שיטת האקומי - הקומי - המחשה

"Ralph came to a workshop in how to read bodies for psychological information. During the workshop he stood up so that the trainer and class could read his body and think of ways to help him use it as a vehicle to understand his psychospiritual beliefs. Ralph had one very interesting feature: He stood with a raised chin, as though he was looking down his nose at the world or saying, "I don't care; I'm above all this."

Flying Past, Nicola Slattery

The trainer was not interpreting people's bodies for them, but finding ways to guide them into an experience of themselves. So he invited Ralph to turn his awareness inward and notice what happened as he slowly lowered his chin. Ralph followed the instructions in a mindful way. When his chin was about level, he stood quietly for a minute or so with his hands at his sides, and then began rubbing his thumbs and fingers together.

In order to help him penetrate his experience, the trainer asked him if his fingers were rubbing his thumbs or his thumbs were rubbing his fingers. This question kept him deep in his experience for twenty-five seconds or so. The answer was not so important as the effect of the question in keeping him tuned to his immediate experience as the only source for finding the answer.

He remained focused and receptive to his hands longer than he might have if he had not been questioned. Instead of remarking on them, or explaining them, he simply stayed with the actual experience and studied it more carefully.

When Ralph replied that his fingers were rubbing his thumbs, the trainer proposed an experiment of doing it for him, of taking over what he was already doing for himself. He agreed. He observed his inner reactions as the trainer started to stroke his thumbs. After about ten seconds Ralph went from a calm, studious demeanor to sudden, deep sobbing and collapsed in the trainer's arms. By rubbing his thumbs with his fingers Ralph had been unconsciously saying something reassuring to himself like, "You're Okay. You are just as important as these others." He had been reinforcing this belief by holding his head up and back, which of course did not provide him with the assurance and inclusion he sought. In fact, it generally worked against him because it gave people the impression that he did not want contact and it sometimes made them feel intimidated.

When the trainer took over this mechanism for him, it was as though someone else was repeating the words he had been longing to hear but never expected anyone else to say. He was receiving directly what he had been searching for unconsciously and indirectly for so many years.

Ralph's session was a good example of how the body, the voluntary musculature, is controlled by and reveals mental life, and how touch and bodily interventions can speak directly to the unconscious. When we value our bodies and listen to them more closely, we become more connected to ourselves and to the world around us."