Each chapter that deals with explorations begins with a suggested sequence for work in one session. Related issues will then be discussed. In suggesting the work sequence I am addressing the guide. Re-read the chapter before starting an exploration; then if you need to use it as you help, just refer to the key words of the exploration sequences. Do not worry about leaving something out. No particular step is vital.

Exploration

The session will be in two parts, the first a period of observing and experiencing without suggesting changes; the second a period of suggesting changes in movement and breathing.

1:1. Ask the explorer to lie on their back on the mattress, with the knees up and the feet flat. Ask them not to talk unless it is important, not to smile, and not to change anything you may point out. Make yourself comfortable kneeling on the floor near their right shoulder.

1:2 Ask how they feel—comfortable, relaxed, tense, apprehensive or whatever. Ask this at any time during the session which seems appropriate; for example, if you notice some change in mood or if, for no obvious reason, you yourself feel suddenly anxious.

1:3 Observe the eyes. Are they looking at the ceiling in a fixed stare? Is the explorer looking at you? Are the eyes closed? Open and moving around or scanning the room? Do they move to you and away? Are they open wide? Narrow? Is the explorer blinking a lot, or not blinking at all? (Roughly, blinking more than every three seconds is a lot, less often than every eight seconds is little.) Are the pupils dilated or constricted? Do they seem fixed, or do they move slightly between opening and closing? What subjective impressions do you have when you look at the explorer's eyes: of longing, anxiety, anger, shyness?

1:4 Ask the explorer to look at you for a few seconds, then look away, alternating several times. Observe the same kind of data as before, adding any new observations about the way in which the explorer moves their eyes (quick, slow, smooth, abrupt) and the way in which they look at you (challenging, shy, etc.).

1:5 Share your impressions of what you have observed in their eyes. Start with observations such as whether the eyes are open or half closed, then move to subjective impressions such as the mood you may see in them.

1:6 Observe the position of the head. Is the back of the neck lengthened, the chin tucked down? Or is there a contraction at the back of the neck, so that the head is tilted back with the chin jutting up and the throat exposed? Is the head pulled in toward the shoulders?

1:7 Observe the face. Is the mouth open or closed? Are the cheeks tight or loose or sagging? Are the eyes framed in such a way that they seem to slant down at the sides? Does there seem to be some kind of mask—of cheerfulness, or superiority, or fear? If you sense a particular expression, note to yourself what observations you base it on. For example, if an explorer's face seems sad, you may find this is because the corners of the mouth droop down, or because the cheeks seem to droop beneath the eyes. Is this the normal face, or is it different (because of the strangeness of the situation, perhaps)? What kind of change has occurred?

1:8 Share impressions of face and head. Do this gently. Preserve your relationship but point out what you see!

1:9 Observe the body. Does it seem inflated—the chest high or puffed up, the back arched somewhat off the mattress so that shoulders and buttocks are in contact, with a gap under the waist? Are the shoulders back with the chest thrust out or does the trunk seem deflated: chest collapsed or held in, back sagging into the mattress with shoulders folding forward and/or pelvis tilting up? Are they balanced between inflation and deflation? Is there a disparity, for instance between an inflated chest and a sucked in abdomen or a deflated chest and a pushed out abdomen? What is the body's shape? Is it much wider at shoulders than pelvis, or vice versa? Taking the trunk from pelvis to shoulders, is it blocky and squarish, long and tubular, rectangular, an inverted triangle because of broad pulled up shoulders?

1:10 Share impressions of the body in these terms, observations first, more subjective impressions second.

1:11 Observe the breathing. Where it is apparent. Does the chest rise and fall with each breath? Slightly? A great deal? Is it relatively or completely immobile? Does the abdomen fill and empty with each breath? Does it balloon out or stay flat? Is the breathing limited to the area of the diaphragm (the waist area)? Would you describe the breathing as full, or shallow? Does it make a sound as it goes through the throat? Do other parts of the body move with the breath? The shoulders may move slightly back and forth or up and down, the head may tilt slightly back on each out-breath, or the chin dip down for each in-breath. The pelvis may move slightly back or forward. Does the mouth move in breathing? Is the explorer breathing through mouth or nose? When does the breathing occur? Is it quick, slow? (Faster than every three seconds is quick, slower than every six seconds is slow). Is there a pause each time the explorer breathes in, as if the breath is being held for a moment before breathing out? Is there a pause after breathing out, or a quick rebound to breathe in? Basically, is this person a chest breather, or an abdominal breather? Both? Neither?

1:12 Share impressions of the breathing.

1:13 Observe the pelvis and legs. Looking at the triangle of buttocks, knees and feet, observe whether the weight is taken by the feet pushing into the mattress, or by the buttocks with the feet only lightly or partly on the mattress. Are the legs held together? Flopping open? Balanced in between? Is the pelvis jammed down into the mattress or up and forward? Does it seem relaxed? Tense? Is there any movement in pelvis or legs? The pelvis may tilt slightly with the breathing, the legs may be vibrating slightly, or shaky, or fidgety.

1:14 Share impressions of pelvis and legs.

1:15 Touch the musculature. Again in a direction from head to feet, feel the explorer's muscles and note whether they are tense or relaxed, hard or soft. At the same time note color of skin and its temperature, which may vary in different places. Begin by massaging and kneading the scalp gently. Does the skin move easily over the skull? Too easily, as if over-loose? Or is it tightly stuck? Is the forehead tight or loose? Grasp the cheeks gently between fingers and thumb; are they tight or loose? Put one hand under the neck and feel the muscles at the base of the skull—there are two main cords of muscle; are they hard or soft? Feel the shoulders; pull them gently back and forth; do they move easily? Push gently with the palm of one hand on the upper chest; does it give under your pressure or does it remain stiff? Gently massage the upper abdomen just below the ribs; does it give or stay stiff: Gently massage the abdomen, below the navel; does it give? Touch the long muscles along the inside of the thighs. Are they hard and stringy? Soft or flabby? Elastic? Feel with your thumb the muscle just inside the explorer's knee. Is it hard or elastic? Take one foot in your hand and try and push it gently back and forth and rotate the ankle. Does it feel flexible or stiff? Are the feet hot or cold (they are normally somewhat cooler than the rest of the body)? You may have found some marked temperature differences as you go down the body. Are there any correspondences between temperature, color, and tonus? An example might be an area which is pale, cool and soft, as contrasted to an area which is flushed, warm and hard or elastic; or else cool and hard.

1:16 Ask explorer's feelings. Get a brief report at this point of how the explorer has reacted to being observed and touched. Has your paying attention in this systematic way made him or her feel any different or caused any movement or changes in the breathing?

1:17 Share your impressions of touching.