We suggest that the shield can do nothing more, as a rigid and heavy structure, then help us stay in place. Laden with armor we can only freeze—like the rodents do in Africa. However, the rodents can “shake off” the freeze, but humans in our shields just stand there frozen, with our heart racing away. The heart, in turn, can do nothing in its frozen state except wrought damage on other part of the human organization – as well as inflicting damage on itself.
It is at this point, with the insights that we have just gained from Robert Sapolsky, and the translation we have made of what he has taught us about life on the African savannah, that we bring back the treatment team. We now recognize that the armor and wounded heart must be confronted not just with psychotherapy but also with physical manipulations that will enable us to do something other than freeze.
We might not be able to fight our lions, but we certainly can move away from them. At least we can place some oil in the armor so that we can address the stress associated with the lions in a more effective and physiologically appropriate manner. We request the presence of the second major member of our treatment team. Moshe Feldenkrais has much to say about the oiling of joints and abandonment of freeze. He has much to teach us about physical movement.
The Feldenkrais Response concerns much more than just putting oil in the armor. It is not just a matter of squirting oil on the tin man’s armor. A Feldenkrais practitioner (and virtually every other physical therapist) will be touching the tin man’s arms and legs to help him move. The role of touch is critical. It is through touch that we most effectively convey our caring about another person and even our empathy for the pain they are experiencing. Some health care workers are allowed to touch their patients/clients? Others are not. The most important healing is often done by those who can touch (Bergquist, Guest and Rooney, 2002)?
There are other human service providers who also can touch (and heal). I am reminded of my mother’s hairdresser who attended to my mother’s hair every week following the death of my father. The hairdresser (a very wise woman) told me that the real (probably unrecognized) reason my mother (and many other widowed women) got their hair done each week was so that they could be touched. The hairdresser noted that she gently touched and lightly messaged the women’s shoulders while tending to their hair. She talked about their soothing facial expressions when touched. For the Feldenkrais therapists, touch is everything. They assist clients in moving their shoulders, back and legs. Gentle physical support is provided that enables the therapist’s clients to recover lost (but natural) movements and to find renewed flexibility and recognition of bodily functions.
Finally, it is important to listen to the Feldenkrais practitioners when they talk about moving beyond the oil and even the touch. Words are important when these practitioners are encouraging and helping clients move their body. As we will note in the second essay, Feldenkrais emphasized the role that self-image and life purpose plays in the ability and willingness of people to shed their armor and move forward with purpose.
This movement not only enables one to move without additional oil, but also provides important access to the heart. Feldenkrais (with Robert Sapolsky’s support) will propose that the Tin Man finds his heart by taking action (along with Dorothy, scarecrow and lion) against the wicked witch. It is through ongoing action that one overcomes the trauma (which is sustained because nothing is being done to complete the act of defending against the abuse or finding retribution against source of the abuse: awakening the tiger.
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