Emotional De-Armoring, Bodywork, and Exercises

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The term “bodywork” is applied to any therapeutic or personal development technique that is about work with the human body and which involves touch or non-touch manipulative therapy, such as massage therapy, spiritual work, breathwork, postural and movement exercises, or energy work.

Techniques of bodywork also include improving posture, promoting awareness of the mind-body connection, or manipulating the electromagnetic field that is thought to be around the body.

In Emotional De-Armoring practices, bodywork techniques and exercises are abundantly used to increase body awareness and knowledge about the connection between muscle tensions, body movements, and postures on one side and their effects on emotional or psychological states (and vice versa) on the other side.

In addition, De-Armoring sessions often include bodywork techniques to profoundly relax clients physically and emotionally, or — by contrast — to invigorate or energize them, depending on their needs or on what a therapist thinks is useful at any given moment.

Bodywork is also used to explicitly emotionally De-Armor the body, that is, to dissolve numbness, disconnectedness, tensions, contractions, blockages, and adhesions of body tissues (such as of muscles and connective tissue) in order to support people in achieving emotional or trauma release.

Some examples of non-touch bodywork modalities are Reiki, Yoga, Pilates, movement exercises, Qigong, Tai Chi, TRE, mindfulness, and breathwork.

Bodywork that involves touch includes treatments like Deep Tissue Massage, Chiropractic, Tantra Massage, Reflexology, Neo-Reichian Massage, Tuina, Postural Integration, Shiatsu, Thai Massage, Myofascial Release, and Craniosacral therapy, just to give some examples.

Note that the labels “massage” and “bodywork” are often used interchangeably, yet, bodywork includes all forms of massage, but massage is just one type or form of bodywork.

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