The Value of Sensory Awareness
“Most people don’t know how to listen to the deep messages conveyed by the wisdom of their own biological process. Many people are able to follow someone else’s directions, but this is not as effective as learning to participate with one’s self … It would be helpful for all people to be more perceptually active in sensing their bodies and learn how to inquire about their own physical state.” ~ Bonnie Gintis, Engaging the Movement of Life
As a bodywork therapist, I am teaching my clients to be aware of their bodies in a different way—with direct sensory experience, without analyzing or interpreting. A pure experience of sensory awareness enables a person to learn to recognize valuable internal cues. This begins to make more meaningful the time they spend with their bodies. By guiding my client to breathe and notice minutely the changes that occur while receiving therapeutic touch, this client begins to cultivate a true devotion to being intimately connected with their amazingly intelligent biological processes. The experience of connecting the perceptual brain with subtle physical cues creates opportunities for change in all realms of being.
~ Lucia Miracchi, somatic therapist and founder/owner of Massage Therapy Center Palo Alto