|
Ms. Cramer is to be commended for practically
single-handedly building The World School of Massage
and Holistic Healing Arts from a one-person
operation in 1981, to one that today supports an administration
and faculty staff of 11, and many staff volunteers.
She has overcome personal adversity and emerged with
a stronger and clearer focus in her teaching and staff
management. Being true to her own character
and experiences, she has also created a form of bodywork,
called Vibrational Healing Massage Therapy, contributing
to her many fortunate students and clients.
The vibrations released in her Vibrational Healing
Massage Therapy may in some ways seem familiar to
practitioners. But then, aren't all inquires into
the body/mind begun at the same starting point, the
human being? The frequencies freed up in the Vibrational
Healing Massage Therapy are yet another level of sensitivity
that we humans are capable of perceiving. This
work is certainly etching itself a place in the myriads
of methods that are available today for the easy release
of trauma from the body. And the Language
of Healing that is taught inside of this work helps
free the conversations that have bound the mind as
well.
Interview:
How did you get
involved in bodywork?
I studied aikido, tai chi and then Alpha Awareness
Training over a period of 6 years. I studied enough to
know that there is something more going on here. I
decided to move to Bend, Oregon and live near the
mountains. This is where I met my first meditation
teacher, Ann Rothan. Ann recognized that I would be a
natural at healing and suggested that I study with her
friend Pierre Pannetier, the Polarity teacher.
What about your
relationship with Werner Erhard? Why are you acknowledging
him in the teaching manual?
I acknowledge Werner for bringing to humanity the
self-responsibility model. Just really bringing forth
the distinctions of what it is to be responsible for
oneself. I don't think that is a popular thing to do. He
really helped me see that the spoken word creates
reality.
You see, in 1977 I was told that I had cancer. I hadn't
felt good in a couple of years. I was seeing my
Chiropractor, James Holland, who took the x-rays and
found the tumors. He referred me to an Osteopath who
then told me that there were 2 large tumors obstructing
my spinal nerves in my sacral area. I had him show me
drawings, sketches and more than one set of x-rays. He
told me my only option was at least to have a biopsy. I
said a most powerful thing to him in response. I said,
"If I have done this to myself, then I will undo it.
Thank you, and no thank you!"
I walked out of the hospital that day with my drawings,
my x-rays and a new way of life ahead of me. I had
declared that I would change my life! I didn't really
know the "me" that was speaking when those simple words
came out of my mouth. All I knew was that I wanted to
feel whole and not in pain anymore. I knew that there
was something more.
So, when I did the EST training shortly after that,
I learned that declaration is the place where
any commitment begins. I really got validated
for declaring that I would heal myself.
You took responsibility
for what happened instead of trying to blame it on
food, genetics, or whatever it might be.
Right. I just drove out of the hospital parking lot,
into a fruit and vegetable stand and bought organic
beans and corn. This stand had been there all the time
and I had never noticed it before my declaration to
heal.
I thought, "Wow, I was born on a farm and I was raised
on fresh food. I am going to go back to that. After
buying $5-6 of fresh produce, I was driving home and I
spotted a health food store. I had never noticed this
store before either. I bought a gallon of aloe vera
juice that day because I heard that it was good for
curing cancer. I was also introduced to Dr. Bernard
Jensen's manuals on lymphatic and colon cleansing that
day at the health food store.
I realized that day that there was so much that I knew
nothing about. And that so many people had written books
about it. I bought a book called Press Point Therapy,
that is about doing fine tuned reflexology points on all
of the hands and feet. I was so dedicated that I did it
for hours, day after day. I'd even bring my friends over
and do their feet or hands. That was really my first
introduction to bodywork.
When was that?
1977.
So what happened
to the development of the tumors?
Well, they are gone. They don't show up in x-rays. I had
two complete neurological exams and scans. One in 1989
and one in 1992 and nothing showed up. Even 17 years
later I can feel the tenderness where the nerves are
starting to reconnect and become alive. My legs and
thighs feel healthier and definitely look firmer as the
nerves realign and regain some life there.
In your manual's
introduction you wrote, "Listen to people's body
rhythms and forces and to their words when they exclaim
how spiritual and healing a session feels."
We've tracked it for years and the reports from clients
and students are just amazing. I've read every one
of them. People say, “I've never felt my soul
in my body before”, “I've never felt myself in my
body like this before”, or “I've never felt vibration
like this before in my body, it's so spiritual!” It
is really beautiful.
And this vibration,
or force, stems from your own experiences, doesn't
it?
Yes, I brought forth this whole new way of thinking
called the Fluid Model. I just started to notice as
I did the Vibrational Healing Massage Therapy in 1981,
that if I got someone more liquid in their body, more
fluid, then the waves and frequencies would flow out
more easily through whatever segment I was working
on. I also noticed that I could work the segments
of the body to be more connected to each other by
one with another, or angles, etc. People were astonished
by what they could feel release from their bodies,
and how connected they felt afterwards. It is way
beyond Trager kind of shaking and movement bodywork.
There really is a release of stored trauma
and especially of shock waves from emotional or physical
pain.
Also Robert, I had learned in all my meditation and
spiritual practice that there is a spirit body and
that we are supposed to be grounded. I put these notions
to work in the Fluid Model part of the Vibrational
Healing Massage Therapy. We work with structure. We
get people noticing and being in their bodies; in
their feet and little toes. This is very practical
and down to earth work, not just "vibrational."
In the foot there are lymph vessels, blood veins,
arteries, capillaries, nerves, meridians and energy
pathways. We teach people to see this and treat their
bodies' joints and junctions as the liquid flowing
vessels they are, rather than solid and hard or burdened
by the holding of the body upright.
I teach that if we're putting all of our weight on our
feet, if we're standing on our feet, then we're defining
our foot as hard. If we're defining something as hard
and then pushing down on it, it's probably impeding the
flow. So I've learned how to carry my feet in a way that
keeps them loose so that I can actually feel my own
flows and connectedness in my feet. That has me feel
more grounded and more on the floor. From that I started
to discover that the floor is really holding me up
anyway, and not me. I am free to flow.
To me this is a very spiritual inquiry. What's going
on here? The more I open my feet, the more
I am in them and in my body. I started getting
the sense that the more liquid I am, the more
connected I feel.
So the more fluid that I started to be and stand, I
noticed that I'm more space than I am solid. I studied
anatomical charts more closely and I realized that the
leg bones don't really connect to the ankle bones: it is
more space there than solid! This whole notion of space
is a very interesting thing for me...."
So it's not just
a new awareness that you're attempting to give them.
You trust that the body, the nervous system and maybe,
I'm not sure, maybe even the spiritual aspect, is
somehow or another cognizant of what's going on and
is learning something new that they're going to take
with them.
I trust that. So much happens so quickly that I just
consider the body an extraordinarily highly intelligent
system that's so far beyond what our limited world has
allowed us to experience.
It's one thing to
do this in the classroom. What about when these students
go out and express this to a client?
The same way. It's so beautiful. Anyone can feel where
people are solid and where they've solidified when they
touch someone else or themselves. You can find if they
are not fluid there. Then what is here and what's
stopping that person in that place? Almost always they
have a story about it. In our beginning training we use
the Fluid Model, we work from the toes all the way up,
to the cranium. Then we get into their story. It really
adds up fast and becomes obvious to people. 'Well, I had
a bad week", or, "I've always had a bad knee." The
stories get revealed that weren't obvious before that
are causing the body blockages.
You have found a
balance between the intellectual approach and having
to do the business aspects of the anatomy and the
physiology and all of the fundamentals. You've also
incorporated a strong element of intuition, encouraging
them to explore their intuitive feelings and to go
with them and not to fear them, while at the same
time developing the other side of the brain, too.
It's so obvious in our graduates. There is a wholeness
that people can tell they have, and a trust in their
analytical process. They learn how to question
here, and they learn how to feel and trust.
You're not only
talking to their intelligence, you're putting them
in their body and letting them experience their freedom
for themselves.
Yes. Emotional change takes place simply by the release
of energy and physical tension. It is that simple. As I
work, the client is connecting in and they might cry or
feel a different feeling or movement available to them,
they just quickly hook into how they've been carrying
themselves that hasn't worked in the past.
People quickly get to see their positionality and often
it translates and they immediately get to see the
release. Once they see this, they can be a little more
unconditional about it and they can hear somebody else's
point of view. It really comes to that rather quickly.
It seems to be pretty easy.
The whole body is speaking. It is not just the mouth,
heart or mind reporting, it's a whole system. If we set
up a communication that blocks people, the body has to
position itself to avoid them, and to avoid all those
thoughts, or denials, around that. So I think that this
emotional healing is very holistic and does live
everywhere in our lives. The whole body has to
communicate something to position itself against anyone
or anything. As that position is moved and realigned
even for a moment or two, new communications slip
through to the body/mind/spirit connection.
You don't see it
as a split between body and mind?
No, I think the whole body is a complete intelligence
system.
What's in your future?
I'm really excited about working with pregnant women,
women birthing babies and The Language of Healing and
how it's true everywhere. Putting the pain and the
trauma in the past and being in a present space that's
free and peaceful and tranquil.
What do you think
is the most distinctive characteristic of Vibrational
Healing Massage Therapy in comparing it with other
kinds of massage therapy? What sets it apart?
Well, it's the most holistic thing that I've found. It's
the most comprehensive with quick results right now and
it can be done with clothes on, anywhere. It works as
first aid on the street. If someone just falls or gets
hit by a car, you can do it right then and there and get
results, releasing trauma."
Do you think intentionality
plays a large part in the success of vibrational massage?
I see students doubting themselves having success with
it. Intentionality is pretty key..."
It's more an educational
process than it is a therapy?
Yes.
You're not introducing
a vibration. You're discovering a vibration and allowing
movement into these locked up spaces. How do you do
that with your hands?
We just sense where there is tension, locked, cold,
hard, and different sensory input. Then we create a
certain torquing or alignment with another point,
defining volume for them, so that there is a created
awareness in that part of the body. A twist, a stretch,
and then feel the realignment of the area or muscle so
that there is now a flow created between the two places.
Then there is a bit of a stimulus applied, either a
shake or a stretch or a compression: something allowing
for that stress to be unleashed. It releases whatever
frequencies were stored. Our flow has the same qualities
as a river and can be felt. Like music out of speakers
it emits and moves. It has viscosity. So when the
release is complete, the whole area is now currenting,
circuiting and flowing. It is exquisite vibration that
can be felt after the shock or harder waves have
emitted.
Is there some advice
you want to give to the readers, particularly women?
With all the resources and the teamwork available, I can
have whatever I want in the world. Aligning my desires
with what works with humanity seems to be in the flow.
It allows for no end to the beauty that keeps coming to
my life the more that I give. I just keep giving and I
don't stop. I keep being responsible for being a cause
in my life and that I'm sourcing it all, like a goddess.
I don't have to back off, or I don't have to quit,
because sometimes it doesn't look good to me right now,
or the circumstances are difficult.
What other last
messages do you want the world to know, Patricia?
To women around the world: You can
have everything you want as long as you keep surrendering
and letting go. Trust men's response. They are very
sensitive responders. Trust your uniqueness, and make
powerful requests.
A message to humanity: You are vast
beings. Continually remind yourself of your light,
love and power. This has not been foremost in your
education as it has been in other civilizations and
at other times in our evolution. The time is now.
Thank you, Patricia
Patricia Cramer is the founder of the World
School of Massage and Holistic Healing Arts
in San Francisco and the developer of Vibrational
Healing Massage Therapy®. She has been training Certified
Massage Therapists, professional bodyworkers, Holistic
Health Counselors, instructors and leaders for over
22 years. In addition to Vibrational Healing Massage
Therapy®, Ms. Cramer is credited with several distinguished
contributions in the field of holistic healing arts
including the Language of Healing®, Babies in Motion®,
Feet First Foot Rehabilitation®, and the Fluid Body
Model®. She can be reached at the World School in
San Francisco at 415-221-2533.
(back
to top) |
At
the World School, permission is given to explore and
discover both professional and emotional development.
The open and accepting environment at the World School
is an obvious expression of the commitment that Patricia
Cramer as to partnership and teamwork.
The frequencies freed up in the Vibrational Healing
Massage Therapy are yet another level of sensitivity
that we humans are capable of perceiving.
People say, “I've never felt my soul in my body before”,
“I've never felt myself in my body like this before”,
or “I've never felt vibration like this before in
my body, it's so spiritual!”
The Language of Healing that is taught inside of this
work helps free the conversations that have bound
the mind as well.
There really is a release of stored trauma and especially
of shock waves from emotional or physical pain.
|
Programs and Fees at a Glance