TO YOUR HEALTH Discover Zero Balancing: An East-Meets-West Touch Therapy BY JARED URCHEK, L.AC., CZB
We are blessed to live in a Renaissance age of bodywork modalities. There are countless different types of body and energy work methods - some that work with more structure, like many different massage techniques, chiropractic, etc; and some that work with more ener- gy like craniosacral, Reiki, etc. Among them is Zero Balancing — a touch-therapy modality that tends the whole person, Body, Mind, and Spirit. It is a holistic system that connects with both energy and the structure of a person, and works in a gentle yet comprehensive way. In short, it is a grounded and practical system that is easy to learn, and can be used to effectively treat people with a wide range of issues. As a Zero Balancing practitioner, it allows me to work in a way that feels good in my own body. Zero Balancing (ZB) was developed in the early 1970s by Dr. Fritz Smith, an Osteopathic doctor. Early in his career as a physician, Dr. Smith studied many different alternative techniques - he learned Rolf - ing intensively with Ida Rolf, became a five-element acupuncturist un - der J.R. Worsley, and practiced meditation with Swami Muktananda. In developing ZB, Dr. Smith took the practical wisdom of osteopathy — a grounded, Western understanding of the skeletal system — and fused it with the energetic anatomy and theory of both the Taoist and Vedic worlds — systems that tend to focus more on mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. What resulted was the creation of a potent sys- tem of Zero Balancing, a bodywork modality that allows practitioners to directly access and work with the postural and structural skeletal body, while simultaneously helping to ensure there is balanced ener- gy flow throughout a person’s system. Dr. Smith intuitively knew and taught that the structure and the energy of our bodies are interdepen- dent — to work with one well, you must be able to work with the other. We all hold tension. We all carry ourselves, and move through the world, in ways that could be more balanced. In a way, we often tend to “fight the river” instead of going with the flow. Zero Balancers, as prac - titioners of the method are called, help to align a person’s structure with their own energy. In this way, just like a boat smoothly flowing along with the river’s currents, we help clients move in their bodies and through their lives with more grace and less effort. How ZB Works Science understands bone and collagen based tissue to be piezoelec -
Photo by Michael Heise on Unsplash tric, meaning our bones and fascia very literally conduct electrical en- ergy. We understand the bones to be the most dense and deep tissue of the body, therefore knowing that they conduct the largest and deepest currents of bodily energy. If these deep currents of energy through the skeletal system are not smooth and easily flowing, that dysfunc - tion will spill out into other areas of our bodies, minds, and spirits. We understand this also through the lens of acupuncture theory. The various meridians connect disparate parts of the body along with our emotions: for example, holding anger may create a lot of tension in the shoulders; depression might cause our chest/rib cage to collapse, sinking in despair. An old injury to our foot might change the way we step, causing our knee, hip or back to feel pain, and that might add even more stress to our lives. All of the dynamic forces of our lives end up landing in our body, one way or another. The way in which we channel and carry these forces determines whether they cause dys- function, or whether we move through them with ease. On the surface, Zero Balancing is a simple system. Zero Balancers work directly with the skeletal foundation joints and semi-foundation joints, and the energy and tension that moves through them. Sessions start by assessing range of motion and joint function across the whole body, and balancing the energies therein as a way of addressing both physical as well as psycho-emotional issues. The Core ZB Protocol takes about 30-45 minutes. The ZB protocol is done with the client fully clothed. This, along with the hallmark quality of ZB touch known as “interface touch,” al- lows us to connect with clients in safe and grounded ways. This inter- face quality aims to touch with a very clear sense of boundary between practitioner and client, where a lot of care is taken to touch in ways that avoid blending or streaming energy between the two - this keeps our touch clear, consistent, well-boundaried and safe. A core tenet of ZB is that the practitioner is not trying to change or force anyone back into a preconceived understanding of balance. Instead, the focus is to connect with the person, to connect with parts of that person that may be tense, and to hold that tension at interface and with neutrality. When tension is held with that neutrality, it tends to relax and resolve itself within the patient’s own time. In a Zero Balancing session, the practitioner can get their hands on
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56—PATHWAYS—Winter 24-25
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