Story from the front line
by Tim Kjeldsen
A woman came to my introductory workshop. She was suffering severe back problems and a physiotherapist had advised her to sit very erect. She had tried to do this but found it terribly difficult and thought that it must surely be wrong somehow to have to put so much effort into sitting. When her turn came for her first lesson, I put my hand on her neck and was quite taken aback by how stiff it was. I was just about to work with her with my hands when a thought flashed across my mind.I asked her what her neck was for.
She paused for a second... and then said “to hold my head on.”
“Exactly!” I thought to myself.
So I pointed out that if she didn't have a neck, her head could sit on top of her rib-cage.
So what was her neck really for?
She looked perplexed for a long moment and then light gradually dawned: “To move my head about?”
“Ah!” I said “Does that make a difference?”
“No, not really.”
“Oh well, it was worth a try,” I thought, “Better get on with the hands-on work.”
But then… she said,
“Actually it does feel freer. In fact, it feels a lot freer....That's amazing!... I really can't get over this!...Is that all there is to it?”
“I guess so,” I replied.
(Mental note to myself: maybe what you think really is what you get.)