posted February 27, 2008 12:40 AM         

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Polarity

Polarity therapy is essentially a holistic therapy to increase and promote energy circulation and to remove blockages to health and well-being.

Dr. Stone

The founder of Polarity therapy, Randolph Stone, was an American chiropractor and naturopath who become intensely interested in Eastern mysticism and methods of healing. He traveled in the East for a time studying these techniques. He combined various Eastern techniques with his knowledge of conventional medicine and with his medical training. Stone realized that health is mainly dependant on the uninterrupted flow of energy throughout the body. This was similar to the energy that flows between electromagnetic fields. This flow of energy is caused by the magnetic tension between different fields or "poles". This was the foundation for his theory of Polarity therapy.

Stone published a book entitled " Energy" in 1947. However even after the publication of other books and articles, his theories did not meet with great success. It was only in the late 1960's with the increase in interest throughout the world in Eastern philosophy and medicine, that his books received interest.

How Polarity Therapy works

The Practitioners of Polarity therapy theorize that the body is a single magnetic energy field. They divide the body into different and opposing poles. These poles refer to the head and the right side of the body and the feet and the left hand side of the body. The middle or the spine of the body is the neutral area. It also contains the most energy in the body. According tot his view of the body as an electromagnet, the energy flows within across the body from one pole to the other. This is reminiscent of the Yin and Yang Eastern view of the human body.

Stone also believed that various energy forms are centered in the human body. These are similar to the Eastern concept of " Chakras".

This theory identifies five different energy centers in which polarity relationships can be developed. These centers are: the air centers that control respiration as well as the circulatory system. Secondly, the earth center which controls the bladder and rectum. Thirdly, the ether region governs the throat and ears. The fire section controls the bowels and rectal functions and the water center controls the glands and pelvis.

Maintaining Equilibrium

The most important aspect of this form of this theory is the maintenance of an energy balance within the body. All physical, mental and emotional health and well-being is dependant on this balance of energies. This is particularly important when dealing with blockages in the energy field and flow, as these blockages could seriously impair the entire health system.

When you consult a practitioner

A consultation usually takes about an hour. A practitioner in polarity therapy will take a detailed description of the patient's case history on the first visit. This will include questions about their previous medical history, stress issues, and psychological profile.

The therapist will start with bodywork after the first session. The therapy essentially consists of bi-polar pressure using hands and finger pressure.

He or she will use a method of various types of touch or hand pressure to work on the energy fields. Usually a light touch will be used to restore the balance of energies in the neutral fields. Medium pressure will be used to improve the flow of energy in the positive fields. Intense pressure will be used to remove blockages in the negative fields. The responses to this therapy can produce a wide range of responses form the patient; ranging from tears and laughter to deep relaxation. The bodywork will also include cranial-sacral therapy and drainage of the lymphatic system.

It is also important to realize that there is a great amount of reciprocity between the practitioner and patient in this form of therapy, the practitioner will also use his own energy field to work on the patient. This means, for example, that the practitioner would use his right hand to stimulate positive energy, and his left hand for the stimulation of negative energy.

The therapist will also teach the patient various exercise and body movements that they can use on their own to release energy blockades. Diet can also function as an important part of this healing therapy.

There are certain precautions that should be observed before embarking on this type of therapy. One of these is that those suffering from severe mental disorders should not undertake polarity therapy. It is also a good idea to check with your doctor with regard to any diets prescribed. Remember that polarity theory is not diagnostic. In other words it is essentially a method of self-healing in which the body is stimulated to create its own healing channels.

Further study.

There are numerous books on this type of therapy, besides the founder's original works. Bear in mind that Polarity therapy has connections to many other alternative healing therapies. One of the most important in this regard is the holistic philosophy of Ayurveda. After reading through the material on Polarity therapy, it might be a good idea to move onto other alternative therapies, and, in so doing, search for linkages and correspondences between the various philosophies sand techniques.

http://www.essortment.com/polarityhealing_rllz.htm

posted February 27, 2008 12:53 AM         

Dr. Randolph Stone, the founder of Polarity therapy, was born Rudolph Bautsch in Austria in 1890. He emigrated to the United States of North America as a youngster around 1898. His family settled in the upper midwest, with relatives living in Wisconsin and Minnesota. He learned English by reading the Bible, and as a teenager he traveled widely through the U.S.

After an initial impulse and study to become a Lutheran minister, he decided to pursue a path in the health profession. He completed his primary medical certifications in the early 1920s, including D.O., D.C. and N.D. He was a lifelong student, eventually adding certifications in a wide range of topics including massage and midwifery. Simultaneously he was fascinated by spiritual studies, including mysticism in many forms. He was an avid reader and book collector, and held the position of librarian for the Theosophical Society Adyar for many years.

In the late 1920s he married and changed his name to Randolph Stone. But his esoteric interests created separation with his wife and they divorced without children. He loved to travel, and after his divorce he roamed widely often in search of medical insights from other cultures under his motto, "Whatever works, works!"

[edit] Dr. Stone in 1950
He maintained a medical practice for over 50 years in Chicago. He developed a reputation for his willingness to work with "hopeless cases" who often responded to his increasingly unconventional approaches which incorporated techniques from around the world.

In the 1940s he deepened his knowledge of and commitment to esoteric understanding by accepting initiation in a meditation system based in Beas, Punjab, India. His dedication to this yogic path continued uninterruptedly for almost 40 years, and he made frequent visits to India to study and develop his inner knowledge.

By the late 1940s he had created a synthesis of his collected information. He published his first book, Energy, in 1947, advancing his concept that the polarized field of attraction and repulsion, as found in the atomic structure or in magnetic relationships, was the underlying reality which determined all physical phenomena including health. A series of seven books and pamphlets followed, all expounding on the basic Energy theme and providing numerous specific applications.

[edit] Dr. Stone in 1974
In the mid 1950s he tried to attract interest in his ideas from the medical community. He offered free lectures, wrote articles for magazines, and repeatedly attempted to engage his colleagues in dialogue. These efforts were largely unsuccessful, as the drugs and surgery era was ascending rapidly throughout his profession.

In the 1960s, already in his mid 70s, he found popularity for the first time, not with his colleagues, but with a new generation of health seekers for whom his blend of science and spirituality was not so unpalatable. In seminars in California he vigorously preached his message of holistic health, and the seed of Polarity therapy finally found soil fertile enough to survive. Dr. Stone retired in 1974, at the age of 84, and appointed his student Pierre Pannetier the task of continuing Polarity Therapy in America. He then moved to Beas, Punjab, India where he lived in a meditation community, Radha Soami Satsang Beas, and offered free services in a public clinic, assisting approximately 9000 satsangis to meditate through clean diet and a special system of balanced yoga postures. He gradually withdrew from public life, eventually passing on peacefully in 1981-December at age 91, of natural causes.

posted February 28, 2008 08:33 AM         

I hope you'll be able to get some benefit from this interesting treatment- do let us know how it goes?