Not quite the words I wanted to hear when I was about to have my very first Body Stress Release (BSR) session last week, especially as I was leading a workshop the next day and wanted to feel in top form!
In the event, this advice was over alarmist as I felt absolutely fine after the treatment.
So what is Body Stress Release?
Probably best if I let Paul Masureik, the practitioner who saw me, explain:
‘Body stress release uses information provided by the body to determine where stored tension is undermining the efficiency of the nervous system and disturbing the body’s ability to co-ordinate its functioning.
The practitioner locates body stress by using the body as a bio-feedback mechanism.
Gentle pressure tests are conducted, working along the clients spine and other areas of the body. The results of the tests are ‘read’ by the practitioner, observing the muscular responses while holding the clients feet. This is known in BSR terms as ‘reading the monitor.’
A person with body stress may also feel tense, tired and lacking in energy and enthusiasm for life.
Headaches, backache and indigestion may follow. It is also possible for body stress to be present without the individual feeling any pain or stiffness- you will simply come to accept as normal the sense of having less than 100 percent wellbeing. Tense muscles put pressure on nerves disturbing the body’s communication system and reducing the efficiency of the natural healing process.
Once the sites of body stress are located, the practitioner releases the tension by hand, using light but definite pressure. Certain areas may feel quite sensitive; however some people find the releases so relaxing that they fall asleep.
The body may let go of locked-in tension rapidly but if stress has been stored for a long time, more releases may be required over a period of time. This is because the tight, protective layers of muscle tend to relax back to their normal tone in stages.’
So the treatment was done fully clothed on a very strange table that was upright at first and is then moved into a flat position.
I felt absolutely fine after the treatment, a part from a feeling of intense fatigue that night and the night after, the kind of deep tiredness that can only be cured with sleep!
Paul ran through some examples of the types of people that he sees. Many with back pain, and many examples of people who’s lives had been vastly improved thanks to BSR.
What I really like about the technique is that it’s holistic in the sense that the whole body is treated even if the pain is localised in one place. The whole approach is underpinned by the philosophy that we are integrated beings and you need to treat the whole person to find the source of the pain, rather than just the part of the body that hurts!
If you’re interested to see whether BSR could help you, then go to Paul’s site if you’re based near Lightwater in the UK, or to Annabel Boys if you’re near the south coast, or to the BSR site which lists the qualified practitioners around the UK.
