These are turbulent times. Dr. Fritz Smith, developer of Zero Balancing, sometimes talked about finding stability in chaos in this way…when the waters get choppy, stay low in the boat. One way to stay grounded and stable is to apply the ZB principles of fulcrums and working states, viewing world events as fulcrums and the aftermath as working states. The pandemic, October 7, 2023, the upcoming election, multiple wildfires and hurricanes, all macrocosmic fulcrums affecting the global field and through it, the microcosm of our daily lives. We are all in a working state and have been for quite some time.

As we know, the fulcrum is our working tool in ZB. A fulcrum creates an opportunity for movement, in much the same way a stationary board becomes a lever by placing it on a fulcrum. And we also know that when we place a fulcrum and hold it for a few seconds, our client’s system responds by going into motion. Their internal world starts to reorganize and change in response to our stillness. They have gone into a working state. It’s an in-between state; a transition from patterns that existed before the fulcrum and new patterns yet unformed. Each fulcrum, working state and new pattern are part of an organic, holistic process that naturally moves the client toward a higher state of health. 

Outside the context of a Zero Balancing session, a new job, moving house, getting married, a pandemic, loss of a loved one, a national election, all these life experiences can be viewed as fulcrums. They are catalysts creating change and the experience that follows is a working state. In some instances we placed the fulcrum into our own lives and thus have chosen, wittingly or not, the experience of a working state. In other instances we have received the fulcrum and it was not by choice.

Reminding ourselves of the inevitable working state that follows a fulcrum can provide context, understanding, and guidance. We can reframe our experience. We have entered a working state. We know this in-between state is inherently unstable. From this perspective, it’s normal to feel stressed, challenged or uncomfortable, sometimes extremely so. And in recent years, we have experienced fulcrum after fulcrum after fulcrum, amplifying the instability. 

Recognition of the working state can be the first step in finding some stability in the chaos. We have named the discomfort and realize it is inevitable. Feeling at ease and stress free is likely not on the menu, like wishing for lasagne at a Chinese restaurant. With the world in a working state, the task becomes figuring out how we can best to ride the wave, tolerate the discomfort, and manage both the archetypal and personal stress. We seek ways to feel more stable while understanding that things will remain in motion until the new pattern emerges. We surrender. The stress is a typical, if uncomfortable, response to instability in the outer world.  It may not feel easy and it may feel easier! 

Naming the working state can provide a potent reframe for our clients as well. Reports of anxiety in response to world events is common in my treatment room, as I suspect it’s common in yours. Sharing the perspective of these ZB principles can be inordinately helpful, especially followed by a ZB session, which will organize our clients’ fields as well as our own, helping us all to feel more grounded and stable. 

As Shakespeare wrote: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” What is dreamt of in your philosophy? What is your paradigm? This was the topic of a Glass of Wine Conversation a few years ago and it’s worth a second look. We all have a world view or paradigm through which we understand reality. When it comes to healthcare practitioners, our paradigm is often the lens through which we determine the underlying causes of whatever may be troubling our clients, the best approach for helping them and the way we interpret their reactions and responses.

Paradigm is often unconscious. 

This Glass of Wine conversation is an invitation to make your paradigm more conscious; to introduce the possibility that the lens through which you see yourself and your clients is a worldview rather than the only way things can be.  

Sometimes we notice our paradigm when hearing an interpretation of an event that we didn’t consider or don’t agree with. I remember hearing a colleague talking about giving a Zero Balancing session in which she was having trouble finding the client’s donkey. Her interpretation was that the client was hiding and not allowing herself to be found. It was the client’s responsibility to come out of hiding. This made an impression on me because my interpretation in similar situations was entirely different. My conclusion was that it was my job to create a safe environment so the client’s donkey would want to come out. I became acutely aware of the differences in our paradigms. In her paradigm, people receiving ZB could prevent the practitioner from helping them, so the responsibility for improvement belonged to the client. In my paradigm, if something isn’t working I haven’t figured out the best way to ZB them yet. The responsibility for improvement belongs to the practitioner. While it’s tempting to just decide that I’m right and she was wrong, it’s more interesting to entertain the possibility we both may be right sometimes…or wrong sometimes! 

I am often keenly aware of paradigm differences when a client comes in with a specific interpretation of their experience. An example is a client who believes they can’t be healthy if  their pelvis is rotated. Or a client who believes that the right side of the body is about giving and the left about receiving. Or one side of the body is masculine and the other feminine. If you find yourself saying, “yes, that’s true” or “no, that’s not true” you are expressing your own paradigm. 

A paradigm challenge can be very unsettling. For example, I once gave a ZB session to a friend who had been studying Reiki. She believed the energy had to leave the body through the hands and feet during the session. She was adamant and would not allow any work on her feet because she thought it would keep the energy from leaving. Coming from the ZB paradigm, I was concerned she would become depleted if her energy streamed out during the session. And skipping the fulcrums on the feet seemed unthinkable! At the time, I was not conscious I had a paradigm and likely neither was she. We were each coming from different realities. Our paradigms were colliding. It made it very difficult to work with her. And on her side, she didn’t really like how the ZB made her feel. How much of that was due to differences in paradigm? That’s a Glass of Wine Conversation question in and of itself!

So what’s your paradigm?

What is health? What is healing?

What causes illness, pain or discomfort?  

Do you see the sides of the body as being associated with something in particular? 

What’s your interpretation when your client isn’t improving? 

Have you ever wondered whether aspects of what you believe are true? How does that affect you? 

I hope these questions serve to increase your awareness of your paradigm. 

Thanks for reading!

What comes to mind with the words Expanded Consciousness? We’ve all experienced it to some degree both receiving and giving a Zero Balancing session. There’s that signature feeling in your body that tells you you’re expanded. You might notice it when you’re on the table or in a different way as you give the first Half Moon Vector. Have you noticed how your client’s eyes sparkle after receiving a ZB? If you check a mirror, you’ll likely see your eyes are sparkling too. I call it  “ZB eyes.” You both are in expanded states of consciousness.

Healing happens faster in expanded consciousness. Think about what the word “expanded” means. It connotes something larger than what was there before. In ZB, the client’s experience of themselves quite literally expands. Self-concept and beliefs become less concretized. They let go of identification with aspects of their present or past experience. Who they think they are is less well held so who they truly are can surface. 

To facilitate expansion, we practitioners create and hold a sheltered and protected space so the client can drop the need to scan their environment for threat. They can stop monitoring the external and tune in to the internal. Several ZB principles make this possible. Interface, High Regard and Donkey Touch play a large role in creating safety. Our touch is so connected and so safe. The instinctive part of the client, their donkey, feels this and knows they can focus elsewhere. 

We talk about hedonic touch as a means of inducing an expanded state. When something hurts good, the body has an experience of opposites and the mind can’t make sense of it. Which sensation should receive attention? Pleasure? Pain? Expansion begins and the receiver enters a realm that is both more deeply themselves and beyond themselves. 

How do we know our client is expanded? One common sign is their head tilts slightly off midline. Have you ever seen this happen right after a fulcrum? It’s important to notice. They are deeply processing yet still present. If you check in and ask how they are doing, they respond quickly, though not always verbally. 

We practitioners become expanded as well. The process of learning to give ZB sessions is, in part, learning to function while in expanded consciousness. We are expanded yet not lying on the table. Our sensory experience broadens. We may see things without our eyes, hear without our ears, feel more deeply into the client’s experience. The deeper our sensory experience, the more important it becomes for us to remain grounded and stable. Someone needs to steer the ship. We have the responsibility of giving the session, monitoring our client and maintaining a safe space. 

I gave a session recently in which the client declined to frame, asking to go immediately to the table. After the first hip fulcrum, I saw their head tilt slightly off midline to the left. Expanded consciousness…check. The first thing they said when they stood up after the session was “I have a right to be here.” Their posture, demeanor, and voice quality all embodied this new reality. The core belief of being undeserving of life, that aligned with their troubled history yet had never been verbalized, had transformed during the session and had come to the forefront of their awareness. 

Expanded consciousness is a gateway for embodying one’s authentic self. In the safe and sacred container of your treatment space, the client can begin to experience their true nature. Healing can happen at the deepest levels. This is the power of expanded consciousness.

What does it mean to “put a fulcrum” into something? Have you heard this phrase before? I’ve been wondering about it quite a lot recently. In Geometry of Healing, when working with a Free Standing Waveform, one of the options is to put a fulcrum into it. What does this mean? What exactly are we doing when we put a fulcrum into something? I understand the action one might use, but what is it we are actually doing? Let’s have a cup of tea or glass of wine and ponder it together.

We put a fulcrum into a Free Standing Waveform (FSW) by adding a vector, such as more pressure or engagement or a change of angle. We observe and watch for something to change and often it does. Or perhaps an image arises during a ZB session and it feels right to put a fulcrum into that. The action seems clear. We change something about our touch or pressure and that creates a fulcrum. What I’m wondering about is the vibrational aspect of our actions. 

Is putting a fulcrum into the field the same as putting a fulcrum into bone? We know that we create a fulcrum by finding held energy and engaging it by adding pressure. We hold still and the receiver’s body responds by beginning to reorganize around our stillness. What if we are working in the background energy field? Our actions may be the same. When working with FSWs we look for a density in the background energy field. Once found, we can put in a fulcrum by increasing our pressure slightly to engage the density. The action seems the same as what we do when we put a fulcrum into a rib. Can we apply the same reasoning to explain how it works? 

What is the role of attention when putting a fulcrum into something? I had an experience with a client who had suffered with daily headaches for a year. While creating an ice cream scoop fulcrum, the source of their headaches showed up. I had a finger on one of their tarsals and felt, clear as day, that the vibration of their headaches was right there under my finger. What to do? I put a fulcrum into their headaches. Of course I was also putting a fulcrum into their tarsal bone but my focus was on their headaches. I was blessed to have confirmation of my experience when immediately following the fulcrum, they said, “My headache just went away.” And their headaches didn’t come back. What happened? Why did it work? If my attention was just on their tarsal bone, would it have produced the same results? Was it my attention to their headaches that created the fulcrum? If so, how?

What about life off the ZB table? Have you experienced a change in your life as receiving a fulcrum? For example, receiving news of a change, such as an illness or loss, or new job or new baby? Is that a fulcrum? If yes, what made it a fulcrum?

What about a change you have chosen? If you choose to move to a new city, have you put a fulcrum into your own life?

Can you consciously decide to put a fulcrum into your life? For example, initiating a conversation that changes a relationship with the awareness you are putting in a fulcrum. If yes, how did what made your words or actions a fulcrum? 

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you figure out!

Here’s a thought for you. Recall the last time you had a lot of fun. I hope it was today! Did you notice how your body felt afterwards? I’ve noticed a definite shift in my internal field after really having fun. The manner in which I enjoy myself may vary, yet there’s a characteristic quality to the way I feel inside that is present along with the other sensations that go with a meal enjoyed with friends or a walk by the sea. Have you experienced something similar? The question I have is: was it having fun that changed the field? If so, how? Let’s wonder about this together over a glass of wine or a cup of tea.

I first noticed this phenomenon many years ago after an evening at the theater seeing Monty Python’s Spamalot. It was a work night. I had dragged myself down into San Francisco in rush hour traffic after completing eight hours of Physical Therapy with home care patients and the mountain of accompanying paperwork. I was tired, a little cranky, and didn’t feel much like going. Yet as I left the theater, I noticed my body felt as if I’d had a two week vacation. The size of the change surprised me and really got my attention. The show was clever and funny and lots of fun. How was that experience enough to rejuvenate me as deeply as it did?   

In another example, I spent an evening with a good friend having dinner at an amazing restaurant, enjoying incredible food and wine and wonderful conversation. It was a different kind of fun. Yet there was a quality to how I felt afterwards that was similar to what I experienced after Spamalot. 

Each experience involved stimulation of different senses in ways that felt good. Yet there was an additional aspect that felt the same in both. For our conversation, I’m labeling that added characteristic FUN. 

This makes me wonder about fun and whether fun all by itself can change the field. Have you noticed anything similar? If you haven’t and feel curious about it, try observing how you feel after a variety of fun experiences. Is there a signature feeling of fun that is distinct from the other sensations involved in the activity? 

Is feeling good the same as having fun? Is there a vibrational difference? Can you feel good without having fun? Can you have fun without feeling good? 

We might all agree that if fun changes the vibratory field the change is positive. What is it about the change that makes it positive? 

If we are talking about a change in the field, is it possible to design a fun fulcrum? A fulcrum that invites the vibration of fun into the field? 

If we future pace ourselves to have fun, does this change the field even before the activity? I recall spending time with a beloved aunt who often said, “Let’s have some fun!” before starting out for an activity. I remember how my body felt, anticipating the fun we were going to have. I was already having fun! Was what she said a verbal fulcrum? 

What might happen if you put fun into your frame for a Zero Balancing session or a ZB class? 

What might happen if you put fun into your frame for 2024? 

Thanks for reading! I hope you had fun!

In keeping with the theme of this newsletter, this article will inform you about how a holistic, non-diagnostic therapeutic bodywork like Zero Balancing (ZB) can help if your pain has complex causes. Holistic means the whole person is considered, including their current life and past history. There may be multiple causes for pain and while those causes may include structural issues, other potential causes are also recognized, including stress, past medical and emotional history, personal beliefs, and personality traits to name a few. Non-diagnostic means the cause of the pain takes a back seat to the whole of the person. The treatment session is not determined by a structural diagnosis.

This is a very non-western concept. We are accustomed to and expect a structural cause for our pain, like a muscle strain or arthritis. Yet pain is often more complex and due to a multitude of factors. Because ZB addresses the whole person, the specifics are accounted for without  needing to be identified. 

The whole of the person is considered in this way. Zero Balancing balances structure and energy. Structure is everything in us that can be seen, such as bones, muscles, organs and joints. Energy is everything that cannot be seen, including stress, memories, experiences past and present, thoughts, beliefs, consciousness. Can you think of any part of a person that is not either structure or energy? Neither can I. Structure or energy accounts for every aspect. 

The Zero Balancing practitioner works with both our structural body and our energetic body at the same time, thus honoring the whole person. They seek those places where energy has gotten stuck, particularly the energy in our bones. Bone is the densest structure in the body and conducts the deepest currents. Bone energy is our core. 

Pain due to complex causes is thus addressed at a core level, reduced to its components of energy and structure. Zero Balancing helps If the source of the pain is an imbalance between energy and structure. In over thirty years of Zero Balancing, I’ve yet to find an instance where a structure/energy imbalance was not contributing to the problem to some degree. 

Here’s an example: I had a client referred to me for calf pain 6 months after tripping on the sidewalk. They had seen an orthopedic doctor who could find nothing wrong. I performed a thorough evaluation and found nothing either. There were no structural problems. The muscle was healthy, flexible and strong. There was no referred or radiating pain from a nerve problem. The knee and ankle joints were healthy and flexible. Their pain was real yet had no structural cause. There was no diagnosis. 

I used Zero Balancing and after a month or so the calf pain was gone. In the absence of a diagnosis, bringing their energy and structure into better balance did the trick. In fact, because of this success, they continued to come for ZB sessions. They’d had chronic pain in other areas of their body for years and had sought relief by restricting activity so much they rarely left their house. Some pain had been diagnosed with structural or emotional causes and some had not. Zero Balancing was an ideal tool to help. We did not need to know or understand the causes. As their energy and structure was brought into better balance, their life changed remarkably. The pain improved but did not go away completely. However, their relationship with the pain changed significantly. Avoidance of pain no longer controlled their decisions. They were able to expand their activities and live a larger and more fulfilling life. The effect of receiving holistic treatment was their whole life improved. 

You’ve likely heard these words many times: touching structure and energy simultaneously and consciously. This is the definition of Donkey Touch. It is fundamental in Zero Balancing and differentiates Zero Balancing touch from that used in other types of bodywork. It is one of the most powerful principles in ZB. Can you think of any part of a human being that isn’t either energy or structure? I can’t. So using Donkey Touch automatically connects you with every aspect of your client.

It’s easy to confuse Donkey Touch and Interface. So let’s clarify right here at the beginning of our discussion. Interface is boundary. Knowing where you stop and your client starts. It’s the fence that differentiates your property from your neighbor’s. It’s easy to see why Interface is important when using Donkey Touch. If you are touching every aspect of your client, it’s of paramount importance to know what is yours and what is theirs. 

As we learn Zero Balancing, there are lots of things that demand our attention. Learning the protocol, where to place our bodies and hands, taking out looseness, building and holding fields, clean, clear disconnect. When we progress to the advanced classes there is even more wonderful territory to explore and master. While Donkey Touch is not forgotten, our focus may be on our horizon, filled with the new and exciting things we are learning. This is natural. And returning your focus to the simplicity of Donkey Touch will amplify the effectiveness of every fulcrum, whether Core ZB or advanced.  

An experience that taught me the power of Donkey Touch occurred early in my Zero Balancing training, although I didn’t realize it at the time. It wasn’t until years after becoming a teacher that I recognized the value of the experience I’d had. I was working as a Physical Therapist in a nursing home and was asked to help with a severely mentally and physically disabled young woman who needed casts made in order to fabricate new braces for her ankles and feet. The orthotist making the braces was unable to apply the casting material because she was kicking her feet up and down nonstop. I was asked to help keep her still. This was an impossible task. She did not understand language so words were ineffective. I was unwilling to physically restrain her as it was disrespectful and not the way I would treat anyone. I didn’t know what to do. The only thing I could come up with was to try Donkey Touch. I’d only had ZB I at the time so had very little confidence I’d be able to use it effectively. But since I had no other ideas, I gave it a shot. I stood behind her wheelchair and placed my hands on both upper trapezius muscles. To the best of my newbie ability, I touched her energy and structure. She stopped kicking and started weaving her upper body from side to side. Her caregiver said, “What are you doing? That’s what she does when she’s happy.” I followed her as she moved and, as best I could, stayed connected with her energy and structure. It was enough. Her feet remained still and the orthotist was able to complete the casts for her braces. Mission accomplished. 

If the use of Donkey Touch by a new student of ZB can quiet an agitated young woman, imagine what it can do combined with the fulcrums in the protocol and all the other ZB principles? This is the power of Donkey Touch.