WELLNESS
What is R a d i x® ?
Radix is a neo-Reichian, body-centered approach to personal growth work offered by Radix practitioners. The goal of Radix work is to deepen emotional experience, to integrate feelings, to enhance one's experience of life. The work is based on the theories of Wilhelm Reich and others.
Wilhelm Reich M.D. was an analyst, a contemporary of Freud who discovered relationships between emotional functioning and body processes. He found that tension in the musculature blocks the natural flow of feelings/emotions through the body and that in many cases inhibitions give way only after a muscular contraction is loosened; and, as a result of his discoveries, the emphasis in his treatment of patients shifted from the "character" to the body. Reich recognized that the body and the mind function as a unitary system, one being a reflection of the other.
Though we humans are the most highly evolved of all animals, we share some characteristics with all living things regardless of their degree of complexity. Like the microscopic amoeba which can be observed rhythmically expanding and contracting, we are pulsating beings. The process of living takes place through pulsation, which can be simply defined as rhythmic expansion and contraction, reaching out and coming in. The body which ceases to pulsate is no longer alive. It can be said that we experience the feeling of aliveness only to the degree to which we pulsate. The heartbeat, the sleep/wake cycle, and respiration are examples of pulsation. A malfunctioning heart, an inadequate sleeping pattern, or limited breathing result in a lesser degree of vitality, a less vibrant existence. The body that pulsates freely is characterized by goal-oriented activity, emotional expression, expansion, abundant energy, self-knowledge, satisfaction, sexual fulfillment. Radix practitioners work with pulsation.
We limit our pulsation in different ways for different reasons and usually without knowing that we are doing it. It is an unconscious habit of our bodies. Why do our bodies act in a manner which limits energy, expansion, and pleasure? Because those same physical blocks to that which we desire also serve to limit the experience of pain, sadness, fear, and anger. Children, to protect themselves, learn to use their bodies to suppress their emotions. We learned to control our experience of unpleasant emotions by holding our breath, swallowing our tears, etc. The body functions as a mechanism of repression. This pattern is repeated, becomes habitual, and carries into adulthood. Unfortunately, the emotional deadening extends to our entire feeling capacity. Thus, the individual loses more and more of the natural ability to experience both pain and pleasure. The price we pay is a loss of aliveness and feeling, a loss of contact with ourselves, a loss of body awareness.
The easiest and most common way to limit emotional experience is to limit our breathing. While other blocks to pulsation are difficult to free without help, respiration, which is the most common way that the body limits its own pulsation, can be improved by oneself. I recently read an article stating that Americans are "afflicted by an epidemic of shallow breathing." A Santa Barbara psychotherapist, Gay Hendricks, author of Conscious Breathing-Breathwork for Health, Stress Release and Personal Mastery states, "We lose the proper ability to breathe because of emotional trauma. We reduce our breathing, hold it or make it shallow, in order to stave off unpleasant sensations. It's a quick fix, a response to panic. If you reduce your oxygen, your aliveness, you can numb yourself slightly, then dissociate from your surroundings." She states that deep, slow, vigorous breathing, flooding the body with healthful oxygen will fill the body with glowing energy, reduce tension, instill confidence, and improve athletic performance.
Most people who begin to do Radix work are amazed to discover just how limited their breathing is because it is something they never really thought about before. Mobilizing the breathing apparatus is a primary technique in Radix work. Once full breathing is established, other blocks in various body segments manifest. Chronic tensions in jaws, necks, shoulders, backs are examples of body blocks to emotional experience. When full breathing is established and when muscular tensions are loosened, pulsation deepens, feelings come to awareness, and deep level emotional discharge is possible. The essence of Radix work is emotional discharge through the body.
Radix combines elements of teaching, psychological processes, physical exercises, and body awareness which together facilitate personal insight and growth. The rewards of Radix work are increased aliveness and energy, better contact with self and others, and a greater capacity for pleasure and fulfillment.
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