What Is Neural Somatic Integration® (NSI)?
Neural Somatic Integration®:a breakthrough approach to mind---body healing that combines bodywork and social engagement principles with the latest understandings of human neurobiology. Neural Somatic Integration (NSI®) goes beyond traditional body---work approaches to address the underlying neural networks that are responsible for the symptoms associated with trauma. Through intuitive instinctual touch and observation that allows the body--- worker to "tune in" to the neural signals of the client, NSI® bypasses superficial and symptomatic manifestations of trauma and works directly with the body's own healing wisdom to release and repair damaged or constricted neural structures. Postural changes, release of stored trauma, increased flexibility, a new openness in socially engaged connections, and diminished or eliminated pain are immediate results of this work.
The body's intricate and pervasive system of neural networks provides a direct link between emotional states, mental images and stories, and physical sensations and symptoms. Where there is stored physical, spiritual, emotional or mental trauma there are corresponding physical indicators, which, if properly addressed, will lead the client into self---healing, and neural reprogramming. The result, neural somatic integration, is the equivalent of removing arterial blockages or relieving pinched nerves. Energy is released; muscle tension and pain eliminated; mental and emotional distress diminished without lengthy talk or physical therapy.
After 40 years of hands-on body-work and training and certification in numerous body-work and emotional disciplines (see Resume), Arthur Munyer, creator of Neural Somatic Integration (NSI), reached the conclusion that the combination of a sensitive practitioner's hands and a client's body is the key to identifying the underlying sources of physical and emotional distress, and the quickest and surest path to healing.
Drawing on the body's own wisdom for health and healing has been part of ancient and traditional healing modalities since the beginning of recorded time and is a cornerstone of some modern practices. Recent discoveries, however, of brain/body structures and observations of animals in their natural habitats have led to a more complete and "scientific" understanding of how the body responds to trauma and how it can, if properly enabled, can heal itself.
Peter Levine's observations of animal in the wild, for example, have revealed that the body has a "natural" way of dealing with trauma that leaves the victim without lasting symptoms and dysfunctions. However, in humans the "unnatural" conditions we live in and the cultural programming we have experienced have alienated us from our own natural healing processes and self---regulating mechanisms. Neural Somatic Integration leads us back to the healing processes that nature has stored within our bodies. Once we have learned to access this inner wisdom, we are capable of self---regulation and self---healing..
How Does It Work?
NSI is surprisingly simple, it does not require complex electronic, bio--- feedback devices or invasive deep bodywork manipulations and lengthy talk therapies. We can trust the body, when offered the opportunity, to reveal its needs and find its healing. The job of the practitioner is to offer sensitive attention and presence, along with touch that takes its cues from the client's own physical and verbal responses. There is no "agenda" to the touch offered in NSI®. No regimen of manipulation and preprogrammed stroking.
The practitioner's hands "ask" permission of the client's body to find those areas where trauma has created blockages or constriction. Once located, the simple presence of the practitioner's hands communicate support in ways that were absent at the time of the original trauma.
The body's response to this presence is relaxation of tension and release of defensive postures.
Images, thoughts, and sensations may arise in the course of a NSI® session. The client is invited to share these with the practitioner. They are then treated as "clues" and reference points by the practitioner as he continues to provide healing touch and presence. Historical or imagistic content is not the subject of analysis. If stories "bubble up" they are allowed the opportunity for expression, but not treated as material for analysis or used to determine "treatment." Frequent inner self---assessment and real---time physical responses are the neural material the practitioner works with to guide the client's body into healing and self---regulation.
Music and movement are frequently used in sessions to facilitate behavioral understanding and aid the process of neural somatic integration.
Click here to read the Ten Principles of Neural Somatic Integration (NSI)
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