The whole constitution of man must be taken into consideration, not merely the treating of the body as a chemical or mechanical machine.
-Dr. Randolph Stone
Integrating Physical, Psychological & Spiritual Wellbeing
Polarity Therapy Practitioners utilize their hands, attentive listening, and wisdom to create a heartfelt and sacred space, providing support on your healing journey. This complementary health modality helps a person:
Reconnect with Self and Vitality: Polarity Therapy facilitates a deep reconnection with oneself, reigniting the innate vitality within and fostering a renewed connection with life itself.
Resolve Pain, Stress & Trauma: Polarity Therapy addresses both physical and emotional pain, stress, and trauma. It provides effective techniques to release tension, restore balance, and promote healing in the body and mind.
Nurture Natural Health: By working with the body's energy and promoting energetic balance, Polarity Therapy supports the cultivation and maintenance of natural health. It helps individuals tap into their own inherent healing potential and establish a state of well-being.
There are four main “pillars” of Polarity Therapy which are used in clinical work to support an individual’s natural health:
Physical Treatments: A pressure point technique where the hands of the practitioner are placed on particular reflex points of the client to help stimulate the flow and balance of energy in the body.
Energetics of Food: both cleansing and health-building diets are recommended to help the digestion and metabolism to work efficiently and thoroughly.
Exercise: Regular exercise is an important aspect of a healthy body. Polarity Therapy includes a special series of energy balancing exercises the practitioner may teach to clients to apply to themselves; any other form of regular exercise such as yoga, walking, and cycling are also recommended, as long as the individual enjoys the activity.
Mental Attitude: The most intangible, and perhaps the most important aspect to health is the effect that the mind has on the body. Mental attitude has a strong effect on the flow of body energy and on the overall health of the person. The practitioner provides supportive communication and inquiry to assist the client in becoming more aware of themselves, and to support a greater flow and balance of energy.
Who Developed Polarity Therapy?
Polarity Therapy was developed by an American Osteopathic physician, Dr. Randolph Stone (1890-1981). Dr. Stone was a student of spiritual and mystic texts from Hebrew as well as Indian traditions. In his search for the root cause of pain and disease in the body, he was attracted to the concept of the flow of energy written about in these ancient texts.
The concepts Dr. Stone used were ancient, but he attempted to put these ideas from the East into a context that could be absorbed by a Western audience. He used techniques from the Osteopathic tradition together with Whole-Body Reflex points to release energy blockage and pain from the body.
He formulated Polarity Therapy through sixty years of successful clinical practice in the Chicago area, and research into energy healing that took him around the world many times.
Throughout his career, Dr. Stone dedicated himself to teaching and sharing his knowledge. He authored several influential books, which are collected in two volumes Polarity Therapy Vol 1 & 2, as well as Health Building.
Today, Polarity Therapy is practiced by professionals worldwide and continues to evolve as a respected modality within the field of complementary and alternative healing. It is valued for its holistic approach, incorporating physical, emotional, mental, and energetic aspects of well-being.
Dr. Randolph Stone's contributions to Polarity Therapy have left a lasting impact on the field, and his teachings have inspired generations of practitioners to explore the healing potential of balancing and harmonizing the body's energy systems.
In Polarity Therapy, he found a bridge between East and West, and between the health philosophy of the ancients and contemporary science (i.e. quantum physics).
Dr Stone’s methods have been adapted into a system of touch that encourages natural health; it is not a version of massage or physical therapy. It is focused on encouraging one’s natural vitality (known as chi or prana in Eastern practices) via gentle non-invasive touch along with the practitoner’s awareness and presence.
Why is it called ‘Polarity’?
Life Energy moves in definite patterns. Whirling energy emanates from centers of concentration and moves outward from these centers in much the same way as the sun is the center of the solar system or as a battery sends electric currents outward. In any energy system, including the human body, this movement of energy creates an interplay of positive, negative and neutral forces.
Dr Stone describes this process of energy moving outwards from its center to its circumference and explains that if the center is not to become depleted, the energy must then flow back to the center. The movement back and forth is caused by opposite charges— i.e. positive and negative poles — causing attraction and repulsion, or polarity.
Understanding this energy flow between the body’s negative and positive poles is the key to unlocking energy blockages in the body and encouraging health. A harmonious balance and flow of energy is the goal of Polarity Therapy.
A Polarity Practitioner understands energetic anatomy and makes contact with certain areas to stimulate or inhibit energy flow, to bring it into a state of balance. The client tends to experience a sense of well-being, and deeper connection to their inherent health. Problems on physical, mental and emotional levels have an opportunity to resolve themselves as the life force is liberated and re-balanced.
Chakras & Five Element Theory
There are many patterns of energy flow in Polarity, but the basic pattern, or the core-pattern, describes the relationship of consciousness to physical form. Energy enters the body through the third-eye center and then splits into two separate ‘rivers.’ In Yoga, these are called Nadis, specifically the Ida and Pingala
In Polarity the energy on the right side of the body is positively charged while the energy on the left side is negatively charged. As the two rivers flow down the body, they cross and re-cross each other over each body cavity. As they cross, they create a spark of energy or a whirling vortex which is called a ‘Chakra’.
There is a Chakra at:
the throat centre
over the heart and lungs in the chest
over the solar plexus in the abdomen
over the genitals in the pelvis
over the rectum
These five Chakras relate to the five primordial elements of:
ether
air
fire
water
earth
Polarity describes how everything on this physical plane, including the physical body, is created from the five elements. Although the elements are spread throughout the body, they each have a concentration in one of these five Chakras.
There are two additional chakras at the third eye and the crown, which pertain more to spiritual development than physical wellbeing.
Why Should You Try Polarity?
People come to a Polarity Practitioner for all sorts of reasons.
Stress Management: Clients often experience deep relief from stress through the treatments, and gain perspective on themselves and their lives. Many report that it helps them move forward toward their goals with less pressure, and greater ease.
Self-Care: Others come to see a Practitioner because they want to learn more about their energy in order to take better care of themselves, for example to lose weight or start a health regimen. For persons in relatively good health, it also acts as preventative care — a chance to check in and get a tune-up of the energy system.
Pain, Illness or Injury: Others might come because they have pain, illness or injury; they want to encourage their body’s own natural capacity to heal itself. Maybe they are already working with a doctor or physical therapist but want to get support from a more holistic perspective as well.
Personal Transformation & Trauma Healing: Others are looking for a change in their life. They are in a process of transformation. Maybe they are healing from trauma from the recent or distant past. They might be working with a psychotherapist who is addressing the mental-emotional factors, but they understand the body is involved too, and want support from the “bottom up” (working with the body‘s influence on the mind) as well as the “top down” (working with mind’s influence on the body). As an integrative practice, Polarity Therapy supports all levels of health—in body, mind and spirit.
Info cited from polaritytherapy.com
“I underestimated how hard it would be adjusting to life after divorce, but with Emily’s help, I was able to regain focus.”
— OLIVIA R., BREATHE. CLIENT
