3rd Rubenfeld Synergy weeklong

Saw a demo of some new moves this afternoon, followed by skills practice time. Joe (one of the directors) came over and watched as I came out of a hip hold with a sweep down the leg, and pointed out that I had left my arms behind. That's totally how I would do the move as a massage therapist: initiate the move from my hips, and when my arms reach full extension begin to move them down the body for a nice smooth motion.

However as a Rubenfeld Synergist the primary intention is *listening*. If I don't start moving my hands down the body until my arms are at full extension, then I'm committed to the next part of the motion -- it doesn't allow the possibility of pausing in response to what I'm hearing through my hands.

When I bring my arms along with me as soon as I start moving my hips, I'm stable at each moment and able to focus more on "what am I noticing here" as opposed to following through with the movement.

Moving while being able to listen is more important than reproducing the mechanics of any particular technique.

Best Rubenfeld session received to date

Yesterday I received my first of two professional Rubenfeld sessions that are a part of each weeklong training. I went into it expressing my frustration that a) I wasn't getting much personal benefit out of my Rubenfeld sessions (either at the trainings or with my Synergist in the Boston area), and b) I wasn't having an experience of "dialogue with the body as metaphor for self" that happens most Synergy sessions that I've seen and heard about. A lot of the time when I'm asked a question about what's going on in my body it's either "I got nothin'", or I report something very concrete that doesn't lead into that kind of dialogue.

Joan, my Synergist, responded with this excellent question: "Do you feel like you're not being met in some way?" My immediate answer was "Yes, I feel like I'm not being met in my thoughts and ideas." So we agreed that when we go to the table, she would ask about my thoughts or ideas related to something before asking about what was in my body about it.

...and that made all the difference. Sometimes I looked for what was going on in my body to find the answer to her question about what I thought about something. Sometimes I didn't have any ideas, but there was an interesting change in my body so I replied with "well here's what happened when you asked that." Sometimes I had well-formed ideas ready to hand, which led somewhere interesting. We ended up having the kind of dialogue I'd been wondering about -- one leg was ready to go because there I was clear about what I wanted, and the other leg was holding back because there I didn't have enough information about what was going on around me. All of which was feeling pertinent to my life.

Takeaways:

-I need a person to respond to my thoughts and ideas in order to feel like they're really meeting me.

-From there I can access anything else.

-The best answer to a Rubenfeld question will sometimes be "here's what happened when you asked that."

-"Reaching for something outside my comfort zone" (and I have a large comfort zone)