Rosen Method Bodywork uses gentle touch to contact areas of muscle tension and restricted breathing. The practitioner provides feedback on the subtle bodily changes that occur when muscles relax. The combination of touch and verbal interaction deepens the client’s physical and emotional awareness. Initially clients may feel that sessions are simply relaxing. Over time what happens can be profoundly transforming.
Holding muscle tension requires energy. When the holding lets go, that energy becomes available for living. Clients often report that they feel more alive and that they have an increased sense of well-being and of new choices in life.
The “theory” behind Rosen Method involves the relation between bodily tension and how we experience ourselves psychologically. Experiences are often held in the body, rather than the mind, because they were overwhelming or unacceptable at the time they occurred. Chronic muscle tension is the body’s way of expressing feelings and memories that are not currently conscious.
Over the course of a lifetime, this accumulated bodily tension prevents us from being who we truly are, limiting our ability to realize our full potential.
During safe, respectful Rosen Method sessions, clients may experience memories and sensations when muscle tension releases. It is not necessarily important to know the specifics of what is released. Some clients experience dramatic conscious shifts. Others look back and report that they hardly noticed the changes as they happened, and yet their lives are now totally different.
According to Marion Rosen, “The only way you can be who you are is through surrender and self-acceptance.” The release of muscle tension leads to feelings of self-acceptance. We recover parts of ourselves that we’ve held back or put away. As the body learns that it no longer needs to hold onto chronic tension, it also learns there’s no need to suppress feelings as they arise spontaneously in daily life. We accept ourselves the way we are and return to our authentic and unique original selves.