The Importance of Presence
Becoming a living witness to the life processes
of another person.
By Pamela Morgan
As a Polarity energy therapist, I am sometimes asked in the middle of a session, "So, what are you doing?" Some people think that I'm giving energy to them. While there are energy workers who do that, channeling in energy from a universal source and sending it to their clients, that's not what a Polarity therapist does. Rather than giving energy, a Polarity therapist holds the intention to contact the client's own energy system, attempting to release blockages that then add to the free flow of overall energy in the client. The therapist remains grounded and open to universal source energy (which refers to the boundless life energy moving all around us at all times) but is focused on the energy of the client.
The simple explanation of why Polarity Therapy is named such is that our right hands are positively charged (sending energy) and our left hands are negatively charged (receiving energy). When a practitioner places her hands on someone, a polarity is created in which the client's energy is encouraged to move between the poles of the practitioner's hands. This releases blocks, fills depleted areas, and balances energy.
While a client's energy will naturally and spontaneously respond to a polarity contact, the power of the work deepens and expands with the therapist's ability to be present. "Presencing" another person's energy flow, whether it's frozen in place due to trauma, pulsing weakly, crackling wildly or flowing freely, profoundly aids the healing process. According to Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks in At the Speed of Life: A New Approach to Personal Change Through Body-Centered Therapy, to be present is to simply be with an issue in a non-judgmental way. Then the issue has room to transform in the desired direction.
People need to be seen, and if we as bodyworkers approach respectfully, we can become living witnesses in the life process of another person. By placing our hands on someone, we can "listen" to their energy and bring conscious awareness, or mindfulness, to their energetic flow, on all levels–physical, emotional/mental, spiritual. Sometimes this gentle awareness is all that's needed for release and balancing to occur. In some work, the mindfulness happens only for the therapist, but in some situations, such as working with survivors of trauma, say a car accident or abuse of some kind, it's important for the client to consciously experience energetic shifts. Often unhealthy patterns are locked in the body precisely because an overwhelming event wasn't fully felt when it happened.
So when people ask me what it is that I'm doing in energy work, the answer lies more in how I am being, rather than in what I'm doing. My focus is on the meditation of mindfulness of another person's energy.
Pamela Morgan is a massage therapist and associate polarity practitioner with more than 15 years of experience. She is giving a presentation on Polarity Therapy on Wednesday, Dec. 13, at 7 p.m. at the Billy Casper Wellness Center in Silver City. She can be reached at 534-1395 in Silver City.