Osteopathy and meditation. The gathering of silence.

Lu Lanziano
Sep 9, 2018 · 4 min read

Many times I hear patients or colleagues say that the experience at a session of Osteopathy is similar to that of the practice of meditation. The silence, the calm and the sensation of lightness.

I think the same. That is why in this opportunity I am going to venture myself to talk about meditation, with my own words and according to my knowledge and experience, and I will look for points of encounter with Osteopathy.

Working the torax region.

The meditation

Meditation is about being and staying present in the moment and place with whatever is happening. There are no bad or good things, there is no success and there is no failure. There are apprenticeships. At the moment of meditation, an intention, a way or a path is proposed and later, we observe what is happening without judgment.

We are gonna put a side the expression "put the mind blank" to describe meditation because can be confusing. Also we are gonna shake the internal demand to try to get somewhere or to be on a certain way to meditate.

I propose to you to practice the following:

Exercise

1. Silence the cell phone, close the door. Find a way that no one interrupts you for a few minutes.

2. Sit comfortably on a chair, upright, without a forced or uncomfortable position. You can place cushions on the backrest if you find it more comfortable.

3. Try not to cross your legs or arms. You can put your hands on your legs or crisscross them.

4. Close your eyes and pay attention to your breathing on a way that the air comes in and comes out naturally.

5. If thoughts pass, do not worry, it's normal. We do not want to force ourselves to not think but we do not want to be hooked to thoughts either. Then, if a thought comes, let go. If he returns, you let go. And so…

6. If there is a pain, a discomfort, a sensation of itching in the body, do not get hooked with that either ... do not pay attention to it and you will see how it goes, just like the thoughts.

7. Stay like this for a few minutes. It can be 1, 5, 1 or 30. At the beginning it is good practice it longer because it takes longer to reach a state of deep relaxation.

8. When you feel that you want to open your eyes and start moving, remember to do it slowly and gradually.

Regardless of the result, if you did this exercise you already started your meditation practice.

Meditation.

To understand better the purpose of this exercise I am going to tell you something that my mother used to tell me when I attended to her meditation class: "Imagine a bottle with water and dirt inside... Visualize what would happen if you put that bottle on a table ... In time, the dirt of the water will settle to the bottom and the water will return crystalline, now imagine it as if it actually happened. "

In this example, the dirt represents the inner chaos and thoughts and the clear water is the state we want to reach with meditation, that is, calmness. The bottle through the support of the table finds physical quiet. The one who meditates finds the same through physical stillness and contact with their breath.

While we remain physically still and direct our attention to breathing, we can silence our thoughts and perhaps we can find an inner space where there is more clarity.

Osteopathy

In a session of Osteopathy, through the contact of the hands of the osteopath, the patient feels his body, connects with it. In a way, the same thing happens with the water bottle. The stillness (the support of the table) and the direct physical contact facilitate for the patient an internal stillness and that the chaos in his mind settles down just like the dirt in the bottle.

Most people consult the osteopath because they suffer from a pain or discomfort in the body. Few people know that Osteopathy, by its way of working, also facilitates the processes of personal and corporal awareness: the patients, through the sessions begins to feel naturally and increasingly what happens to them in a physically, emotionally and spiritually way. Many feel lighter at the end of the session, and express it with that word. Others release emotions during the session. Emotions that unconsciously load end up expressing with words or bodily reactions like laughter, crying or anger.

A patient confessed to me once that, from working with me, she noticed that when she was looking for a calm state, she visualized herself relaxed in my office and that that image helped her to feel better.

With time and depending on the cases, osteopathy can reach other states of consciousness that, at moments, have points in common with states that are like meditation.

Craneosacral.

With both practices we can achieve:

-Gain physical, emotional and spiritual awareness.

-Reach a deep state of relaxation.

-Connect with ourselves

-Both practices enhance and complement each other.


If you want to share your experiences with osteopathy or meditation or both I will read them 🙂

Lu Lanziano

Osteopath diving in UX research at Saltolab.

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