What is Zero Balancing and what makes it different?
Zero Balancing is a non-diagnostic form of bodywork that uses touch to help the client achieve greater levels of wellbeing, and not merely an absence of symptoms. A typical session is described here.
An important hallmark of Zero Balancing is one of respecting the client's boundaries and a touch that feels, and is, safe. The work, therefore, provides an environment in which long-held tensions and impressions can be released with relative ease. At the same time, by reinforcing the client's sense of their physical boundaries, Zero Balancing can empower them to re-evaluate their relationships to the world at large, specific events and people, and their own body.
It is different to other forms of bodywork - e.g. massage - because it works specifically with the skeleton and joints. Unlike osteopathy or chiropractic work which also work with the skeleton, Zero Balancing doesn't incorporate any sudden movements or manipulations in a bid to get the body into a textbook perfect position. We simply offer suggestions to the body and work in co-operation with it, which can result in longlasting change.
It is also different because Zero Balancing teaches Eastern and Western concepts side-by-side - not as alternatives to each other but as complementary viewpoints which are both valid in their own right. A Zero Balancer, therefore, learns how to palpate and work with the vital energy which governs the body's wellbeing, as well as the bones and joints.
By working consciously with both the physical structure of the body, as well as its energy, Zero Balancing gives an experience that is incomparable to other types of therapy. Its effects are far reaching, helping change the course of many lives for the better, and it truly is a joy to experience.
An important hallmark of Zero Balancing is one of respecting the client's boundaries and a touch that feels, and is, safe. The work, therefore, provides an environment in which long-held tensions and impressions can be released with relative ease. At the same time, by reinforcing the client's sense of their physical boundaries, Zero Balancing can empower them to re-evaluate their relationships to the world at large, specific events and people, and their own body.
It is different to other forms of bodywork - e.g. massage - because it works specifically with the skeleton and joints. Unlike osteopathy or chiropractic work which also work with the skeleton, Zero Balancing doesn't incorporate any sudden movements or manipulations in a bid to get the body into a textbook perfect position. We simply offer suggestions to the body and work in co-operation with it, which can result in longlasting change.
It is also different because Zero Balancing teaches Eastern and Western concepts side-by-side - not as alternatives to each other but as complementary viewpoints which are both valid in their own right. A Zero Balancer, therefore, learns how to palpate and work with the vital energy which governs the body's wellbeing, as well as the bones and joints.
By working consciously with both the physical structure of the body, as well as its energy, Zero Balancing gives an experience that is incomparable to other types of therapy. Its effects are far reaching, helping change the course of many lives for the better, and it truly is a joy to experience.
What are its origins?
Zero Balancing was developed in the 1970s by Dr Fritz Frederick Smith, an American osteopath who studied Five Elements Acupuncture here in the UK, under the tutelage of the renowned J R Worsley.
Fritz had a profound insight which showed him how the energy he had been learning about in his acupuncture studies was directly related to the structure of the skeleton. By working with the skeleton, therefore, he was able to bring about changes in the flow of vitality throughout the body. It wasn't an overnight process, though. It has taken Fritz and his students many decades of practice and experimentation to make manifest what we now call Zero Balancing.
A more in-depth article about its history can be found on the Zero Balancing UK Association's website.
Fritz had a profound insight which showed him how the energy he had been learning about in his acupuncture studies was directly related to the structure of the skeleton. By working with the skeleton, therefore, he was able to bring about changes in the flow of vitality throughout the body. It wasn't an overnight process, though. It has taken Fritz and his students many decades of practice and experimentation to make manifest what we now call Zero Balancing.
A more in-depth article about its history can be found on the Zero Balancing UK Association's website.
