Embodied Comfort
R. Grant Ramey

[Published in AHP Perspective, April/May 2002]

“First, make yourself comfortable.” This is a near universal statement made as a prelude to many meditation or therapeutic processes. After a few moments of shifting around, perhaps with some guidelines such as “Sit upright, relax the shoulders and face,” the “real” activity begins. However, in my experience these cursory adjustments did not relieve my physical discomfort. In fact, I noticed the discomfort of tension and pain persisted for me throughout most activities and beyond. Thus, my main desire was to discover how to be comfortable and relaxed in my body as a primary experience before moving on. After years of exploration I found the greatest somatic comfort occurred when simultaneously all parts of my body were supported in a precise form where all joints were centered and all voluntary muscles were disengaged. In this physically motionless place I began to quiet my mind. As I approached stillness I started to realize that true comfort comes from the spirit within. From this centered place I found ways to embody a sense of spirit-comfort as I moved. I will get into the movement concepts in another article. Herein I will describe and illustrate the precise somatic form I believe to be the essential starting moment for all movement. Most certainly the viewpoints I am presenting here are made possible only from the vast garnering of experience and study of the somatic work of others, but this formulation is essentially from my own development and teaching of Embodiment over the last 20 years.

The Starting Moment of Embodiment: On the Cloud

In the past, during virtually all my somatic practices, no matter what innovative or established method I used, I kept recreating patterns of distortion that exacerbated my discomfort, tension, and pain. The more dynamic the process the more I reinforced the discomfort. So I began to do less and less, eventually hoping to find relief just lying around. Although the bodily discomfort decreased with inactivity I could still feel areas of immobility, pain, and lack of energy. So I asked myself where I remembered being the most relaxed and pain-free in my body. The answer was when I was entirely immersed in and embraced by water, basically feeling weightless. Then I had a moment of revelation. I realized the form that my relaxed body assumed underwater was centering all my joints and letting all my muscles and fascial sheaths rest in their natural length. This allowed my energy to flow unimpeded. Since I did not relish the lack of oxygen without a breathing device nor the shriveling of my skin after a period of time in water I decided to recreate this body form on land.

Taking a large variety of pillows I lay on my back and began to prop up my body. I commenced with the familiar use of knee, lumbar, cervical, and head pillows. This position was certainly more relaxing than lying flat, but I could still feel tension in my shoulders and constriction in my mid-back. Thus I began to erect supports for my arms in the same form as underwater. This procedure was rather complex. I noticed that submerged in water my arms were out to the side, somewhat in front of my body, sloping down from my shoulders with my elbows bent. First I had to prop my upper arms and elbows at the most natural distance, height, and angle in relation to my body. Then I had to find where to support my forearms with the appropriate bend in my elbows and place my hands in the natural radial rotation. Once I accomplished this task I let go to the pillow arrangement and became more relaxed in my body than ever before while supine. I felt like I was floating on a cloud! I had supported my two knees, my lumbar, my neck, my head, my two upper arms, and my two forearms. That was a total of nine supports, so I decided to call this setup Cloud Nine! However, it seemed like something was missing.

My body felt like an energy system with some circuits off. I determined that the circuit switches I wanted to turn on were at the soles of the feet and the palms of the hands. Hence, I added a wedge to make contact with the bottoms of my feet and put balls in my hands to keep them open. Almost immediately I was profoundly aware that I had made the connection to my whole body. This was a blissful feeling of near-total release. This layout had eleven points of support, so I christened it Cloud Eleven, closer to heaven! With my feet “grounded” and my hands “touched” I felt a level of comfort beyond that which I experienced underwater. In water I felt release from weight and tension, but additionally on the Cloud I experienced a sense of lightness while being connected to the earth.

With daily sessions on the Cloud, I started to recognize certain rhythms in my body and long-term effects. Initially I would “cloud” when my energy was low, most often in the afternoon. As I began to feel tension melt away, soon I would go into a deep restful sleep. I would usually wake up in about 20 minutes and feel re-energized. This 20-minute cycle happened so regularly that I think it might be a biological rest cycle. Occasionally I would awaken somewhat groggy and tired and sensed that I needed more sleep. Most of the time I would go to bed for these longer sleeping periods. I found my body would remain more and more in the relaxed state induced by being on the Cloud whether I went to sleep or into activity. It was fairly easy to let go of tension but not as easy to release pain. In the beginning pain in my shoulder persisted, but gradually over the course of three months it finally went away. I realized that there was a cumulative effect in my nervous system and musculo-skeletal system leading toward the embodiment of comfort.

My use of the Cloud was self-therapeutic. However, once I could function more comfortably in my body I began to “cloud” my bodywork clients. I was gratified to discover that much of the constricted connective tissues, to which I used to apply significant pressure as a Rolfer, melted away with gentle touch and movement. The body would integrate continuously since the whole organism was open and supported. Importantly as well, there was no resistance nor were there any contraindications.

Eventually it became tedious to gather all the pillows and often the Cloud would fall apart if jostled. I wanted to design a Cloud system that would make the layout much easier. Therefore, I began to measure the angles and curves of all my clients’ bodies to see if I could find a universal geometry. I noticed that people’s bodies varied in length, width, height, and weight but that the angles created by the centered joints of the ankles, knees, hips, wrists, elbows, and shoulders were the same for everybody. Also, every vertebral structure had the same natural curves and all hands were hemispherical in shape. At that point I knew I could configure cushions to adjust for size variation while maintaining common geometry. The end result was the Embodi-Cloud(tm) as shown in the photograph.

Experiences on the Embodi-Cloud(tm)

The most fundamental function of being on the Embodi-Cloud is the somatic neutrality. This is achieved by adjusting the various supports to fit all the parts of a person’s body to the precision tolerance of one inch. It is the totality and accuracy of the positioning that synergistically allows for rapid somatic change. With all external gravitational pressures virtually eliminated the self-created pressures become readily apparent. Then there is nothing to do but become aware of sensations, feelings, and thoughts and let go of the ones that are unwanted. The beauty of “clouding” is that the only work necessary is in the initial setup. Once the Cloud is configured to fit the body there is no setup time required for subsequent use.

Each person who uses the Embodi-Cloud has unique experiences. Almost everyone begins to feel some areas of tension more acutely but they are pleasantly surprised that the tension fades away quickly without having to wiggle around or stretch. I call this automatic tensegrity adjustment. Many first time users go into a sleep phase that might last one to two hours. I believe a vast number of people in this society do not get enough rest and sleep. Being on the Cloud is highly conducive to nurturing that need. I noticed that for numerous Cloud users the breathing cycle becomes natural without any need to focus on it. I would attribute this to the chest being totally unencumbered. After the 20-minute cycle some people have said they feel as relaxed as if they had received a one-hour massage.

The most asked question I get about the Embodi-Cloud is: “Can you sleep on it all night?” This comes from people who have trouble sleeping and being on the Cloud feels so restful they think they may never want to get off. My response is that if one “clouds” on a regular basis the relaxation response is reached in a short period of time and it will be maintained in regular bed sleep.

No matter how perfect the position, the body has to move occasionally or circulation at contact points is impeded. Spending all night on the Cloud would cause stiffness because it would prevent natural movement that occurs during sleep. Since movement is the nature of the living body I pondered why almost everyone remained motionless on the Cloud for a while. It came to me that movement was happening inside the body. Once structure and energy are in equilibrium internally the natural impulse is to move the outer body. Another common question is: “Why am I feeling vibrations, is the Cloud plugged in?” I explain that the vibrational energy is in the body itself, now flowing and easily discernable.

Because the arm and hand setup is the most innovative and unique aspect of the Embodi-Cloud, an oft-asked question is: “What are the balls for?” The best response I can give is to provide an experience with one hand supported by a ball and the other not. Almost immediately people want a ball in both hands. My theory is that this completes a circuit with the heart. There are those who begin by thinking that the circulation will be cut off in their elevated arms. Often they are amazed to discover that while being on the Cloud the sensation of their arms “disappears.” When I first felt my arms “disappear” I was a bit frightened and actually hit one with the other to assure myself I could still feel them. A major insight came to me. What I had been perceiving as “strong arms” was really the feeling of continual bound tension. Then I understood that the experience of being fully in my arms and whole body was not based on sensing parts, but rather a subtle perception of a unified fluid organism.

Since I had used the Embodi-Cloud for relaxation and release of tension, often falling asleep, I was baffled when some people told me they found it good for meditation. It took me a few years to let go of the idea that I had to sit a certain way to meditate. But as I became more embodied I was able to be very conscious on the Cloud and now find it ideal to meditate there in the stillness. Nearly everyone experiences a shift toward a quieter and more comfortable place in the body and mind when “clouding.” It could be said that inward awareness is upward consciousness. From being on the Embodi-Cloud there is no where to go but up.

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