Embodied Being: The Philosophical Roots of Manual Therapy

by Jeffrey Maitland

Overview

Embodied Being is unique among books on manual therapy, offering an "infrastructure for intuition," a philosophical approach to what is essentially a practical process of diagnosis and treatment with one's hands. Grounded in the author's decades of practice as a Rolfer and Zen meditator, the book offers a first-of-its-kind three-step method for training practitioners how to see holistically, given the enormously important role perception plays in assessing clients. By exposing many of the unconscious philosophical assumptions that occlude our understanding the depths of manual therapy, Embodied Being promises to illuminate the full scope of body-mind healing, from the point of view of both the practitioner and the person receiving the work.

Embodied Being states the principles of intervention and shows practitioners how to use them to answer three fundamental questions common to all forms of therapy:
 
What do I do first?
What do I do next? and
When am I finished?
 
Perplexed that most practitioners are unable to answer these questions and simply rely on their intuition, Maitland sets out to define what makes a truly life-altering bodywork session, drawing on his understanding of Goethe, Merleau-Ponty, and other great thinkers. Maitland proposes that the holistic approach in bodywork is capable of creating new possibilities for the future by erasing the patterns that bind us to a dysfunctional past. Such sessions can so profoundly reshape the body that there is no longer any room for emotional torment—thus manual therapy can free bodies of physical pain, releasing the innate joy within the core of all human beings. Ultimately, giving and receiving manual therapy teaches both practitioners and clients how to move with grace, open their hearts, and touch the numinous.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781623170264
Publisher:	North Atlantic Books
Publication date:	02/09/2016
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Jeffrey Maitland, PhD, has spent most of his adult life deeply investigating Zen practice, philosophy, and the nature of healing. He is a Zen monk ordained by Joshu Sasaki Roshi, an energy healer, a Certified Advanced Rolfer (one of seven certified Advanced Rolfing instructors in the world), a former professor of philosophy at Purdue University, and philosophical counselor. With 30-plus years of experience and 5,000 hours of training, Dr. Maitland is a Board Certified Diplomate of the American Academy of Pain Management. He employs a gentle, nonformulaic approach to Rolfing and is highly skilled in visceral manipulation, biodynamic craniosacral, energetic, and cold laser therapy. Internationally known as an author, instructor, innovator, and expert in soft tissue manipulation, his advice is often sought by other professionals. Maitland teaches workshops and classes in myofascial manipulation to physical therapists and other healthcare professionals. Maitland has published and presented many papers on the theory of somatic manual therapy, Zen, philosophy, and Rolfing. His research, articles, and book reviews are published in numerous professional journals.

Table of Contents

Foreword Judith S. Freilich, MD ix

Introduction xiii

Chapter 1 Homecoming, Part I 1

Chapter 2 The Territory 13

Chapter 3 In Search of Principles 27

Chapter 4 The Principles of Intervention 41

Chapter 5 Psychobiological Assessment: The Intertwining of Flesh and Thought 51

Chapter 6 Seeing 69

Chapter 7 The Beauty of Normality 83

Chapter 8 Sentient Body 97

Chapter 9 Appropriating Gravity 119

Chapter 10 In Praise of Subjectivity 131

Chapter 11 Homecoming, Part II: Where You Always and Already Are 147

Chapter 12 The Poetics of Manual Therapy 173

Notes 183

Relevant Citations 187

Bibliography 189

Acknowledgments 193

About the Author 195

Editorial Reviews

"As a trained philosopher, Rolfing instructor, and Zen monk, Dr. Maitland travels far in this book—from the breadth and depth of philosophy's elegant language and arguments to down-to-earth plain-speak that often surprised me with words that quickly turned complexity into what is simple and relevant."
—from the Foreword by Judith S. Freilich, MD

"Jeffrey Maitland has explored the pivotal fusion of mind, body, and planet, as he provides keys to the underlying meaning and context of somatic therapy. Beyond concrete mind and body are subtle mind and subtle body, and that's where Maitland lands in his work." —Richard Grossinger, author of Planet Medicine and Dark Pool of Light

"In this important new book, Jeffrey Maitland discloses the fallacies behind such perennial conundrums as metaphysical dualism and the mind-body problem. Engaging the metaphor of 'homecoming,' Maitland reveals the transformational potential to be realized in transcending the false dichotomy between consciousness and somatic experience."
 —William Dabars, PhD, associate research professor, School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies, Arizona State University, and coauthor of Designing the New American University

"This book provides a guide to skilled perception for manual therapists. It is not so much a 'how to' training manual, but is a more philosophically based 'why to,' from symptom to self discovery."
—Thomas W. Findley MD/PhD, professor in Physical Medicine at New Jersey Medical School and physician at VA Medical Center, East Orange, New Jersey

From the Publisher