I know how it sounds. Theta state, energy, release. But underneath the language, what's actually happening in the room is fairly simple, and I want to walk you through it, because I think knowing what to expect makes it easier to actually receive it.
When your body settles into theta, that place between sleep and being fully awake, your nervous system finally relaxes enough to let go of what it's been holding. And what people feel in that letting go is completely natural. Tingling in the fingers. Arms and legs going heavy, sometimes so heavy it feels like you've left your body for a moment, though I don't think that's quite what's happening. A muscle twitch, or that full body jolt you get right as you're drifting off to sleep. Your stomach rumbling, because your body is gathering everything up and preparing to move it out, and there are really only two directions that can go. So sometimes it's a burp, a cough, a sneeze, a release of gas. All of it is your body doing exactly what it's supposed to do.
I want to say something about sighing, because we've gotten this one wrong culturally. We treat a sigh like an insult, like someone showing you their frustration. But a sigh is your body's way of releasing a stressful moment, getting it out of your system so you can think clearly again. It's not an attitude. It's relief.
People sometimes ask why I use a table instead of a recliner or a chair, and I want to be clear, this isn't massage. I'm not doing anything to your body in the way a massage therapist would. The table is simply the right tool for the work. I can raise it to a height that makes it easier for me to hold my hands over you. You can lie face up or face down, which you can't really do in a chair. And it fully supports you, so if that full body twitch happens, the falling sensation that lasts about a second, you're not at risk of actually falling anywhere. I cover you with a blanket, partly because it's simply comforting to be tucked in, and partly because it adds a layer of safety. The only thing I ask you to remove is your shoes.
As for touch, it doesn't happen in every session, and not with every person. Most of the time my hands are hovering above you while I pray, following wherever the Holy Spirit leads. Sometimes I'll feel what I call a hot spot, a place where my hand wants to settle, and it'll move lower and lower until it locks onto that exact spot like it found what it was looking for. I can feel heat coming through my hands there. I understand that as healing energy moving, or something being removed that doesn't belong. That's really all the touch is.
Why does the nervous system need to exhale before we can go deeper? Think about how nobody in recovery is told to quit cold turkey, and how nobody stops a long-term medication all at once either. There's a reason for that. Our bodies adjust to what's been living in them for a long time, and pulling everything out in one motion sends the system into shock. Nobody wants that. So we let the nervous system exhale gradually. The first couple of sessions are about scratching the surface, pulling up what's already close to it, training your body to trust this work. By the third or fourth session, when your system has learned it's safe, that's when we can go deeper.
