Emotional release

[FarmerCec]

We talk quite a bit about motional releases here, but I think this is usually code for saying the client releases sadness along with some tears. I'm wondering at the moment about releases of other emotions, that can maybe get released from the body just the same - happiness and delight, anger and rage, for instance.

I was at a workshop at the weekend, acknowledging the full range of emotions that can get released through bodywork, and working with them. It was pretty strong stuff. We all have some ideas about handling the release of sadness - staying with the client, making sure they know it's OK, letting the release take its course, and we have talked on here before a little about tickling, and allowing releases of joy and delight, but how about the darker emotions?

Having a client releasing their rage in a safe way seems, on the face of it, a much more difficult proposition for the therapist. When a client releases their tears or laughter, we feel the response within ourselves, and, providing we are fairly secure, we can separate our own emotions from the client's and just be there to witness their feelings. Maybe it's just me, but anger and rage seem much harder to deal with - much harder to avoid getting lost in the emotion yourself. When a client is in the full flow of releasing their rage, I find it harder to acknowledge my own response to the client's emotions, and stay with the client. What do you guys think? How do you/would you work with the darker side of emotional release?

As for what got raised for me at the weekend, I'll be taking it to my own therapist to work on a little, which brings me on to supervision - when you are working with your clients emotions, which, lets face it, we all are at one level, do you have supervision yourself, or therapy, that can help you deal with what the release brings forward in your own bodymind?

 

[Beetle-[Mania]]

jay,

As a client, I haven't had any experience of "anger releasing" but I have had a release of grief which in part had an anger aspect to it. It was during a Reiki session. I am currently 39 years of age, and I have lived through two house fires before the age of 21. I was lucky to make it out alive from the second. Both caused devastation, homes burning to the ground, complete and total loss of everything...including a piece of my "self" and during this one Reiki session I had a truly unbelievable release. It wasn't my intention to address this loss at all, it just happened.

While on the table, prone, it first started with a vision...then the whole place smelled like smoke, enough so that we stopped the session to make sure there wasn't anything on fire. We even went outside but found nothing. It was mostly just in the treatment room, and her office. I didn't shed any tears but my body released an enormous amount of weight I had been carrying around.

My practitioner shared with me that a similar thing had happened with another client whose grandmother was a pig farmer. As she was working on this person, the room filled up with the smell of pigs.

It is truly amazing to me that we hold these memories in our body, and through bodywork we can "release" in a positive and safe healing environment. Even anger, in unexpected ways.

As a massage therapist and Reiki practitioner, I have not come across any anger releasing that I'm aware of.

 

[Pompal 09.]

Your experience sounds amazing! I must admit I've never had such powerful physical manifestations of release as this. Thank you for sharing your experience, your grief must have been a heavy weight to bear.

At the workshop I was at, one of our ground rules was that honest expression of strong emotions was welcomed, even to the point of screaming the rage out. The point being that the body would only release an emotion if it was safe to do so, and so, it would only happen if the body knew that the therapist was able to contain the release. Even in the safety of the workshop situation, with the support of an excellent facilitator, I found release of anger very hard to work with, and it left me with a lot to think about. I guess one of the points of the workshop was to work on separating out the other's emotions from our own, and allowing the other to express how they feel deep inside, and to have this welcomed.

It also got me thinking about those low-level expressions of people's angry emotions. Some therapists have reported here those odd clients who just seem angry, and who like to complain about the treatments, or generally be 'difficult'. Perhaps for these folks, the relaxation allows them to release some of the anger they have stored up, in a place they feel safe. As therapists, we maybe dread these clients coming in, in a way we wouldn't necessarily dread someone who might shed a tear, but I guess the release is just as needed. And then of course, maybe there are people who just like to be mean - but is that just another way of saying they have anger that needs to be released? It's quite confusing to me to work it all out, as you can see!

We can't always know what emotions will be released when we work at a deep level with someone, which makes the work all the more exciting, but I think, if we are prepared for our work to facilitate a client's body releasing tears or laughter, perhaps it is worth preparing to welcome the full emotional range.

 

[MelkyForPrez]

Jay only once have I personally experienced an emotional release on the table and that was this past July, with a MT friend I trusted, and it was within a couple months of the 1 year anniversary of my mother's death. It was brief, but the emotions came up so quickly that I particularly asked my friend if it was a technique commonly known to bring up an emotional release. It was, and I found it really interesting!

I have had a couple clients who experienced an emotional release of sadness while on my table a few times. I have had one that laughed... and I did have another MT as a client on my table who Did have Anger come up. The MT client did actually acknowledge that the emotion she was holding in the area I was working on was definitely Anger.

And as soon as she said that, I could actually feel it almost swirling or seething under my fingers. I stayed there until the feelings subsided. The MT client did not express rage... just that there had been Anger there. And I believe she was going to go home and journal about it. Which I thought was an excellent idea.

 

[Instamatikk]

I am curious as to what the workshop you took was about. I know that I had taken Polarity about two years ago and had almost an uncontrolable anger release. By uncontroled I mean I was unable to stop the process at all. Another student in the class also had a similar experience. Our instructor basically had us in small groups, working with the person on the table and having us hold certain areas where the emotions seemed to be coming from. Quite interesting stuff, I must admit!

 

[Chariot]

Hi dodab, it was a Pulsing workshop - it's a kind of gentle rocking rhythmical massage that came out of Trager work from Hawaii and the Esalen, in the sixties. It is a lovely massage, very gentle but powerful. Our teacher is a body psychotherapist, so the workshops have a very therapeutic dynamic.

 

[rapid]

Interesting! Never heard of the modality, I'll have to look into it! Thanks!

 

[apples]

Thank you for sharing your experience...

At the workshop I was at, one of our ground rules was that honest expression of strong emotions was welcomed, even to the point of screaming the rage out. The point being that the body would only release an emotion if it was safe to do so, and so, it would only happen if the body knew that the therapist was able to contain the release.

You're welcome, jay. I haven't shared that story with many people. I guess it felt safe enough for me here to share it now.

I had another thought in regard to your rage query. This same Reiki practitioner - with whom I was able to release all of that stuff related to the house fires - encouraged me to scream or hollar out during other sessions. I wasn't abe to do it. I wanted to but felt it might be too overwhelming. I did trust her but maybe not enough to have such an outward vocal release. It felt like something was physically keeping me from doing it...like a block or a frog in my throat.

I often wonder about having a scream session...maybe out in the woods all by myself (except for the listening support of nature). I definitely agree that feeling safe is a big part of releasing anger. Can you imagine screaming in a building where there are other offices/non-bodyworkers working? That's not a safe place to me, lol.

 

[Pompal 09.]

I UNDERSTAND!

While reading this post, many experiences came back to me. I really do understand the importance of releasing, but what about the giver of Reiki or any other energy work?

I am an empathic. I feel others' emotions automatically, and I have since I was a child. It's not easy to deal with it when you don't understand it.

The moment I came to the realization of what I am, I immediately searched for a way to control the emotions that were not mine. That is when I researched Reiki and grounding/shielding.

I am a master/teacher, and when I teach workshops in Reiki, part of the class time is on intention and part is on creating a shield that makes sense to you. I know how easy it is to become so involved in someone else's pain that you can't separate it from yourself. It's not comfortable at all.

Learning these things is very valuable to anyone who does energy work. Look for someone in your area who teaches this sort of thing, or email me and I will be more than happy to help you if you are still challenged by this.

As far as the release of emotions for the client, that is perfectly normal and very common from my experience. Enjoy your gifts and use them with conficence, my dear.

Blessings to you!