Neural Somatic Integration®

Welcome to The Munyer Method®
Neural Somatic Integration®

What Is Neural Somatic Integration?
Neural Somatic Integration: a breakthrough approach to mind-body healing that combines body-work 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 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, 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 disciplines (see Resume), Arthur Munyer, creator of The Munyer Method®, 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 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 pre-programmed 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 or she 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

Ten Principles of Neural Somatic Integration (NSI)
1. The Body as a Portal The physical body “carries” (stores) ALL our experience (from trauma to pleasure) in neuronal circuitry and/or chemical functionality and corporal functionality and structure. This makes the physical body a portal for healing and trauma relief.
2. Stress Responses Lead to Pathology. Chronic distress (pain) - physical, mental/emotional that is not “organic” in its origins (i.e., the result of disease or accident) is the result of a defensive physiognomic response to past experienced or anticipated threat or pain. Called “stress,” these responses, while originally intended to preserve or protect (e.g., signals to the organism to either flee, freeze or fight), when persisted in after the perceived threat has passed, create pathology.
3. Discharge. Release of these no-longer functional responses results in “discharge” (an electrical term that is applied to what the body/mind experiences when released from constrained or restrictive constructs.) Discharge is a pleasurable experience, even exhilarating: energy that has been “cooped up” in neuro-circuitry is now free to move, flow, and be available for creative and productive and pleasurable experiences.
4. The Role of Cognition. Psychotherapy (including all forms of psychological intervention) seeks to obtain this release through cognition – through analysis, synthesis, “understanding” (and accepting and/or changing) the historical causality that resulted in the pathology. Beyond simple “understanding,” however, effective psychotherapy provides a compensatory emotional container in which the mind/body can “let go” of what it no longer needs to protect itself and discharge the related
neural energy that has been devoted to holding the complex of beliefs, emotional triggers, and corresponding physical configurations in place. Talk therapy has begun to acknowledge the role of the body in healing psychological trauma and neuroses. The work of Gene Gendling and his introduction of the concept of a “felt sense” present IN THE BODY as a key to effective therapy is an outstanding example.
5. The Evolution of Body Work. Body work has also “evolved” very quickly in recent years (or perhaps rediscovered what it was originally) from addressing only the physical manifestations of a distress complex (i.e., the gross anatomy of muscle, ligament, tendon, lymph gland, and physical symptoms of restricted motion, cramping, etc.). Pioneers such as Moshe Feldenchrais, Treager, Alexander, Rosen, etc. developed methods to address the
underlying patterns of body dysfunction. The work of Peter Levine on trauma release processes is particularly relevant to this discussion.
6. Neural Causality. Neural Somatic Integration (NSI) is a continuation of the process of addressing the underlying neural patterns that are the proximate cause of a given distress pattern. Proximate, because it is the cause that is present in the organism, be it in an unconscious or conscious way - a memory, a body structure/posture, a feeling, or a pain symptom.
The historical cause of a distress complex is not present. Only the residue of the organism’s response to the distressing input remains in “flesh and blood” including the entire network of neuro-biologic circuitry.
7. NSI Brings Release from the Past. NSI offers opportunities for the organism to heal itself by bringing attention to the pathologies and distress complexes that the practitioner “senses” through visual observation, touch, and/or verbal feedback. The practitioner does not presume to know “how” to heal the organism. He/she places faith in the organism to heal itself, yielding to the extraordinarily complex self-healing and self-regulating mechanisms of the autonomic, parasympathetic, and neurologic systems. The practitioner’s role is to be a “living feedback mechanism” to the organism of what he/she senses about the organism’s physical condition and to encourage the organism to shut down pathologic psycho-physical protocols and allow itself to function “naturally” (i.e., without a pathologic syndrome interfering with health and life). Practitioner “senses” through visual observation, touch, and/or verbal feedback. The practitioner does not presume to know “how” to heal the organism. He/she places faith in the organism to heal itself, yielding to the extraordinarily complex self-healing and self-regulating mechanisms of the autonomic, parasympathetic, and neurologic systems. The practitioner’s role is to be a “living feedback mechanism” to the organism of what he/she senses about the organism’s physical condition and to encourage the organism to shut down pathologic psycho-physical protocols and allow itself to function “naturally” (i.e., without a pathologic syndrome interfering with health and life).
The effect is to allow the organism to “breath” naturally, to feel itself, to release what has been held onto out of a reflex of fear of continued or repeated wounding. The organism is shown that the historical cause of the distress reaction is no longer operative; or, if it is, it must be shown that options for “escape” or change or alternative responses are available. NSI’s message to the body is: You no longer need to hold on to this or that defensive complex which may have once provided you with security or even enabled you to survive and was a perfectly “natural” response to the trauma that was experienced - but which is now killing you, or at least restricting your ability to experience your body, your mind, your feelings (i.e.., your life) in the present, and is limiting your access to the positive states of joy, peace, love, hope, or courage.
8. Body Worker As Listener and Observer. The body worker who employs NSI will not follow any régime of massage or manipulation, even those of ancient tradition (e.g., reflexology, acupressure, etc.) Rather, he/she will “listen” to the organism as it speaks
through gesture, voice, muscle tension, pain sites, posture, responsive imagery, recollection, etc. He/she will observe in a neutral and non-judgmental fashion what is really there in the organism, reflect this back through feedback, verbal and tactile, to the organism, and offer the organism the opportunity to release, discharge, and heal. The practitioner cannot “force” this release. He/she cannot force the organism to “let go” of a long-standing neural defense/distress structure. Such pressure will inevitable be greeted by the organism as a further attack or stress and it will respond with a reinforcement of the very distress complex the practitioner is seeking to relieve.
9. Trust and Safety. Only when there is a free and safe interchange between practitioner and organism will healing occur. Trust is a sine qua non for any healing relationship. Without it, the organism remains “on guard” against further distress, thereby strengthening the neural circuitry one is attempting to “unplug” and release into life giving, health producing somatic neurology.
10. Course of Treatment. Given the historical duration or intensity of most trauma or distress patterns the kind of neural somatic integration we are seeking will not likely occur quickly. It is possible that one could expect to spend a year in weekly NSI work for every decade of life in order to work through the various distress complexes one might have, though this of course will vary from client to client.
However; at a certain point, it will become possible for the subject to become his/her own healing practitioner. NSI is not simply a “therapeutic” process; it is an educational one, and clients can become attuned to their own body/mind symptomatology and begin to self- regulate using strategies learned in formal NSI sessions. In this sense, the
healing process is lifelong. Resolving old traumas and distress symptoms does not ensure that the organism will not suffer new traumas or distress. However, once the dynamic and creative process of NSI has been internalized, the client will have tools to respond to contemporary distresses in ways that will minimize the establishment of defensive complexes or relieve quickly those which occur.