"In reality, in this area (of the solar plexus) one must distinguish two structures with totally different functions. One is an important nervous plexus made of multiple ganglions and of an entanglement of nervous nets belonging to the autonomous system which adjusts and co-ordinates all the vegetative functions of abdominal viscera and which some times responds to conscious emotional stimulations or images coming from the unconscious. The other is a powerful muscle, the diaphragm, separating the thoracic and abdominal cavities, which has the function of ventilating the alveolus air cells and of spreading this vital spirit of the ancients, the pneuma, which is the essential source of life. As the great Swiss physiologist W.R. Hess wrote more than forty years ago, this muscle constitutes as it were, through it's variation of tonus, of contraction and relaxation, the master piece of all the complex muscular system involved in a cycle and a rhythm which stretches from birth to death."
André Cournand
Lately, we've been thinking about process, dynamic antagonistic opposites and many other concepts of this type.
Contributing members have been putting this into practice. We've focused on vibration responses, learning to discharge tension and regulate autonomic response with deeper, slower abdominal breathing. This has primarily been bent towards a "relaxation" process bias, trying to deepen capacity by dismantling inhibitory tensions. To give ourselves space to try to put on the brakes, thereby changing our orientation in the world, and “energising” ourselves. For sure, most of this type of bodywork is geared towards this relaxation “letting go of tension” emphasis, but not all.