I had an unusual situation today that started out as a massage and ended up into an unwinding.
I was doing Myofascial Release (MFR) on my client to try to realign her. Suddenly, she felt a deep sadness. (Massage, like energy work, can cause certain releases and bring up emotional issues.) I told her to let that come up and let it happen. As she did, she started crying.
The body stores things in cellular memory. The letting go of these energies is called Unwinding, and is part of MFR training. The therapist helps the client get into whatever positions they wish to. The position of the body helps bring back positions from past traumas and in turn enables the release of energies. (When we did this in class, we would start on the massage table and end up on the floor. I remember being upside down several times.) The mind is conscious while doing this, but by releasing, and following the body’s need, the unwinding will happen. If it gets too intense, one can always just pull out of it.
I worked with my client for over 20 minutes, explaining what was happening, and allowing her to do what she needed. It was pretty intense for a while, but then subsided. I had to be somewhere and could not prolong the session, or I would have. I would have felt better if I could have gotten more MFR work in. I know the time wasn’t wasted, but I would have liked to get done what I intended to at the beginning. I did promise her extra time when she returned.