Zero Balancing

Working with the miracle that is the human body over the last two decades has been an education all its own. So much can be learned by paying careful attention to the subtle communication between your hands and the body of the patient. I became more and more aware over time that the physical body is energetic and electrical in addition to being solid and structural. I noticed that specific types of touch and pressures evoked different electrical and energetic responses from the body. I also noticed that longer sessions of gentle touch could be more effective, longer-lasting, and more wholistic than shorter sessions using more aggressive manipulative techniques.

In 2015, I discovered that a technique called Zero Balancing (ZB) had already been discussing and working with these concepts for many decades. I started exploring and studying ZB with Dr. Michele Doucette, a gifted healer and chiropractor in southern Vermont, and became certified in the work in September of 2022.

The following is taken from a brochure called “What is Zero Balancing?” created by the Zero Balancing Touch Foundation:

What Does A Zero Balancing Session Look and Feel Like?

A ZB session usually lasts 30–45 minutes and is safe for any age group. One lies supine on a massage table fully dressed in loose, comfortable clothing. In a carefully organized sequence, the ZB practitioner engages the whole body by placing gentle pressure or traction into key joints and other bony landmarks. Being met and engaged at bone energy level, it is easy to release areas of deeply held tension. During a ZB session people may feel a stillness of body and mind greater than they have ever experienced. At the end of a session when people stand up and walk, they feel both grounded and effortlessly uplifted, stable and supported by the earth, muscles at ease, feeling open, relaxed and alive.

The Convergence of Structure and Energy:

The deepest flows of energy in the body are carried by the skeleton, our deepest internal structure. Allowing minimal movement, the foundational joints which are designed for stability and where ZB specifically focuses, together lift and support the body into a unique and dynamic vertical carriage. In supporting the strength of the vertical energy flow in the body, ZB is empowering. Energy contacted in bone is gently redistributed throughout the system, releasing potential energy stored as tension and contraction. A person’s own life force is liberated to flow in a more free and balanced way, helping to resolve pain and distress.

Zero Balancing For Today’s World:

ZB is perfect for our modern age. We live in a world that is hurried and pressured, competitive and stressful. Most of our time and energy is consumed with fast-paced activity and coping with an overload of information. Most modern malaise is caused by chronic stress, a result of our attention and energy controlled by the demands of ever-increasing outer activity and stimuli. ZB serves as an antidote to our modern condition. It supports the innate wellness beneath all illness, pain or distress. Grounded in precise technique and anatomical detail, its principles work in harmony with the natural world. ZB is a healing system that shares much in common with meditation, yoga, tai chi and other Eastern practices which promote deep relaxation of the body and mind. The skilled touch of the ZB practitioner redirects energy and attention away from the world defined exclusively by our senses and thoughts to an experience of living more from within: an internal feeling of calmness, mental clarity and inner peace.

An Art Based on Scientific Principles:

Zero Balancers are highly trained and sensitive to how energy is held and released in a client’s body. The observed knowledge of how ZB affects people is backed up by quantifiable research-based data. This data clearly indicates that ZB stimulates the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. ZB counteracts the physiological and psychological effects of the “fight or flight” mechanism that causes anxiety, chronic muscular tension, and depletion of the immune system. Initial research also indicates that ZB may stimulate delta and theta brainwave patterns in the brain. These vibrational patterns are intrinsically healing. Delta and theta waves are akin to brainwaves experienced in deep meditation - producing happiness, inner peace, and expansion of consciousness.

Zero Balancing Affects Consciousness:

Thought, energy and matter are intimately connected. Energy field information is expressed in the body through vibrational patterns and frequencies. Zero Balancers use skilled touch to facilitate the release of old trauma and negative conditioning held on this vibrational level helping clients to connect more deeply with who they are – emotionally, physically and spiritually. Enhanced flow and openness in the system equals greater vitality and happiness. The ability to be with others and engage with the world from an inner sense of Self allows a person to be more expansive - experiencing greater love and compassion in their lives.

The Roots Of Zero Balancing:

ZB was developed in the 1970’s by Fritz Frederick Smith, MD, an American physician, osteopath and acupuncturist. Dr. Smith, born in 1929, is one of the first western physicians to study acupuncture, meditation and other eastern healing methods comprehensively. Zero Balancing is his legacy, a synthesis of Eastern and western thought and method. Dr. Smith is the author of Inner Bridges and The Alchemy Of Touch. A biography of Dr. Smith, Life In The Bones by David Lauterstein is published. Dr. Smith lives in Palm Springs, California with his wife Aminah Raheem.