Polarity therapy

Polarity therapy is an alternative medicine system that was created in the mid 20th century by American doctor Randolph Stone. It claims to be a way to keep fit and healthy on all levels, by balancing the basic positive and negative energies that constitute life. It involves bodywork and diet.

Between 1947 and 1954 Stone published seven books outlining polarity therapy.

Polarity therapy has been used to relieve pain and relax patients in hospital studies.

The model of Polarity therapy is the intersection of eastern (ayurvedic) and western (chiropractic and osteopathic) approaches. The energy model reflects many of the concepts of Einsteinian physics, craniosacral technique and psychological and nutritional approaches to healing.

The most basic principle is that energy precedes form and the concept of involoution and evolution (Energy focuses inward to be transformed into form and then flow back out from form to energy or "source"). The model of how the energy goes from involution to evolution is based on models of ayurveda and osteopathy. These models define the paths of energy, the potential blockages and how, through exercises, nutrition, change of attitude and polarity bodywork techniques, the flow of energy can be corrected. The theory states that be correcting the flow of energy, the form will follow. Despite claims by practitioners, there is no scientific evidence that this "life energy" (See: Qi) exists.

Polarity therapy has four distinct areas of focus: Bodywork, energy exercises, energetic diet and thoughts and attitudes or beliefs.

Polarity practitioners that are registered with the American Polarity Therapy Association are supposed to be knowledgeable in all four areas. The reality is that most practitioners tend to favor one area over others. So, the work may vary considerably depending on the practitioner.

As with all things related to bodywork, practitioners cannot and should not make any claims as to polarity's ability to heal a condition or illness. It is recommended that a person that is seeking alternative wellness techniques monitor closely how they react to any types of techniques. It is also important to remember that every practitioner is different. It is recommended that a client work with more than one person until they find someone that they consider a good match for them.

Dr. Randolph Stone the founder of Polarity Therapy, understood the Soul to be the animating force in the body. Currents of life-force energy emanating from the Soul sustain the energy fields of the body. In the Summary of Principles in the Introduction to Wireless Anatomy, Dr. Stone offers insight into the fundamental basis of healing. He writes:

“The Soul is a unit drop of the ocean of Eternal Spirit which is the dweller in the body as the knower, seer, doer; it experiences all sensation and action. It alone is the power in the body which reacts to any mode of application of therapy or action. Consciousness and intelligence reside within the Soul.”3

^* Dr Stone Pictured the Soul as the Nucleus of The Energy Fields of the Body, Nature & the Cosmos.

This is the first principle of Polarity Therapy. As Polarity Therapists, our treatments are a balancing of the body's attunement with the Soul. Dr. Stone continues:

"Research in atomic energy and the corresponding new viewpoint on matter prompts a re-orientation of the healing arts, in conformity with these modern discoveries. In this WIRELESS ENERGY FIELD, ancient and modern science can meet . . . Miracles and psychic healing are not dealt with in this course. It describes a rational therapy . . . a finer perspective of the actual energies operating in the body as its keynote. The attention is directed to the “dweller” in the body, as the Soul or Nucleus, in relation to the form; and to both of them in relation to Nature or the Universe as a whole. All this brings out a new concept of Health and Disease, according to individual lines of force of attraction, repulsion and relationship . . . in the field of energies.4

Polarity Therapy is the study of the Wireless Anatomy of the energy fields of the body. It is a healing art whose focus is the Soul as the source of life and healing. Polarity Therapy seeks to understand energy in the healing arts. The understanding of energy offered by Polarity Therapy is drawn from a broad range of esoteric philosophies. The cosmology of ancient India called the Sanatana Dharma (Perennial Philosophy) is the source of many of Polarity Therapy's fundamental concepts. The Sanatana Dharma pictures the universe as one living being called Brahman. Brahman exists as a universal field of Ultimate Intelligence. The Sanskrit word Brahman is from the root brih, “to expand”. Brahman is pictured as an ever-expanding breath of creative intelligence. Brahman's nature is boundless creativity, evolution, growth. All creation is a moment-to-moment emanation from this universal field of living consciousness. Dr. Stone referred to the universal field of creative intelligence as The Primary Energy, The One Life or The Soul.

The Two Hands of God

A centrifugal spiral, Sunflower, and a centripetal spiral. Energy fields in nature are a union of centrifugal and centripetal currents emanating from a center.

The Three Principles The universe is the evolution or unfolding of the creative potency of Brahman. In the evolutionary perspective, energy radiates outward from a source creating a field of force; upon reaching the limits of the potency of the energy field, energy returns to the source. All the energy on every level of creation moves through this evolutionary cycle which we call Polarity. The evolutionary cycle expresses the essence of intelligence. It is a cycle of consciousness moving from a source out into experiencing the field and returning to the source. All energy moves in this cycle of intelligence. This cycle is a movement from a Neutral Source to a Positive field, then through a Negative phase, returning to the Source. These three principles, Neutral, Positive, and Negative, are the basis of Polarity Therapy.

In the Sanatana Dharma, these three principles are called sattva guna (neutral), rajas guna (positive) and tamas guna (negative). The word “guna” is derived from the Indo-European base gere, to “twirl” or “wind.” The gunas describe spiraling vortices of vibrating energy fields.

As a simple rope is woven of three strands, all vibration is the spiraling undulation of three forces. Centrifugal ascending, centripetal descending around a stable core. All vibration is the spiraling balance of three forces.

The neutral principle, sattva guna, is the force of equilibrium in nature. Sattva guna is an all-pervasive unified field of living consciousness. The Sanskrit word Sat refers to the Supreme Being which sustains existence. The life and consciousness of each being is a portion of the life field of sattva guna. The sattvic harmonic reflects truth, light, stillness, grace, and the profundity of the Soul. Sattva guna is lucid, attractive, fascinating, charismatic, peaceful, balanced, and graceful. The charm and attractiveness of babies, the charisma of saints, the glow of health, and the inherent beauty of nature predominates in this harmonic which is in tune with the neutral source of the life field. In the practice of Polarity Therapy, sattvic contacts promote an attunement and receptivity to the healing presence of the Soul.

Emanating from sattva guna is a positive centrifugal field of force which is called rajas guna. Rajas guna is the creative expression which underlies the evolutionary process. The Sanskrit term rajas means to "glow," and rajasic phenomena are passionate, excited, vital, and creative. Rajas guna, the field of force emanating from a center, is the fundamental organizing principle throughout nature. Rajas guna sustains the conscious mind. Rajasic predominant phenomena are creative, kinetic, passionate, directive, and transformational. This positive force rules and regulates the radiant expression of manifestation. The glow of its vision is the light of life.

The negative centripetal field is called tamas guna. Tamas guna sustains form. Tamas rules the structures and foundations which contain and limit energy. The Sanskrit word tamas means to perish. Tamas is a contracting, magnetic field that underlies the crystallization of Spirit into matter. It is the evolutionary return current which can manifest beauty and wisdom or inertia and resistance. Tamas rules the resonance of negativity and the reactive unconscious mind. It is the instinctual motor force. It is the process of elimination and completion. It is the purifying force which eliminates that which is not life sustaining.

^* Picture the breath as a spiraling vortex radiating from within to without & without to within weaving the life fields.

The ancient Rishis (yogi-seer-sages) purified their bodies, concentrated their minds, and attained micro clairvoyant vision. They directly perceived the fundamental forces of nature and the universe. They witnessed the vibratory basis of the universe which they termed the gunas. They likened the spiraling centrifugal and centripetal undulation of energy fields that they observed on the atomic and molecular levels to the common rope woven of centrifugal and centripetal strands around a stable core. All vibration is the spiraling undulation of three forces. Centrifugal ascending, centripetal descending around a stable core. All vibration is the spiraling balance of these three forces.

^* Cross section of previous diagram of spiraling vortex of breath. In the Sanatana Dharma, all creation is sustained by its attunement with the three universal forces: sattva, rajas, and tamas. Energy fields in nature are a spiral dance of orbs of force radiating centripetally and centrifugally from a center. Structures in nature are formed by spiral currents that radiate in opposite directions—clockwise and counterclockwise from a center. All life grows through this union of complementary forces. Polarity is a fundamental feature of universal law. The cycle of polarity underlies all the energy fields on every level of macrocosm and microcosm in creation.

THREE MODES OF ENERGY From The Wireless Anatomy of Man by Dr. Randolph Stone

“The three Gunas as the three universal principles of motion everywhere; positive, Raja; and negative Tamas; spinning around a neuter center, Sattva. These become the polarity principle in the human body, the superior, middle, and inferior in importance to consciousness, life and motion. The foundation of the polarity principle is active during the embryonic stages of building the body. This wireless principle carries through life after the wires and tubes are established. Blocks in this energy field and its circuits are the fine ethereal and material cause of pain and disease. Re-establishment of currents in balance with the center of the neuter field is expressed as the normal stage known as health.

Application of the three modes of energy through manipulative therapy to balance currents and release blockades in the finer circuits as well as in the gross conductors opens the fields for every known therapy.

A. A neuter principle (Sattva) of any soothing, balancing application is indicated. Here a very light touch through polarity of the fingers to polarity centers of the body is used.

B. A positive principle (Raja, action motion) of manipulative therapy is expressed in directive force applied to the body . . .

C. A negative principle (Tamas, darkness, cold, inertia, and resistance) which must be aroused and counteracted by therapies which are dispersive, scattering, eliminating, forceful, deep and penetrating, eliciting definite reaction through the resisting action of the negative pole, thus arousing it and tuning it into the circuit.”

Books on Polarity Therapy:

Dr. Randolph Stone

Polarity Therapy, Vol. I Includes Energy, Wireless Anatomy of Man, and Polarity Therapy. This book includes general theory and cosmology and specific instructions for bodywork and exercise.

Polarity Therapy, Vol. II Includes The Mysterious Sacrum, Vitality Balance, and Evolutionary Energy Charts.

Health Building: The Conscious Art of Living Well A complete health program, recommended as the first book for new students.

Esoteric Anatomy Esoteric Anatomy by Bruce Burger, MA, RPP Comprehensive, extraordinary description of subtle anatomy, with mindfully woven insights from the wisdom of ancient India. Profusely illustrated. 426 pages.

Astrology, Psychology and the Four Elements by Stephen Arroyo Emotional manifestations of the elements, and their signals in psychology. 246 pages.

Polarity Therapy Workbook by John Beaulieu, ND, PhD, RPP A comprehensive text of Polarity bodywork, exercise, theory & evaluation, based on the APTA Standards for Practice. Over 500 photos & illustrations. 218 pages.

Index to Polarity Writings of Dr. Randolph Stone by John Bodary Helps find info in Dr. Stone's writings. Topics have page numbers of references. 35 pages.

Quinta Essentia by Morag Campbell, RPP Exploration of the five elements. 48 pages.

Energy Exercises by John Chitty, RPP, & Mary Louise Muller, RPP Illus. by Mark Allison, RPP Illustrated, referenced summary of Dr. Stone's Polarity Yoga, plus related self-help methods based on Energy. 160 pages.

Your Healing Hands by Richard Gordon An excellent introduction to Polarity. A practical, hands-on approach with great illustrations. 136 pages.

Hands-On Healing by Lewis Harrison, RPP Comprehenisve guide combining classic massage with the ancient wisdom of shamanism. 300 pages.

The Therapeutic Art of Polarity: An Instructional Manual for the Associate Polarity Practitioner by Eleanora Lipton, RPP, & Alexandra Faer Bryan, RPP A complete Associate Practitioner level course manual, recently expanded and revised. 115 pages.

Ayurvedic Cooking for Westerners by Amadea Morningstar A blend of recipes, Ayurvedic principles and understanding; Polarity Health Building and Purifying diets are discussed. 395 pages.

Somatic Re-Sourcing by Mary Louise Muller, RPP Synthesis of Somatic, Polarity, and Craniosacral Therapy for healing trauma. 50 pages. Book, With chart, .

Murrieta Vegetarian Cookbook by Murrieta Foundation Recipes for Dr. Stone's Health Building & Purifying diets. 232 pages.

Herbs of Grace by Farida Sharan, MDMA, ND, MH A complete guide to using herbs for healing, strongly influenced by Polarity. 154 pages.

The Polarity Process by Franklyn Sills Prize winning summary of Polarity Therapy theory; well-illustrated, clearly organized and written. 191 pages.

Listening with your Hands by Gabriella Tal Gives basic Polarity Therapy principles within a highly personal and poetic presentation. 51 pages. The Art o The Art of Polarity Therapy: A Practitioner's Perspective by Phil Young, RPP Explores being a Polarity practitioner, including theory & technique. 138 pps.

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