Hi all
Below's a concrete illustration of "treating questions", working with MPTAT
(developed by Jane Wakefield) and with what I call "felt gestures".
Please note that this work is not compatible with working with affirmations,
"installing new beliefs", etc. "Treating questions" in one session and then
working with affirmations etc in a later one is *not* what I'd recommend. It may
very well confuse the client with a "sequential incongruity" of the therapist;
and how helpful is that?
****
The client, a man in his mid-forties, came in mentioning his fear about his
financial future. A little questioning revealed the underlying question: "Will I
ever be good enough?"
Associated with this were the following bodily-movements: first biting on
lip; sensing more deeply into that came rotation of head to the left, and his
right hand moved up before his face, palm outwards.
In the TAT pose, the question first became more charged still: "Oh my God,
will I ever be good enough"?
After a minute in this first pose, the client could take a few almost
gasping breaths (his breathing was completely blocked at first).
The client felt very sad and defeated, his head hanging, but no more lips
biting. Feeling this defeatedly hanging of his head, he also put his hand on his
heart. "I hope to find some soothing, there".
So I asked him to do the second pose of Jane Wakefield's MPTAT protocol
(that is: this time his left hand holding the three frontal points, his right
hand holding the back of his skull), with the same question while focusing on
his heart, as if it was his heart asking this question.
The client now found it easier to breathe into his chest, which he
experienced as calming. He also reported how the tone with which he asked this
question was first very dramatic, and had a definitely desperate quality. As he
regained his breath, the iner voice became less affectively charged.
Afterwards he reported that his heart region felt warmer, his head was less
bent, and he felt like putting a hand on his belly.
In reviewing the three gestures found so far, he also noted that, as he went
back again in the third gesture, his shoulders could relax (previously he wasn't
aware how he had tended to raise his shoulders).
This felt very reassuring to him, as he sensed how much better he was able
to be with this question, how much less this question overwhelmed and imprisoned
him.
He still felt tension in his jaw; something he also wasn't aware of before.
Apparently the process helped him to reconnect more fully with his body and his
bodily sensations. I assume that including the work with "felt gestures" in this
protocol contributed to this. However, the acupressure work in and of itself
also seems to help here, as the findings of Andrade about tapping awakening the
somato-sensory cortex and decreasing activity in the limbic systems suggest. The
client's report may very well serve as an indication what this shift from limbic
over activity to greater activity in the somato-sensory cortex is like,
phenomenologically speaking.
This time, again following the MPTAT protocol I asked him to put the
fingertips around his ears on the temporal lobe. Coming out of this pose after
about one minute, he felt his jaws relaxing, his head rising further, and now
his hands moved forwards, palms up. He couldn't find the appropriate words with
this gesture, at first.
It was after reviewing the four gestures that it became clear that list last
gesture expressed a new, more healing question: "Can you accept me for what I
am?"
And the client agreed to continue with that question, taking the first TAT
pose again.
While still in the pose, he reported that the question immediately changed
in: "Can you take me for what I am, please?"
Coming out of this pose, he felt like opening his underarms wider, so that
the palms of his hands pointed diagonally outwards. As he sensed into this, he
noticed that now he wanted to look around which he did. He also felt less at the
mercy of his environment, the "please" had less of a begging quality, it was
more an expression of desire than of urgent need. He also realized that he
wouldn't always get a positive response to this question, but that this was at
least as much due to other people's priorities and understanding, and not a
verdict about him.
As it we came to the end of the session, the client agreed to review the
five gestures in a standing position. The last gesture evolved some more, as he
turned to the left, his left arm and hand stretched (first his hand had still
something of a grabbing quality, he now noticed), whereas his right hand went
before his belly. Turning to the right, the two hands changed roles.
He now said: "I'm inviting feedback, and feel good with this". This made
sense to me: his last movement had a lot of dignity.
He agreed that these five gestures formed an important movement- sequence to
review at home.
Maarten Aalberse
Maarten Aalberse
27 rue d'Esbly
77240 Cesson, France
+ 33 (0)1 64 41 96 35
maalberse@wanadoo.fr
