WHY PAIN? Notes on Pain, Awareness & Denial -- Aspects in Developing a Practical Approach with Compassion

WHY PAIN? Notes on Pain, Awareness & Denial --
Aspects in Developing a Practical Approach with Compassion

Links to Essay Sections:
A LIST of FACTORS in the PERCEPTION of PAIN || More on REFERRAL of PAIN
DELAYED HEALING || WHY DEEP MASSAGE/BODYWORK? || "SHOULD A MASSAGE BE PAINFUL?"
NOTES ON PAIN FROM GESTALT PERSPECTIVE || INTERNAL SEPARATION AND HEALING
A METAPHYSICIAN'S PERSPECTIVE ON PAIN, EMOTION, & CHANGE
Reference Section (including internet sources for related writings)

A Quick Note on Pain Desensitization:
Just in case you came here hoping for pain-desensitization methodology, This writing is not about how to make pain go away (even if that is one great benefit of massage therapy). Pain is the primary mechanism in our bodies that tells us that something is wrong and/or that something needs be corrected or changed in some way. Besides, there are many qualified experts and techniques available pain control elsewhere. I may provide a method of variable regulation for pain (applicable by hynotherapy or autohypnosis) to those who request it.
On the other hand, neither is this writing for the purpose of creating Over-Sensitization, since that would just be the opposite extreme. I do not consider healthy awareness to include being "sensitive" to the point of not being able to function in the society one must live in. On the other hand, I am thankful for the clarity and insights of those who chose to be hyper-aware while living away from the noise of "civilization."

Considerations About Pain Addressed Here To One Degree Or Another Include:

*) Pain Desensitization Control: advantages and disadvantages
*) Pain Variable Regulation Control: how, when, why, how much, mechanisms
*) Physical Pain, Emotional Pain; Societal Pain, Spiritual Pain
*) Ramifications of overuse of pain avoidance - individually and societally
*) Ramifications of overuse of physical or emotional sensitivity - individually and societally
*) "Psychophysiology" - the field most commonly known as "Bio-Feedback" - and pain regulation.

I begin with basic, more physical-level concepts, and extend into other dimensions from there. There may be more proper medical terms for most of the dynamics I describe below, but my purpose here is to try to explain a complex - but common experience in an understandable fashion.
A few sections here can be somewhat technical in nature, although I try to make the terms and concepts understandable to the average self-help oriented/ experienced person. I very much appreciate feedback from experts and laypersons alike.
Later in this collection of notes, I strongly suggest -- based on my belief that such factors, to the degree they are valid -- that pain is rarely a uni-dimensional experience (as in only physical or emotional or mental, etc). Also... that Pain is one internal, subjective "reality." What one percieves as pain, as well as what one percieves to be the cause of it -- consciously or unconsciously -- is relative to that individual.
First to follow are some factors that effect how, whether, and why we perceive pain on various levels and presents this to conscious self and/or to others.

A LIST of FACTORS in the PERCEPTION of PAIN

Stimulus response - how many stimuli is required before pain is felt, or defined by self as "pain".

Stimulus Awareness - Accuracy" as to physical level cause/effect dynamics.

Other Sensory Accessory - other kinds of sensory perceptions accompanying experience of pain, which kinds and degree of variety, how often.

"Wall" Depth - regarding amount of pressure received (in massage therapy, for instance) relative to pain perception. The wall is that line, which when "crossed" by applying an excess of pressure, causes excess pain to be felt and/or causes the muscles to contract and "protect," either of which can interfere with personal safety and comfort, let alone with the capacity to relax.

"Wall" Depth Shift Capacity - capacity to increase the "wall" depth with increased experience of physiotherapy [or life experience], including textural changes in musculature.
"Wall" Area Difference - degree of relative difference in different areas of body [or of life experience], maximum and average (in the above "Wall" factors).

Referred Pain (R.P.) -- the locational displacement of pain; distance is not so much a factor as is the degree of pain existing in one area and the fact that another area is communicating that pain. Sub-factors include:

R.P. Degree - regard how much pain can be referred for how long before the origin of the pain begins to be subjectively realized - before the person feels the pain at its origin.

R.P. Comparative Association - which area(s) are chosen to communicate the pain relative to how the person associates the referred to/from areas of his/her body.

R.P. Comparative Awareness - comparative degree of sensate awareness in the referred to/from areas of the body and in the body in general.

Body-Mind Awareness - amount of "accuracy/acceptance" regarding relationship of physical situation to mental/emotional and/or other cause/effect dynamics. This includes knowledge of ones beliefs, "issues", motivations, response patterns, etc.

Emotional/Mental/other level correlates to the "Wall" and massage related factors above. [EG: put into a general situation context, noting references to "life experience," etc. The same can be applied as necessary to any aspect covered in this essay, actually.]

Social Expression Guilt - degree of discomfort around admitting to feeling pain and/or denying pain.

Social Expression Shift - difference in perception and expression between times when alone versus when (all or specific) others present.

Bargain Threshold - how much pain is required in order to feel "worthy" of receiving something otherwise *felt not worthy of.

Desire/Abhorrence/Need for painfrom the masochistic self-infliction of pain to the opposite side of this scale, that of having negative self-judgement for experiencing even the least amount felt. Note that both of these could happen in an individual for the same event.

Conscious/Unconscious Schism - difference/contradiction between conscious & unconscious beliefs/needs in regard to "pain factors".

Factor Shift Range - how much one shifts (in amount or degree) in any one factor over a period of time or from one kind of experience relative to another. (e.g.: from low stimulus response to high, depending on...)

Situational Factors - what kinds of situations turn on/off or vary degree of factor range/ applicability /shifting.

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More on REFERRAL of PAIN:

As a massage therapist, I have a good idea that there is some degree of pain referral going on when 1) I see/feel contracted muscle but pain isn’t there, and then I find nearby healthfully textured muscle and pain is there, or 2) when I find the pain-complaining area not in the most contracted areas of a muscle but in a fairly textured area of that same muscle. In general people tend to be much more body-aware in the upper and frontal areas of their body vrs the lower and rear areas. The upper back and neck can be quite "awake" relative to the lower back, and especially the buttocks. Referred pain is affected by one’s "awareness predisposition."

A few of the considerations in regard to this aspect are noted in the section on "Pain Factors in Perception." Is the pain felt only where we are used to looking and feeling? This "looking and feeling" refers also to what kind of awareness we regard an area with (e.g.: with varying degrees of acceptance or liking), relative to other areas of the body. How does one relate to the areas referring pain compared to how one relates to the areas to where pain is referred? If one tends to look and hear in certain directions, then the most effective way to communicate with him/her is to present information in the places s/he looks and hears. Likewise, the area in pain needs to get attention, and if it can’t get it directly, it uses another area to communicate for it.

This is especially so when the 1^st area has been trained (associated with strong positive or negative incentive) not to complain, and when the 2^nd area is generally given permission to do so. The body-mind will do its best to get important messages across (e.g.: "we need your attention here in order to maintain equilibrium/homeostasis"), and it is up to the person to listen. The fact that we can sometimes observe and feel signs and textures in another’s body better than in our own, speaks to me of the lack of objectivity in and the interdependence of people. At our best, we keep each other awake to reality or at least to the most pertinent reality for the moment at hand.

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DELAYED HEALING

It is not uncommon that with traumatic pain certain nervous and/or proprioreceptor systems in areas of the body specific to the event in question become "switched off" by the brain. This may happen when one decides -- usually unconsciously -- that one doesn’t want to be aware of what’s happening in a specific muscle area or in any number and size of body areas. The muscle(s) then go into a "holding pattern." [from the essay, "Body-Mind Integration in the Personal Growth Process" by the author].

As muscles or muscle groups heal, they and their component systems recover awareness and then assume new positions, functions, and working relationships with other parts/systems of the body. The person may eventually drop the physical and other related habit patterns. Notice any analogy(s) between the concept of muscles "waking up" and "re-organizing" and the concepts pointed out in the essay, "Seven Phases of Personal Growth," and

"The Body Pattern Assessment/Reading and Understanding the Pattern Triad"

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WHY DEEP MASSAGE/BODYWORK?
The following reasons may explain why Deep Tissue Work is often desired:

for change and the evolving capacity to translate/transmute the otherwise painful experience into release of energy, physical and or emotional habit patterns. Ways of either holding or moving body parts can become a habit pattern.

due to the lack of sensitivity to anything but relatively painful or intensely exciting experiences.

due to the (conscious or unconscious) need to feel and be felt deeply and/or intimately.

due to other reasons for which massage is generally desired/indicated, but felt more intensely.

Any of the above may or may not be known by the person consciously. The third reason can be due to masochistic tendencies or to proving one’s ability to take pain. It can also result from abandonment -- or lack of early childhood bonding or its healthy completion -- and the desire to feel understood at intimate levels, along with ignorance about any other way to go about getting that need met safely.

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"SHOULD A MASSAGE BE PAINFUL?"
Excerpts from "BODY, MIND, ATTITUDES, AND HEALTH," an article published in Adventure Magazine by the author

No, except to the degree that you feel you need to feel it in order to release tension. What : ? Really—many people seem to actually need to feel pain to some degree for effective release. "Feel-good-pain" is what a lot of people call it when they feel tension releasing from the body with massage. There is, however, the "old school" of practitioners, especially in Shiatsu, Reflexology, and Rolfing - who will claim that time is wasting unless you (as client) are practically clamping the sides of the table and biting wood!"

I’ve found that many (other) therapists look for a certain zone in the outer layers enveloping the body, wherein is located (what I call) "The Wall." The Wall is located by feel and pressure. (You might have guessed.) It is differently located for each individual with respect to depth into the tissues, and the depth may even vary somewhat among muscles/groups within the same person. EG: the calves are often very sensitive to the same pressure that feels great to the mid-back. In any case the "wall" is relatively easy to recognise since going beyond it causes the client’s muscles to contract and protect, and this negates the purpose of the massage. An experienced massage therapist will usually kinesthetically and/or intuitively sense this reaction is close to happening before the client will feel threatened enough to begin the actual muscle contraction-protection."

And yet the pain gradient is not directly tied to where the wall is. (Uh oh! I thought you said ...) Some patients actually demand a certain amount of pain in order to feel anything is happening. Others are totally the opposite."

The common denominator has to do with what the individual does and needs for Balance with respect to where s/he is (in life) and where s/he feels and/or thinks s/he is going. "The only constant in the Universe is change," it is said, and pain is what we experience when we feel forced in ways or directions we don’t feel are appropriate at that time (or ever). . This is true for any boundary we have. The subjective aspect of the experience of the recipient is paramount in these considerations, whether or not any stated rule or guideline has been abridged.

So, should a massage be painful? Only to the degree it feels (to the recipient) appropriate at the time, such that it is part of the healing process and no more (and perhaps no less). It is important that to the degree that you are unfamiliar with this variable within yourself, you communicate with the practitioner what feels good and what doesn’t. It’s not a difficult thing to learn so long as there is communication to facilitate respect of needs and boundaries. If the client is "into Sadism & Masochism," then there may be different considerations, but about those I don’t feel capable to answer at this writing. And if the client came to receive relief from pain, then we’re pretty much back to the original considerations anyway. And if, for various reasons the client tends to attract/create victimizing experiences, then we can at least hope that this is communicated (or somehow "picked-up on" by the therapist) before the client opens inappropriately to pressures that are not healthful. NOTE: That was one of many statements here that might be applied to psycho-emotional level (or even spiritual) interaction as well as to physical level interaction."

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NOTES ON PAIN FROM GESTALT PERSPECTIVE

Put in personal growth terms, a person may feel dis-connected and without a role separated from love and acceptance. It’s easy sometimes to feel that some parts of us certain recurring thoughts or feelings just don’t belong in us. In that case it’s not uncommon to want to separate such parts of ourselves dis-own them. Just having this experience creates pain, and we may believe that cutting out the thought or feeling will heal the condition. Pain is one (part of an) experience that we may not want to believe has a place in the gestalt puzzle. Pain results from feeling separated from (whom one feels is) one’s source of love and acceptance. The core of the pain may have originated in his/her infancy, when the child felt cut-off in certain situations from his/her parents’ needed attention. Feeling separate results from feeling judged as unwanted, undeserving, not enough, etc. From this particular gestalt perspective, physical pain (whether from a fall, a blow, or a disease) is a result of not paying attention some need to do something physically different, and/or to some pain, inconsistency, and/or disconnectedness that exists on the mental or emotional level. But then one usually doesn’t just start out in life with the abilities ready at hand to do that unless one is quite unusually evolved.

The belief that "everything has its place in the world" is probably the basis for Gestalt Psychology. Among other things, that says that a newborn baby seeks only to love and be loved. That is its total underlying intention and motivation for coming into and staying in the world. I do not believe in the (puritanical) idea that underneath all the stuff of a person is a sinful being that needs to be forced into submission by a "vengeful God" and his "fearful servants". I do believe that all we have ever experienced has a purpose in our lives, regardless of how little we would want some of it repeated by anyone. [from essay, "A Gestalt Perspective," , by the author ]

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INTERNAL SEPARATION AND HEALING

Beliefs about pain can unconsciously mislead us. Many of us are taught unintentionally to believe that pain is bad because it is "a punishment from God" (or via the Law of Karma) for wrong deeds or wrong thoughts. This may lead us to perceive parts of ourselves that are in pain as separate from our "acceptable" self. It’s difficult for me to imagine one doing that without imagining one also developing a belief (perhaps unconsciously) that one is less acceptable, less lovable, even shameful. I believe that this makes the hurting part of the body the bad guy as well as the victim. Hence one part is separate, and another part (by believing it) of is making it so. It’s like there is both victim & victimizer components residing internally. In acute phase (during and relatively soon after injury) the body attends to itself as best it can under the physical conditions and according to one’s beliefs about pain, separation, and healing.

To the degree one believes in the above noted kind of separation, the injured area may be left unhealed without the body-mind attending to it, de-prioritized or on "semi-permanent" hold. This then becomes a "chronic" condition. The area will wait for the mind to "re-member" it, acknowledge it as worthy, and resume the attending/healing process. I want to clarify also that I do not believe that all pain or injury, or the lack of proper healing, is a result of the kinds of "un-whole" beliefs exampled here. But I do believe that a great many people are effected to some degree, depending on many factors, by beliefs similar to them.

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A METAPHYSICIAN’S PERSPECTIVE ON PAIN, EMOTION, & CHANGE
Excepted from essays, "Living On Purpose" and "Victims, Compassion, & Responsibility ... 'Easy Answers (not)' "

According to the beliefs of the average Buddhist or mystic:

Justice is part of "the plan", and all things "are balanced in the end," and therefore are in the process of balancing. The fact of whether or not individual personalities grasp this has no bearing on the reality or availability of universal justice, although the timing aspect is another matter. Personal and collective beliefs effect the speed and the nature of its manifestation as part of the learning process.
Since God’s plan provides for free will, a being may experience discomfort or pain on the personality level when, and to the degree that, the personality is attached to things being other than as they are. One source of pain has been defined as "resistance to change." Another source of pain, it is said, is the soul’s choice to deepen one’s understanding of compassion and other qualities, and to provide the same opportunity for others at the same time. Whether or not the personality is aware of such a "higher purpose" in such circumstances depends on the being’s evolution, among many other factors. No personality can say for sure just what the higher level cause and effect relationships are for any other being, and to claim that someone (or self) is being punished by God only shows ignorance of of Universal Laws, including the above principles, and "the Law of Karma".
Understanding of a given thing requires sufficient understanding in regard to its "opposite;" e.g.: knowledge of wisdom requires experience of ignorance, of love...fear, of compassion...apathy, of joy...pain, etc. Experience for learning may include taking on the ROLE of "victim"; however, in accordance with the above, there is no appropriate justification or beneficial reason to CONSCIOUSLY create or condone a victimizing experience for oneself or others. And here we go into discussion of the emotional body - which body I often find stoically invalidated, if not (conveniently?) overlooked, in metaphysical discussions.

There is a sort of paradox between the idea that
we create our experience and simultaneously can be victims.

The next three paragraphs (after the header) are extremely brief and inaddequate to treat this topic with any justice. These and related aspects are MUCH elaborated/clarified in the essay,

"Victims, Compassion, & Responsibility -- Notes on The Emotional-Body, Denial of Pain, & 'Easy Answers (not)'

How can it be so at all? From the view that considers the Soul/Spiritual Body as creator, the "inner child" as the emotional body persona, and the mental body as the accepted and therefore primary vehicle for interaction in society. The inner child is the role that represents the feeling or emotional body of our being, particularly the unprocessed emotional body experience. Pain means there is some attempt at growth, whereas dulled senses and/or boredom indicate avoidance via some form of denial (repression, addiction, compulsiveness, obsessiveness, etc) of some action, mental, and/or emotional process that needs to be taken care of. Resistance to change is one definition of pain. And yet, even these states can be learned from - at least in retrospect, at least as something to be rightly avoided the next time the test presents itself. [Ref: essay, "Seven Phases of Personal Growth"]
It is with the inner-child that we may store emotions that are associated with traumatic events and/or long-term conditioning that would have us deny some part of our divine inheritance. That denial represents a victimization in that, while our mental/spiritual body may have designed such victimizing circumstances for learning a specific needed lesson (more on that later), our emotional body’s inner-child has been and still is feeling the pain which is very real to it. And since the inner-child is a real aspect of ourselves as long as we exist on the earth plane, so is the pain also real - as a felt indicator of need for change and not as a sign of "wrongness." Therefore, in this very functional, actually useful sense, the feelings of victimization are also real.
One IS a victim so long as one associates consciously or unconsciously with the pain of victimization (with the emotional body). One will do just that, and play the victim role to one degree or another until the pain and the experience that created it is dealt with. I cannot overstate the potential depth, breadth, and impact of this process. Conversely, "what one denies, one empowers". As the idea of responsibility takes hold, the feelings of victimization begin to be addressed via belief pattern work and emotional clearing, forgiveness, etc at least according to the education I received.
Re: Poorness, Guilt, Cruelty, and "...something to cry about:"

In Summary:

I believe that Pain is one internal, subjective "reality" : what one perceives as pain, to what degree on feels it, and what one perceives to be the cause of it -- consciously or unconsciously -- is relative to that individual. I reiterate: I place no judgement on the pain experience other than on the act of making pain wrong, since that is one of the most efficient ways to increase the pain. I DO believe that some people are "over-sensitive," relative to average conditions (although not to their individual subjective reality which is what needs to be addressed). But the average person in "modern" society has been trained to turn off pain, to turn off the essential awareness reminder, only too well. We've done this so well, in fact, that many more problems have been created or exacerbated as a result - for both individual and societal health. Much of individual preventative maintenance approach is about increasing mind-body awareness of the small signs and symptoms so that injuries and deseases can be avoided. Can we continue our current degree of desensitivity and achieve the healthy mind, body, society, and world we most truely want ? What is a healthy degree of sensitivity for individuals and society, given both the current conditions we live in AND THE WORLD WE WOULD LIKE TO CREATE and ARE NOW, therefore, IN TRANSITION TO ?

It is also said that personalities (usually unconsciously and due to poor early-life training) use pain to motivate themselves and others. This would be due to their lack of knowledge, skills, and experience in using more efficient means to achieve perceived ideals and goals. Souls on a more or less equal level of (psycho-spiritual) evolution may agree to engage in a personality level learning experience, and that experience may appear as barbaric to personalities on a more advanced level of evolution. It could also appear as more barbaric than it is, due to the difference in kind and/or degree of pain, relative to perception -- which relativity is saying alot, and reflects back to such factors as brought out in the first section of this essay (** A LIST of FACTORS in the PERCEPTION of PAIN **).

Find more on Motivation in the essay,
"Emotion & motivation on the Path and in Healing"

A number of considerations from a Humanistic Gestalt Psychology perspective as well as from the Spiritual
An Analogy of one's Body-mind "Vehicle" to an Automobile
Self-motivation and Motivation of Others; Reward and Punishment, Justice, and Change
Emotion, Intention, and Levels of Motivation/Detachment.

© 1993-2000, Chris Pringer

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Reference Section

Final Note:
There may be more proper medical terms for most of the dynamics I describe... My purpose here is to try to explain, to other therapists and interested lay-persons, complex - but common - experience in an understandable fashion. And it's easier for me to explain things like this to one person and draw on his/her specific perspective and unique experience, than to try to provide "all things to all people".
...The information here wasn't part of any class when I went to massage school, and pain is one of the things that massage clients (who consider deep massage/bodywork) often ask about. For this essay I draw primarily on my experience as a professional massage therapist (since '84), counselor (since '89), and Reiki practitioner (since '91). I have had a relatively modest amount of formal training in Psychotherapy, including my training in hypnotherapy (100 hrs '89) and body-centered psychotherapy (62 hrs '90-'91), and an extensive apprenticeship (100+ hrs) and formal classes (60 hrs) with psychotherapist and gifted healer/teacher, Robert Mitra ('85-'86). For Details on my background and training you may see My Professional Counseling Practice Brochure

Essay Links Mentioned in Text:

Body-Mind Integration in the Personal Growth Process,
A Semi-Technical Treatise on the Storage & Release of Tension, including The Basic How's And Why's Of Psycho- Emotional Storage In The Body-Mind,
published in Massage Magazine, July-August 1992

* A Gestalt Perspective

Seven Phases of Personal Growth

The Body Pattern Assessment/Reading and Understanding the Pattern TriadMind-Body Relationships and one's Path. This is based on how the body responds to experience as evidenced in holding and movement patterns, and related to the *coping mechanisms, *challenges, and *gifts, all to be understood, emotionally cleared, and then employed as mental/emotional assets and guidance towards determining and accomplishing life goals.

Victims, Compassion, & Responsibility -
Notes on The Emotional-Body, Denial of Pain, & Easy Answers (not)

Emotion & motivation on the Path and in Healing

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Author / Artist / Editor Information

Body-Mind Integration
and Fascia Memory Research

Christopher Pringer
Reiki Master, Ordained Minister
Chalice Bridging Ministries
Body-Mind-Soul Integration for a Healthy Planet
Bridging Theology, Consciousness,
and Practical Emotional Intelligence
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   Body Mind Integrative Awareness (Brochure)
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for High Performance, Awareness, and Integral Being

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Mind-Body Memory and the Future of Preventative Medicine

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COPYRIGHT REGULATIONS/POLICY & DISCLAIMER:
REPRODUCTION: I welcome my writing/artwork being reproduced, provided that it is in it's original and complete form (or an editing or excerpt by agreement with the author), and contact info are intact and readable ("Chris Pringer, Chris.pringer@chalicebridge.com, www.chalicebridge.com"), and so long as the following conditions are applied:

a) Hardcopy reproduction is ok so long as it is for personal or non-profit organizational use only; b) Distribution and posting on web pages, blogs, and forums with my permission (mostly because I want to know where it's been put, and I'd be most honored to be asked). c) Any distribution of my writings or artwork must be w/o charge unless with prior agreement in writing with the author. d) The only exception to that regards the World Healing Prayers, which I encourage people to make all the copies they think will be used effectively without obligation to get my permission or even contact me. By the way, I have yet to ever sell -or give permission for anyone else to sell- any of my artwork on E-Bay or anywhere else. [noted 12/27/07]

DISCLAIMER: None of my writing, chalice art, or PolyPsyArt is intended to be, to replace, or discourage the appropriate use of, medical attention and/or treatment, but as educationally informative for the purpose of overall health enhancement and preventative maintenance. So far as I know, I have not quoted any other person without saying so. I have emulated a number of writers and teachers, so I wouldn't be surprised if many of my statements have very similar words and meanings as they. In any case, I have always tried to say what I believed. If you find that I have plagiarized anyone to any degree, please let me know -- by noting the complete published reference, and including the full quote and a few sentences of text before and after). This given, I will duly correct the writing.

AUTHORSHIP: Unless otherwise noted under the titles, all essays, artwork, prayers, pages at this site and sub-directories (as at my previous site at AOL), and with exception of some of the solid color and cloudy-sky color backgrounds and logo/headers for others' sites as noted) has been composed, rendered, and/or web-authored (c) by myself, Christopher Pringer, a member of Veteran's for Peace, ch.92 and of the "Seattle 12," practitioner in Body-Mind-Energy Integration Therapies since 1984, since 1984, and ordained minister (Chalice-Bridging Ministries) since 1987. Most of the personal health-oriented essays at this site were written in the early 90's, as compared to the social/political health oriented pages since 1997.

ABOUT THE ART: The symbols for the "Chalice" - or Holy Grail - that I often use are drawn essentially from ancient archetypes. Here, the Chalice is essentially a "cauldron" for the balancing and integrating of Humanity with the Divine - individually and communally. And just to forestall any hasty categorization, I should say that these archetypes pre-date the Jewish faith by many centuries. They have their own rich meanings as related to the spiritual dilemma or paradox, balancing or synthesis of qualities (such as Yin & Yang), and healing transformation. The "Chalice-Star" over the three traveling magi is used in my Solstice or Christmas Card design to represent our quest - in this earthly dimension of body, mind, and spirit - for the inner-most Source of one's spirit and faith -- whether that would be the Inner Christ, Inner Buddha, Inner Mohammed, or the Divine Mother's Spirit connecting All Life, etc.

That disclaimer said, you may find out the actual origens of my relationship with these archetypes at Home Page for Body-Mind-Chalice Integration (and related artwork). (see description in above section.) If you feel well served by what you found here, I would certainly appreciate your support. Although there is virtually 3 large books (and probably over a thousand hours) worth of written material and artwork here, nothing has ever been sold at this site (although I do promote my therapy practice and desktop publishing skills). In any case, IF YOU FEEL SO INCLINED TO SUPPORT THIS WORK (there are also ways besides donating money), please check out the Chalice Bridging Ministries / PolyPsyArts Support System.

COMMENTARY/Feedback is MOST APPRECIATED via the Guest Book or directly via Chaliser@iinet.com. I Hope you have found this page useful. Please let me know if it (or any parts of it, or other pages here) do not make sense to you, or don't seem consistent, etc. Extra points given for being specific. <grin> It's nice to hear from visitors in any case. I will probably reply. Here is to your continuing to recieve the benefits of your drive to discover you. --Chris Click here to see the Organization Chart
and "How and Why this Site Is Different"
A study in Cross-Discipline Knowledge Sharing, Utilization, and a much needed integration of diverse talent.
And how that relates to *Chalice-Bridging* and to healing.
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Professional Bio & Quotes

Chris, 1984

Chris, 2008 I began my studies in multi-level self-healing when in the service, in Thailand in the Winter of '73. The focus then was on self-help psychology, consciousness, and eastern and western mystical perspectives. This continued through my university studies in Norman, OK '74-'79. 1980 took me into naturopathic studies, primarily nutrition and herbology when I lived in Oklahoma City. Not seeing the naturopathic doctor route as affordable at the time, I found direction via a five-evening massage course, Fall '83. That led to a six month professional practice, followed up with the training in Sante Fe, NM, '84-'85 (described in the next paragraph).
Since then I have practiced massage and/or healing facilitation for others, initially in Santa Fe, NM (during/after my training), then San Louis Obispo, CA, and Seattle, WA. This includes exploring personal challenges and self-healing methodology. A session may include various energy work modalities, Body/Energy-Awareness based Preventative Health Maintenance Instruction, or only Reiki or relaxation work in total silence. A client chooses based on whatever stress, pain, or concerns are present at that session. A client may request a "Body Pattern Reading," as well as various massage/bodywork therapies, all of which techniques are listed & described in my brochure. Individual, program, and 3-6 week interval-based rates are available.

My interests have primarily centered in three areas:
1) Body-Centered Psycho-Spiritual Process (as in "Hakomi" style of) counseling and bodywork, including as assessing an individual for the most efficient means of addressing connective tissue injury, short and long term, and the most efficient application of the results of that assessment (on physical and/or emotional levels);
2) in The Basic How's And Why's Of Psycho-Emotional Storage In The Body-Mind, and in the related fascia memory storage dynamics - referring to the technical aspects of neuro-physical interface between connective tissue, emotion, and the brain);
3) "Chalice-Bridging" style chakra balancing - based in the perspective that the chalice, far more than just a cup in this interpretation, is about the human embodiment of Spirit into the three "lower bodies" (mental, emotional, and physical) which compose the "Body-Mind". Which is also a "cauldron" for the balancing and integrating of Humanity with the Divine - individually and communally.

My training includes over 1370 hours of classes and practicum, including with the New Mexico Academy of Massage and Advanced Healing Arts in Santa Fe, NM (1984-85), and with various accredited bodywork and therapy workshops (`86-present), as well as 100 hours training with the Alchemical Hypnotherapy Institute (1989), over 100+ hrs apprenticeship with healing practitioner Robert "Mitra" (`85-`86), and 150 hours apprenticeship with Silena Heron in Herbal Studies (`83-`84). For the detailed version my training, you may go to the latter half of my Reiki Therapy Practice Brochure. Which also includes (and relates context for) links to essays elaborating on aspects of imbalance and injury, assessment, and healing.

Personal Quotes on Body-Mind Awareness [ cp, 12'07 ]

BODY-MIND AWARENESS, at the core of preventive health awareness, is one of the most simple, efficacious, & cost-effective forms of HEALTH INSURANCE there can be. Hence, massage is far from just "a luxury item," and bodywork therapies can be indispensable for the healing of certain conditions.

MUSCLES RELATE TO ATTACHMENTS - to what we use to take our stance, to hold our place, to perceive and respond to our environment, and to extend who we are and/or want to be. Or used to be (in too many cases, perhaps).
That speaks not only to the body's condition and function, but to how it communicates awareness of where one is along one's path (of becoming who one truly is).

THE BODY IS . . . among other amazing things, a unique communications system -- intimately linked with one's TOTALITY.
Establishing rapport with one's body can be a PATH to self realization.

ONE OF MY DREAMS is a society where/in all children are taught how to feel/see/read their own body-mind communications such that preventive health maintenance eventually becomes second nature. And actually, for the most part, they would be encouraged to re-awaken and build upon what I believe to be a NATURAL INCLINATION - conscious self-healing and continuous expansion of awareness.

And the above goes FOR ALL OTHER ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES, to the degree that one utilizes them to improve such awareness and causative/pro-active connection with one's body-mind, and to employ the most effective tools for maintaining/improving one's health under any given condition or circumstance.

WHY DOES BODY AWARENESS = OPTIMUM HEALTH INSURANCE ?

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Since being at it's own domain (Chalicebridge.com, June'06) this site has come to average
Over 60 *Visits*, Over 112 *Pages*, and over 1000 *Hits* Per DAY. (Here, the 'Hits' stat includes all graphics on a page.)
Interesting that at AOL (Sep'97 to May'06), "LE FastCounter" listed an average of 75 *hits* per day during 2005. -- cp, 12'07

(c) 1997 to Present, Chris Pringer