Based on over fifteen years of bodywork experience by Guy Harriman, PranaSlow Mind-Body Therapy uses stretching, trigger release, reflexology, craniosacral, medical chi gong, crystal work, Thai massage, and tok sen techniques. These body-centered modalities are skillfully combined with emotional and mental energy therapy techniques.
This unique blend of powerful bodywork techniques acts in synergy to release physical and energetic blocks in the client's body. Whereas many massage therapists do massage by rote, never varying their sessions from one client to another, working on the unique muscular and energetic tones in each client. The techniques used are selected from a wide range of modalities. One side of the body often has different blocks than the other side, and so the approach is varied accordingly. Even with the same client, one session may be significantly different from another.
Reflexology is an ancient art, thought to have originated as a Taoist practice over 5000 years ago in China, and recorded 2500 years ago in Egypt. One of the tombs in the Valley of the Dead is the physician's tomb, the tomb of Ankhmahor in Saqqara. The tomb's pictographs include circumcision, childbirth, pharmacology, embalming, dentistry, and reflexology. On the reflexology pictograph the therapist is holding a tool in his hand for working on the feet. Underneath the picture it is written, "doctor: 'Make these give strength' patient: 'Do not cause pain to these' doctor: 'I will do thy pleasure'" Reflexology accesses organs and internal structures in the body through the use of the bio-holograms found in the feet (also found in the hands, irises, and ears).
A typical modern reflexology practitioner has been taught to spend about the same time on all the major reflex points in the feet. However, through his own experimentation, Guy has discovered two aspects of reflexology. The first is diagnostic, where the client's sensitivity indicates the amount of energy blockage in the body structure. The sensistivity is related to the length of time the blockage has been held in the client's body, and to the acuteness of the imbalance. The second aspect is the release of the energy blockage, which can take a number of minutes, and involve different levels of pressure to avoid pain. Therefore a therapeutic reflexology session can take up to two hours, but regular sessions build on the work done in previous sessions, as further detoxing and clearing is done in the energy system. An onion skin effect is observed, where applying pressure to the same point releases recent blocks first, becoming relaxed and balanced, while further sessions reveal older and deeper blocks, until the trauma profile is completely cleared for that point. It is also possible for very old patterns to be desensitized, and slow, patient work is needed to remove this mental shielding of suppressed trauma.
Thai massage is the only form of bodywork which incorporates yoga asanas. It is attributed to Doctor Shivago, the Buddha's personal physician, but has much older roots through yoga and aministic bodywork predating the Buddha. It is a bodywork artform handed down throug the generations in Thailand, where it is estimated that three million people know how to do Thai massage.
The Thai massage system is a blend of Yoga and Taoist theory. The Thai Sen lines have the same names (in Pali) as the sanskrit names of the yoga nadis (energy nerves, such as Ida and Pingala), while their layout in the body is related to the taoist meridians.
Stretching of the limbs is fundamental to yoga, and therefore to Thai massage, which incorporates yoga asanas. Slow stretches activate the golgi stretch sensors in the tendons, which releases chemicals to releases glycoprotein bonds across myofilaments (the "glue" which holds muscles chronically tight). It take about 20 or 30 seconds for the chemical golgi response to happen, so that is why stretches must be held for at least thirty seconds. During stretching. It is also possible to incorporate craniosacral therapy on any part of the body to facilitate the release of energy blocks in the joints and muscles.
Certain places in a chronically tight muscle become very sensitive over time, if the tension in the muscle is not released through stretching and/or energy work. Often related to emotional issues expressed by the inner child through the body, it is beneficial for the therapist to explore the unconscious reason behind the locatin of the trigger point. Often there is a telltale radiating pain travelling from the trigger point through the body, maybe from back to front, or up to the head. The radiating pain follows the blocked meridian line, showing how the meridian is clearing.
If the trigger point is held and pressed sufficiently long, the trigger points starts to release. However, it is necessary to be attentive to the client's body in order to do this - too much pressure will just cause further pain, and not enough pressure will not release the trigger point. Working with the client during this process is very important, both intuitively and through verbal communication.
This healing modality is still used in China as part of traditional Chinese medicine. When a practitioner has developed the ability to move chi as a result of long term practice of chi gong, he or she moves this chi field through the client's body to clear blocks and balance the meridians of the client.
Medical chi gong is a medidative energy practice, and can be deeply relaxing for the client when the client tunes into the energy flow. In particular, it is helpful for clearing headaches, stomach aches, and injuries in the body. Pain often melts away during a medical chi gong session.
Crystals help support energy work because they make the chi coherent. Comparing a laser light to a standard light, the laser light waves are coherent (phase-aligned), while a standard light the light waves are not phase related, and therefore less powerful. This means that the chi coming out of a crystal is felt more easily. Often the client holds a crystal during the session, and is more receptive to the energy flow.
The cerebrospinal fluid has several natural rhythms that reflect cyclical changes in 1) blood pressure and heart rate, 2) breathing, and 3) a pulse of six cycles per minute called the Traube Hering Mayer (THM) wave after the three German physiologists who discovered it in the 1870's.
The cranio sacral rhythm (CSR) can vary as much as from 3 cycles per minute (deep meditation) to 30 (fever) cycles per minute. It has been demonstrated that this CSR is generally measured by experienced practitioners at 6 cycles per minute.
The craniosacral practitioner tunes into the CSR pulse in the client's body, using the non-linear proprioceptors in the practitioner's hands which can feel minute movements in the bones of the client. These propiioceptors can be trained to respond over a range geater than a million to one. The THM wave is controlled by the autonomic nervous system, reflecting the ratio of parasymathetic to sympathetic state in the client. This ratio is reduced under chronic stress and increased through meditative practices. Stress is also reflected in the wave of respiratory sinus arrhythmia, the variation in the heart rate corresponding to breathing, which similarly affects the CSR. By successfully entraining to the CSR pulse, the therapist may be able to influence it, and bring balance to areas which are not moving freely as the result of previous physical or emotional trauma.
The CSR pulse may be picked up anywhere in the body, which makes it ideal for helping to release the energy blocks found in reflexology, for example. Now gaining more recognition for its ability to allow the client to deeply relax and release energetic blocks related to stress and trauma, craniosacral therapy is gentle, meditative, and can be profoundly effective.
Tok Sen means "take off energy" in Thai, in other words it is a technique to clear blocked energy. Tok Sen uses mechanical and sound vibration, working deeply through the fascia and muscles. Tok Sen is an oral tradition, used by the farming families over many generations. It uses a wooden stick, hit with a matching mallet, to send sound vibrations into the clients body. The effect is unique, and has proven to be powerful for releasing long-held knots, as well as old injuries. It is also an energy practice, like acupuncture. The energy carried by the sound vibrations reaches deep into the body, and in this way clears old and deeply held energy blocks in the client's body.
This youtube video shows Guy teaching a one day seminar on Tok Sen in San Fransisco, during June 2009: