FRANKLYN SILLS ARTICLES

Attention to Health

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In a biodynamic approach, the practitioner’s orientation is to both the inherent health, manifesting as Stillness and primary respiration, and the forces of experience, the conditional or inertial forces present, not just to the resultant tissue and fluid changes. The body physiology, organized by biodynamic potency, is continually trying to contain and compensate for the presence of these conditional forces. It is only when the forces that generate the disturbances within the system are processed that there can be a return to normal function and motility. Becker maintained that when these forces are dissipated and resolved, he could only perceive the action of the normal biodynamic potencies at work. This is one of the great keys for understanding how the body heals itself within the biodynamic context. Becker also shared that when he treated clients, his attention was placed within the potency of that client. He wrote,

My attention, as a physician using diagnostic touch, is on the potency within this client because I know that within the potency is power and many other attributes around which the disease state or the traumatic condition within the client is manifesting itself. I know that if a change takes place within this potency a whole new pattern will manifest itself, usually towards health for the client. (Becker, 1997)

This is so important to appreciate. Becker is sharing a clinical perspective that is firmly rooted in an awareness of the action of primary respiration and its potency. He states that within potency lies power. At the heart of an inertial site is potency that has the power to hold the added forces in check and organize them in the best possible way within the body physiology. This potency is a manifestation of the most basic ordering forces within the human system. He also states that it is his awareness of a change in the potency that is the key indicator of clinical effect and healing process. Placing attention within the dynamics of potency allows the practitioner a more direct access to the forces that generate the disease state. It is only when the practitioner perceives a return to a more natural expression of potency, and the natural motility and fluidity generated by it, that a return to wellness is considered to have occurred.

The most important thing to emphasize is that the practitioner’s awareness can be oriented to these forces and their interplay, not just to the results of their action such as resistance or motion patterns. His or her attention is with the organizing factors of both health and disease, not just the results and effects of their presence. The ability to orient to these inherent forces is a perceptual skill that must be developed by all practitioners. It is the potencies involved that have the power to manifest the disease state and also the power to heal it.