The Biodynamics of the Immune System

Autorentext

Michael J. Shea, Ph.D., holds a doctorate in somatic psychology from the Union Institute and has taught at the Upledger Institute, the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute, and the International University for Professional Studies. He is a founding board member of the Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy Association of North America and the International Affiliation of Biodynamic Trainings. He is the author of several books, including Somatic Psychology, and lives in Juno Beach, Florida.

Klappentext

Biodynamic therapy practices for optimizing the immune system and healing the spiritual suffering at the root of many modern ailments

• Examines the need to restore balance to the immune system through a deeper spiritual connection to the energies of the universe

• Shares unique biodynamic protocols to balance the metabolism with the cosmos as well as optimize the immune system and the function of the vagus nerve

Drawing on more than 45 years of practicing Eastern medicine, Michael J. Shea, Ph.D., presents a holistic guide to biodynamic manual therapy practices for optimizing the immune system and for healing the deep spiritual suffering of our contemporary world. Showing spiritual suffering to be the root of our modern epidemic of metabolic syndrome and other widespread health issues, the author explains how the pervasive degradation of the human body relates directly with the food we eat, the air we breathe, and our thoughts and emotions. He explains how the Five Element theory of Eastern medicine offers a method to reclaim the body by sensing each element in and around us as a single continuum.

Focusing especially on “the fluid body” in biodynamic osteopathy and biodynamic craniosacral therapy, the author shows how inflamed components of the fluid body, such as the blood and lymphatic system, form the substrate of metabolic syndromes. He offers practices to visualize the health of the fluid body. He explains how, in order to enact the full benefits of the immune system, we need to nurture a deep sense of safety inside the body--a symbolic return to our embryonic and cosmic origins and a restoration of our sacred wholeness.

Offering an extensive section of therapeutic applications, including both in-person and remote techniques, the author shares new and unique biodynamic protocols to balance the metabolism with the cosmos as well as optimize the immune system and the function of the vagus nerve. Enacting healing at the deepest spiritual level, Shea reveals how to create inner and outer balance to restore wholeness as it was at the time of the origin of the universe.

Zusammenfassung
Michael J. Shea, Ph.D., presents a holistic guide to biodynamic manual therapy practices for optimizing the immune system and for healing the deep spiritual suffering of our contemporary world.

Leseprobe
From Chapter 13, “Principles of the Fluid Body: Buoyancy, Density, Dissipation, and Heat”

DISSIPATION AND THE FLUID BODY

Dissipation is the next principle of biodynamic practice to explore. As therapists, we must consider our body to be first and foremost a fluid body, whether or not that involves the perception of the body being a majority of water or a near totality of water molecules or simply a living water balloon. Both before I contact a client and when I start a clinical session, I sit and sense my own fluid body, starting with the shape of my skin and the micromovement under the skin. I gradually wait until my attention drops down to the movement of my respiratory diaphragm and the movement of the heart that is attached to the diaphragm. I hold these two movements of the diaphragm and heartbeat to be one interconnected whole.

I ask my students to let go of the concept of respiratory diaphragm and its related function of breathing into simply being a wave that is self-generated in the middle of the body and moves in all directions from the bottom of the feet to the top of the head. This includes the movement of the heart, contributing its pulsatory and oscillating quality. After I do this, I wait for the Tide to start moving through the middle of my fluid body. I let my heart become transparent as it was in its initial development. As the Tide moves through my heart and cardiovascular system, from both the back and front of my body, the dynamic stillness in the room gradually but very clearly manifests. At some point, I will then place my hands on the client.

When I place my hands on the client, I immediately move my attention back to my own fluid body in order to sense the connection of the client’s fluid body with mine. Any stress in the client’s fluid body will naturally start to dissipate in and through my own fluid body. All I am required to do is sit in total attention to this process of dissipation and allow my fluid body to settle back into the exchange with Primary Respiration and the stillness. Each time I place my hands in a new location on the client, this is the initial perceptual process I follow.

Sometimes, because the nervous and vascular systems of the client and therapist are merging, I can feel tension in my respiratory diaphragm and more intensity in the movement of my heart. This is all very natural and the message here is to simply relax into that merged state of fluid body to fluid body, heart to heart and brain to brain. It will settle as long as the therapist allows attention to be distributed throughout his or her entire fluid body. Once the process of dissipation has settled, several therapeutic processes may unfold. A deep stillness may be felt in the room, and at that point, the instruction is to connect the stillness with the literal movement of the heart in myself. This may be the holistic shift, or a Neutral, in which Primary Respiration switches to its repair function in the client’s body. This can also be felt as an increase in the potency of Primary Respiration.

HEAT AND THE FLUID BODY

Now I want to mix a couple of metaphors in my explanation of heat. The fire element exists between the wind of Primary Respiration and the fluid body of water and earth. It is a type of friction, like rubbing two sticks together. One stick being space and wind, the other stick being water and earth. Heat is the most significant effect of a biodynamic session. It is an indication of a deep metabolic change occurring, not only within my body, but also the client. Thermal regulation is regulated via the heart-brain connection and the Triple Warmer meridian in acupuncture. Not only does the hypothalamus in the brain function in fight/flight, eating, and sexuality, but it also coregulates heat. Heat is also coregulated by the heart. The heart produces a lot of heat simply from its mechanical function, and it needs to be distributed and cooled by PR. At the same time, the principle fulcrums of the fire element are the superior mesenteric artery and liver in the Hara, the abdomen. This is the metabolic fire necessary for proper digestion and assimilation of food. The wind of PR moves the heat and distributes it properly unless there is a malfunction. Another way to look at heat is that it is also maintained by its friction with the fluid body. Since the biological water in a human body is saline by nature, it maintains and distributes heat through this connection to the sodium molecule. I saw a YouTube video of a physics experiment in which a tube of salt water was exposed to an electromagnetic field, and it burst into flames.

The heart as another fulcrum of the fire element has the strongest and biggest electromagnetic field in the body. It extends approximately fifteen feet around the body. According to the HeartMath Institute, the bioelectromagnetic field (ECM) shares information about the heart from inside the heart and pericardium to the outside of the soma thro…