Wednesday, November 19, 2014

More About Ann E.

My piece in the New York Times, Less Talk, More Therapy, has received a lot of attention, and I feel compelled to add and clarify some information.

First, I make the assertion that “being with Ann E. feels a little like being in psychotherapy.” This is due both to the nature of our conversations during sessions and the information she imparts. Our conversations emerge organically; often we talk about our pasts and our relationships. The fact that she’s a wise woman and a good listener make it feel “a little” like therapy. But make no mistake, she is a body worker.

The other “psychotherapy-like” aspect, to me, is that she discusses and demystifies how the body works as an organic entity in a way that I have never experienced through talking to doctors. She has a paradigm for understanding the body that she shares with me, the way my psychotherapists have instructed me about how my mind “works” – triggers, patterns, explanations for reactions. Again, this is her style – the way she does things. Most body workers I’ve been to (which, admittedly, are not vast in numbers) happen to be talkative. But not all of them have reminded me  of being in psychotherapy. This is why I wrote about her for Couch.

I originally had included the type(s) of therapy Ann E. practices in the piece, but the editor and I believed that that information wasn’t germane to the story. Silly us. We had agreed that we didn’t want it to sound like I (or the Times) was somehow endorsing a particular type of therapy. The essay was meant to be a personal story, nothing more.

At the time, I had no idea there were so many people in so much pain.

Ann E. practices a combination of two types of therapy: Structural Integration (she calls it “soft Rolfing”) and Source Point Therapy (which is the technique she uses that engages the body’s energy, the one where her hand remains inches away from the body). Her teacher/mentor is located in New Mexico. Here is a link:

http://www.sourcepointtherapy.com/

I have not spent a lot of time on the site, but I do know there’s a place that invites you to contact them to locate practitioners in your area. Rolfing seems easy enough to find anywhere in the world.

Another thing that was cut from the article that you might find useful is reading Dr. John Sarno’s book The Mindbody Prescription: Healing the Body, Healing the Pain (or really any book by him). This was probably my first introduction to the idea of real physical pain resulting from emotions. I offer this up because many people I know (myself included) have moved through a tremendous amount of longstanding physical pain simply from reading his book. It’s maybe a $20 investment, and fascinating stuff.

I wish I were able to provide contact information for Ann E., but she’s a solo practitioner who works from her house and the sheer volume of phone calls would take her down.

I hope some of this is helpful, and if you ended up here because you’re in pain, I hope that you’re able to find relief in your life. I’m quietly rooting for you.

11 comments:

  1. After reading your first article I was in fact re-reading Dr Sarno's book 'The Divided Mind' and certainly made the correlation between the treatment you were describing and the ideas in his book. That you mention it here as your introduction to the idea of pain being linked to emotion is too uncanny for me not to feel a hint of excitement. As esoteric as it sounds, I take it as a sign that I am on the right path to healing my own pain. Indeed, I second your recommendation regarding the book. I believe all of us,deep down, know the truth about our pain and how to heal it. It is having the faith to listen to that voice amidst the (dying) age of 'the expert' that is the difficult part. Another book I recommend is Louise Hay's 'You can heal your life'. A quote by Nietzsche nicely sums up the idea of just how connected (or disconnected) of mind and bodies are: "there is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy".

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  2. Loved your beautiful piece in the NYT, it really resonated. I suffered serious physical and emotional trauma and have benefitted enormously from a combination of body work and talk therapy. In my experience I found there was only so much recovery I could enact by repeatedly trying to articulate my feelings concerning the trauma. If talk therapy isn’t effective you start wearing deep grooves in your brain and fall into patterns of thinking that keep you stuck in a not so great mental place. At one point immediately after my trauma I could barely speak at all and it was reiki that kept me functioning. But I’ve also had to step away from powerful body work because at the time I did not have the right support to process the powerful emotions being released, so I agree with other commenters, the two together can be really effective.
    I’m curious to read John Sarno’s books. ’Awakening Intuition’ by Mona Lisa Schulz talks a lot about the links between emotional imbalance and physical symptoms.
    Thank you for such a great piece!

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  3. Is Ann E. based in NYC? I loved the piece and would like to experience this myself. Thank you!

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  4. Jessica -thanks for this follow-up post.

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  5. Thank you SO MUCH for this extra information. I loved the piece and was so disappointed not to even be able to give the therapy a name. Over 300 comments of people guessing was funny though. Beautiful piece of writing. Thanks.

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  6. Jessica, my husband sent me your NYTimes piece, because he was startled by the similarities between us. Honestly, I didn't pay him much attention, until he kept asking if I'd visited your page. The article was fascinating because I've recently started MFR and after years, YEARS, of talk therapy (with a very talented therapist), I can't believe the breakthroughs I'm having! It's truly incredible. Your story totally resonated with me.

    However when I finally came over and looked at your About page, I was stunned. We are living very similar lives, on almost identical paths... I just started later, it seems. My VERY favorite thing to do is work with High School students on their college essays. I'm really good at it, because I get to use my background as a therapist and my skills as a writer. My blog is where you can find me most days, but I've been expanding and really reaching out. Many of the things on your about page, or nearly identical to mine... So glad I found your piece, and now your blog.

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  7. HI Folks,  I was happy to see this piece come out. The practitioner in this article,  Ann E and I have been friends and study partners for the past 8 years. Since she wishes to remain anonymous, I am chiming in here. We met in a mentorship with a brilliant  Structural Integrator/Rolfer named Liz Gaggini. About 4 years ago, Liz understood our inclination and sent Ann E and I to Study SourcePoint Therapy® with Bob Schrei and his wife, and co-creator of the work Donna Thomson. Rolfing Structural Integration® and SourcePoint Therapy® are two distinct but correlative modalities. Both are very elegant and efficient platforms for therapeutic intervention. As Rolfers, many of us work with bones, joints, muscle tissue, organs, arteries, veins and nerves in order to resolve chronic strain patterns in the body and in orientation. The goal is to bring about a condition of ease and balance in the body with a corresponding effect on the mind. On the subject of SourcePoint Therapy: here's an excerpt from a piece of writing I did for the coordination of workshops in NYC last year.
     
    I have not encountered a platform that for me works more efficiently to affect appropriate change in the tissue, and bring order to the body.  Whether used as a platform for manual therapy or by itself, SPT is a very precise and powerful modality within which to address pattern in the body and in perception. Having cultivated a relationship with the contents of SPT has allowed me to attract and have consistent success with clients who present very complex structural, functional, emotional/perceptual patterns.

The basic principle of SourcePoint Therapy simply put is that there is an energetic blueprint of health that gives rise to, maintains and repairs the human body. Bob describes it in this way: "Unlike other forms of energy work, SourcePoint utilizes a wide variety of touch from deep penetrating touch to gentle touch. SourcePoint does not make a distinction between the body and the energy field. The body is the field, the field is the body. Working deeply in the body is as much energy work as a light touch. The inquiry is what kind of appropriate touch is needed for this person at this time to bring the information of health to the body. This is different for each person at different times. The focus is not on a particular style of touch but on whatever is needed to help connect the client to their own ultimate resource, the information, energy, and light of the blueprint of health for the human body/mind/spirit."
    I would be happy to speak by email with anyone here who is curious about this work. I have also listed a few relevant URL’s. Thanks, Jason jason.defilippis@gmail.com http://cityrolfing.com/
    http://sourcepointtherapy.com/
    http://rolf.org/
    http://connectivetissue.com/ Liz Gaggini

    Jason DeFilippis
    Certified Advanced Rolfer™
    www.cityrolfing.com
    jason.defilippis@gmail.com
    917.318.0881

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  8. Dear Jessica, Thank you so much for writing such an elegant piece for the NY Times. Me and my fellow structural integrators are touched by your honest and deep sharing of your experience with the world.

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  9. I also would like to know where Ann E is located? Please reply
    Thanks
    Diana

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  10. Diana, Ann E is not taking any new clients at this point. If you want to seek out similar practioners, go to www.sourcepointtherapy.com

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  11. For some people their foot pain can control to take healthy foot massager therapy.Forcing them to give up some of the activities that they love most. The constant pain can make it difficult to walk, and can also cause other problems with your health.

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