Obsessed with Flow
The way I was trained—and what I see with many practitioners in the manual therapy realm (massage therapists, chiropractors, physical therapists)—is a heavy focus on alignment. They want to see if your shoulders are square or if your hips are tilted correctly. For me, that viewpoint was difficult to use because I couldn't always see those tiny shifts, and they didn't always tell the whole story.
Instead, I was drawn to focus on what I could sense: tension. I see the body as a system of flow. When flow gets "stuck," the tissues feel hard or sticky. Instead of trying to "fix" a line or force a posture, I focus on releasing those stuck areas to restore the body's natural movement.
The Power of Slow Listening This shift changed everything about how I work. Being drawn to techniques triggered the body to release. I moved away from deep, intense pressure and toward slow listening techniques. By slowing down, I discovered that physical "stuckness" is rarely just physical. It is often connected to:
Emotional Blocks: Stored feelings that manifest as physical armor.
Chains of "Stuck": How tension in one area creates a ripple effect throughout the entire system.
Mental Patterns: The repetitive thoughts and stresses that keep the body in a state of "constriction."
Growing Awareness By listening to the body’s stories, my clients began to develop a growing awareness. They started to "hear" their own bodies better. They recognized toxic habits or relationships, and even repetitive daily movements that were keeping them in a cycle of tightness and pain.
By focusing on the tissue and treating it with techniques that grow awareness, the body responds much faster—even to a lighter touch. The work shifted from me "doing something to them" to a collaborative conversation that triggers the body to open itself. This creates a much richer experience for both the practitioner and the client, leading to changes that actually stick.
The best part is it grew into their lives and their decision making.