When someone asks what body therapy is, I have to take a deep diaphragmatic breath before answering, listen to my heart’s voice, close my eyes to feel the inner pulse of life, and then choose words. The words are different each time because they reflect the state and have the power to weaken or strengthen the tested muscle. The body doesn’t lie, says my wife, therapist Rasa. After rolling my eyes, I soon convince myself of the same:

– Extend your arm and hold it, – says Rasa. I extend. I hold.
– Say, “I am Petras” – she instructs me. I’m not Petras, but I don’t argue and do as told. The arm wavers.
– Now say, “I am Laimonas” – Rasa encourages, continuing the test. I say my name and what do you know, the arm holds, doesn’t waver. Hmmmm… a perfectly functioning lie detector?! I hope she doesn’t ask what I did with the boys on Friday night (because we had KFC, Coca Cola and a Marvel movie orgy topped with a double dose of whipped cream).
– Is this some kind of magic or hypnosis? – I ask curiously.
– No, it’s not magic but a scientifically proven neurophysiological body response to impulse, – Rasa answers with a smile.

After a few more tests, and adding hands (as if listening with them like a stethoscope!), the therapist finds weak spots. She says, Your entire right side is tense. Indeed, all my physical problems somehow tend to accumulate on the right side – both the neck, back and abdominal muscles are spasming. Well, I think, now she’ll scold me. But she just puts her hands on my head and tells me to lie still. At first I don’t feel anything, I think this is some kind of abracadabra. But gradually my thoughts drift elsewhere, I relax, enter a semi-meditative state and lose track of time. The body is slowly filled with peace, something changes, something starts to feel smoother, but I don’t know what, or can’t name it. I just feel better, my neck loosens, my stomach relaxes.

– Your aggression is suppressed, which is why tension accumulates on the right side, – I hear the sentence and can’t believe my ears, – it’s a truth that’s hard to admit, but I have to. I’ll need to revisit the book “Stop Being a Nice Guy“.

Body therapy is a subtle “wine” that doesn’t conquer the palate with the first sip. There you see things you didn’t even know existed. There emerge changes that can turn life upside down. There the soul speaks through the body, and the body – wise – has its own expression, not subject to the mind. The therapist follows the patient’s inner wisdom, and in that lies not just neurophysiology, but also much humility, spirituality, flow and faith.

What’s interesting is that body therapy, like other integrative holistic therapies (e.g. endobiogenics, psychotherapy, homeopathy), works on the same principle: find the trauma, disease, tension and help the patient deal with it through higher-level, more conscious, healthier adaptation mechanisms than before.