Clients

Your Body Remembers Everything

There have been books and articles in the news over the past few years about how the body keeps track of everything that happens in our lives, especially difficult or traumatic events. You or someone you know may experience lingering pain from injuries in which the tissues involved healed long ago. Sometimes, there is no discernible damage, but there is persistent pain. Many clients describe having worked through traumatic events in psychotherapy yet still feeling the event stuck in their body.  In Zero Balancing, the mechanism through which the body remembers these experiences is tissue held memory. 

A few months ago, an area of my back got stuck in a very painful way. As my Physical Therapist was working in that area, I remembered a fall that happened 40 years ago. The chair I was standing on tipped and I fell backwards, hitting the middle of my spine on the back of the chair. Luckily, the chair broke. I recovered quickly and only thought of it occasionally in the following years. Quite likely, the fall was how that part of my back got stuck in the first place. The pain caused me to seek help, which ultimately healed the old injury. And also released the remembrance of the experience, including how frightened I felt when it happened. A perfect example of tissue held memory.  

What is tissue held memory? How does tissue hold memory? In the Zero Balancing paradigm, the memory or its vibratory form, AKA energy, gets stuck in bone, AKA structure. Read more about structure and energy here. In my case, the force, or energy, of my back hitting the chair was absorbed by my structure, my vertebrae and ribs. As was my emotional response, which was also energy. My tissues held that memory until it was released by the bodywork I received. Usually these occurrences, the release of tissue held memory and healing of an old injury, are happy accidents in Physical Therapy. In contrast, a primary goal of a Zero Balancing session is to find and release stuck energy.  

Zero Balancing practitioners seek stuck energy in bone. Another word for energy is vibration. Vibration is a particularly good descriptor because vibration can be felt through touch. It makes energy palpable and accessible. 

When you receive a Zero Balancing session, your practitioner is looking for where your energy has gotten stuck in your bones. Through training, they learn the signature feeling of stuck vibration and the gentle technique that invites your energy to free up and move. Your body is deciding how much to release at every step. The practitioner may touch an area of held energy and nothing will change. Another area, perhaps a small change. Another one, a larger change. The innate wisdom of your body is calling the shots. That’s the reason the energy from my fall was still stuck, even after 30 years of receiving ZB sessions. The instinctive intelligence of my body chose when, where, and what to release. It’s part of what makes Zero Balancing so safe. To quote the founder, Dr. Fritz Smith, “The practitioner gives the session. Nature gives the experience.” 

Sometimes the content of the tissue held memory is revealed. Sometimes not. It’s not necessary or necessarily important. When stuck energy in bone is released, healing occurs. 

Clients

Zero Balancing Helps Every Part of You

People seek Zero Balancing (ZB) sessions for many reasons. Because I am a Physical Therapist, the issue that usually brings people to my office is pain. Sometimes it’s physical pain. Sometimes it’s emotional pain. Often, it’s pain they have suffered for a long time, such as an injury from a car accident that never seemed to heal or the aftermath of a traumatic event. Regardless of the initial reason for coming, they find multiple facets of life improve after a series of ZB sessions. While it’s the pain that brings them through the door to my office, every ZB session helps every part of them.

What is meant by “every part of you?” Exactly what it says. All of you. Your body, your emotions, your mind, your spirit. You are so much more than your physical body. When you awaken in the morning and determine how you are feeling, you certainly scan your body. And likely you have some attention on other aspects of yourself, like how energized you feel, how happy or sad, whether you are looking forward to the day or dreading it. In the Zero Balancing world, you are assessing your structure and energy. 

Structure is everything in the body that can be seen, such as bones, muscles, skin, blood, even our cells. If it can be seen, it’s structure. Energy is everything in the body that is unseen, such as the motion of our organs, our thoughts, ideas, emotions, beliefs, consciousness. Try to think of a part of you that isn’t either structure or energy. Don’t be surprised if you can’t. I can’t either. In short, all of you is either structure or energy. 

Structure is what we usually think of when we think of our bodies. Bones, muscles, joints, organs can be seen with our own eyes or through an Xray or MRI. When we go to the doctor or Physical Therapist, this is what we report on and receive care for. The unseen, our energy, might be a bit more challenging. Yet we are all familiar with aspects of our inner world. We talk about having lots of or not enough energy. We are aware of feelings of happiness, sadness, frustration, anger or stress. We have ideas, hopes and dreams. We have beliefs, either conscious or unconscious, such as “the world is a safe place,” “the world is an unsafe place,” “I’m ok,” “I’m not ok.” Although unseen, these are foundational aspects of who we are. 

Zero Balancing helps all of you because it works directly with your structure and your energy through touch. Zero Balancing practitioners are trained to touch your structure and energy simultaneously and consciously. While certainly any touch, like massage, physical therapy or even a handshake, is touching energy, it is the conscious attention that makes Zero Balancing unique. In a ZB session, the practitioner uses mindful, skilled, respectful, and safe touch to seek and balance stuck energy in your structure, specifically in your bones. 

The result is a healing session that acknowledges, engages, and accepts every part of you. 

The beauty in this approach is that you don’t have to know all or any of the parts of you that need healing, although awareness has its own rewards. All you need to do is to lie on the Zero Balancing table, relax and enjoy yourself as every part of you is helped. 

Practitioners

The Power of Expanded Consciousness

What comes to mind with the words Expanded Consciousness? We’ve all experienced it to some degree both receiving and giving a Zero Balancing session. There’s that signature feeling in your body that tells you you’re expanded. You might notice it when you’re on the table or in a different way as you give the first Half Moon Vector. Have you noticed how your client’s eyes sparkle after receiving a ZB? If you check a mirror, you’ll likely see your eyes are sparkling too. I call it  “ZB eyes.” You both are in expanded states of consciousness.

Healing happens faster in expanded consciousness. Think about what the word “expanded” means. It connotes something larger than what was there before. In ZB, the client’s experience of themselves quite literally expands. Self-concept and beliefs become less concretized. They let go of identification with aspects of their present or past experience. Who they think they are is less well held so who they truly are can surface. 

To facilitate expansion, we practitioners create and hold a sheltered and protected space so the client can drop the need to scan their environment for threat. They can stop monitoring the external and tune in to the internal. Several ZB principles make this possible. Interface, High Regard and Donkey Touch play a large role in creating safety. Our touch is so connected and so safe. The instinctive part of the client, their donkey, feels this and knows they can focus elsewhere. 

We talk about hedonic touch as a means of inducing an expanded state. When something hurts good, the body has an experience of opposites and the mind can’t make sense of it. Which sensation should receive attention? Pleasure? Pain? Expansion begins and the receiver enters a realm that is both more deeply themselves and beyond themselves. 

How do we know our client is expanded? One common sign is their head tilts slightly off midline. Have you ever seen this happen right after a fulcrum? It’s important to notice. They are deeply processing yet still present. If you check in and ask how they are doing, they respond quickly, though not always verbally. 

We practitioners become expanded as well. The process of learning to give ZB sessions is, in part, learning to function while in expanded consciousness. We are expanded yet not lying on the table. Our sensory experience broadens. We may see things without our eyes, hear without our ears, feel more deeply into the client’s experience. The deeper our sensory experience, the more important it becomes for us to remain grounded and stable. Someone needs to steer the ship. We have the responsibility of giving the session, monitoring our client and maintaining a safe space. 

I gave a session recently in which the client declined to frame, asking to go immediately to the table. After the first hip fulcrum, I saw their head tilt slightly off midline to the left. Expanded consciousness…check. The first thing they said when they stood up after the session was “I have a right to be here.” Their posture, demeanor, and voice quality all embodied this new reality. The core belief of being undeserving of life, that aligned with their troubled history yet had never been verbalized, had transformed during the session and had come to the forefront of their awareness. 

Expanded consciousness is a gateway for embodying one’s authentic self. In the safe and sacred container of your treatment space, the client can begin to experience their true nature. Healing can happen at the deepest levels. This is the power of expanded consciousness.

Practitioners

What does it mean to “put a fulcrum” into something?

What does it mean to “put a fulcrum” into something? Have you heard this phrase before? I’ve been wondering about it quite a lot recently. In Geometry of Healing, when working with a Free Standing Waveform, one of the options is to put a fulcrum into it. What does this mean? What exactly are we doing when we put a fulcrum into something? I understand the action one might use, but what is it we are actually doing? Let’s have a cup of tea or glass of wine and ponder it together.

We put a fulcrum into a Free Standing Waveform (FSW) by adding a vector, such as more pressure or engagement or a change of angle. We observe and watch for something to change and often it does. Or perhaps an image arises during a ZB session and it feels right to put a fulcrum into that. The action seems clear. We change something about our touch or pressure and that creates a fulcrum. What I’m wondering about is the vibrational aspect of our actions. 

Is putting a fulcrum into the field the same as putting a fulcrum into bone? We know that we create a fulcrum by finding held energy and engaging it by adding pressure. We hold still and the receiver’s body responds by beginning to reorganize around our stillness. What if we are working in the background energy field? Our actions may be the same. When working with FSWs we look for a density in the background energy field. Once found, we can put in a fulcrum by increasing our pressure slightly to engage the density. The action seems the same as what we do when we put a fulcrum into a rib. Can we apply the same reasoning to explain how it works? 

What is the role of attention when putting a fulcrum into something? I had an experience with a client who had suffered with daily headaches for a year. While creating an ice cream scoop fulcrum, the source of their headaches showed up. I had a finger on one of their tarsals and felt, clear as day, that the vibration of their headaches was right there under my finger. What to do? I put a fulcrum into their headaches. Of course I was also putting a fulcrum into their tarsal bone but my focus was on their headaches. I was blessed to have confirmation of my experience when immediately following the fulcrum, they said, “My headache just went away.” And their headaches didn’t come back. What happened? Why did it work? If my attention was just on their tarsal bone, would it have produced the same results? Was it my attention to their headaches that created the fulcrum? If so, how?

What about life off the ZB table? Have you experienced a change in your life as receiving a fulcrum? For example, receiving news of a change, such as an illness or loss, or new job or new baby? Is that a fulcrum? If yes, what made it a fulcrum?

What about a change you have chosen? If you choose to move to a new city, have you put a fulcrum into your own life?

Can you consciously decide to put a fulcrum into your life? For example, initiating a conversation that changes a relationship with the awareness you are putting in a fulcrum. If yes, how did what made your words or actions a fulcrum? 

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you figure out!

Practitioners

 The Effect of Fun on the Vibratory Field

Here’s a thought for you. Recall the last time you had a lot of fun. I hope it was today! Did you notice how your body felt afterwards? I’ve noticed a definite shift in my internal field after really having fun. The manner in which I enjoy myself may vary, yet there’s a characteristic quality to the way I feel inside that is present along with the other sensations that go with a meal enjoyed with friends or a walk by the sea. Have you experienced something similar? The question I have is: was it having fun that changed the field? If so, how? Let’s wonder about this together over a glass of wine or a cup of tea.

I first noticed this phenomenon many years ago after an evening at the theater seeing Monty Python’s Spamalot. It was a work night. I had dragged myself down into San Francisco in rush hour traffic after completing eight hours of Physical Therapy with home care patients and the mountain of accompanying paperwork. I was tired, a little cranky, and didn’t feel much like going. Yet as I left the theater, I noticed my body felt as if I’d had a two week vacation. The size of the change surprised me and really got my attention. The show was clever and funny and lots of fun. How was that experience enough to rejuvenate me as deeply as it did?   

In another example, I spent an evening with a good friend having dinner at an amazing restaurant, enjoying incredible food and wine and wonderful conversation. It was a different kind of fun. Yet there was a quality to how I felt afterwards that was similar to what I experienced after Spamalot. 

Each experience involved stimulation of different senses in ways that felt good. Yet there was an additional aspect that felt the same in both. For our conversation, I’m labeling that added characteristic FUN. 

This makes me wonder about fun and whether fun all by itself can change the field. Have you noticed anything similar? If you haven’t and feel curious about it, try observing how you feel after a variety of fun experiences. Is there a signature feeling of fun that is distinct from the other sensations involved in the activity? 

Is feeling good the same as having fun? Is there a vibrational difference? Can you feel good without having fun? Can you have fun without feeling good? 

We might all agree that if fun changes the vibratory field the change is positive. What is it about the change that makes it positive? 

If we are talking about a change in the field, is it possible to design a fun fulcrum? A fulcrum that invites the vibration of fun into the field? 

If we future pace ourselves to have fun, does this change the field even before the activity? I recall spending time with a beloved aunt who often said, “Let’s have some fun!” before starting out for an activity. I remember how my body felt, anticipating the fun we were going to have. I was already having fun! Was what she said a verbal fulcrum? 

What might happen if you put fun into your frame for a Zero Balancing session or a ZB class? 

What might happen if you put fun into your frame for 2024? 

Thanks for reading! I hope you had fun!

Practitioners

Zero Balancing: Holistic, Non-diagnostic Therapeutic Bodywork.

In keeping with the theme of this newsletter, this article will inform you about how a holistic, non-diagnostic therapeutic bodywork like Zero Balancing (ZB) can help if your pain has complex causes. Holistic means the whole person is considered, including their current life and past history. There may be multiple causes for pain and while those causes may include structural issues, other potential causes are also recognized, including stress, past medical and emotional history, personal beliefs, and personality traits to name a few. Non-diagnostic means the cause of the pain takes a back seat to the whole of the person. The treatment session is not determined by a structural diagnosis.

This is a very non-western concept. We are accustomed to and expect a structural cause for our pain, like a muscle strain or arthritis. Yet pain is often more complex and due to a multitude of factors. Because ZB addresses the whole person, the specifics are accounted for without  needing to be identified. 

The whole of the person is considered in this way. Zero Balancing balances structure and energy. Structure is everything in us that can be seen, such as bones, muscles, organs and joints. Energy is everything that cannot be seen, including stress, memories, experiences past and present, thoughts, beliefs, consciousness. Can you think of any part of a person that is not either structure or energy? Neither can I. Structure or energy accounts for every aspect. 

The Zero Balancing practitioner works with both our structural body and our energetic body at the same time, thus honoring the whole person. They seek those places where energy has gotten stuck, particularly the energy in our bones. Bone is the densest structure in the body and conducts the deepest currents. Bone energy is our core. 

Pain due to complex causes is thus addressed at a core level, reduced to its components of energy and structure. Zero Balancing helps If the source of the pain is an imbalance between energy and structure. In over thirty years of Zero Balancing, I’ve yet to find an instance where a structure/energy imbalance was not contributing to the problem to some degree. 

Here’s an example: I had a client referred to me for calf pain 6 months after tripping on the sidewalk. They had seen an orthopedic doctor who could find nothing wrong. I performed a thorough evaluation and found nothing either. There were no structural problems. The muscle was healthy, flexible and strong. There was no referred or radiating pain from a nerve problem. The knee and ankle joints were healthy and flexible. Their pain was real yet had no structural cause. There was no diagnosis. 

I used Zero Balancing and after a month or so the calf pain was gone. In the absence of a diagnosis, bringing their energy and structure into better balance did the trick. In fact, because of this success, they continued to come for ZB sessions. They’d had chronic pain in other areas of their body for years and had sought relief by restricting activity so much they rarely left their house. Some pain had been diagnosed with structural or emotional causes and some had not. Zero Balancing was an ideal tool to help. We did not need to know or understand the causes. As their energy and structure was brought into better balance, their life changed remarkably. The pain improved but did not go away completely. However, their relationship with the pain changed significantly. Avoidance of pain no longer controlled their decisions. They were able to expand their activities and live a larger and more fulfilling life. The effect of receiving holistic treatment was their whole life improved. 

Clients

What is Causing Your Pain? Part 2

In the Autumn newsletter, we looked at the western or reductionist method of treating pain. You can read the article here. We learned how this approach can work very well for pain where specific causes can be identified and treated. For example, arthritic hip pain can be completely alleviated with a total hip replacement because the arthritic joint surfaces are removed. Once the surgery has fully healed, the pain is gone. Unfortunately, this approach can fall short if the causes of pain are complex.

Thirty-five years ago, shortly after graduating PT school, I had a patient who suffered from back pain. I will call her “Joanie” (not her real name). She told me her pain had started on her wedding night. As we worked together over several sessions, she shared that it was her husband’s second marriage. He had four adult children. One was incarcerated, one was drug addicted, and the other two had additional challenging problems. When her back hurt, she went into her bedroom, closed the door, and lay down for a few hours. 

Even as a newly graduated P.T., I could see that her back pain might be serving a purpose. It gave her permission to withdraw from a chaotic  and distressing situation. My heart sank as I realized that treating the structural problems of muscle spasm and weak abdominals might not be enough. This turned out to be true. Although her muscles improved, her pain did not. Because the structural issues were only a part of the problem, physical therapy only partially helped. 

The idea that pain can serve a useful purpose may sound a bit crazy. Who would want to remain in pain? The answer is no one. For “Joanie”, perhaps having back pain was less onerous than living in her current home situation. I couldn’t know. What I could know was that there were many complex factors influencing her pain that might affect the success of my treatment intervention. The physical issues with her back did not tell the whole story. 

When we hurt, we want answers. More than answers, we want relief. It can be frustrating when those answers aren’t clear. If your back hurts and the MRI says your back is fine, you may feel depressed instead of relieved. In actuality, a normal MRI is a blessing! Yet you don’t have an answer for your pain and the prospect of continued pain is a depressing one. 

The value of understanding that pain can be due to multiple causes as well as structural issues is that it can broaden the scope of where you seek assistance and the types of interventions that may improve your pain. And it can also explain why some interventions don’t help or don’t help enough. 

It’s common to feel some resistance to pain being caused by factors beyond the physical. The idea may feel invalidating, as though the reality of your experience is being doubted. Resistance may create an obstacle that blocks your expanding understanding of yourself and what you may be experiencing. Yet seeking causality in every part of yourself corroborates what we know to be true; that we are all complex and unique, and every part of us deserves attention and good care.

A holistic, non-diagnostic modality like Zero Balancing can be very useful in this type of situation. Read the next article for more information. Click Here

Practitioners

The Power of Donkey Touch

You’ve likely heard these words many times: touching structure and energy simultaneously and consciously. This is the definition of Donkey Touch. It is fundamental in Zero Balancing and differentiates Zero Balancing touch from that used in other types of bodywork. It is one of the most powerful principles in ZB. Can you think of any part of a human being that isn’t either energy or structure? I can’t. So using Donkey Touch automatically connects you with every aspect of your client.

It’s easy to confuse Donkey Touch and Interface. So let’s clarify right here at the beginning of our discussion. Interface is boundary. Knowing where you stop and your client starts. It’s the fence that differentiates your property from your neighbor’s. It’s easy to see why Interface is important when using Donkey Touch. If you are touching every aspect of your client, it’s of paramount importance to know what is yours and what is theirs. 

As we learn Zero Balancing, there are lots of things that demand our attention. Learning the protocol, where to place our bodies and hands, taking out looseness, building and holding fields, clean, clear disconnect. When we progress to the advanced classes there is even more wonderful territory to explore and master. While Donkey Touch is not forgotten, our focus may be on our horizon, filled with the new and exciting things we are learning. This is natural. And returning your focus to the simplicity of Donkey Touch will amplify the effectiveness of every fulcrum, whether Core ZB or advanced.  

An experience that taught me the power of Donkey Touch occurred early in my Zero Balancing training, although I didn’t realize it at the time. It wasn’t until years after becoming a teacher that I recognized the value of the experience I’d had. I was working as a Physical Therapist in a nursing home and was asked to help with a severely mentally and physically disabled young woman who needed casts made in order to fabricate new braces for her ankles and feet. The orthotist making the braces was unable to apply the casting material because she was kicking her feet up and down nonstop. I was asked to help keep her still. This was an impossible task. She did not understand language so words were ineffective. I was unwilling to physically restrain her as it was disrespectful and not the way I would treat anyone. I didn’t know what to do. The only thing I could come up with was to try Donkey Touch. I’d only had ZB I at the time so had very little confidence I’d be able to use it effectively. But since I had no other ideas, I gave it a shot. I stood behind her wheelchair and placed my hands on both upper trapezius muscles. To the best of my newbie ability, I touched her energy and structure. She stopped kicking and started weaving her upper body from side to side. Her caregiver said, “What are you doing? That’s what she does when she’s happy.” I followed her as she moved and, as best I could, stayed connected with her energy and structure. It was enough. Her feet remained still and the orthotist was able to complete the casts for her braces. Mission accomplished. 

If the use of Donkey Touch by a new student of ZB can quiet an agitated young woman, imagine what it can do combined with the fulcrums in the protocol and all the other ZB principles? This is the power of Donkey Touch. 

Clients

Feel How Good It Feels To Feel Good

It’s easy to forget how good you can feel, isn’t it? Wouldn’t you like to feel good every day? Do you think it’s possible? Have you decided the way you feel is good enough? Think about your daily experience. Perhaps you have some aches and pains, but you’re ok. Would you like to feel better than ok? Don’t settle. Read on for a simple way to amplify feeling good.

I think many of us settle for feeling ok rather than feeling good. Perhaps we are just too busy with the day-to-day to even think about these things. As long as something doesn’t hurt enough to stop us, we keep barreling ahead. Or perhaps we believe that feeling good or even great isn’t possible. 

I recall a time as a teenager when my severe menstrual cramps finally let up after hours of pain. When I think of it, I can still feel how great my body felt. The relief seemed to spread through all of me and I felt so good. It was more than the absence of pain. There was a presence of feeling good. And remembering it now actually recreates the good feeling in my body that I had so many years ago. 

How can that be? One way to explain this phenomenon is through the lens of Zero Balancing (ZB). In the ZB world view, everything we experience is vibratory in nature. Thoughts and experiences are held in our tissues as vibration. Vibration can be amplified by attention. Think about the last time you experienced pleasure, something particularly delicious to eat for example. If you closed your eyes and focused your attention on the taste, it tasted even better. Your increased attention amplified the vibration of enjoyment.  

I remember feeling how good it felt to be without those awful cramps and how much I enjoyed the feeling of being pain free. Without knowing it, my attention amplified the vibration of feeling good and it’s still accessible to me all these years later.  

That’s the trick. Simply feel how good it feels to feel good and watch what happens. 

You can practice this phenomenon by noticing and then focusing on a good feeling while it is happening. 

For example, how does it feel when you feel good physically? The next time you have a good workout or a particularly satisfying meal, focus on how good the sensation feels.  

How does it feel when you feel good emotionally? Think back to a time when you felt worried or sad. How did you feel when the situation was resolved? The next time you experience worry changing to relief or being comforted in your sadness, dive into how it feels. 

How does it feel when you feel good mentally? Perhaps your mind has let go of the thoughts that usually chase each other around in your head. Perhaps your mind is engaged in a pleasurable work activity or a creative endeavor. When you next have a creative insight or a moment of quiet in your mind, really feel how good that feels. 

How does it feel when you feel good spiritually? Have you ever experienced a sense of serenity or peace? This may happen while meditating or praying. It may happen when viewing a sunset or walking in nature. Notice the next time it happens and focus on how good it feels. 

By bringing your attention to feeling good, you intensify and anchor that vibrational pattern in your body. You can improve your life by feeling how good it feels to feel good. Try it and s

Practitioners

The Power of Foundation Joints

We are introduced to foundation joints in Zero Balancing I. We might review this information in ZB II, and often that’s the last time we think about them. Yet foundation joints, these hidden places in the body, can account for some of the common and remarkable changes we see after a Zero Balancing session. 

As we all know, there are foundation joints throughout the body, including the sacroiliac joint, the joints between the tarsal bones, the pubic symphysis and the sutures that join the cranial bones. These joints have properties that set them apart from freely moveable joints like the elbow or knee. They have a small or minute range of motion and no voluntary motion. The sacroiliac joint, for example, has a range of motion of about three or four degrees. The loss of one degree can equate to losing 25 to 35 percent of the function. In addition, it’s not possible to move your sacrum independently from your pelvic bones. The body cannot self-correct and instead tends to compensate around the loss. This compensation can have far-reaching consequences throughout the whole person. 

The power is in the restoration of that small loss in range of motion. Using the example of the sacroiliac joint, a gain of one degree of motion can result in a 25-35 percent improvement in function. 

Bringing foundation joints forward in your awareness can be helpful when describing Zero Balancing to a curious listener. While their donkey is likely driving their curiosity, the questions often arise from their rider. Many people think of structure when they think of their bodies. A simple description of the power of working with foundation joints can give their rider something to grab on to. 

It’s interesting to think about how foundation joints function in the transmission of energy or force. When I’m describing Zero Balancing to someone whose world view may not include energy, like some Western trained healthcare practitioners, being able to refer to ground reaction forces is a good way to guide the listener across the bridge to conceptualizing energy. Force is energy. For example, when the foot hits the ground, the ground hits back. The force generated as the heel strikes the ground during walking is equaled by the ground reaction forces. One key area for mitigating these forces is the tarsal joints, an area we know to be rich in foundation joints. Mobility in the tarsal joints is critically important for the foot to be able to absorb some of the ground reaction force as well as adapt to the unevenness of the ground. Adapting to the unevenness of the ground helps us to keep our balance.

When we evaluate the tarsals in Zero Balancing, one thing we can look for is mobility. In ZB, the mobility, or lack thereof, informs us about the balance of structure and energy. If tarsal motion is restricted, the energy cannot move freely through the foot. The ground reaction forces are not dispersed well. The foot is less adaptable to the uneven surfaces beneath it. The person is less connected to the ground, less connected between heaven and earth. 

When we balance the foundation joints in the foot with a few fulcrums, that one or two degree loss in motion can be reestablished and the much larger loss in function can be restored. There is more mobility, improved ability to adapt to the ground, enhanced connection to the earth. One client commented after her first ZB, “For the first time in my life I actually feel grounded! I feel it in my body.” This wonderful outcome demonstrates the power of foundation joints.