Mexican massage
Aim of practice: releasing tensions of the unconscious and meshing with the group
Number of participants: 1 and the group
Time allocation: 2 minutes for 1 person - all members of the group should have a go
The massaged person stands in the centre of the group and closes their eyes. The other participants stand around them in a circle. Each of the massaging participants in the group then perform the same simultaneous actions: Deep breath in and out giving the person in the middle a kind of "breath shower", accompanied by an arm movement as if we were throwing something at them with both arms. This is repeated. The palms of the people in the circle are activated, warmed up, by rubbing them together. The circle approaches the person in the centre, patting down their entire body with soft but firm flat-palmed pats. After a minute or so, the patting is stopped. The breath shower is repeated twice.The palms are activated, after which the person’s muscles are kneaded firmly, for a minute or so.The breath shower is repeated twice.The palms are activated, and the person in the middle is covered in gentle but firm chopping motions, with the side of the hand, all over the body. Professor Pilátová was careful to make sure that we changed positions in the circle sometimes, and moved around the body of the person being massaged, to avoid identification of particular touches with particular people.
Before we began this activity, professor Pilátová warned us that it has the potential to release tensions in the mind and the body of the person being massaged, and with this, subconscious content from the psyche into the open, thus disrupting the psychic balance of an individual, which meant that we should proceed carefully before considering repeating the activity in non-educational surroundings without the supervision of an experienced teacher. We took this advice on board, but did not expect her claims to be illustrated later in the workshop in the way they were. One of the participants did indeed experience bouts of behaviour which was unusual, involuntary, disruptive. It took a break, an assessment of the situation, and an agreement between all the participants on how to continue before a productive balance was restored in the group.
Number of participants: 1 and the group
Time allocation: 2 minutes for 1 person - all members of the group should have a go
The massaged person stands in the centre of the group and closes their eyes. The other participants stand around them in a circle. Each of the massaging participants in the group then perform the same simultaneous actions: Deep breath in and out giving the person in the middle a kind of "breath shower", accompanied by an arm movement as if we were throwing something at them with both arms. This is repeated. The palms of the people in the circle are activated, warmed up, by rubbing them together. The circle approaches the person in the centre, patting down their entire body with soft but firm flat-palmed pats. After a minute or so, the patting is stopped. The breath shower is repeated twice.The palms are activated, after which the person’s muscles are kneaded firmly, for a minute or so.The breath shower is repeated twice.The palms are activated, and the person in the middle is covered in gentle but firm chopping motions, with the side of the hand, all over the body. Professor Pilátová was careful to make sure that we changed positions in the circle sometimes, and moved around the body of the person being massaged, to avoid identification of particular touches with particular people.
Before we began this activity, professor Pilátová warned us that it has the potential to release tensions in the mind and the body of the person being massaged, and with this, subconscious content from the psyche into the open, thus disrupting the psychic balance of an individual, which meant that we should proceed carefully before considering repeating the activity in non-educational surroundings without the supervision of an experienced teacher. We took this advice on board, but did not expect her claims to be illustrated later in the workshop in the way they were. One of the participants did indeed experience bouts of behaviour which was unusual, involuntary, disruptive. It took a break, an assessment of the situation, and an agreement between all the participants on how to continue before a productive balance was restored in the group.
source: prof. Jana Pilátová
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