“I saw the angel in the marble and I carved until I set him free.”
Michelangelo
Each person on our table comes in with their own shadows and lights. They come
with an injury, with chronic tension, hurt by early life circumstance, or by recent
trauma. We live in a restless culture, ever-changing and sometimes not for the
better. We live in an environment challenged by global warming, war, and
thoughtless excesses of industry. To find the first noble truth of Buddhism – Life is
Suffering – we don’t have to look very far!
May this suffering spark our compassion every day! With the spirit of
compassion every day we also see the angelic component in each client
and in the world around us. We see the gift of life as expressed uniquely by this
individual. The gift of being the angel in the marble, however deeply embedded, is
reflected back into their structure through our touch.
Angels sometimes need our help. They can be bound, as Ida Rolf said, “by literal
thorns in literal flesh.” The higher self can be bound by old thoughts or beliefs that no
longer serve us. We can wrap ourselves up in the emotional atmosphere we grew up
in, recreating ancient tensions long obsolete. I recently read, “We are each perfectly
adapted to circumstances in which we no longer live.”
As bodyworkers we get to inhabit the “radical present”. The radical present is one in
which we mobilize the magic and power this very moment uniquely holds. Bit by bit,
muscle by muscle, joint by joint, in their very bones, I want my clients to awaken to
their reality in the present moment, to know how marvelous they are, to know and
feel the angel alive in the core of being.
Each person is a unique miracle of anatomy, physiology, emotion and mind. If they
have forgotten that – and so often they have- it’s our job to help lift off that veil of
forgetfulness – so they can remember who they most truly are.