THIRD EYE VISIONS
FOR AN EVOLVING CONSCIOUSNESS
TURNING YOUR WORLD UPSIDE DOWN
The act of inversion has been used by many cultures over hundreds of years either in order to challenge deep fears or to pass through rites of initiation. Bunjee jumping is an extreme, modern day form of this and other more eastern cultures look to inversion as a process of serenity.
Imagine yourself hanging upside down suspended from the soles of the feet of a practitioner.
This is called Inversion Therapy.
On a basic level, it re-energises and takes you into a state of deep relaxation. On a deeper level, it gives you permission to fully let go like never before and return to a ‘womb-like state’. It really is like returning to the source. A coming home.
Now this kind of therapy speak may send you running for the hills, but if you can get past the new age language and give it a chance, you might just enjoy hanging out and may even find it refreshes the parts of you other therapies cannot reach.
The essence of the therapy is that by gently confusing the mind and removing the usual external & physical reference points,
one can find the still point inside. The close bond of trust and co-operation between therapist and client is absolutely vital to
a ‘good flight’....and it works because of this simple equation:
“If you do what I say and follow my instructions exactly, I promise not to drop you” and the unspoken response of
“I will try my best to follow your instructions and do exactly what you tell me to do, if you promise not to drop me.”
It is an unspoken mirror contract and it is absolute in it’s simplicity.
The practitioner lies on his/her back and places the soles (souls) of their feet on the client’s buttocks, who is then instructed
to place their hands on the practitioner’s ankles, sit down on his/her feet and lean all the way back,
at which point the practitioner gently reaches to support the back & shoulders whilst effortlessly lifting you into the air.
You are now suspended in the air, supported by another person’s hands and feet alone. Surprisingly it is
extremely comfortable and brings back memories of lots of childhood giggling and playing aeroplanes.
In a further leap of faith, the next manoeuvre brings you into an entirely new position with your knees bent and feet together, pointing skyward. You are now hanging totally suspended upside down, gloriously stretching out the neck and spine.
A group of my students back in the day when I was practising and running The School of Inversion Therapy (UK)
With the help of a strap placed over the top of your feet and around your wrists, this allows the body to fully rest, free of any tension or 'holding' in the body. After the initial moments of disorientation, being held and yet floating in space, being inverted allows you to free yourself from the usual gravities of the world. With no outward reference points… like I am sitting on a chair
or I am leaning on this table… you can re-orientate yourself to a new reference point inside. Emotionally, the disengagement helps to focus inwards. For many, this can be a deeply emotional experience.
In fact, the general experience is one of floating in space, with no idea where you are…. upside down or inside out. The blood doesn’t rush to the head as it would normally because the practitioner’s foot sits over the femoral artery, slowing down the pounding rush of blood flow to the brain. This means in effect that a session can quite comfortably last for a good half hour.
During the session the inversion therapist will invite you to focus on the flow of your breath in and out, in and out. All the while the blood is becoming super oxygenated as the brain is flooded with extra blood which is not having to be pumped up to the brain by the heart. The neck and spine as they hang under their own weight, realign themselves. The mind is now totally separate to our normal state of reality and takes a back seat for a while. You are aware of the practitioner gently
encouraging you to let go of blocked energies held in the body by releasing the breath and in the same way, to identify
and release old trauma, also held in the body memory, in the muscles and tissues of your being.
For some, they may find themselves floating inside the womb space once again or they may re-experience their birth or even being held by their primary carers for the first time. The first bonding. This 'still' state can be inducive to working with brain injured children for example, as it allows them to experience themselves pre brain damage. Similarly, it is also helpful when working with autism, as the therapist can access them in their reclusive state more easily, rather than trying to pull them out of their place of safety. This is why the bond of trust between patient and practitioner is so important.
The practitioner experiences exactly the same state of consciousness as their client.
Practitioners don’t drop clients and clients never say… "Oooh I can’t or I don’t want to"… because at some level they have already been through a whole internal process before deciding to have a session, and hence they have prepared themselves for the experience. It is the client who must ‘choose’ the session, and an IT practitioner should never encourage someone to have a go, especially if they are not ready for ‘the journey’. We are simply there to respond to people whose ‘beacons’ are ‘blinking’. After years of doing the summer festivals and Mind Body Spirit shows, we would always be aware of the same people watching the sessions intently, again and again, getting closer and closer to the front row as they prepared themselves for the ultimate ‘virgin flight’.
