Zero Balancing is a very gentle form of bodywork where the patient lies on a couch, fully clothed throughout.  In a way, it seems as if not much happens in a session.  That's because there is no manipulation, as in osteopathy or chiropractic, and no rubbing of tissue, as in massage.  But when the patient gets up off the couch he or she is immediately aware that something has changed.  It is a slightly odd sensation, at least the first time; as if the body isn't quite where you think it is.  Then, for most people there follows a tremendous sense of well being, a lightness, as if everything is in the right place at last. 

' I feel weightless, balanced.  If I didn't know better, I'd swear I was floating...Later that afternoon, I catch myself singing and my good mood lasts for several days.  Is this available on prescription?' Daily Telegraph 19/07/1999

' What lasted hours - and, less dramatically days - was a feeling of incredible well-being....I felt centered, grounded and profoundly relaxed ...'Cosmopolitan 03/1996

What is Zero Balancing good for?
A lot of people come for a session because they are in pain - a bad back, sciatica, a sore knee, a wrist that has stiffened up.  Usually the session helps a lot, and in some cases the change can be dramatic.  One patient came to me because her hip was giving her trouble.  It improved a little, but what really happened is that she regained full movement in a shoulder which had frozen up more than thirty years before.  That kind of thing can happen because the effects of getting energy to flow properly through the body can be profound.

People also come because they are feeling confused, dispirited, uncertain, resigned - which are all common effects of stress.  In this culture it seems implausible that bodywork can help with these kinds of conditions, but in the East it has been long known that getting energy to flow cleanly and clearly through the body has an equivalent effect on the mind and spirit.  So people emerge from a session more able to appreciate what is really going on, more able to distinguish what really matters and more able to see what they can do to alleviate their situation.

How it works.
Our bodies are permanently subject to the force of gravity.  Especially when we are standing, gravity exerts a strong pressure through the bones of the skeleton.  When this pressure is carried properly our bodies function well, but when there is a misalignment between the bones and joints on the one hand and the force of gravity on the other, then we suffer pain, limitation or dysfunction.  With  a series of gentle stretches and light pressure on bones and joints it is possible to re-establish the right balance between the body's structure and the forces it has to carry.  incidentally, that's how the therapy got its name.  An American patient came off the couch saying 'I feel balanced, back to zero - kind of zero balanced' ( in America, the connotation of 'zero' is 'original' or 'fundamental').