The Body Heals Itself- How Deeper Awareness of Your Muscles and Their Emotional Connection Can Help You Heal

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Emily A. Francis is the coauthor of Witchy Mama: Magickal Traditions, Motherly Insights & Sacred Knowledge with Melanie Marquis (Llewellyn 2016) and author of Stretch Therapy: A Comprehensive Guide to Basic and Assisted Stretching (Blue River Press 2012).

Emily holds a degree in Exercise Science and Wellness with a minor in Nutrition from Jacksonville State University, where she is now pursuing her master's degree in Physical Education with a concentration in Human Performance. She is a graduate of the Atlanta School of Massage in Clinical and Neuromuscular Massage Therapy. She then went on to graduate through all levels of training at the Dr. Vodder School Inter- national in Manual Lymphatic Drainage and Combined Decongestive Therapy (MLD/ CDT). She is a Certified Pediatric Therapist through Tina Allen and The Liddle Kidz Foundation. She has completed both level 1 & 2 of CranioSacral Therapy through the Upledger Institute.

Emily completed three hundred hours of yoga teacher training through the Universal Yoga Training in the Sivananda Yoga style. She began practicing both yoga and tai chi in the late 1990s and has a gold medal in tai chi forms from the 2001 US Open, a bronze medal in push hands from the same competition, and a silver medal in push hands from the National Tai Chi Legacy tournament that same year. She is a Usui and Karuna Ki Reiki Master level practitioner as well.

Recently I sent the a Korean sauna and received an acupressure massage from a man who was quite thorough, did not speak English, and landed on some points on my body that made me realize a basic concept. I had the same questions that I think most people do when they lie on a table in their most vulnerable position, the questions being: What is going through your head right now? What are you feeling? Why does that spot make me want to throw up? Why do you keep returning to that spot? What is that spot? I want to know everything you are thinking while you are treating me! What did you find? Am I healthy?

For me, body work is not relaxing. Parts of it can be and pleasure is generally woven into the treatment, however, much of the time is spent deep breathing, trying not to hold on to whatever is trying to be let out, and constantly wondering what the body worker might know about you by having their hands on you.

The body itself is a master communicator. Since time immemorial, people have attempted to translate its messages, describing and documenting the body's energetic makrup in hopes of discovering the secrets to great health and longevity. In traditional Chinese medicine, the organs all have corresponding emotions, times of day where they are at their strongest and weakest, and even food flavor profiles that pair to the organ.