Bodywork as Therapy

Both of Connectivity’s editors see the same bodyworker, Kathy Morales of Milwaukee, to address their mental health, spiritual, and physical wellness needs.  Because of Kathy’s extraordinary ease with trans+ and SOFFA issues, we asked her to discuss with us what she’s learned about and from trans/SOFFA clients, and how bodywork (also known as energy work) can support good mental health.

Connectivity:  How would you describe the work that you do?

Kathy Morales:  I listen.  I listen deeply, slowly, carefully.  Energy doesn’t lie.  I can “hear” what strand it comes from in the DNA.  Is it learned? Inherited?  Is it from the original teachings of mother and father?

By placing my hands on a person, I complete a circuit.  We complete a circuit whenever we touch one another.  Then I can hear what their body is broadcasting.  All of us have this capacity; it’s a matter of development.

Connectivity:  We've experienced first hand that you are able to sense many things about someone by simply being in the same space with them or putting your hands on them.  What can you tell about someone who is trans? Morales:  My first “hit” from you, michael, was, “he’s not what he seems on the outside.”   I immediately picked up gender questioning.  You came out to me immediately, whereas most people wait to test me first before they share that kind of information.  But I could tell when I touched your feet that you had female organs, ovaries.  I could also feel the presence of hormones and other medications.

It was a refreshing experience for me.  Although I’m familiar with the energy field of Lesbians and Gay men, this was a completely new configuration for me to feel.  It added to my vocabulary.

You had a masculine outside, but a masculine/feminine force balance inside. Everyone has masculine and feminine forces or energy in their bodies. They are different aspects of a vital force that’s present in every person. Those forces don’t have to be about gender; they might be about power dynamics, or how the person presents his or her power to the world.  There’s an energetic imprint from DNA, which is inherited, learned, and a synthesis of the two.

What I found most remarkable was how harmonic you felt to me.  Here was a model of someone who has a unique agreement of existing and added hormones. In fact, you have one of the most harmonic reproductive energies I’ve ever felt, more so than any other person I’ve worked with.  It surprised me to find such a functional, optimal harmony among hormones and body in a trans person.  It actually got me to stop blaming my ovaries for my own pain. You are so at peace with what you’ve created, it helped me focus more on what creates disharmonies in people.

Connectivity:  What does create disharmonies?

Morales:  A lot of distress that people feel comes from not being synchronized with their body and their energy.  The mind races much faster than the physical. People often spend a lot of time on their projections, on how they want to be seen by others.  We can get fixated on what we are and how other people think of us.  When I’m working with someone, we slow down enough to listen together to what the body is saying. 

Humans have an innate propensity to self-correct, but free will can interfere with that.  Many people are so in their minds, their body just goes along. When I say I’m “listening” to them through my hands, it means much more than the word usually implies.  I get permission from that person’s body energy to work with it.  Then I acknowledge the information I’m getting, which induces congruence.  The body somehow recognizes it is being heard and, as a result, sometimes the person feels heard.  Even if the person doesn’t feel heard, focusing on its own experience allows the body to self-correct. It’s not about me “fixing” things.

We don’t expect to be heard, and we don’t trust our own reality.  That stems from most of us not being listened to as kids.  Energy work then becomes empowering, a return to the natural instinct of registering emotions and life experiences through the body.

Connectivity:  So is that “all” you do, help the body listen to itself?

Morales:  Our bodies are always broadcasting who we are, where we’ve been, and where we’re heading.  Part of what I listen for is obstacles or resistances to getting where someone wants to go. Then, if the client is willing, we work on those obstacles or resistances.But not everyone is willing. For instance, I worked with one man who was very, very invested in being recognized as an abuse victim.  I couldn’t find abuse in his body.  But he maintained he was an abuse victim and would not let that go.  He chose not to heal. 

But choosing not to heal has implications, too.  He became an abuser of his sister.  We have this great illusion that what we do doesn’t matter, but it does.  It influences every other relationship we’re in.  I can read something about the people you’re close to from your energy.  For instance, kids can feel what’s going on with adults, and act out in response.

If you do accept responsibility for your choices, you can get really efficient about where you want to go and make radical changes, including in the people around you.  Being ruthlessly honest with yourself is the hardest thing for people to do, but bodywork can help, because the energy doesn’t lie. I can help people feel the truth through their body.

Connectivity:  Depression is a big issue not just in the trans+/SOFFA community, but in the wider community, as well.  What can bodywork do for depression?

Morales:  There are different ways that depression expresses itself.  It is a chemical experience, but stress can change a person’s chemistry, particularly over a long period of time.  Stress can build up and reach a critical mass. Very rarely does it just suddenly occur.  Your mental health state is a function of how you’ve been living your life.  Addictions, for instance, are often wedded to depression.There is a difference between depression and mood changes.  It is important to honor the cycles and patterns that individuals experience and continually go through throughout their lives.  Often we are encouraged to not go through our natural cycles, which can be healing.  Because our culture promotes mono-emotional states, some people end up living full time in their depression and use it as a way to be a victim, and to not state their truth.  In living in this depression, they also disavow responsibility and the ability to choose another way to live differently - not as a victim.

Energy doesn’t go away.  Information takes up space in the body; it sits in the body until it is acknowledged.  When that stored memory is not transacted -- dealt with -- it can really logjam the whole process.  It backs up in our bodies. It can cause depletion of energy.  We can adapt to these things mentally, but if we do that, it’s at the expense of the body, which houses it all. The whole system runs better when the information is in its proper place.

Connectivity:  How can people work with this built up or depleted energy?

Morales:  The build up or depletion of energy can create major life obstacles and resistance to shifting.  Through energywork, we can jointly move the energy, hone it, creating better flow and less resistance.  For some people, they may only need "check ins" or "tune ups", or assistance in augmenting the flow of energy in their body.

Connectivity: What are some key elements or tools within the work you do?

Morales:  Breathing is really key.  When we don’t breathe, it suspends the energy.  When we do breathe, it can move things through our bodies.  We don’t always have to talk about things, or therapize -- just breathing can help move things through.
Another important concept is awareness work.  Awareness can be a very "simple" internal process of listening to one's internal state or their body.A third key element of the work I do is encouraging radical honesty, since it is essential for moving energy and healing.  I attempt to create a safe container for truth telling.  By allowing people to speak their truth, frequently individuals can self-correct without much intervention on my part.  Clients can practice radical honesty in my office and reinforce the principles of how healing the truth is.

Connectivity:  Do you think talk therapy and bodywork work together?

Morales:  They definitely can.  I get a lot of referrals from therapists. We don’t have to do it all through talk therapy.  Body awareness can do a lot, and it doesn’t need to be long term.  In fact, sometimes traditional therapy can be coddling.  I won’t work with people who aren’t willing to be honest with themselves, because radical honesty is critical. 

Bodywork slows people down enough to listen to themselves.  Our distress comes from not being synchronized with one’s self, and not being willing to let things go.  We fixate on what we are and how to continue being that way.  What matters most, though, is what the person thinks, not what others think.  People are slowed down on the table, where I can help augment the energy flow in their body, change its amplitude.  I build a holding container so they can hear themselves and learn to do that listening on their own, without me.  I help them confront their habit patterns, what they tend to think of as normal, and help show them they can be changed.
In particular, I work to depotentiate trauma memories.  It’s like what EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) does: it gets into the nervous system and shifts things.

Connectivity:  If someone were interested in finding a bodyworker, what would you suggest?

Morales: There are many ways of approaching finding a qualified and competent body- or energy-worker.  Most cities have many local resources or alternative care directories which list practitioners.  The important thing is to remember to ask as many questions as you feel necessary so that you feel comfortable with the practitioner you select.  Give them your laundry list and see if they have a problem with it before you first meet with them.

Connectivity:  Although you haven't had extensive experience working with trans/SOFFA clients, you've had contact with other trans+ and genderqueer people in your personal life.  Can you talk about that a bit?

Morales:  As an artist, I've worked and collaborated with so many people within the LGBT community.  While I always approach everyone by acknowledging their uniqueness, there is such an incredible level of creativity within the queer community.  For example, when I first met Holly Brown [ed note: a talented female impersonator and artist who lived and performed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin prior to her death] it was a startling introduction!  She had such a unique set of information that expressed itself through every pore in her body. When my daughter met her, she was just as captivated by Holly's intense, unique energetic nature. 

One thing that I'm so pleased about is that my daughter is so accepting of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.  She simply sees sexual orientation or gender as just a difference, no different than the length of someone's hair, or how they like their coffee.

Connectivity:  It seems like you really enjoy working with trans clients; do you

Morales: Working with trans people is way more interesting.  It feels like it opens up possibilities and creativity.  So many trans people go through a lot to be who they really are.