Yves Bligny - Bioharmonic Self-Massage: How to Harmonize Your Mental, Emotional, and Physical Energies

I dedicate this book to my father, to the grandfathers I never knew, to the men of my family line, most particularly those who were discreet, too discreet!

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

F irst and foremost I would like to gratefully thank ditions Jouvence, and Jacques Maire in particular, for the confidence they have placed in me by providing this opportunity to share my ideas.

My personal and professional journey has crossed paths with many different people who have helped me expand and perfect my still evolving understanding.

My thoughts turn to the many individuals who have consulted me about their health problems. These encounters have always been a rich and challenging source of personal development.

My thoughts also turn prominently to the masseur and kinesiotherapist Georges Courchinoux. Our professional exchanges over the last fifteen years have improved and enhanced my work considerably, and I would like to acknowledge here my deep gratitude to him.

I would also like to thank all the teachers and researchers whose lectures and conferences Ive attended, and whose books I have read, especially those who have most deeply marked and influenced me:

• Gerda Alexander, creator of Eutonie, who unstintingly gave me her support for the four years I was her neighbor. Her research, which should be better known, is still a great source of inspiration for me.
• Jean Emile Charon, Johann Soulas, Gerda Boyesen, and Marie Lise Labont, all highly talented teachers and researchers.
• Dr. Ryke Geerd Hamer and all the other pioneers who upset popular wisdom and challenged hidebound beliefs, often at the price of their own lives or freedom.
• Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, both of whom were exceptional beings. The thirteen volumes of The Mothers Agenda are always a source of contemplation and inspiration for me.

I cannot overlook my wife, a flawless mirror, who was constant in her support and assistance to me during the long period spent writing this book.

I would also like to give a quick nod to my brother Pat for his encouragement, and an even longer one to my mother.

My thanks to Mathias Plessis and to my daughter Lora for the photos, as well as to Franoise Morninire for her invaluable advice concerning the writing of this book.

Thanks to Claire just for being herself.

In closing, I would like to thank that one thing without which nothing would exist and for which with every passing day my admiration and respect grow larger: life.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1.

Chapter 2.

Chapter 3.

Chapter 4.

Chapter 5.

Chapter 6.

Chapter 7.

Chapter 8.

Chapter 9.

Chapter 10.

Chapter 11.

Chapter 12.

Appendix I.

Appendix II.

Appendix III.

Appendix IV.

INTRODUCTION

A short excursion... for the purpose of finding yourself, through the path offered by your own body.

How Ive Advanced on This Path

I have long regarded the body as a source of health and balance. Many extraordinary meetings have marked out the path of my personal and professional development, meetings that allowed me to experience the various dimensions of the body more deeply, to encounter other ways of living, and to increase my understanding of the fundamental oneness of being.

Through my practice and education, I have continued to deepen this insight and the research it has generated on the synergy between the body, emotions, thoughts, energy, consciousness, and brain.

My interests led to my initiation into a variety of therapeutic approaches, each of which shed new light and offered me a new landscape, although there was none to which I could commit myself fully. One person says red, another says black, while yet another says white. As you can see, it is hard not to go astray in this terrain. Who can you trust? How can you find your way when you are not a professional?

Diversifying your approaches can cause you to scatter your energies unproductively as a kind of jack-of-all-trades, without any conductive thread. On the other hand, if you regard these approaches as different but complementary points of view and levels of one same reality, they can provide the optimum conditions for achieving the kind of open mind that inspires humility and great hope. These varied approaches make it possible to solidly plant your own practice in such a way that it can work synergistically with others.

Over time I realized that all the various trainings Id received were like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that were falling into place, a puzzle whose end result remained a mystery to me but which was taking on a more definite form with the addition of each piece. Bioharmony was born of these various practices and my researchwhich is not to say that it is simply a synthesis of a lot of other approaches! It feeds on different domains of consciousness (particularly the neurosciences, quantum physics, and complex relativity), and it is inspired by the work of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo on the awakening of consciousness in matter.

The Approach

Bioharmony is an approach to holistic health and self-realization through the awakening of the bodys consciousness and its natural potential to harmonize and free energy by releasing tensions and emotional memories. This bioharmonic approach offers us the opportunity to open our bodies to the life (in its sensorial, emotional, energetic, and memorial aspects) that is indwelling. A person on this path has no foes to battle and no adversaries to counter (no boundaries, resistances, or stiffness), just wonderful things to rediscover.

The emphasis here is on going deep within and learning to be receptive to sensations and feelings as catalysts for the bodys bioharmonic potentials. This approach is supported by such practices as conscious-touch self-massage, different kinds of movements, nonverbal communication, corporeal expression, postures, stretches, and so forth.

This book offers an original and unprecedented way of performing self-massage with the help of balls, rollers, tubes, and different-sized rods or wands. As the result of many years of experimentation and practical application, these massages offer several advantages:

• They allow you to make contact with all parts of your body. In self-massage dependent upon the hands, many areas are impossible to reach or can be touched only through acrobatic contortions that are incompatible with the correct execution of the movements.
• These massages can be performed without strenuous effort and without causing fatigue, thanks to the simple use of the different tools in combination with the bodys movements and its own weight.
• They make it easier for a person to remain in a state of openness and to simply let go.

These self-massages can be performed by anyone. They can easily be performed at home every day to soothe pain, release tension, decompress, get settled, empty the mind, relax the legs, balance energy, reduce stress levels, and stimulate awareness of the body and its sensations.

These techniques will be particularly valuable to healthcare professionals and to those leading physical education classes, gentle gymnastics classes, or relaxation groups. The work of all such people can be enriched with the addition of this simple and effective tool.

The practical part of this book offers many massage protocols for achieving more consistent balance of both mind and body, for staying healthy, and for relieving many problems of daily life. Every subject examined here is looked at from a theoretical, synthetic, and objective perspective. The exercises are explained in detail and accompanied by photos and illustrations so that they can be put into practice easily and correctly.