In Spacious Body , Jeffrey Maitland brings his knowledge and personal experience of Buddhism, phenomenology, alchemy, psychoanalysis, and the bodywork system of Rolfing to bear in forging concepts adequate to an understanding of embodied experience.
In Mind Body Zen , long-time Zen student, world-renowned Rolfer, and former philosophy professor Jeffrey Maitland combines his expertise across the mind-body-zen spectrum to help bridge the East-West gap in spiritual practice.Tackling the prevailing misconception that Zen is a philosophy, Maitland provides an in-depth explanation of why Zen is an eminently practical, grounded discipline. He emphasizes the power of simple, direct experience that lies at the heart of Zen. Maitland’s training in philosophy as well as bodywork distinguishes Mind Body Zen from many other books on the market. Drawing on his Rolfing expertise and years of applied meditation practice, he also offers techniques for healers across many systems and disciplines to more effectively work with their clients. Threaded throughout these discussions are the insights of Joshu Sasaki Roshi, founder of Mt. Baldy Zen Center, best known by some as Leonard Cohen’s teacher, still actively teaching at age 102 but whose work has rarely been published. Mind Body Zen will appeal to the growing number of Western Buddhists and spiritual seekers interested in Zen or meditation. Somatic therapists, psychotherapists, and healers of every persuasion will also find the connection between Zen and healing to be of great interest.
Written by an expert on alternative bodywork, this book presents techniques for manipulating the soft tissues of the back in a safe, simple manner. The method avoids the high velocity, low amplitude thrusting techniques employed by chiropractors. Instead, it utilizes the intuitive sense of somatic bodyworkers combined with the proven theory and technique of Rolfing to provide safe and effective treatment. Maitland shows how to elegantly release joint fixations in the spine, sacrum, pelvis, and ribcage by using subtle soft tissue techniques, rather than the thrusting techniques that "pop" the joints. This gentler kind of individualized Rolfing work is thoroughly described within an explanation of biomechanics, aided by drawings and photographs which depict techniques and anatomy.
"Embodied Being is unique among books on manual therapy, offering an "infrastructure for intuition," a philosophical approach to what is essentially a practical process of diagnosis and treatment with one's hands. Grounded in the author's decades of practice as a Rolfer and Zen meditator, the book offers a first-of-its-kind three-step method for training practitioners how to see holistically, given the enormously important role perception plays in assessing clients. By exposing many of the unconscious philosophical assumptions that occlude our understanding the depths of manual therapy, Embodied Being promises to illuminate the full scope of body-mind healing, from the point of view of both the practitioner and the person receiving the work. Embodied Being states the principles of intervention and shows practitioners how to use them to answer three fundamental questions common to all forms of therapy: What do I do first? What do I do next? and When am I finished? Perplexed that most practitioners are unable to answer these questions and simply rely on their intuition, Maitland sets out to define what makes a truly life-altering bodywork session, drawing on his understanding of Goethe, Merleau-Ponty, and other great thinkers. Maitland proposes that the holistic approach in bodywork is capable of creating new possibilities for the future by erasing the patterns that bind us to a dysfunctional past. Such sessions can so profoundly reshape the body that there is no longer any room for emotional torment--thus manual therapy can free bodies of physical pain, releasing the innate joy within the core of all human beings. Ultimately, giving and receiving manual therapy teaches both practitioners and clients how to move with grace, open their hearts, and touch the numinous"-- Provided by publisher
Cílem somatických terapeutů je pomoci klientům objevit a uvolnit omezení, která jim brání stát se tím, kým jsou, místo aby je přiměli vyhovět vnějším standardům. Jeffrey Maitland ve své knize zkoumá filozofické významy Rolfingu a různé druhy vůle, přičemž se zaměřuje na to, jak lidé mohou chápat své vnitřní fixace a konfliktní směry, a jak se mohou posunout k tvořivé změně. V této nové, fyziologické práci se Maitland soustředí na myofasciální uvolňující techniky Rolfingu a na problém kloubních fixací, které jsou základem mnoha syndromů bolesti měkkých tkání. Zvláštní pozornost věnuje uvolnění bolesti zad, která je častou stížností pacientů chiropraktiků, Rolferů, masérů a fyzioterapeutů. Maitland elegantně ukazuje, jak uvolnit kloubní fixace v páteři, pánvi a hrudním koši pomocí jemných technik měkkých tkání, namísto vysokorychlostních úderových technik. Tento individualizovaný přístup Rolfingu je podrobně vysvětlen v kontextu biomechaniky a je podporován ilustracemi a fotografiemi, které zobrazují techniky a anatomii.
V knize Tělo, Mysl, Zen autor navazuje na svou práci a jako jeden z žáků róši Joshu Sasakiho, který si dokáže udržet kritický nadhled, se pokouší o první reflektivně-kritickou studii jeho zenového učení. Ukazuje v ní, že v rozporu s tvrzeními mnoha západních vědců, zenová praxe nevyžaduje, aby se z člověka stal jakýsi nemyslící vyznavač. Tělo, Mysl, Zen popisuje celou škálu lidské zkušenosti, od zcela všední až k posvátné. Jeff Maitland v této moudré, inteligentní a poučné knize čerpá ze své práce v oblasti západní filosofie, rolfingu a ze zkušeností s „Táthagata zenem“ róši Sasakiho a odkrývá širšímu publiku svůj pohled na jednu z dosud málo známých tradic zenové praxe a filosofie. Držíte v ruce text psaný člověkem, který mnoho let praktikuje zen, a přitom je univerzitním profesorem a intelektuálem.
