10 Sett 2008 – CORRECTED VERSION OF STRETCHING & TANTSU

STRETCHING & TANTSU

By Fabrizio Dalle Piane & Ateeka

In Tantsu, we invite and encourage the receiver’s body to express itself.

We are not seeking to change any situation but to co-create a
harmonious atmosphere in which the natural state of health arises.
The cradles of Tantsu help to create this safe environment where the
receiver can relax profoundly and shift from a mode of repetitive
patterns to a place of “flourishing” where creation and healing thrive.
In this space of pleasure and flow, there is no goal and our sharing
becomes one of deep connection and expansion.

As we hold someone in a Tantsu cradle, listening and responding to the

spontaneous “dance” that unfolds between us, we are often called to
playfully knead, stroke, apply pressure or stretch the body. All of these
can be intuitive tools that help the receiver’s nervous system to reset
and be in an open mode of learning. Our systems learn through
playful, present moment, goal-less, open-ended exploration. It is
important that the actions we engage in when giving a Tantsu reflect
this attitude of exploration.

Understanding the nature of flexibility will help us to respond with

greater sensitivity when intuitively called to “stretch” a limb of our
partner. Flexibility is the ability for the nervous system to accept and
adapt to what presents itself from moment to moment. The agility of
the musculature is simply a reflection of the state of the nervous
system.

An experiment regarding flexibility was conducted in an American

teaching hospital. A muscle-bound athlete and a “stiff” elderly man
were both put under general anesthesia. With care, the research staff
moved both the athlete and the senior into various advanced yoga-
type positions . . . surprisingly with great ease! There was no
difference between the performance of the old man or the bodybuilder.
“Inflexibility” comes from a fixity and repetitive patterning in the
nervous system.

It is the state of our nervous system, which determines whether we are

fighting against our own bodies or if we are allowing the body a fuller
creative expression of itself through movement. Often our authentic
somatic identity hides behind the mask of a traumatized, on-alert
nervous system. In this state, we become fragile, less “flexibile” and
weak.

The cultural conditioning of having a “strong, tight” physique further

agitates the nervous system. Repetitive movement in the gym or
other fitness regimes creates bodies that are “frozen” into a single set
of movement options. Authentic strength is adaptable whole body
systemic functioning, not simply the capacity for one group of muscles
to perform a task. Because our bodies are systemic wholes, every
single movement we “do” affects all other parts of our body. Strength
is the instantaneous and innovative response of the entire system to a
present moment experience. In this the nervous system “resets and
renews” rather than “repeats and depletes.”

Ultimately, the sum of authentic strength and flexibility is dexterity,

which allows the nervous system to integrate with ease the information
it receives in each moment and responds to it with unified coordination
and global movement.

As we widen our comprehension of flexibility, we understand that we

do not need to stretch a muscle but help the receiver’s body to access
and integrate new information. The fibers of muscle groups travel in
spiraling motion. It is a well-known fact in physics that “information”
travels in spiral forms, accelerating at the curves. In Tantsu, we sense
for the spiral of the “stretch” and follow it without force. The receiver’s
system can learn new, unpatterned ways of being. (for the body
Being=Movement)

In Tantsu, the receiver is in a place of supported relaxation because the

cradles provide this support. We sense the call of the stretch of the
body in the cradle and follow it.

If we force a stretch, or move along predictable lines with the opposing

muscle contracted, the “stretch” simply pulls or tears at possible
existing trauma in the receiver’s connective tissue. Respectful,
explorative “following” of the body’s call allows the connective tissue
to slowly unravel where it is bound, return through whole body global
movement to its natural state of elongation, and recognize this new
possibility of tensionless trust.

As the body relaxes and nervous system opens our bodies become
more BREATHABLE. Intuitive, flowing stretches to your partner’s body
enhance the capacity for the breath to profoundly permeate the tissue
of the body. The body becomes more buoyant and in turn opens to
more full and spontaneous breathing. As a giver, you too may
experience this enhanced full body breathability because our systems
unite in a state of coherence or unified presence. What benefits one
equally benefits the other. This mutuality is a magical resonant aspect
of Tantsu.

When we are called to stretch another through this innovative point of

view, the action becomes a pleasurable re-education for the receiver’s
system and a cultivation of deeper sensitivity for us as givers.

Because we are no longer limited to a traditional concept of what a

stretch is, we may open to brand new ways of experiencing our bodies.
We can become finely tuned to the micro-movements in the tissue and
flow of the fluid through our cells. We can open our systems through
an innovative process called exaptation, coined by renowned biologist
Stephen Jay Gould. Gould explains an evolutionary possibility for using
existing physical structures in the body for entirely new uses. For
example, certain species of prehistoric fish dwelling seasonally
between fresh and salt water environments possessed a particular
capacity to draw essential calcium out of their simple skeleton when
needed for nutrition. This was the primary use of their skeletal system.
As hundreds of thousands of years passed by, the prehistoric fish
“exapted” the skeleton to become something that bore weight and
eventually carried them onto land.

We, as innovative beings, also have the possibility to “exapt” parts of

our bodies for complete new uses as our environment changes. Could
the fluid in our bodies become what supports us? Could our hearts
become trusted as the primary organ of perception and even
communication?

Tantsu provides us with an environment for exploration . . . for new

experiences. . . for evolutionary change. And it all begins with simply
shifting our perception of how we touch, stretch, hold and breathe with
another. It is a wide horizon of possibility in a very simple and human
exchange. Tantsu’s potency dwells in this simplicity of honestly being
with another.

As Tantsu partners, we thrive in mutuality, shared trust, unfolding,

opening and being in the moment. We learn that effortless flow is both
our means and our goal and we can enter into a shared meditation
through the dance of our bodies, our breath and our souls.