Zero Balancing (ZB)
By Tim Newman
This is a short case because the session arose out of circumstance
and so there was no presenting complaint - rather there
turned out to be a history of trauma and bone-graft surgery,
which I then addressed in the context of a “try out”
session. The man is in his late thirties and a craftsman
and I had asked him to make me a sign, which included the
word fulcrum in it. In the course of conversation he asked
me about my work and I told him something of Zero Balancing.
Although I tend not to offer people sessions, as I was
new to my village and felt a friendly gesture was appropriate,
I then offered to do a session with him to see what the
work was like. The initial framework was relaxation and
release of stress from the skeleton - which in Zero Balancing
we do by means of fulcrums (so there would be a, complementing
of my explanation with a body felt experience).
The initial interview in ZB can be quite short - a matter
of checking-in and assuring that there are no contraindications
through medication or sensitivity - or it can expand into
a more thorough evaluation as a result of something that
is presented or which arises spontaneously and seems significant.
It is standard in ZB to ask about “structural history”
i.e. any impacts or jolts to the skeleton, any fractures,
falls from the most recent back until the person’s
birth. With Alan this question revealed a major injury to
his left arm in which all three bones were fractured in
a car accident (he has not driven since). One of the fractures
failed to heal normally and so bone was taken from the pelvis
and grafted into the arm. This was successful but the site
of the bone graft remained sore ever since and for more
than 5 years Alan has had disturbed sleep because he cannot
lie on his left side and wakes with the discomfort when
he moves the wrong way. I had no way of knowing whether
the session would help this but it is certainly the kind
of territory in which ZB can be rather effective and would
clearly be interesting in that it is a clear marker in terms
of body comfort to compare before and after.
Alan enjoyed the session and was obviously strongly aware
of things happening in his pelvis and leg when I was working
in that area. From my point of view I could feel areas of
tension held in the bone -for instance around the back of
the hip socket (acetabulum), the ischium, the posterior
superior iliac crest and the lateral surface of the trochanter.
In the wider context of the general transmission of forces
and stresses through the skeleton there were a number of
other places where tension was held - namely the Sacroiliac,
Dorsal Hinge and lumbar areas, the tarsal bones of both
feet and the upper ribs between the spine and the scapula.
It is not important from the ZB practitioners point of view
to establish a causal or sequential relationship between
these areas of tension - rather the tensions are observed
as phenomena that exist and can be palpated, and, in as
much as they interfere with the integrity and function of
the skeleton it is assumed that the clearer stronger fields
created by the fulcrums will allow the tissues to reorganise
themselves more harmoniously and in whatever way they decide
is best for them. No corrections are made in ZB - rather
we support the person in making their own changes.
The next day Alan told me that the discomfort was much
diminished and he had had a wonderful night's sleep. By
a week later he reported all discomfort gone and remains
free at the time of writing some 6 weeks later.
This was not a miracle cure - simply a positive outcome
that in this case only needed one session to set things
in motion for thorough healing. The next person who presents
with similar history would have to be addressed as if from
scratch, and there might be no change or only some change
over time. Logic up to a point may satisfactorily explain
how this improvement could occur. If you take it at its
simplest some aspect of the graft site had been disturbed
by the surgery and had failed to heal it. As most therapies
do not engage directly with the energy of bone (and Alan
had not tried any other therapies) it may be that it needed
that particular dynamic to release whatever was interrupting
the bodies capacity to heal itself. Or it could have been
ready to shift the first time anyone did anything that gave
Alan’s body the support it needed. We know that working
purely energetically can effect the physical body and vice
versa and most modalities tend to focus more on one side
or other of the energy/structure equation. In Zero Balancing
we engage both aspects simultaneously and deliberately and
work the overall relationship or interface rather then with
specific pathology. This can appear vague in theory and
amazingly precise in practise because it truly makes no
division between body/mind/spirit and engages the receiver
in the undivided experience and allows them to experience
the experience of themself within themself (and themself
within the world).
I began learning Zero Balancing (ZB) in December 1984 during
my final clinical year of acupuncture, training. I was so
intrigued and pleased by the experiences of both learning
and practising that I didn’t hesitate to enrol for
the first teacher-training program led by Fritz Smith in
1988.Although I enjoyed and had good responses to my ZB
sessions I knew that I didn’t really know much about
what I saw demonstrated in the workshops - it was a necessary
challenge to have to articulate to others everything that
until then I had taken on trust for myself.
Instinctive, animal trust (referred to in the ZB community
as Donkey-Donkey) is very important in any hands-on work
-especially where people are tense in an unknown situation,
or in fear, pain and anxiety. Until I studied ZB I hadn’t
taken on board the idea that ‘ not to respond IS a
response ‘ (not relaxing, not co-operating, not understanding,
not agreeing): It may be less obvious than a no but it still
needs to be recognised and respected. In ZB a key skill
is a conscious, listening sensitive approach and touch that
establishes, maintains and releases a clear interface between
client and ZB’er.
Although Zero Balancing is a bodywork skill in its own
right which is the core of my practise and teaching, many
of the guiding principles can be understood in the broader
category of Life Experience and the dynamics of everyday
situations and relationships. With its emphasis on combining
both structural and energetic aspects, whether of human,
animal, plant or ‘inanimate’ objects ZB has
its roots as much in the world of quantum mechanics and
chaos theory as in the laws of physics and applied science.
It is this combination of grounded intelligence and ‘magical’
thinking that have continued to excite and inspire me -
and I am currently in the process of developing some of
these ideas into experiential workshops of basic life education.
I love the fact that ZB theory recognises both the essential
underlying unity of life, the world, and the cosmos AND
accepts that there are contradictions and paradoxes that
are not necessarily reconcilable through logic or the need
for things to make sense! In not trying to be perfect, in
not trying to make all systems and models fit, and above
all in not making a belief system out of its precepts and
observations Zero Balancing encourages us to be in the experience
rather than interpreting it: And it shows how to use conscious
touch and procedures to clear individual and group tensions
(‘fields’) on the way to our own and the worlds
evolution.
About the Author
Tim Newman: Acupuncturist (Lic.Ac.) & Zero Balancer
(Cert.ZB.)
I practise near Penzance in West Cornwall and sometimes
in London. I teach about half-a-dozen 28 workshops from
my home on a residential basis each year, as well as about
the same number in various European countries. I also run
individual retreats from time to time in the exceptionally
quiet and beautiful village that is Perranuthnoe(with the
option of bodywork on the spot combined with nestling in)
I can be contacted at:
“West Cottage”
Churchtown
Perranuthnoe
Cornwall
TR2O 9N0
Tel: 01736 711405
