Treatment approach
Touch can be understood as an environment, meaning it invites states of novelty and responsiveness that may be difficult to access on our own. In this sense, the concept of treatment extends beyond any specialization: healing can occur in a single hug, when the system feels safe enough to reorganize itself.
There is a phenomenon known as the orienting reflex: an immediate response of an organism to a change in its environment, provided that the change is not abrupt enough to trigger the startle reflex. This term was coined by physiologist Ivan Pavlov, who referred to it as the “Shto eto takoe?” reflex—“What is this?”. The orienting response represents a moment of openness, a turning toward novelty. In the 1950s, Russian scientist Eugene Sokolov documented a related process known as habituation, describing the gradual decrease of this response as a stimulus becomes familiar.
Simply stroking a stone will not turn it into a sculpture. As the potter inquires into the clay, the clay also shapes the potter’s touch. With bodies, from both sides, instead of a fixed technique, the discovery is only as deep as the wondering of “what is this?”
On treatment
Soft and hard tissues exert a reciprocal action upon one another. Treating isolated parts of the body is therefore not an option; everything interacts. A movement in the foot expresses itself in the crown of the head, whether it is consciously felt or not. With persistent knots of contraction, internal harmonies are disrupted, creating disorder. The body continues to search for holism through compensatory patterns, but where blockages accumulate, movement cannot pass freely. This stagnation can express itself in many forms, including seemingly unrelated behavioral or emotional patterns.
From a bio-electrical perspective, living tissue is not inert. Cells maintain electrical potentials and behave as dynamic, oscillating systems, each with their own rhythms and ranges of activity. Health can be understood as coherence, meaning the ability of these oscillations to adapt, respond, and resonate across the whole organism. When coherence is reduced, the system becomes less responsive and more rigid.
When blockages begin to resolve, order starts to emerge. For this to occur, internal conditions must be supported and appropriate stimulation introduced. The process I offer is one of tuning. Like a musical instrument, the body has its own strings of tension, tone, and rhythm. I aim to introduce stimuli that invite resonance*—encouraging the system to explore new patterns and rediscover its capacity for self-organization. Central to this process is the experience of novelty within the body, a return to the question: “What is this?”
Terms
Resonance — A state in which cells, tissues, or organ systems respond optimally to internal or external stimuli because the frequency of the stimulus aligns with their natural oscillatory rhythms. This can enhance communication, coordination, and adaptability within the body.
Example: Heart and respiratory rhythms synchronizing during calm breathing.
Note: In this text, “resonance” refers both to physiological alignment and the broader sense of the system finding its natural rhythm.
Holism — The principle that the body and mind are interconnected and cannot be fully understood or treated in isolation; the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Orienting reflex — An immediate, gentle response to a novel stimulus, allowing the organism to turn toward and explore changes in the environment without triggering a startle.
Habituation — The gradual reduction of the orienting reflex as a stimulus becomes familiar, allowing attention and energy to shift to new experiences.
Coherence — The organized, harmonious functioning of cells, tissues, and organ systems; the capacity of the body to respond adaptively to internal and external stimuli.
Tuning — The process of helping the body regain its natural rhythm, like adjusting a musical instrument; involves facilitating conditions and stimuli that support resonance and self-organization.