BASIC PRINCIPLES/RELATED ARTICLES
SOURCEPOINT THERAPY: WORKING WITH THE BLUEPRINT
By Donna Thomson
From September/October 2008 Massage and Bodywork Magazine
“A joyful radiance of health is attained only as the body conforms more nearly to its inherent pattern. This pattern, this form, this Platonic idea, is the blueprint for structure.” Ida Rolf, The Integration of Human Structures
Describe it as a blueprint, an archetype, the matrix, a Platonic idea, a song-line, or a morphological field. From the philosophies of ancient Greece to the practices of shamans in indigenous cultures and the theories of modern physics, we find the principle of an energetic pattern that contains the information essential to the creation and healthy maintenance of life.
My husband, Bob Schrei, and I have worked with the principle of the blueprint for many years, and have discovered that to embark on the path of energetic medicine involves a radical re-definition of self, energy, healing, and indeed this universe in which we dwell. It is a path that constantly intrigues, challenges, invites, confuses, clarifies, and delights. Our work with the blueprint has led to the evolution of an energetic healing system we call SourcePoint Therapy, which has been developed, refined and tested over the past 13 years. Bob is a former Zen teacher with degrees in architecture and fine arts, a Certified Advanced Rolfer, in practice since 1986, and a biodynamic cranial sacral therapist. I am a meditation teacher and intuitive. SourcePoint Therapy is the culmination of almost forty years of explorations in consciousness, energy and healing. As we developed this work together, we found reflections of its fundamental principles in both ancient and modern worldviews, and in varied philosophies and healing traditions.
Shipibo healers in Peru state that before they can begin to do anything they must repair the energetic structure of the body by singing the energetic patterns. In the Kabala, we find the Adam Kadmon, the original human, sometimes defined as that pattern which, animated by light, gives birth to life, repairs and heals. Goethe’s “Ur- phenomenon” (origin or source phenomenon) is also that formative power, the “morphological imperative,” that is the archetype from which form arises.
Michael Kern, D.O. discusses this energetic pattern from the perspective of contemporary biodynamic cranial-sacral practitioners: “The Breath of Life carries an essential blueprint for health, which Dr. James Jealous called the ”˜Original Matrix.’ This blueprint is a deep and unwavering ordering principle”¦Franklin Sills states, ”˜No matter how desperate the situation, the information of the whole, its inherent ordering principle, or blueprint, is still available in each part.’ ” In her book “ Structural Integration” Dr. Ida Rolf poses this question, “Is ”˜balancing’ actually the placing of the body of flesh upon an energy pattern that activates it?” Robert O. Becker, D.O., as well as Harold Saxton Burr in his book The Blueprint of Immortality, also looked at the possibility of an energetic or electrical blueprint as a field that surrounds the body.
James Oschman, in his excellent book, Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis, points out that “in a few short decades scientists have gone from a conviction there is no such thing as energy fields in and around the human body to an absolute certainty they exist.” He goes on to describe the human body as a “living matrix” that is “simultaneously a mechanical, vibrational or oscillatory, energetic, electronic and informational network.”
All these philosophical and healing traditions have their differences, but they are all pointing to a similar phenomenon, that of an energetic template that underlies, gives rise to, and permeates material form: an ordering force, an organizing principle, that both creates and maintains health and life, a storehouse of information that guides the development of the individual in conjunction with ancestral, genetic, and environmental influences, which we can call the blueprint.
These time-honored principles find themselves re-appearing in the thinking of many contemporary scientists. Highly respected physicist Ervin Laszlo, in his book “Science and the Akashic Field,” describes the quantum vacuum as “”¦not just a superdense sea of energy but also a sea of information.” He argues convincingly and in detail that “ the physical world is a reflection of energy vibrations from more subtle worlds that, in turn, are reflections of still more subtle energy fields. Creation, and all subsequent existence, is a progression downward and outward from the primordial source.”
Dr. Laszlo has named this fundamental information/energy field the Akashic Field, referencing the Sanskrit term, the Akashic Record, which in various religious and metaphysical traditions is believed to be a cosmic record of all that has ever happened. In this contemporary scientific view, the Akashic field also contains all the information necessary to create and sustain the universe as we know it, a universe that is then by definition not separate from that sea of energy and information from which it arises. “The informed universe is a world of subtle but constant interconnection, a world where everything informs””acts on and interacts with””everything else. This world merits further acquaintance. We should apprehend it with our heart as well as our brain.”
One can imagine, then, that in this Akashic field, the essential information of health, balance, order, harmony and flow necessary to the maintenance of the health of the human organism exists and can be accessed. We need to receive this information with our heart as well as our brain, with our intuition as well as our rational, logical mind. Another important point emerges from Dr. Laszlo’s description of this field of information: it is interactive. This means any information changes according to the information fed back to it, therefore what we call the blueprint is not a static, fixed pattern, not an eternal template a la Plato, but a dynamic, interactive, energetic field of information that works with us, in us and around us.
Many energetic healing systems focus on facilitating the flow of energy; in SourcePoint Therapy we work also with the specific intention of facilitating the flow of the information from the blueprint to the physical body. In working with clients we seek to determine the location of blockages in the physical body that obstruct this flow of information. These blockages are often the source for the symptom complex being presented and can be detected through a simple body-scanning technique. This SourcePoint technique helps the practitioner to determine the most effective entry point for working with the client’s symptoms. Ray McCall, Advanced Rolfing Instructor, says of this scan: “By doing a manual scan of the energy field of the client, as is taught in the SourcePoint methodology, not only can we determine the location of primary blocks and discontinuities, we can determine where the client’s body wants us to start. When this starting place is honored, I consistently find that the session is more effective.”
In SourcePoint Therapy we work with specific points in the human energy field surrounding the body, as well as on the body, whose function it is to facilitate the flow of information from the energetic blueprint to the physical body. These points serve as gateways to the universal principles of Order, Balance, Harmony, and Flow that are the source of our health. As an architect, artist and Rolfer, Bob has a lifelong interest in structure and sacred geometry. When we began to look at how to access the information of health, balance and order, it was natural to look at geometric pattern as a doorway or connecting point to that information, so in SourcePoint Therapy we work with energetic structures as a way to connect directly to the blueprint. The points we work with in the energy field form various geometric patterns. As Dr. Mark E. Rosen, D.O. says, “Health is that perfect blueprint present within us from the moment of conception. Health is more inherent in the geometry than the genetics.” These points and techniques have been discovered through many years of intuitive and practical study, testing and application.
In our work with the blueprint we have discovered there are many ways to access it. We don’t make the usual distinction between physical and energetic modalities. If we accept the premise, now being so thoroughly explored in modern physics and biology, that everything is one big energy field, then how can that old and illusory division between body and spirit, matter and energy, persist? From our perspective and experience, the body doesn’t have an energy field: it is an energy/information field. Bob does frequent deep work in the body; as far as he is concerned this is just as much “energy work” as holding a point off the body. And holding a point off the body is just as much “bodywork” as penetrating deeply into a muscle.
These expanding parameters invite us always to further exploration of the remarkable universe in which we live, work, and seek to maintain life and health. Brian Swimme, well-known author and physicist, says, “I am convinced that any vision of the universe that doesn’t shock us is without value for us.” Some scientists object when the principles of quantum physics are used to justify practices of energetic medicine. We do not offer the theories of modern physics as “proof” for the existence of an energetic blueprint but rather as another fascinating field for exploration and reflection. Healing is an art as well as a science and as healers we deal with results that are often unpredictable and astonishing, that challenge our notions of how things work. F. David Peat, another theoretical physicist, says, “”¦a revolution in art generally precedes science by a decade or so”¦Is there a causal connection or are artists antennae to the future who anticipate the general changes in thinking that will eventually enter science?” As practitioners of the art of healing now, and as modern science continue to re-discover in the future what mystics and visionaries have known for centuries, does it make sense to dismiss energetic approaches that might help us in our chosen work of alleviating pain, tension, stress and illness without trying them?
If you would like to explore this principle of the blueprint more thoroughly for yourself and see how you might integrate it into your practice, begin by immersing yourself in the theory and perspective of the blueprint. Read about it (recommended reading list available at www.sourcepointtherapy.com). Reflect on it. Ask yourself, what does the blueprint mean to me? What do I already know about it? How do I already experience it? Where and how do I experience that fundamental order, balance, harmony and flow that sustains life?
Research these days begins to demonstrate the power of intention. In Lynne McTaggart’s book “The Intention Experiment” she reports on a study in which a well-known healer was asked to form different intentions while holding five different Petri dishes in which cancer cells were growing. All samples showed some reduction in cancer cell growth as a result of being energetically infused with intention. The highest reduction came with the simple intention that the natural order of cell growth be restored.
When working with the blueprint, you are focusing your intention on the natural order of the healthy body. If you would like you to begin integrating this principle into your work, you can experiment with setting your intention, as you begin to work with a client, that the natural order of health be restored in this person. You can form the intention to connect with the information of the blueprint as you work.
Use the premise of the blueprint as a reference point for approaching your client. Ask yourself: “What needs to happen to restore balance, order, harmony and flow to this system?” “What new information can I bring to this client today for the purpose of healing?” Remember, from the SourcePoint perspective, the function of the healer is not only to facilitate the flow of energy and address physical symptoms but also to bring new information to the client, whether through touch, word, imagery or an energetic approach. This new information, based on the principles of order, balance, harmony and flow, begins to replace the old accumulated information of trauma, disorder and disruption that experience brings to the body.
A very simple method for accessing these principles is “the word.” That familiar phrase, “In the beginning was the word” has many meanings, and the power of the word to hurt and heal has been demonstrated throughout history. Sit quietly in the morning, or before a session with a client, or just for a moment in the midst of a busy day, and allow the words “Order, Balance, Harmony and Flow” to resonate with your breath, to permeate your consciousness. Spend a few moments with those words while working on a client.
A felt sense of urgency led us to develop SourcePoint Therapy and inspires our ongoing work with the blueprint. In a complex world, simplicity has great power, and our intention with SourcePoint Therapy has been to evolve a simple system that allows practitioners of all kinds to integrate this fundamental principle of energy medicine, the blueprint, into their work without extensive or expensive training. It is intended to enhance whatever modality a practitioner is already using, to create an energetic container to help work that is done to go deeper and hold more effectively. Medical doctors, massage therapists, cranial-sacral therapists, acupuncturists, and Rolfers have all found it helpful and easy to integrate.
The world we live in is out of balance, and as it seeks to self-correct, we experience many extremes. Maintaining an internal sense of balance becomes increasingly difficult and important for clients and practitioners alike. If we remember that at the heart of upheaval and stress there is the information of balance, order, harmony and flow available to each of us, always, it will help us to maintain mental, physical and spiritual health in today’s world. If we seek to explore, understand and implement the principle of the blueprint, then we have an invaluable tool for helping ourselves as well as our clients.
Donna Thomson is a meditation teacher, intuitive, and author of “The Vibrant Life: Simple Meditations to Use Your Energy Effectively.” For information on NCBTMB approved workshops go to www.sourcepointtherapy.com or check the ABMP online calendar.
[1] Maitland, Jeff, Ph.D, Advanced Certified Rolfer, “The Architecture of Freedom,” unpublished paper, 2007
[1] Kern, Michael, Wisdom in the Body, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, 2005, p.33
[1] Rolf, op cit, p.206
[1] see Becker, R O, Selden G, The Body Electric: Electromagnetism and the Foundation of Life, SUNY Press, Albany, 1985
[1] see Burr, H S, Blueprint for Immortality, CW Daniel, Saffron Walden, 1972
[1] Oschman, James, Energy Medicine, The Scientific Basis, Churchill Livingstone, New York, 2000, p.27
[1] Ibid, p.44
[1] Laszlo, Ervin, Science and the Akashic Field: An Integral Theory of Everything, Inner Traditions, Rochester, Vermont, 2004, p. 50
[1] ibid, p. 141
[1] ibid, p. 5
[1] McCall, Ray, Advanced Certified Rolfer, private conversation, December 27, 2007
[1] see Rosen, Dr. Mark E., www.osteodoc.com
[1] Swimme, Brian, in Arguelles, Jose, The Mayan Factor, Bear and Co, Santa Fe, 1987, foreword, p. 9
[1] Peat, David F, “Ideas on Art and Science,” www.fdavidpeat.com/ideas/artsci/htm
[1] McTaggart, Lynne, The Intention Experiment, Free Press, New York, 2007, p. 151ff