Approaching temporalis, masseter, medial and lateral pterygoids, hyoids, and cervicals.

I have been speaking about the importance of three muscle groups in the face that tend to acquire tension from external stress and internal worries.
In this class I will give you evidence of the dramatic shift that takes place when we release the tension in these three groups: masseter, pterygoids, and temporalis. These muscles all have to do with chewing: chewing our food, chewing our worries and problems, grinding our teeth at night.

Unusual Aspects of Touch – Decompression:
One of the discoveries made by osteopaths in the 19th century is that, instead of forcing the release of a tight muscle or joint, it is better to give gentle support to the effort the muscle is making.
For example, if someone is lifting a bucket of water and you take hold of the handle and lift up slightly, you are reducing the effort of the person’s muscles.
Because of stress, we develop tight muscles in the body. The muscles are carrying a burden even when they are not carrying a physical load.
When a muscle or a joint is carrying a load of stress even when there is no physical need, the state of it is called “compressed.” If we can support the muscle or joint in a way that reduces its effort, or if we can take over the “work” of the muscle or joint, they relax. This approach is called “decompression.” It takes almost no effort to perform decompression and about 10 times the effort to force the tissue to relax.

Unusual Aspects of Touch – Somatics:
The second step in working this way is to help the client to feel right into the muscle and joint that is compressed. We can do this by asking the client to feel our fingers, we can gently tap the tissue like plucking a tight string on an instrument and ask the client to notice where she feels the vibration, and third, we can ask the client to breathe directly into the sensations of tightness with a sense of expansion and contraction.
As the client practices these somatic techniques, she is becoming more and more aware of what is happening in her body and she can feel the compressed tissue soften and warm. She will start to take deeper and deeper breaths and her whole body will relax.

Technique of Decompression and Somatic Awareness:
You will learn and practice the technique of Decompression and how to be somatically aware of our own body and client’s body. This is not only comfortable for the client, but also joyful for her/him and practitoner. A practitioner and a client can be a team in this approach, and will open the door for somatic awareness – for the new relationship with the body and mind. This can be a whole shift of our lives.