I was talking to a fellow MFR therapist about the way we approach our clients. Each of us has been trained specifically and personally by John F. Barnes, PT using his Approach to Myofascial Release. John frequently tells us that as you practice this work with the eyes of a beginner, we each will develop our own unique flavor or way of practicing his Approach. We are like unique artists, each with a different set of paints and media on which we prefer to work. This Approach is a very intuitive and feeling work involving our whole being, facilitating healing space for others. I confided in my fellow therapist that I see through my “artist’s eyes”, that everyone has a very personal and particular burden or weight that needs to be removed for them to be free. She shared that she sees the deep restrictive contortions in their bodies and the lack of mobility they cause. We both, together with our clients, free up the fascia and get results.

We look at physical restrictions in the body and they often reveal subconscious holding and bracing patterns that remain frozen internally in the fascia due to strictly held beliefs, and unprocessed traumas. These unprocessed traumas and resultant beliefs are due to our conditioning. It can literally be any belief such as:

“What do I feel when I see the color RED?”

The answer will vary depending on life’s perspectives angles : Anger, Love, Like Stopping, Red blood cells. Who knows? It is different for everyone depending on your life conditioning and individual experiences.

As JFB MFR Therapist we never force, we never injure. We engage the physical collagenous barrier and we wait in a space of love and healing. We allow the person’s own mind body to reveal what has been covered, causing restrictions that are preventing the flow and vitality in their life. We let the client discover what has been locked away that has been causing stress, restricting motion, or eliciting physical and/or emotional pain which eventually brings them to the clinic for relief. These physical restrictions and emotional holding patterns are like burdens. John often likens it to carrying around an 800 pound GORILLA, but not realizing that this Gorilla is what is causing all the fatigue, pain, and energy loss. These burdens are a direct result of physical and emotional trauma, strictly held beliefs from cultural conditioning and our level of attachment to them. There is no ease or flow to life when we drag this gorilla around.

What is the Gorilla?

Well, to answer that, Ask yourself now:

“What am I thinking of and how attached to it am I?”

The Gorilla: Being Right?  My Constructed Identity?  My Reputation?  My Physical  Appearance?  My Illness?  My Status?  My Label?  

Can be ANYTHING!

We also, as the therapist, never ask the client why. We may ask what would it feel like to NOT be attached to the Gorilla. What would it feel like to take a walk without him? How would it feel to not carry such a huge burden? BURDEN is defined as a strain, problem, worry, care, difficulty, trouble, responsibility, liability, obligation, oppression, stress, and an overwhelming load. Burdens break us down and prevent the ease of flow in life. They can teach us a lot about ourselves but only if we acknowledge that they are there and we learn from what they have come to teach.

Recently I was listening again to Dr. Wayne Dyer on audio:

The Power of Intention

  “There is a Burden of Ego that has to be removed if you are ever going to flow in the power of intention.”

~Dr. Wayne Dyer

WOW. It hit me all at once, I had an AH-HA! Part of our artistry as an MFR Therapist is to improve the flow and connectedness of the individuals we treat by releasing the restrictions that BLOCK this flow! Ego according to Freud and paraphrased, is our own representative to the outside world, aka the face we display. I call it our MASK, or what we let people see. John calls it channel 5…our talkative, linear, fear-based side which is always attempting to protect our reputation or the image we show the world. It is not our Authentic Self.

Whatever the definition, Dr Dyer’s insight astounded me. We must remove it’s BURDEN in order to FLOW. The ‘Power of Intention’ is another name for the universal creative force according to Dr. Dyer.  John Barnes calls this power LOVE, or Channel 3. We can say that it is the place of expansion and creation and only available in the NOW, or present moment. To me God is LOVE and always Present. The burdens that I see when I treat are created by the client while in channel 5.  Notice Dr. Dyer DID NOT say to remove the Ego, but to remove the BURDEN of it!  What the Gorilla is “saying”  is the BURDEN OF IT!

We actively choose to tune in to channel 5(thinking chatter) or channel 3(intuitive feeling). Most of us are unaware of our choice and are on automatic all the time.

In channel 5, the ego driven state: the person is energetically mostly out of their body or not present in the NOW. People are often projecting their energies by too much thinking and intentions pushed so far in front of them (worry warts) or so stuck in the past (what happened to me and my story), that they can not see WHERE or WHO they are. They are also attached like glue to the place where they reside (or like to hang out) being firmly attached to their own Gorilla.

So they unknowingly drag around this 800 pound Gorilla and wonder:

“Why do I hurt?”     “Why am I tired?”  

 “What is wrong with me?”

Get rid of the Gorilla.

Burdens are like river dams. They prevent flow.  No watermill ever generated POWER by stagnant water…

The POWER of Water is in the FLOW of it!

What would it feel like to put the Gorilla down, even for a second?

What are you holding on to so tightly that your knuckles are white with lack of blood flow?

What if you had a choice?

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“WITHOUT AWARENESS THERE IS NO CHOICE”

~ John F. Barnes, PT

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The GOOD NEWS is WE have a CHOICE!  We can choose to be Present. We can give our attention and energy to what is happening NOW. We can pull our much needed energy and intentions into the present moment. I remember the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 10:5: “We cast down imaginations(thoughts) and every high thing that rises up against our knowledge of God and bring it captive to the obedience of Christ.” I believe God is Now and ever Present. When we imagine and dwell on thoughts or worries, or revel in past events we are not present. We have actually taken our Power for living, for flowing, and for receiving “somewhere else.”  We aren’t home.  Our Channel 5 or ego is always talking, yapping wanting to fix, to spend it’s energy on past hurts or worry constantly about the future. It never wants to be still and listen for what is happening NOW.  If you take those thoughts captive, then you bring in the obedience of Christ. His obedience was being PRESENT.  He did not worry about the future or dwell on the past. He mentioned doing only what he currently saw His Father doing. Present Tense.  He is NOW and miracles happen in the NOW.  Flow and all Power are available in the NOW. See the Biblical scriptures in Hebrews chapter 11. Go within and listen to the still small voice that calls. Quiet the mind chatter.

Let go of the Gorilla.

Love is a feeling, a knowing, and is always Present.

Let it guide you as you FLOW in the Present.  No GORILLA needed!

Awareness is Power.