Episode 23: Touching Energy and Structure through Zero Balancing and Deep Massage with David Lauterstein

“The right simple touch at the right moment can change everything”

David Lauterstein is Co-director of The Lauterstein-Conway Massage School in Austin, TX. He has taught, for over 35 years, Deep Massage: The Lauterstein Method and Zero Balancing in England, Costa Rica, and throughout the U.S. He is one of the most highly respected educators in the massage therapy realm, inducted in 2011 into the Massage Therapy Hall of Fame, and awarded “Teacher of the Year” by the American Massage Therapy Association in 2013 and the Alliance for Massage Therapy Education in 2014. He is the author of the three books: “Putting the Soul Back in the Body”, “The Deep Massage Book: How to Combine Structure and Energy in Bodywork”, and “Life in the Bones: A Biography of Dr. Fritz Smith and Zero Balancing.” He has been faculty member of the Zero Balancing Health Association since 1996. His background prior to massage therapy was in philosophy and music composition. He is the composer of the massage CD, “Roots and Branches.” He embodies in his practice, teachings and writings the essential unity of art and science in massage and bodywork.

In this episode, we talked about:

- David studied music composition and philosophy and was influenced by the Human Potential Movement in the 60s

He received bodywork and learned that the body and emotions imparted a lot of wisdom
David explored massage, structural bodywork and zero balancing
When David first met Dr Fritz Smith, the founder of Zero Balancing, he was endeared by his short stature and his humble way with his peers and students
The importance of an energy exchange and right livelihood
Fritz talked about the layers of anatomy corresponding with the layers of energy in the body: wei chi/ qi under the skin, muscles and organs depicted by meridians and the bone being the deepest, densest tissue, carrying the largest energy charge
Working with bone brought about more depth and sensitivity
David has studied with Fritz at least once a year since 1986
“You just need to meet the person, you don’t need to perforate or penetrate their tension”
If your mind, heart and body are clear when you’re working, you don’t experience pain or burnout
“The right simple touch at the right moment can change everything”, David Lauterstein
The renaissance of touch. Touch connects us.
There’s nothing else in the world that connects structure and energy except touch. Touch connects the physical body, but also more than the physical
Touch is the first sense to develop in the embryo
In a world dominated by virtuality, there’s a desperate need for actual reality, and touch is a way of this
The increasing fear around touch, when we need human connection
People heal from inside out
The best bodyworker has full respect for the other person
Healing comes from the same place as ‘whole’
The sickness of the health insurance system
Dr Fritz Smith was the son of a chiropractor and was raised with conscious, loving touch - nurturing makes a difference to our wholeness as human beings
Fascia - ‘liquid crystal’. It’s responsive and thixotropic, which when pressure, energy or temperature is increased, becomes more fluid
Accessing altered states whilst grounded by touch during bodywork
In ‘The Poetics of Reverie’ by Gastron Bachelard, there’s a fatigue that comes from just living in one reality - it’s an important expansion of consciousness to experience various states
In ‘Ecstasy: Understanding The Psychology of Joy’ by Robert Johnson, every person has a deep need for ecstatic experience eg religious experiences, watching a beautiful sports game etc
ZB recognises that the bones are a repository for spirit
Optimal health is the goal
Humberto Maturana wrote about the ‘Biology of Cognition’, and described human beings as autopoetic, which requires art, science, and making
Influence on Fritz by Swami Muktunanda
“There are a million ways to touch people”