In NDT (Neuro-Delvelopmental Treatment) there is a principle:

“Every movement is proceeded by a weight shift!”

This principle has been an integral part of my practice as a Physical Therapist.  In order to move a rehab patient who has no motor function in one or both lower extremities, we have to first teach them to weight shift. I am petite and many times my patients were much larger than me and this NDT principle was all I had working in my favor.  In Rehab, we often talked about what motivated a once immobile person, to move.  Was it hunger, pain, the desire to be somewhere else, obligation, necessity, inspiration, or just not liking it here?  Ask yourself this question: What motivates me to move about in my body, in my career, in my relationships, or towards my dreams and desires?  You may think the motivating desire moves you, but in my experience there seems to be something else that occurs before we are stirred to move. Permission.  Is it ok to move?

 

First we must

give ourselves the permission to be

SHIFTED

off of where we are!  

 

It feels to me that we allow or disallow ourselves the freedom to move based off of  our beliefs.  An example: “This activity is permissible, however, this one is not.” When did you first believe or agree to the fact that an activity was, or was NOT permissible?  Was it taught to you?  Is the belief anchored to a moral or ethical conviction?  Is it a belief formed from some circumstantial outcome in life and as a result, became an overall conclusive belief applied to life in general?

Investigate your beliefs as they come up during your Myofascial Release Sessions and see if you are allowing or resisting?  Are you bracing or softening? What automatically held beliefs are you attached to that could be contributing to  the restrictions that prevent you from easily moving forward and enjoying your life? By automatically held beliefs, I mean those that were adopted from our parents or society without any investigation on my part.  An example is the belief that, “If you do not have anything nice to say, do not say anything at all.”   This may be ok in certain situations, but say someone just stole your purse, or hurt you, or bullied your kid.  Does this still apply?  Of course not!  But on some level these types of beliefs are vast in number, held as the gospel, and are the driving motivators in our lives until we investigate them.  The subconscious holding patterns in our bodies can be sometimes felt as tension and restrictions as we brace against these automatically held beliefs. As toddlers and teens we rebel against these beliefs but often conform to be accepted.  We can now re-examine the beliefs with our adult eyes and see if we still choose to conform for acceptance. Or am I ready to ditch the belief and soften that part of me so that I feel more accepted by myself instead of  accepted by convention.  Do I instinctively brace or soften when these beliefs are challenged and come up?

How does it feel in your body when

the opportunity to move

in any aspect of  your life is presented?

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Allowing and softening feel Permissive.   

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Resisting and bracing feel Restrictive.

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During your MFR sessions notice where in your body softening or bracing is felt and relay this to your therapist.  Perhaps if it feels right, ask yourself: Can the letting go of attachments to automatically held beliefs be the detachment needed to allow me to SHIFT into where I want to be?  

Motivation may drive the train, but initially the coefficient of friction must be overcome to get moving. There is always a shift first, as in a weight shift to the left, before we can step right. You have to DETACH your right foot from the ground before you can move it  forward to take a step. Detaching feels like letting go of resistance.  John Barnes frequently tells the therapists he trains to “Get out of your own way!”  We alone hold on to the beliefs that cause the bracing and subsequent restrictions. Only we can disconnect our attachment to them and the power they have over us. 

 To get from HERE to THERE.…as you journey:

                 Permit                                                           Process                                   

                     Detach                                                    Move

                         Shift                                                  Shift

                                Move                               Detach

                                         Process         Permit

                                                  Progress

 

 

 Your attachment to your beliefs may be what is stopping your forward progress.

Have you given yourself

PERMISSION TO SHIFT?