by Alvina Quatrano | Oct 1, 2017 | Resources
(As published in New Jersey Holistic magazine Winter 2002)
Process Acupressure can address many common physical symptoms including back problems, headaches, PMS, respiratory, digestive and systemic problems, as well as colds, flu, allergies and healing from injuries. Over 100 specific acupressure protocols have been developed to provide therapy for all parts of the body and many specific conditions. PA is especially helpful with stress-related conditions, including post-traumatic stress. It is not appropriate for severe medical problems or psychosis and does not replace medical care. Finger pressure is used to stimulate acupoints on the body’s surface. The pressure used in specific combinations helps to open and balance energy pathways that have been restricted. This helps to alleviate pain and various dysfunctions and brings greater harmony and function to all other systems in the body. Process Acupressure also helps promote better health and renewed energy by actively involving you in your own healing and growth processes. It teaches you to become more aware of your body and your “process”–that is, you particular history, style, and patterns of thinking, feeling, behavior, health, and illness. It teaches you how to respect and follow this process as your own unique path to health and growth. You will more readily recognize the subtle things you do to foster, or suppress the natural growth process. You can learn new ways to help yourself and how to change those patterns that are not working. Dr. Aminah Raheem developed the holistic method of Process Acupressure after more than 20 years of study in various psychologies and hands-on modalities, along with 35 years of spiritual practice. She was an adjunct faculty member of The Institute for Transpersonal Psychology for 10 years. She is a mother, Zero Balancing Teacher, Diplomate of Process Work, transpersonal psychologist, and author. She has taught Process Acupressure and integrative body psychology to both student and practitioners in the United States and throughout Europe. Dr. Raheem’s book, Soul Return: Integrating Body, Psyche, and Spirit, was one of the first to bring the soul into bodywork and psychology. Soul Return addresses the roles that the body and soul have in psychological development and transformation. It is a scientifically conducted, well-reasoned survey of the factors that affect health–from love and wisdom to soul purpose, enlightenment and service. PA grew out of Dr. Aminah Raheem’s search for ways to work with all parts of a person simultaneously. After investigating many bodywork styles, she chose traditional acupressure and combined it with the unique touch of Dr. Fritz Smith’s Zero Balancing, which addresses both energy and structure. The bodywork was then combined with various psycho spiritual process skills developed by Aminah, which included principles of Arnold Mindell’s Process Work. These principles and techniques in combination bring about a therapeutic approach that can elicit and fulfill the individual needs of the client. What happens during a PA treatment? Typically, a session takes from 1 to 1 1/2 hours. During this time you lie fully clothed on a massage table while the practitioner applies gentle pressure to your acupoints (the same as used in acupuncture). Normally the session has several phases: As a state of relaxation ensues, you may become aware of issues within your body and/or consciousness. As the session progresses, you may go into a deeper state of awareness, beneath surface tension, to access clarity or guidance about issues at hand. Finally, integration and completion of the process occur as the session is closed by chakra balancing and grounding.
by Alvina Quatrano | Sep 29, 2017 | Newsletter, Resources
September 2001: The World Trade Center had been demolished and living in New Jersey many people I knew were at the scene. Everyone in the world was shocked, numb, dumbfounded, grief-stricken. Triages were set up all over to relieve symptoms of shock and stress and grief. Many therapists of all kinds volunteered their time to help the wounded. My regular clients came to me like lost wounded souls and I felt like I needed more to offer. I asked my acupressure mentor to please come up with something. The acupressure teachers of Soul Lightening International (now Insight Acupressure) led by Aminah Raheem of Borrego Springs, California got together here on the east coast one day and created a new protocol to serve the world in relieving shock and stress. It is called SEVA. SEVA means service in Sanscrit and the protocol was created to relieve suffering and stress and to promote general relaxation. SEVA is a simple acupressure treatment created for anyone to give or receive.
A SEVA treatment can be administered in just a few minutes or can be extended 20-30 minutes, depending on the circumstances. It can be given in a therapists office but was truly designed to be given whenever and wherever it is needed. My friend Missy helped a runner who was down and in shock on the street on a very hot day to revitalize even while EMT’s were standing by. She reconnected his vital energies to come back to the here and now.
Receiving SEVA is a very calming and centering experience. It can relieve post traumatic stress syndrome. It can provide a turning point for an individual to move toward true healing at the deepest levels.
Clinical Acupressure ( which is an ancient healing modality from China and Asia using finger pressure to acupoints on the body) enhances the free flow of the body’s vital energy, activates it’s own recuperative abilities and diminishes congestion. It can address a multitude of symptoms including back problems, headaches, respiratory, digestive and systemic problems as well as colds, flus, allergies and physical injuries. This treatment modality will facilitate,but should not replace, delay or interfere with medical treatment. This work uses the knowledge of ancient traditions combined with contemporary understanding to promote health and self-responsibility for wellness.
I implemented SEVA right away and the results were immediate. I saw the difference in people who received treatment as opposed to those who hadn’t and my heart ached for those who hadn’t sought treatment of any kind. Many divorces happened after 9/11..moving and displacement…many health issues are still happening. After 9/ 11 most people I know who sought treatment used several modalities to balance themselves as they found necessary; chiropractic, acupuncture, massage, acupressure, yoga, psychotherapy, spiritual guidance, homeopathy, and nutritional counseling and more were sought out to alleviate a myriad of complaints including respiratory, fear, shock, confusion, digestive, muscular, etc. SEVA allowed the unraveling and peace to begin to find a way through from the other side of pandemonium.
I am a certified SEVA instructor and I and my colleagues are teaching SEVA in schools, hospitals, PTA’s, and communities so everyone can know the relief and health building that is possible through acupressure. It has been a terrific addition to the community if someone is so disposed to volunteer it to Women’s or Men’s Shelter’s for instance. A Seva 1: Self-Care Class runs 3 hours. If you would like to learn SEVA or to set up a group demo let me know and it will be arranged. I am available at Art of Holistic Masssage (AOHMassage) in Naples FL. 732-266-5276.
Since 2001, The Good Points Program for Self-Care has been developed and Seva is one of the releases that is taught among about 25 others by various teachers for Insight Acupressure in our Acupressure for Anyone Program. Insight Acupressure for more info.. Namaste.
by Alvina Quatrano | Sep 28, 2017 | Resources
Zero Balancing …..A Breath of Fresh Air Hypopnea/Hyperpnea. I love those words. They have a lot of character. They are medical terms used to describe a breathing cycle that occurs frequently during a Zero Balancing session. Hypopnea is the quiet state before a hyperpnea or “big breath.” Hypopnea is mysterious since it is the silent, quiet, nonexistent breath. Where are you? It’s as if you’re in a dream state. Yes, that very rich state where you can connect with your soul. Your breath opens your body to receive the gentle healing energy of the treatment and you are forever changed. You are gifted graciously with buoyancy, which brings a new consciousness to forgotten ideas and areas of the body, which awaken as if from a long sleep to be clarified, enlightened. Hyperpnea: an invocation that excites every cell, stimulating the organs to wake up and seize the moment. And what a moment! The cobwebs are blown away and pure juice remains. Fresh oxygen supplying the body, reaching to every crevice and fold of skin and tissue. Feed tension, delighted senses, a rested state…You are supported by the practitioner’s touch, a simple, yet profoundly deep connection that unlocks the treasure of who you are. Hyperpnea: permission to expand yourself to be who you are more strongly, an act of entitlement to inhabit your own space more fully. “Alvina,” asks Colleen,”What would the world be without ZB?”. For she has known Zero Balancing to create confirmation of herself; to support her in clarifying her needs and wants by the simple richness of bone on bone. Bone released from stress via Zero Balancing to simply support us as the skeleton was intended to; unfettered by burdens of anxiety, predjudice, shame, abuse, illness, confusion, etc., to be as it was intended to be: pure energy moving with grace; pure structure connected with the ground. Alignment happens!
There is a Pyramid Meditation which Dr. Fritz Smith (the originator of Zero Balancing) teaches. (avail at www.zerobalancing.com) It utilizes the chakras and our connection to heaven and earth providing energetic alignment for all within the pyramid. Usually a prayer is said to include the earth in our healing efforts for it is she who is supporting our lives here and we need always to be gracious and honor her for allowing us to use her paths, her air, her water, her warmth and her coolness. She provides our environment, our home. We make ourselves more at home by our practices, living harmoniously and vigilantly with and for the earth. Hyperpnea!…Oh!…Yes!…I’m alive! A radiant Being who stands with others. Here, on earth!
Check out the Zero Balancing Article in Summer 2002 Vol 41,No.2 Massage Magazine!!!
by Alvina Quatrano | Sep 27, 2017 | Resources
Soul Lightning: Awakening Soul Consciousness A review by Alvina Quatrano
Soul Lightning by Aminah Raheem, PhD. is a fascinating and beautifully written memoir of Raheem’s lifelong journey of knowing soul in eloquent, true-to-life and matter -of-fact accounts of the path of a healer; learning, growing, listening, seeing, feeling and being with transformational events and the people who endured/survived/participated in them. As well as introductions to the teachers who were influential on her path such as Sai Baba, Mother Meera, Amaji, to name a few , it includes compelling descriptions of synchronistic moments and the magic of life such as when a lightning strikes a light bulb in Raheem’s cabin and leaves it intact. It’s a testimony to the amazing power of intuition and recognition of truth. She acknowledges the simplicity of what we all do on a daily basis and encourages the ability to know and be conscious on all levels–not just those that have been given us like an ancestral lineage or childhood scars–to embrace that change can happen with grace. She also opens a door to consciousness just by mentioning these stories. It’s as though she’s saying, ” See…here is the possibility of knowing truth–simple truth. It doesn’t have to take a lifetime. It can happen in a flash. Go For It!!”.
This book inspires me personally to want to travel to the holy places like Asissi and the power places on earth like the Indian Burial Grounds where I might contact the source of who I am….my soul wisdom. Luckily, I have studied Aminah’s Process Acupressure work and have that as a tool to access source. Yoga, meditation, Aminah’s Chakra Tai Chi, Fritz Smith’s Pyramid Meditation, walking, running, rowing, acupuncture, dreaming, Zero Balancing,Reiki, all these and other methods can be avenues for growth and day-to-day soul contact.
In Soul Lightning we are privy to Raheem’s personal quest for spiritual enlightenment. Why do we suffer? she asks, and What can we do about it? As a child she receives an answer in the form of a great light saying to her ” We are all One”. Then, a bolt of lightning which miraculously kills no one and damages nothing. She discovers a spiritual teaching known as Subud. She knows spirit or soul more closely each time she practices the tools of Subud or encounters another teacher on her spiritual quest. It is a journey where we realize that everything matters if we become aware of congruencies and synchronicities we can begin to solve the puzzle of why we are here…each of us, individually, healing ourselves and subsequently others as well.
I am impressed by Raheem’s capturing of a concept and her ability to puzzle together the elements which support her perspective. The concept of Soul Lightning is pure gold for Raheem since she has had the experiences which illustrate such phenomena throughout her life. She shares these experiences in a fluid and historical way. Being privy to the journey is captivating, and it is all recognizable stuff if you travel in the circle of the spiritually inclined.
Are we all as gifted as Raheem? She would have us think so. She does say that not everyone is a “teacher”. It is a question of whether or not you want to be. Seek and you shall find, otherwise you stay in the dark. Or, perhaps a lightning bolt will come and wake you up to your destiny—your purpose—your soul. Ask the questions and the answers will come. This book is about healing. Healing our inner child (soothing her). Healing our adult (to forge on). Healing our world (which is in danger of being destroyed by ignorance).
Raheem presents a carefully laid out explanation of man’s condition (armoring, cocooning which are ways of protecting oneself from the forces which offend from childhood on) and a solution–the task of awakening soul consciousness. For Raheem this is a lifetime journey. She goes on to say that although the awakening process is usually gradual and follows a practice of some kind but can often be abrupt or unexpected. I quote, “In my experience true spiritual development and soul consciousness only become accessible in one way or another (abruptly or deliberately, painstakingly). A stronger force is required. The Dalai Lama has traveled the world conducting Buddhist initiations that have undoubtedly helped open the world to it’s soul.”
Follow Aminah through her knowledge of, and ultimate dissatisfaction with, psychology, to the development of her own practice of Process Acupressure and her many stories of enlightenment and the encounters and practices that bring it. She says in her introduction that she hopes the stories stimulate memories of our own soul lightning and indeed upon asking it does. Aminah quotes the Bhuddist sage Joko: ” There is no end to the opening up that is possible for a human being. Eventually, we see that we are the limitless, boundless ground of the universe. Our job for the rest of our life is to open up into that immensity and to express it.”.
Alvina Quatrano July 2005
Soul Lightning Awakening Soul Consciousness, by Aminah Raheem, 318 pages, published by iUniverse, Inc, 2005.
For Amazon: Waking to Eden by Michelle Doucette 5.0 out of 5 stars Reconnection to What Is, March 10, 2011 By AMQ
This review is from: Waking to Eden (Paperback)
I love Michelle Doucette’s connection to Nature in Waking to Eden. Nature’s principles are real and can offer us the simple truths when we are astute and aware enough to ask for an answer and then open enough to receive it–often through serendipitous “coincidence”. Her ability to realize what’s real for her and to value it so that it becomes her healing path. What she already knows heals her. She integrates homeopathy, Zero Balancing, friendship, family, ancestral healing, tarot, psychic readings, along with her own scientific knowledge for a cutting edge presentation of how medicine can really work in this day and age.
The beauty of it is that everything matters. There are no throw away moves. Simplicity leads to profound and significant experience. The mind can do it’s work so much better when it is aligned with all that is and not distracted by social or historical impressions and expectations. Doucette’s sense of ritual is a grounding force in her development. This book is a manual to the forward progress of natural medicine today.
by Alvina Quatrano | Sep 26, 2017 | Resources
It starts like most sessions, with speaking any issues, goals, symptoms, intentions, concerns.
It starts with speaking, and then a choice is made. The practitioner selects a formula of acupressure points that will be the vehicle for delving deeper to find the luminous quality of Soul behind it all.
You lie back on the table, fully clothed, and begin to relax into the hands of the therapist. You may notice a calming sense of wonder. You may notice everything you have been holding, being, carrying. You may begin to let it go.
So, you ask your Soul to be present. Ask for guidance. Messages come in. A bird sings, a moon beam lights the room, a song is heard from outside somewhere, a message is heard in your head. You will pay attention to anything that shows up now — it’s important. These signals are congruent to the transformation that is happening in you–it matters. You matter.
The practitioner may or may not speak. She may encourage you to focus on the present moment. You may choose to share how visions, emotions, sensations, inspirations come and go through your body/mind. She will follow you wherever you go, and help you remember who you are at the deepest levels. You will find a way to remember these things, and create a way to carry them forward. These are intentions for your Soul path. Message received. Yes, you’ve become a receptor, tuned in, connected to yourself. This is how you know you’re on the right track. No one else can tell you these things.
You will be certain of your next steps because the direction has come from within you. You release what’s no longer needed so you can move forward with only the most essential parts of you. You lighten up. Soul Lightening. You continue on your way in a better way. Connected to all you are, and all you are capable of being. Soul Joy. Au Nautrale. Naturalement. Naturally. And so it is.
Lighten Up With Insight Acupressure by Alvina Quatrano, LMT
Published in Soul Lightening Newsletter January 2013
Also featured in case study collection Empowering Whole-Being Health edited by Cathy Miller and Deanna Waggy 2018 as The Experience of a Process Acupressure Session: the Natural Flow of a Session.
