One of the most interesting parts of the Unwinding class was the group sessions. This is where one person did the unwinding, and up to three others worked with them.
One person (the subject) would start by sitting on the table while the others put their hands on them in semi-specific places. One, the team leader, would start behind the person and put one hand on the top of the subject’s head and the other on their back. The others would put their hand where they could reach. The preferable places were the abdomen and the chest. If they couldn’t reach, they would simply put their hands where they could just so they were touching, letting the subject know they were there.
Eventually, the subject would start moving around, and start to slide off the table. The helpers were there to make sure that it happened gently. Once on the floor, one of the helpers would get the table out of the way so there was plenty of area of floor to work with. Then they would assist the subject to get into whatever positions they wanted to get into. And they knew simply by following.
Sometimes they would simply lift and arm or leg. Sometimes it was helping the person go upside down. Other times it was to suspend the person by holding both arms and legs.
When I was the subject, I went into a (sort of) zone. I started moving, and before long I was sliding off the table head first. I hit a still point as my hands touched the floor. Then suddenly I started moving again, my backside sliding off the table. (There was a slight embarrassing moment here as my swimsuit, which was the only thing I was wearing, slid halfway down my butt. I could have stopped and pulled it up, but I would have lost the frame of mind, so I ignored it. One of my helpers was nice enough to adjust it. It’s a little embarrassing, yet at the same time, these were all massage or physical therapy professionals.)
I started moving around on the floor and suddenly, my body wanted to be in a strange position, upside down. So, I was then upside down. I started choking. I felt like I was being caught in some sort of cave in. I kept blocking with my arms (a position I had been in several times in the last couple of days), and curling into a ball. I ended up upside down three more times during this session. Wow.
I think I was channeling stuff from a past life, or several past lives, though I don’t know anything about those lives. I do know that I can get very claustrophobic in certain situations, like going in caves, or having an MRI. Maybe I was crushed to death in a past life.
We were talking about our sessions later, and someone was telling me that they got rug burn on their leg from rolling around on the floor. Leg, hell. I had gotten rug burn on my face.