Broadly speaking, there are two phases of relaxation.

The first involves relaxing whole-body tensions. This is where the body transforms from readiness-for-movement to beginning-relaxation. The body begins to separate into functional units, but postural changes cannot occur yet. This first phase is the goal in a Massage with me. We may need to re-establish this phase at the beginning of a Neurosomatic Therapy session, but if it takes more than 1/2 of the session, we probably aren’t going to achieve any real postural changes.

The second involves relaxing how the muscles grip the skeleton. This is what I am aiming to achieve during an NST session – fundamental changes to how the skeleton is reflexively held in the fascial web have occurred. They may come back if the client lives in too much whole-body tensions and is too active. If the client is doing the basics of incorporating relaxation into their day and/or targeted stretching/moving, then the fundamental changes should maintain and spread throughout the body, relaxation compensatory patterns.