Author’s Note: I acknowledge there aredebates about the terms ?subconscious? and ?unconscious?. In my experience, there is no question that these aspects of self exist and that they are different and distinct levels of being.

The subconscious is the part of us that is beyond common attention. The subconscious includes experiences like premonitions, déjà vu, hints, and suggestions, but this information comes so quickly into conscious awareness that we generally discount or dismiss its messages.

The unconscious is that of which we are fully unaware or, perhaps, that which conscious awareness can?t fathom. How in the world do you get a glimpse into something that is normally unfathomable? The glimpse into the unconscious comes in the guise of strong reactivity or compulsion. We?ve all experienced these reactions even though they are outside what we would ever hope or choose for ourselves. When they happen, we can?t seem to stop them, and, once they are over, we seem completely unable to understand, influence, or change what triggers them.

For clients, I compare conscious awareness, the subconscious, and the unconscious to an evening at the theater. Our conscious awareness is the play that is happening on the stage. Our subconscious is the flurry of activity going on backstage.The unconscious, for lack of a better analogy, could be all the insects that live in the theater. As we watch the play, we don?t even entertain their existence, but when they enter our experience, we react.

In Jan Sultan?s notes, one quote from Ida Rolf is, ?There is a lot more going on with a man than the body, but the body is what you can get your hands on.? This article is about the ?a lot more? and the beginnings of how to proactively engage it so it and the body can change.</i>

Part of the genius of Rolfing Structural Integration (SI) is 1) bringing more of who-we-are to conscious awareness, and 2) cleaning out old and non-beneficial material in the unconscious and subconscious. The magic of Rolfing SI is that it accomplishes both of these ? both with, and without, our direct efforts to make them happen.

There is, therefore, an option to help a client make more progress by being more proactive. You can be more proactive by directly engaging and assisting the client in bringing some unconscious and subconscious material to conscious awareness and letting it change. One greatvalue in this approach is that some of this material can have a hold on the anatomy in a way that no amount of tissue work can resolve. Why? The answer is threefold: 1) because this material does not originate at the anatomical level but from the mental, emotional, or spiritual level; 2) because anatomy and structure must negotiate all of who we are, no matter from what level it originates; and 3) if that material originates from the non-physical level, the body can?t let go of it until it is addressed at the level in which it originates.

How do we begin to consider engaging this material so it can release its hold on anatomy and so that structure can become more balanced, aligned, and integrated? To work proactively, one must first realize that most of our clients think that they are their thinking minds. The thinking mind is a constant presence in our lives, so it is only natural to think that it is who we are and that it is our best tool. The thinking mind is a fabulous processor, analyzer, and synthesizer. In these functions, it excels. However, our thinking minds are also adept in the skills of delete, distort, ignore, rationalize, generalize, defend, deny, apply coping mechanisms, etc. These skills prohibit any access to truth or accuracy. For working proactively with clients, I can say unequivocally that the last tool I would ever use, or encourage my clients to use, is the mind.

Having been so forthright in saying that, I must add a caution. It is useful to tread carefully when approaching a client with one or all of the following: that the thinking mind is not who you are; that it cannot make decisions; that you are not what your mind tells you you are; that it can?t give you understanding or insight; that it can?t change your behavior; and that it doesn?t have a clue about how to heal and resolve your state of being. Some clients are not in a place in their lives or being where they can hear this. We must recognize and respect this as part of ?meet the client where the client is? as a boundary. There are many clients, however, who have been aching to understand why their thoughts about changing don?t actually <i>produce</i> change, and many who have learned in their journey that the thinking mind is not who they are. These are the clients with whom we can be more proactive.

In my experience, the thinking mind is the one and only aspect of us that is logical, rational, and reasoning. I would like to give all due respect to the thinking mind?s ability to learn through education, survive in the working world, and puzzle out our conundrums. However, there are serious limitations on the thinking mind?s ability to fathom the body and the being because all else of who-and-what-we-are does not function on the world of logic. Therefore, in this alone [thinking we are our minds and thinking our minds are the tool to use to heal and resolve], we get into trouble. In my experience, Rolfing SI works with all of consciousness, including, and even directly engaging, the subconscious and unconscious. What is amazing in working proactively is that integration within the structure happens spontaneously. Remove from the mental, emotional, or spiritual level that which has had a hold on anatomy, and anatomy integrates. It really is that simple. Anatomy wants to integrate but it can?t when material from these other levels prohibits it.

To work with this in clients, one must first recognize for oneself that the mind is not who you are. Another skill set to put in place, which many of us do in the course of doing Rolfing SI, is that of trusting your own intuition, trusting your own abilities to sense and perceive, and trusting your hands. Being able to connect with the deeper levels of another starts first with having experience, trust, and confidence with the deeper levels of oneself.

Before one can be more proactive with a client, one must have a trust and rapport in the professional relationship. People don?t like others to see their weaknesses, so we must create trust, respect, skill, and compassion. Working your own process, regularly, as a practitioner goes a long way to building confidence in the client. It shows the client: ?I?ve been here and I know how to help you walk through it.? We cannot proceed unless clients trust us enough to let us in and to expose the parts of themselves that they normally keep hidden.

Once you trust your hands and have a trusting professional relationship, there is more value in letting your hands go where they are called (or if you?re newer at this work, where they are called within the session of the ?Recipe?) and embodying within yourself the attitude of ?I wonder what is here? I wonder how it needs me to engage it??

Sometimes just putting your hands in one place and holding the tissues until you find the level that feels like emotion or belief (instead of pure anatomical tissue) can feel to the client like finally being really ?seen?. Actually being ?seen?, of itself, can assist the area to let go. Another step would be to ask the client what this area feels like, as in an analogy likening it to stone or wiring or a hammer. Does it have emotional content (sad, scared, anxious)? Does it have history (how long has this been here)?

We are so used to shoving stuff that we don?t like, or that doesn?t feel good, into the background. Sometimes we think we buried it and then use thinking to tell ourselves it?s gone. The problem is that once it is in the background, it can?t change; it can only continually be a part of who we are. So when you find stuff (and the client finds stuff) that has an emotional, mental, or spiritual component to it, and have accessed it via the tissues, hold it for the client and ask the client to let it be exactly what it is. Ask what it feels like.

A side note on asking what something feels like. We are not asking for a sensation like ?tight? or ?hurts? or ?burns?. We are asking for an analogy to something that exists in the world. Perhaps it feels like egg white or duct tape or a rod, or the heat waves that rise off a car in the summer. An analogy will give you and the client more qualities to connect to in order to create a proactive, working relationship with whatever this is. You don?t need the story or history of what it is. An analogy will give plenty of qualities for you and the client to perceive it more clearly.

Once we do this, we are letting it back into conscious awareness, and with this, it now has the potential to change. I tell the client, ?<i>Do not</i> try to fix this, relax it, make it go away, wish it was different, or change it to something nicer. Let it be exactly what it is.? With this, it can begin to change on its own, and you will feel in your hands that the tissues begin to change.

One other point that is useful in working proactively with the mental, emotional, and spiritual components that have a hold on anatomy and on structure: listen to the client?s language.

1. Many times, even without realizing it, the client?s language will give you clues to what you have your hands on, and this can help you hold, more precisely, exactly what-it-is for the client.

2. Notice when a client uses negative judgments as an answer, such as ?I?m wrong? (or ?selfish,? or ?mean,? or ?I should be more loving?. . .). Negative judgments are crucial because intuition and the inner voice do not convey information through negativity or judgment. When you hear negative judgments, it is a red flag for you that the client is accessing information from a vantage point of the self that produces inaccurate and false information.

3. Notice when a client responds to your questions with, ?I think it is such and such.? Using the words ?I think? is a red flag that the client has shifted back to using the thinking mind as a tool. With many of my clients, there is enough trust, rapport, and confidence that I can halfjokingly say, ?I really don?t care what you think it is, your thinking has no clue about this, please ask or feel with your inner knowing for what it really is.?

What I?m asking the client to do is to use intuition, inner voice, gut feel, or the part that just knows that it knows. The answer to questions from this level of being usually comes instantaneously. Unfortunately we?ve been socialized to discount or ignore information from this level, so your client may need you to go slower. What?s needed in this case is to provide the client opportunities to recognize and experience that information from this level of being holds accuracy, value, and dependability. Being willing to point out when the client has used ?I think? or negative judgments will help the client begin to discern when he is accessing mind and negativity and, instead, recognize when his is connected to the intuitive aspects of self.

I once told a client: ?The thinking mind will move you forward about one inch; your body (physical experience) and feelings will take you 3,000-5,000 miles; and your intuition will take you though the entire journey of your life.? She said I should patent that.

Consciousness, subconscious, and unconscious are the huge soup of whowe- are. No matter what we think, the body will pay attention to ? and, ultimately, must negotiate ? that soup. Bodies and beings are incredibly paradoxical, playful, and complex, and this all lives in the realm of consciousness and, even more so, in that which lies beyond conscious awareness.

I have occasionally heard some Rolfers say that this work can become boring. I would suggest that there is much to perceive, sense, and engage within a client beyond anatomy or gravity or the Recipe.

When you are working proactively, clients will tell you they feel lighter, or feel a freedom they never thought was possible. They might say something is freer but not be able to say what it is. If a client returns for his next session saying, ?It came back,? remind him that we are complex beings and many of these issues exist in layers. Most likely, it didn?t ?come back?. Instead, the next layer is working its way back toward conscious awareness so it can change.

<i>Deborah Weidhaas has been practicing Rolfing SI for twenty-four years. She spent her first year of practice negating or ignoring the information that flowed into her conscious awareness as she worked in the tissues with clients. Over the next couple of years she tread cautiously and tested the validity of the information she received, only to have clients vehemently confirm its accuracy. She is adept in the subconscious, unconscious, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of self that arise in the client?s experience of Rolfing SI, adept in working proactively with clients, and adept in teaching clients the skills to work proactively with themselves.</i>Inside the Genius That Is Rolfing SI[:]