Discovering Rosen Method
I first heard about Rosen Method in Ireland from a Jesuit priest in 1992. The way he spoke about it immediately aroused my interest. What stayed with me mostly was the way he spoke about it, and an image of a beautiful pink unfolding rose came to me. That image has remained with me. I had just left West Africa and was on my way to California to study Spirituality.
My very first session receiving Rosen Method bodywork followed some time latter. I was interested and had no idea what to expect. I was open and receptive, yet somewhat fearful of the unknown. I knew I was not going to receive a “”feel good” massage, so what was I going to receive? Well the experience was quite amazing and nothing like anything I had received before. It gave me a very warm and loving connection to myself. I became aware of the tightness around my shoulders and neck, and of how I was holding myself together in my body. This gradually led me to a very deep awareness, of all the holding back of myself I do, as a person, and in my life. At first I was not able to put words on my experience and with the skill, and presence of the practitioner, together with the safety I was feeling, I found my way to expressing in words what I was feeling in my body. This was a huge relief to me. I really felt that I had come to a very important deep truth about myself, my own truth that came from my own body and not from someone telling me about myself. I left that session feeling that a weight had been removed from my shoulders and much more in touch with myself in a way that was new.
Some months later, I came across a flier about a Rosen Method Introductory workshop followed by a week-long Intensive. On the flier was a quote by Marion Rosen, the founder of this method, who later became one of my teachers in her early 80’s. The quote read: ”This work is about transformation, from the person we think we are to the person we really are”. I signed up without any hesitation.
I came to Rosen Method as nurse and midwife where my focus was on doing things for others, helping people, giving advice and information.
Through Rosen Method I came to realize that there is another way. A way of being with people, with my presence, listening deeply to their words and concerns in a non- judgement, unconditional loving way. This opens the way for people to discover themselves and to find their own answers from within. There is no trying to fix, change or mend, just a real being with the person in present moment awareness.
The Rosen Method opened me to a new way of being with myself and others. Gradually over time I found immense joy, more ease and well-being within myself. The. training was as much about my own personal and spiritual development as it was about learning the method. There is a lovely quote in Marion’s book:
“Through listening to the truth of the body, it is possible to discover what we can do, who we can be, what we can experience, how we can love”.
Through RM I have come to recognize and know myself in a deep loving and human way. I felt seen and heard in a way that I had never felt seen or heard before. This allowed me to hear myself.
I recall one day early in my training, as I was practicing on a student, another student observing the session said to me, “Catherine, just trust your hands”. Her gentle inviting voice instantly brought me out of my head and into my heart. My hands softened, and tears began rolling down my face as I began to feel myself, and a loving connection with the person I was working on. I had been trying too hard to give a “good session, to do it right”. And so the softening of my hands became ‘listening hands’ This allowed me to become more present to myself in the moment. There was nothing I had to do to the body to change it, and my gentle listening touch allowed the person to feel herself.
This was an amazing moment and breakthrough for me when I experienced profoundly the heart and soul of Rosen Method. This indeed is beautiful work.