In-Depth Description

This is an older article on Psycho-Muscular Release & bio-Structural Balancing. It is written in my older, more academic, textbook style, yet it has some very useful information in it.

Too, it was written more about the yoga-based, hands-on, DSL Bodywork process. So it is not specifically about DSL Let-Go Yoga, or yoga in general. However, all the principles are the same. The name I’ve now given my bodywork system is DSL EdgeWork, a combination of the terms Edge and Bodywork.

The word Client is capitalized to acknowledge the dictionary definition:
Client … One who is under the protection of another.

with Applied Breathing, Exercise & Stretching Technique

… and Integrated Awareness & Meditation

A Description of DSL EdgeWork™
for potential course participants.

Developed and Presented by David Scott Lynn

(DSL’s work is offered in various formats for Advanced Students & Professionals.)

Yoga is about bringing a heightened Quality of Awareness to anything you do.

It is a Quality of Attention, a way of accessing perceptive abilities allowing you to see things and yourself as they and you really are, rather than through the blinders and filters that so often get in the way of clear perception and understanding.

It is known that to find the answer to a difficult problem, you must first understand the true nature of the problem. Otherwise, you rely on blind luck, or get approximate solutions that have an approximate chance of working.

Answers to problems are usually contained within the problem, if we can only see deep enough into it. The “Seeing*” deeply into, the understanding of, a problem, then, often brings a spontaneous awareness of an answer to the problem. The Awareness that is called Yoga can help give us this insight. Said another way, Yoga is a process, or a way, of learning, of self education, of seeing what is. … (Education meaning to bring out what is inside of us.)

*Seeing: A way of observing and describing real, clear, in-the-moment reality. … Another term for Awareness.

Our muscular tension patterns are held in place, behind the scenes, primarily by the nervous system. Some of this we can become conscious of, some not. But what is true is that because of the way the neuromuscular system is constructed, the VERY ACT of feeling our tensions activates parts of the nervous system and brain that can, potentially, spontaneously deactivate or relax some or many of our tension, stress and habit patterns.

Physically, Hatha Yoga is a method or system that allows us to explore and challenge — and more deeply FEEL — our physical conditionings and limitations as they actually are. It is the process of applying Awareness to the physical body and its processes that brings about changes an transformations in how we use our body, how it feels, how it functions, how it holds on to our  tensions.

Primarily, Hatha, the physical, Yoga operates through the discovery and  exploration of physical tensions in the body. Our conditionings, our limitations, exist, to a great degree, in the form of physical tension and habit patterns. By experiencing and dissolving those tensions and patterns of behavior, changes are made in the way we feel, function and respond to the conditions and challenges of the world around us.

Mentally, Jnana Yoga gives us ways to explore the nature of the Mind and its conditionings which, unfortunately, are far more elusive than those of the musculature and physical body. We begin to see deeply into the way we perceive and think, not just into the content of thought, but into the very underlying structure of thought itself, seeing how thought works at its core. The very act of Seeing into our thinking processes brings about changes and transformations in those processes, altering the structure and content of thought.

Interpersonal or Relational Yoga functions the same way. It allows one to see into, to explore the nature of the conditionings that determine, control or influence the way we interact with other Human Beings and other aspects of life. Being able to see into ourselves, the other person, and the interactions between, can often bring about spontaneous growth and development, as well as healing.

(The actual mechanism of how this change process works is the subject of a whole other paper.)

DSL EdgeWork™ has taken the fundamentals of both physical and mental, as well as relational / interpersonal, Yoga, and integrated them into the bodywork process. While the Client is more externally passive than when actually doing Hatha Yoga, the Client can be coached into utilizing many of the yogic processes and abilities that will enhance the bodywork experience. Because of the heightened state of awareness and knowledge of what is happening, the Client will more fully own and understand, as well as be able to utilize, what they learn and experience in a DSL EdgeWork™ session.

All movement and action, and all communication, from the beating of the heart and breathing of the lungs, to the peristalsis of the small and large intestines, to the movement of the mouth and fascial expressions, to the movement of the limbs and torso through space, is a direct function of contracting and relaxing the musculature. There are many support systems behind this mechanism, but the contraction/relaxation cycle in our body’s musculature is indeed the means — and only means unless you believe in mental telepathy — by which we express ourselves into the world. Simply achieving the tasks necessary to bring in the needed nutrients to sustain our life, as well as to excrete waste products, to even breath, requires muscular activity.

How that musculature, guided by the sensory/motor nervous system, functions in relation to its environment, is also critical. Using the force of gravity, for instance, to move, rather than working against it, is critical to sustaining well-being and conserving precious energy.

It is the muscles, then, that ultimately produce the movements that allow us to express ourselves into the world. No action can occur, all basic life functions stop, without the contraction and relaxation of muscle fibers.

Paradoxically, in DSL EdgeWork™, it is said that the number one cause of premature aging, of metabolic deterioration, of bad posture and restricted movement, of aches and pains and the onset of general dysfunction, is the increase of Chronic, Excess Muscle & Nerve Tension. Tension and the ability to contract muscles is good and necessary. But too much of a good thing can be not so good.

Along with nutritional deficiencies and toxicities, it is the accumulation of excess muscular tension that shortens, tightens, and hardens muscles, that is a primary cause of many if not most of the problems associated with long-term chronic breakdown and illness. Excess muscle tension entraps nerves, compresses joints, strains tendons and ligaments, restricts blood and lymph flow, puts strains on other muscles, interferes with proper organ function, consumes energy and nutrients, and recycles physical and mental stresses. Muscle tension also plays a large part in emotional trauma as well. It could be argued that excess muscle tension is the number one cause of breakdowns in the systems of the body and mind.

So on one hand, the musculature is the mechanism by which we express our humanity and live our life, yet on the other hand, it can be our biggest problem. The paradox, then, is that the more we exercise and utilize our vehicle of living to live life to its fullest, the more it accumulates that which interferes with our ability to live life fully.

If this is true, then one of the major challenges of life is to maximize the power, effectiveness and efficiency of the muscular system while minimizing the inevitable accumulations of muscle tension.

If our body is to accurately reflect and carry out the intentions of our hearts* and minds, to actually dissolve the distinctions or conflicts between mind and body, then mind-body harmonization, or mastery of the musculature, must be achieved. Yet few of us ever develop an intimate relationship with that musculature, with what it can do for us, what it can tell us about ourselves and the world.

*The Heart really does participate in a certain level of our psycho-emotional processing. This involves the newly discovered Poly-Vagal portion of the nervous system. See more about this on the page titled The Heart.

The object of DSL Bodywork™, and its parent , DSL Let-Go Yoga, is to help nurture this relationship with the musculature and the bodymind as a whole. (In response to growing interest and demand, David Scott Lynn (DSL) has developed a new and unique approach to structurally oriented bodywork.)

Rather than going to the bodyworker to “get repaired” the DSL trained practitioner becomes a resource, a facilitator by which the Client can develop a whole new awareness, a new relationship with their bodymind. Clients develop control of their own relaxation/contraction cycles, increase the sensitivity of their sensory feedback systems, and enhance their responsiveness to the conditions of life. They discover that tensions in their muscles are held in place by the activity of their nerves, which are in great measure controlled by the various functions of the brain. They begin to discover and see the psycho-neuro-muscular relationships that exist in their bodymind.

Tension is not some-THING they HAVE,
Tension is an ACTION they are DOING.

. . . David Scott Lynn

No longer do Clients go to the therapist to make the pain, dysfunction or restrictions go away; (although, of course, the pain and restrictions DO go away). They go to learn how they are functioning in such a way that creates and maintains their negative condition, and what they can do about it. At that point, they begin, sometimes spontaneously, to modify the way they use their bodymind, to let go of the muscular imbalances, the restrictions on range of motion, and to dissolve the contraction cycles resulting in pain. They learn the tools of managing muscular tension.

Then, their competence i expressing themselves as Human Beings begins to develop and expand, becoming more able to appropriately and effectively interact with and express themselves into the world.

What sets the Human Spirit free without giving us mastery over ourselves — is harmful.

. . . Goethe

The success that an individual achieves in meeting the constant stress of gravity may influence the quality of his life.

. . . Hannah W. Bailey, D.O.In a Journal from
American Academy of Osteopathy

The End of the “Recipe”

Up until now, most popular bodywork and yoga therapy techniques have relied on more or less standard “recipes” in which the practitioner is taught to perform a pre-designed or pre-organized series of deep tissue, pressure point or other style of manipulations on the Client. These “recipes” are, for the most part, either general programs (such as the common 10 or 12 session format) or “condition specific” (such as trigger point or acupressure therapy.)

DSL’s method acknowledges that while these approaches are no doubt effective in many ways, and have helped many people, no two clients are the same, and will often not respond identically — or even similarly — to the same manipulations. Additionally, many symptoms are the result of structurally transmitted strains — which are often different from “referred pain” — from other parts of the body. In fact, the same series of manipulations may gain opposite or counter-productive effects on different people or no effects at all depending on how the Client’s body and mind are conditioned.

Therefore, in the techniques developed by DSL, each manipulation of the tissue by the practitioner is designed “in the moment” for the Client’s specific postural and structural imbalances. Using precise education in Advanced Structural Anatomy & Postural Kinesiology as well as Applied Postural Assessment, the needs of the client are determined at the beginning of and throughout each session.

Through this analytical skill, called Bio-Structural Balancing, the practitioner becomes more able to perform specific structural and postural modifications with their Clients. The Client can usually feel and see the changes in his or her own body after each move is performed by the DSL trained Bodywork Practitioner.

Where you think it is, it ain’t.

. . . Ida P. Rolf in The Nature of Physical Reality

Each of us responds uniquely to the insults and challenges we have to face at different periods in our lives. Our somatic structure is a collage with a thread of continuity that gives to each of us our mark of distinctiveness and individuality. … All individuals stand upright but individuality is found in the variety of shapes and postures they assume.

. . . Stanley Kelleman in Emotional Anatomy

Another issue being addressed by DSL EdgeWork™ is the fact that many clients are understandably afraid that Deep Tissue work hurts and will avoid receiving it. Mainly because it very often does hurt, and sometimes A LOT. The flip side of this is that many receivers of supposedly deep work, or even basic massage, complain that the work is not deep enough.

This problem is brought, in part, by the usually unanswered and often un-addressed psycho/physical and philosophical questions on the nature of pain and fear and how to deal with such resistances. (There is also the question of the model of the human bodymind itself, and how it works, that the practitioner works under.)

One camp says that you must go into and experience pain deeply in order to clear that pain; another camp says that you must avoid pain in order to keep the Client from reacting negatively. Some practitioners are just plain afraid of causing pain so they are not aggressive enough; conversely, and at the extreme, a few practitioners inappropriately and usually unconsciously use bodywork as a place to work out their own aggressions or need for power and control.

Drawing from his experiences with Joel Kramer, a well known physical and mental Yoga teacher and philosopher, DSL expanded Joel’s concept of “Playing The Edge of Pain and Fear” from the practice of yoga into the realm of bodywork.

Central to the PsychoMuscular Release technique is educating the Client in how to communicate with the practitioner, developing interpersonal feedback systems in a way that the Client is able to explore the nature of sensation, resistance, pain and fear. This is done in ways that directly challenge the limits of pain and fear without going in to the degree that other resistances or tensions are triggered.

Pain, in this case, is defined as “anything you don’t like,” or are not totally neutral about.  It is not about how much you can tolerate or deal with. It is about a level of sensation or intensity that you invite and feel positive about.

[A more technical and complete discussion of pain is in the Sciences section and also this article.]

No pain or fear allows the Client to willingly explore the domains of communication, trust, letting go, control, and resistance without feeling threatened or switching into “goal orientation.” The Client also learns how to gain more competence in the use of his or her own breathing, nervous system, and ability to relax and let go as well as energize and vitalize an area of his or her bodymind. All of this is done at the Client’s own pace, trusting the Client’s inner sense of how much he or she is ready for in a given moment or session.

In addition to all of this, it is critical that manual dexterity, sensitivity, and the ability to more effectively use the feedback systems in their own bodies, be developed by the bodywork practitioner. Developing “sensitive Clients” requires the developing of “sensitive practitioners.”

… In (physical) Yoga, the Yoga is in the quality of attention to the physical system so that one learns to listen to what the messages of the body are saying. … Playing on the edge physically sharpens the ability of the total organism to interpret and integrate this information. … Mental edges are similar to physical edges in that they are marked by resistance to movement and opening. In the mind, fear is the indicator of resistance as pain is in the body.

. . . Joel Kramer in On Yoga: Playing the Edge of Body and Mind

Volitional versus Reflexive Release

Many current therapies are aimed at accessing the autonomic nervous system (such as the tonus system) and various reflex networks (as in positional release or trigger points) in the body in order to trigger releases in the neuromuscular or myofascial tissue. Alternatively, some systems attempt to rearrange the fascial network (Structural Integration, Hellerwork or  Myofascial Release) or bone and joint relationships (Osteopathy or Chiropractic) to achieve greater systemic integrity.

While DSL acknowledges and addresses these vital systems and networks of the bodymind, his work has greater focus on the volitional aspects of the human experience. This means that, whether they be consciously, semi- or unconsciously performed, many of the stored tension and habit patterns in the bodymind result from volitional movements or intentional “acts of will” on the part of the human being. These are forgotten (or never noticed in the first place) but still active actions that still live on from the past.

We want Clients, and ourselves, to be aware that all of us are creating, regenerating and holding our experience, including the past, together in the living moment, much of it as a result of those forgotten actions. Therefore, we put primary emphasis on the systems of the bodymind that are directly accessible to the Client. These are the systems of respiration (breathing) and muscular relaxation/contraction (which is what facilitates breathing anyway).

It is not neurologically possible to directly, volitionally “relax” or de-contract the fascia, tendons, ligaments or bones, as they have no contractile fiber nor motor nerves to control them. (Please See What Ever Happened To the Myo In Myofascial Release?) Nor do we directly access the tonus system of the brain. We can, however, relax or contract our musculature, which is also what allows us to affect, for example, our breathing via the diaphragm.

If we can teach our Clients to do this, they will be learning the root experiences of greater “Response-Ability” in the bodymind. They will also be affecting other body systems such as the fascia, blood and lymph circulation, bone alignment, and the nervous system and, if they are what many people think they are, the meridian networks.

If bodywork is to be more significant than so many pokes and rubs, if it is to effect lasting changes, then it must not merely address the tissues.  It must use tactile sensations to reach the mind, the whole mind, from the surface of the skin to the spinal reflexes, to the subconscious responses of the lower brain, to the fields of awareness in the cortex. When this happens, touch is genuinely, profoundly therapeutic.

. . . Deane Juhan in Job’s Body

Psycho-Emotional Aspects

We can also, within or outside the context of the bodywork sessions, use the power of awareness to become more cognizant of our habit patterns and resistances in life. We can turn the power of the intellect upon itself to begin to dissolve our psychological and emotional blocks with the use of self-observation and meditation, similarly to teachings of Joel Kramer and J. Krishnamurti.

While many psycho-emotionally oriented modalities focus on reliving past events or triggering cathartic experiences, PsychoMuscular Release prefers to focus on the nature of the being who is “actively (though unconsciously) holding on in the moment.” Cathartic and past experience processes can give one great insight into one’s self; however, an important aspect often missed: That being the observation, or, better yet, the direct feeling, of the very act of letting go, which is underneath the content being released.

Often the drama and the pain of old memories and images is so great that — even though the Client might not even be conscious of them — they override the awareness of what is going on in the present moment underneath the surface experience, and can actually add energy to, rather than diffuse, what is being “processed.” DSL’s  approach to bodywork educates and allows the Client to be more perceptive of the structure of their being as it emotes while they are on The Edge of or actually in the process of emoting.

It is therefore an excellent adjunct to other approaches to psycho-emotional health, enhancing Clients’ ability to be perceptive, to be more competent observers, of themselves and their environment while engaged in other psycho-therapeutic modalities.

The thing about real problems is that they live here and now. The problem may have its roots in past conditioning, but it is not created by past conditioning. … The reasons for the onset of a behavioral problem are not why the problem displays itself now.

. . . Joel Kramer in The Passionate Mind

If one gives complete attention to the image one has about oneself — attention, not concentration but attention — then one will see that the image has no meaning and it disappears.

. . . J. Krishnamurti in The Network of Thought

The question is often asked of structural modalities, “Is this work permanent?” To this we say, “sometimes” or “It depends.” However, it is almost always a hit or miss proposition unless the Client is willing to do some things to maintain or go beyond the results they derive from the bodywork sessions. One thing that makes bodywork truly effective in the Client’s daily life is its ability to directly change the way an individual perceives and responds to themselves and their environment and the way they function in that environment.

This is the art and science of developing Response-Ability, the ability to respond more effectively and appropriately to life’s challenges. To this end, DSL has integrated the practice of Breathing, Exercise & Stretching Technique — derived from Yoga, Martial Arts and other movement modalities — so that Clients can be taught the specific practices that will help them continue and refine at home the work they received in session with their Bodywork Practitioner.

This includes becoming aware of the fact that one cannot really do the physical practices without practicing Meditational Awareness at the same time. In fact, it soon becomes clear that the two are not really different. The “mind” and “body” are actually two aspects of the same “BodyMind” phenomena. All psycho-emotional experiences have a physical component to them, and vice versa. Additionally, practitioners soon discover that these techniques will enhance their own capacities as a bodyworker by developing strength, flexibility, coordination and endurance, as well as clarity of thought, presence of mind, and a more Response-Able personality.

For every thought supported by feeling, there is a muscle change. Primary muscle patterns being the biological heritage of man, man’s whole body records his emotional thinking.

. . . Mabel Elsworth Todd in The Thinking Body

But he can make no progress with himself unless he becomes very much better acquainted with his own nature.

. . . C.G. Jung in Answer to Job

Please ask yourself the following question: When a Client leaves the practitioners office, or a student leaves a classroom, what does he or she now know about releasing and relaxing their muscles that they can use on a day-to-day basis, that they did not know when they walked in your office door that day? Or did they just get “fixed” and leave?

We are very clear in this course about developing a special kind of relationship with the Client that demands a willingness to be observant of one’s own conditioning, barriers and growth as well as that of the Client’s. We learn that we are not the one “fixing” the Client.

No therapist has ever relaxed a muscle in another person’s or Client’s body. We only set up conditions in which the Client has the opportunity to discover how to relax their own musculature and possibly even change his or her movement patterns. They might not be conscious they are doing this, but if the muscle is releasing, it is happening at some level.

. . . David Scott Lynn

The difference is in how conscious the therapist and the Client are of that process, and whether the Client is learning. We are only helping or coaching them through some educational experiences in which they are, hopefully, learning to change themselves. Additionally, it will be found that it is far easier to coach another individual in releasing the tension, thought, and habit patterns in the bodymind when you have done so for yourself and truly know how it works. Much attention is given to developing the practitioner from this point-of-view.

The bodyworker is not an interventionist. … Touching hands are not like pharmaceuticals or scalpels. They are like flashlights in a darkened room. The medicine they administer is self-awareness.

. . . Deane Juhan in Job’s Body

One must be careful about trying to teach something that one has not done themselves.

. . . Joel Kramer, in conversation at Cold Mountain Institute, 1976

Independent Action & Thought
vs. The Authoritarian Paradigm

Throughout DSL’s work, from bodywork and yoga to the political economics of health care and medicine, exists one consistent theme. That is the sovereignty and self-responsibility of the Individual along with it’s ever-present antagonist, authoritarianism. Be it in the Student-Teacher relationship, or the Practitioner-Client relationship (among many other similar relationships) human beings, as a generalization, are often subconsciously searching for an external authority figure to take care of them, to heal them, or to tell them what to do.

Fish are probably not aware that they swim in water as it is all they know.  So, too, for us human beings, authoritarianism is the water we swim in.

. . . Joel Kramer in The Guru Papers
(paraphrased)

While learning how to work cooperatively with other human beings is a vital quality indispensable to progress in human life, one must be cognizant of when the “Transfer of Authority Syndrome” (which usually includes the transfer of responsibility to someone or something else) is activating. Bodywork is an excellent opportunity to explore and refine the nature of one’s own relationship to this syndrome, as well as supporting Clients in a similar process, the transforming of which is necessary for the very survival of our freedoms, as a species, and possibly the planet.

This program will focus heavily on this aspect: How to use the teacher or the practitioner as a source of ideas and new possibilities, as a facilitator, without falling into the dependency syndrome so well illustrated by the current medical establishment’s dominant relationship to its’ patients. As an example, rather than relying on the instructor to provide “To Do Lists” for each condition, the students of DSL EdgeWork™ will learn the principles of analyzing and discovering for themselves what to do, creating their solutions or strategies for each Client in-the-moment, like becoming an “anatomical Sherlock Holmes.”

Do not believe … in the mere authority of our teachers and masters. Believe when the writing, doctrine or saying is corroborated by reason and consciousness.

. . . Guatama Buddha

 

Biological Linguistics, Time Binding & Evolution

Drawing heavily on Alfred Korzybski and Humberto Maturana, and Joel Kramer and J. Krishnamurti, we will speculate on the current possibilities available to consciously participate in the process typically called Evolution. This revolves mainly around the ability to refine our physical, psychological, and emotional integration and Response-Ability and to develop and refine our tools, knowledge and wisdom about life.

As well, we must develop our ability to more effectively abstract (to make and utilize distinctions) with our thinking, which is, along with meditation, the foundation of our ability to be “intelligent” (to discern the essential — J. Krishnamurti). From this stems our ability to communicate and therefore transmit our learning and tools through the generations. This phenomena, called Time-Binding by Korzybski, is a unique way that human beings can participate in the process of Evolution in a conscious, deliberate way. Included in his perspectives about Time-Binding is his Theory of General Semantics, an analysis of how the tissues of our bodies — primarily the nerves and fascia — are modified by the way we communicate. In this view, we actually “warp” our nervous systems when we use or react to words ineffectively or incorrectly. Proper, effective communication has corresponding positive effects on the nervous system.

All of this is to be done while learning to discover and maintain a balance between rational, analytical, intellectual thought and sensitive, intuitive, meditational awareness, all the time watching for and transforming the impulse toward authoritarianism. Again, bodywork practitioners are in a unique position to address these issues in an experiential and tactile as well as intellectual way with their clients.

I firmly believe that the consciousness of the differences between these levels of abstractions; i.e., the silent and the verbal levels, is the key and perhaps the first step for the solution of human problems. … We need not blind ourselves with the old dogma that ‘human nature cannot be changed,’ for we find that it can be changed [if we know how]. We must  begin to realize our potentialities as humans, then we may approach the future with some hope.

. . . Alfred Korzybski in Manhood of Humanity

Real meditation is the key that unlocks the door to the unknown. Real meditation is the key to a whole new process of evolution: an evolution of the very mechanism of evolution. The old mechanism was based on unconscious processes, which by their very unconscious nature control us and keep us children. A movement in the mechanism from unconscious to conscious is a movement into adulthood, and the real question is whether we as a species are going to grow up.

. . . Joel Kramer in The Passionate Mind

It is the intention of David Scott Lynns’ various programs to provide a wide ranging perspective for the student of yoga and bodywork, from anatomy and physiology to exercise and stretching to thinking and meditation to philosophy and psychology. As well, the specific bodywork techniques and the system of structural analysis have an unusual degree of effectiveness and flexibility.

The knowledge and skills learned in this course can be applied to nearly any healing modality, not to mention one’s own personal growth. I hope you consider participation in one or more of DSL’s programs.

Thank You for Reading
David Scott Lynn
DSL: Your Hi-Touch Up-Link to the Inner-Net