Zero Balancing
What is Zero Balancing?
Zero Balancing (ZB) is a hands-on bodywork system designed to align your energy body with your physical structural body. Simple yet powerful, it focuses on your whole person, even while addressing specific needs. Considered at the leading edge of body/mind therapies, ZB moves beyond Western scientific approaches to body structure by incorporating Eastern concepts of energy and healing. This enables the practitioner to work simultaneously with your structural and energy bodies to bring balance.
When is Zero Balancing Appropriate?
The quality of energy and structure--and their relationship to one another in the body--directly affects how well we function physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Zero Balancing session is ideal for helping to prevent and relieve the problems encountered in this harried world we live in. ZB creates a point of stillness where the mind quiets, the energy fields organize and internal reorientation occurs. The process is designed to work in tandem with primary healthcare, focusing on deep quieting and integration of the body/mind/spirit to promote optimum functioning and embracing life with ease and grace. ZB is a major adjunct to staying well as you navigate through the difficult periods of life. The interface touch can be very comforting at times when other forms of touch are not as comfortable. It also connects to the bone level, giving you a strong sense of being met at your deepest core level.
The Importance of Balance Between the Structural and Energetic Bodies:
Essentially, these two bodies work in concert with one another and with the external world, yet function independently of each other. The structural body is what you can see and touch -- bone, soft tissue and all the body organs. The energy body is the seen and unseen movement, including muscular movements, movement of tissue fluids, cellular and molecular vibrations, movement within the body fields, and movement of the life force itself. Your energy body directly affects, and in large part is responsible for, your mood, emotions and vitality. Changes in body energy and its fields usually precede illness and have a causal relation to disease. An example from western medicine would be a cardiologist ensuring the structural (cardiac muscle and artery) and energetic (electrical rhythm of the heart rate) health of your heart.
The founder of zero balancing, Dr. Fritz Smith, often uses the image of the wind hitting the sail of a boat to explain why balancing or optimizing the interface between energy and structure is so important. If the wind (energy) is not meeting the sail (the structural body) in an optimal way, the boat will not move easily through the water. When structure and energy are not integrated, you're like a sailor floundering at sea, not "tacked into the winds of life". Experiences that normally would not be difficult become a significant challenge. Your energy goes toward just navigating day to day living. You are more susceptible to all types of emotional distress and organ or body system dysfunction to illness and disease.
When structure and energy are balanced, dysfunctional habits, such as outmoded emotional patterns and imprints from past traumas, tend to release. In addition, you're able to function with relative ease, efficiency and comfort, cope with things better, and enjoy greater robust health. This is why most people undergoing Zero Balancing report experiencing a sense of fluidity, integration and well-being following a session.
How is ZB Performed?
Zero Balancing process generally takes between 30 and 40 minutes and is performed with you fully clothed. Using interface touch, the ZB practitioner evaluates the energy field and energy flow in the entire body but specifically uses the skeleton to balance the energy and structures as needed. Disruptions in the energy or structure or their relationship with each other may indicate a disturbance on the body, mind, emotion, or spirit, levels. Throughout the Zero Balancing session, attention is given to the skeleton in particular because it contains the deepest and strongest currents.
The Unique Form of Interface Touch:
Everything in a ZB session is designed to promote maximum relaxation and a sense of well-being. The process is distinguished by a form of touch known as interface. Gentle and noninvasive, it often elicits a type of hedonic good hurt sensation. The mind cannot define this as good or bad, thus helping us escape the world of duality and get us into a Unity Consciousness space. Some people describe experiencing "externally induced meditation," others "tension and pain melting away", and others say it's like "being in a timeless space".
About the Founder
In a sense "Fritz" Frederick Smith was born into the world of touch. His father was a noted chiropractor recognized by the Monterey California Chiropractic Association as "Chiropractor of the Century".
Dr. Smith received his doctor of osteopathy in 1955 and his doctor of medicine in 1961. During the '60s and '70s he went in pursuit of a deeper understanding of illness and health, becoming a student of Rolfing®, yoga, meditation and Eastern philosophies. Dr. Smith became a licensed acupuncturist in 1972 and later studied with J.R. Worsley of the Chinese College of Acupuncture in England, earning both bachelor's and master's degrees in acupuncture. It was during this time that he also experienced intense personal revelations under the teaching of Swami Muktananda. These latter two experiences became the catalysts for his ultimate creation in 1975 of Zero Balancing.
Fritz Smith has been practicing and teaching Zero Balancing throughout the world for more than 25 years now. He's the author of numerous articles on energy, along with the books Inner Bridges: A Guide to Energy Movement and Body Structure and Alchemy of Touch: Moving into Mastery Through the Lens of Zero Balancing.
Who Can Benefit From a Zero Balancing (ZB) Session?
People anywhere on the spectrum of health can benefit from Zero Balancing. People who are suffering from pain or tension from stress or illness respond well to Zero Balancing. At the other end of the health spectrum, people with no areas of health concern but have a desire to optimize their level of health and wellness also benefit. Those on a journey of self discovery, self actualization, and or spiritual growth also report a release of energetic imprints that allow insights and mind body integration to occur with ZB.
The latest research shows that changes in energy fields actually precede disease and illness. Zero Balancing is "holistic" because it deals with energy and energy fields directly, as well as with body structure and mind body integration. The balancing processes often release stress before it becomes physically manifested. Likewise, they release old or outmoded tissue-held patterns and imprints, supporting change and growth in an organic, integrated way. While Zero Balancing looks at symptoms, it moves beyond them to address our more fundamental nature. After a session, the vibrations of stress pass through the body more easily, making difficult situations less problematic. We are able to embrace life with ease and grace.
In essence, the quality of energy and structure--and their relationship to one another in the body--directly affects how well we function physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.
How Often Should You Have Zero Balancing?
The number and frequency of sessions you receive basically depends on the reason why you're seeking Zero Balancing. A minimum of three sessions is recommended, however, since each session builds on the last. Maintenance sessions, if needed, should be at intervals of every two to four weeks.
For more information call InnerWorks at (316) 946-0990 or Contact Us online.
"Zero Balancing is a full-body, holistic therapy that is changing lives by balancing the structure and energy of the bones. You get off the table with a clear mind, bright eyes, and a calm nervous system."
(EzineArticles.com, July 2009)
