Unexpected Gift

Once Less Talk, More Therapy had been up for a day, I posted on Facebook that “the most amazing thing is that my piece is the number one Most Emailed Article on the New York Times right now.”  I went on to say that the second most amazing thing was that it did not land on the list of 10 Most Recommended for Me articles. I said that to be clever, but it was a lie. The second most amazing thing was how I reacted to the readers’ comments.

I am a person who can easily get sucked into online conversations, either as a participant or a voyeur. I don’t even want to count how many hours of my life I’ve spent reading other people’s opinions about things. I buy shoes and books based on online reviews and many of my political views are shaped by gorging on thread wars.

When that essay went live, I vowed I’d not read the comments – a promise I did not entirely keep. Early on the allure was too great and I just wanted to sneak a little peek. Within hours, a commenter chalked the entire essay up to my being psychologically vulnerable, the therapy Ann E. practices being nonsense, and the article being “witless.” And then 189 people give that comment a Thumbs Up.

Oddly, miraculously and inexplicably – I didn’t care.

This reaction shocked me. Friends texted and emailed their support, reassuring me that in spite of some naysayers, most of the feedback was very positive. At another moment in my life I’d have  hung onto those emails like a life raft. But on this day, I didn’t need the buoying. Uncharacteristically, I read that comment and felt it had nothing whatsoever to do with me, a reaction I’ve never had toward any personal feedback about anything, ever.

For me, this was a gift that felt even bigger than the long-sought after, much coveted gold ring of Times publication. To hear criticism and not become attached. To know someone thinks I’m witless and not take it personally. I’m still stunned that’s even possible.

I did end up skimming some of the comments (there are over 400!) and there were many others that were negative. My favorite was from a woman in Oklahoma who said what I really needed was to get some friends, exercise three times a week and talk more often to my mother, which, except for the mother part, is not really bad advice at all.

Reading the negative comments was actually good for me. It makes me want to try and be less judge-y in the world. It reminds me that I don’t have the slightest idea what someone in pain actually needs. It shows me how much of what comes out of our mouths is almost entirely about us and very little about the other person – and how hard it is to move beyond the lens we view the world through. In reading comments, I expected to feel attacked or misunderstood, two places I go without much provocation at all. And instead, I ended up feeling somehow better.

A Little More on Source Point Therapy

This was posted as a comment, but I thought I should repost it as a post in case anyone finds it helpful. Thanks, Jason!

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://www.sourcepointtherapy.com/
http://rolf.org/
http://connectivetissue.com

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