The ancient shaman was one who showed the people what they were looking at so they could see it.

I'm a curious fellow, fascinated by what makes things work. From the little fan that sits on top of your wood stove and moves air around by generating its own electricity, to why some relationships thrive while others burn out. I like to figure things out and provide alternatives that work better. One reason I am a good handyman, which is one alter ego.

Bodies fascinate me most. Maybe after relationships, but I'm definitely a fan of bodies. Why does a body tense in the cold and relax when warm? Why does a body tense when threatened, and relax when it thrives? Why does it not know the difference between a physical threat and a psychological one?

They say that dead bodies tell a tale. Do living ones?

What do bodies have to say? When do they get to talk?

If men and women's bodies are so similar, why are they so different?

The little fan that sits on top of your wood stove generates its own power from the heat of the stove. That power turns a fan blade which moves air across cooling fins that are integral to its ability to generate its own electricity. A by-product is that the heat of the wood stove warms more evenly the woman sitting in front of the fire drinking a glass of wine. A secondary effect is that it makes the man sitting next to her curious as to how it works.

That little sucker works in the same way that your relationship works, the Seebeck Effect. Two dissimilar materials are attached at one spot and heat is applied. Interestingly, the two materials begin as the same ingredient which is "doped" in two different ways. "Doping" is the process of adding impurities to alter the original behavior of the material.

If that is not a marvelous image of the wonder of human relationships, I have never seen one. Two dissimilar materials. Attached. Heat is applied. Electricity results. And a fan blade goes round and round and round and round and round.

My parents have been doing the round and round dance for 58 years. That really fascinates me.

There is an electrical effect in the body that also fascinates me. Acupuncture, acupressure, Polarity, Jin Shi Jytsu are all modalities that work by the recognition of subtle electrical currents in the body.

On a much more obvious level, our muscles contract in response to an electrochemical signal from our nervous system, and relax when the signal stops. The muscles of our eyelid and face contract and relax in a symphony of signals unrivaled in the universe so we can wink at whoever it is that we fancy. All those electrical signals flying around.

When a body contracts in response to a persistent perceived threat it stays contracted, which requires a continual flow of electrochemical charge from the nervous system. We call it stress. Multiple muscles contracted. A reservoir of dedicated electrical energy. Almost a battery. It forms our bodies. You can see it when you know what you are looking for.

I have found a way of working that lets your body recognize tension as trapped energy and gives you the choice of keeping it or letting it go. When a muscle relaxes it releases to other service the flow of electricity that was assigned to keeping it tense, freeing it to go dance some other portion of your body. When a group of muscles lets go, energy moves differently in your body, and your body feels it. In working with many clients, my body feels it too. And when I do, I verbally compliment your body so it will index the sensation as "letting go" and practice "letting go" on its own.

They didn't teach us how to relax in grade school.

Somebody has to do it.

Your body has a lot to say. If you don't recognize the sequence of seemingly synchron-less signals, I'll translate.

Make a difference. Relax.

Or make an appointment.

Blessings. Phil Miller, CMT