Release process requires extreme sensitivity on the part of the therapist and an attitude of trust and positivity on the part of the patient. It is a very mystifying experience for both parties involved. It is very difficult to describe in words, but once the release of an energy cyst has been experienced it is clearly understood without need for verbal description.
The concept of SomatoEmotional Release was developed over a three-year period (1977-1980) during which Dr. Zvi Karni and Dr. John E. Upledger worked together as researchers in the Department of Biomechanics at Michigan State University. Dr. Upledger is a certified fellow of the American Academy of Osteopathy, an academic fellow of the British Society of Osteopathy, and a Doctor of Science, Medicina Alternativa. Dr. Karni, who holds doctoral degrees in both biological engineering and biophysics, was a visiting professor on leave of absence from his position as Chairman of Biological Engineering at the Technion Institute in Haifa, Israel.
Their mutual research mission was to explore the possible areas in which the fields of medicine, biology, physics and engineering might integrate to better serve humankind.