How Do You Find This Moment in the Past or Future?

by Rolinda Schonwald

Each of the names of the Self-Breema exercises is an opening for growth and meaning. One is called, “How Do You Find This Moment in the Past or Future?” It invites me in when I hear it in an online class. On the surface, it sounds so simple. How do we come to find this moment? Herein lies the problem. The present moment cannot be captured. The moment we begin to articulate it, it becomes the past. The moment we begin to envision where it leads in the future, it is a fantasy. The goal of Breema is to be present in this moment, in this breath, in this touch, in this hold.

At the clinic, I register my breath as I wash my hands between patients. I am always breathing, but how often do I register this breath? And the next one? I have a new patient at the clinic. I saw her before and after her recent surgery. When she comes for a subsequent treatment, she says, “I must tell you what happened after the last treatment you gave me.” I immediately get worried. Did I hurt her or cause some trauma to surface? She says, "The effect of the treatment was absolutely amazing. I was so relaxed! I went home and slept for two and a half hours! That never happens!” Then she asks me, “Who do you go to for treatments like this? I hope that you also receive this magic!” I was astonished by her well-wishing toward me, and by her wish for me to receive the benefits of Breema's Mutual Support. Another new patient says, at the end of our session, "I feel so relaxed. Something opened up deep inside me. I breathed into my lung for the first time since this illness began!”

One curious thing I notice giving Breema treatments in clinical settings is that I benefit as much as or more than my recipients when I am present in this moment, this breath, this hold, this brush, this lean-hold-release. I notice that many positions I cannot comfortably get into by myself in this aging body I can do while giving Breema to someone else! That can only mean one thing. My recipient is giving me support. When I give a treatment to someone else, I am also receiving that treatment. Mutual Support means that the support I receive from my recipient benefits us both. We both receive the treatment. That is the magic of Breema. That is why every treatment I give is also a healing dance for myself.

One of the basic starting points in Breema is to simply register the body breathing. Register the inhalation. Register the body’s exhalation. It sounds so simple and obvious that I could almost tune it out. But the fact is that I could go through my entire day and night without ever registering my breath. Without connecting to this moment. Without connecting to myself. When I take a breath to connect to my own body breathing, I come to the present moment. When I give or receive a treatment or practice Self-Breema exercise, I am being nurtured. That is why I never get tired of Breema! It is a dance of life, an affirmation, a blessing.

Some of my favorite Breema recipients are family and friends. While visiting my grandchildren, the nine-year-old hands her infant cousin to me and says, “This baby needs Breema!” And so a one-minute treatment of tapping and brushing down his legs changes a cranky baby into a smiling one. I gave Breema to my father when he was sick in hospital. He said it felt good. The truth is, it felt good for me to have something to do at his bedside, and holding his feet gave me the opportunity to become more present myself. Recently, I gave Breema to my mother as she sat in her reclining chair. The atmosphere in the room was calm, peaceful, restful—and the TV was off! She said, “This feels so good. Why didn’t we do this for my mother?” Breema is an expression of well-wishing for life. It is life touching life, pure and simple.

Rolinda Schonwald is a Certified Breema Practitioner, Self-Breema and Breema Instructor in Baka, Jerusalem. She continues to give this nurturing touch support during these times to cancer patients and their families at a neighboring clinic.

Weekly Self-Breema classes are offered online and at no charge. For an up-to-date schedule go to breema.com/events .