Developed by Marion Rosen, who passed away in 2012, Rosen Method Bodywork (RMB) was the culmination of her life’s work and study. (Rosen, 2003)

Distinguished by its gentle, nonintrusive touch that listens rather than attempts to manipulate, RMB addresses patterns of tension in your body developed over your lifetime.

We’ve all learned to make ourselves small, to hold our energy back, to manage our emotions and experience. We suffer the effects of this in chronic neck, shoulder, and back pain, restricted breath, stress and anxiety, restricted movement, and general unease.

The behavioral, mental, and emotional difficulties we have in life are expressed in our bodies and can be seen and felt in posture and body language. In addition, the lack of energy and the fatigue from chronic tension takes a huge toll on our overall functioning.

The stress and anxiety of holding ourselves together and not allowing our energy to flow freely, shows up first as muscle tension, and then over time goes into our organs, causing disease and chronic illness. (Harvard Health Publications)

Marion recognized this and developed RMB from her work as a physical therapist. She saw how people were controlling their breath through unnecessary muscular tension. She also found that as she helped them relax and let go, feelings and emotions, and parts of their life story would often come forth, too, bringing long-lasting relief.

I trained in RMB for three years, from 1996-1999, learning to listen through my hands, and more importantly, with my whole body and presence. An essential part of the training was to receive the work as well, and do my own inner healing.

I learned the sensitive touch so characteristic of RMB, and the powerful effect of being met right where one is, both through the touch and presence of the therapist. It allows one to listen more deeply to oneself and access one’s own inner truth and wisdom.

Marion always said “Rosen takes you from the person you think you are, to the person you really are.” What she meant by that is that it takes you out of your thoughts about yourself to the embodied experience of who you are in that moment. And that is always changing.

RMB is an invitation to relax and allow your emotions and precious life energy to flow freely through you.

References

Rosen, M., with Susan Brenner, Rosen Method Bodywork: Accessing the Unconscious Through Touch, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, 2003.

Harvard Health Publications, Anxiety and Physical Illness, Harvard Medical School, on-line.