The explorations suggested in this chapter involve a systematic working down through the body's muscular segments, as follows:

1. The ocular (eye) segment consisting of scalp, eyes, forehead, and upper cheeks.

2. The oral (jaw) segment: mouth, jaw, and muscles at back of neck which insert in the base of the skull.

3. The cervical (throat) segment: throat and tongue, whose muscles originate in the throat.

4. The thoracic (chest) segment: chest, shoulders, entire ribcage, upper back, arms, and hands.

5. The diaphragmatic segment: diaphragm and waist.

6. The abdominal segment: abdomen, flanks, and middle back.

7. The pelvic segment: pelvis, genitals, and legs. This may seem like an unusually large segment, but all leg muscles originate in the pelvis, and even a movement of the foot involves muscles in the pelvis.

Basically, each exploration session can focus on a particular segment. But at the same time work on the breathing is required and this involves all segments. So no segment can be treated entirely in isolation. However it is worth spending some time on each. In a given session you may find it useful to work on more than one. It is almost impossible to set guidelines here. In a systematic therapy, work may concentrate on a given segment for fifty sessions or more, although this is usually an over-mechanical process. Other segments may require less work since they may be relatively unblocked from the beginning. Often a segment may be so deeply armored that no therapy can dissolve it.

Character structure and armoring will vary greatly among people reading this book. Where there is deep armor, it will most probably not let go in this couples work. Two main dangers are:

Work on a given segment may cause anxiety or a change in self-perception without dissolving the block. I have taken care in my instructions to suggest safe ways of working on the segments, and emphasized when to stop if necessary. My suggestions may at times seem too gentle, not forceful enough; your imagination or inventiveness may suggest ways of working on blocks which I do not mention, you may have heard of such ways from therapy or encounter groups. If so, ignore them: any intervention more radical than I suggest is not advisable. Be sure to play it safe.

Second, there is some danger in working prematurely in the lower segments, before upper segment blocking has been dissolved. I do not believe it is necessary for all upper segment blocking to be dealt with before work on the lower segments begins: on the contrary, it is often useful in therapy to work on lower segments to open the way downward and thus help upper blocks to let go. But this is done very carefully. In my instructions, I give firm criteria for when it is safe to proceed downward to the next segment. Please respect this. There is a real danger of causing panic and stirring up deep anxiety.

It is because of these dangers that I emphasize that your relationship as a couple must be basically sound. You can learn as you go along, if you take your time, and respect the capacity for contact which presumably you already have. In many ways you are safer than with a therapist who is also learning about you as the work goes along. But do not play therapist. Therapy may involve deliberate confrontation, and it certainly involves deliberate pointing up of character attitudes and traits for accentuation en route to dissolving them. There is much destruction, or de-structuring, in therapy—preferably controlled. If one person in a couple acts as therapist, this may destroy the relationship. This is not therapy, it is couples work.

In couples work, where the goal is sharing and better contact rather than therapeutic confrontation, some armor is probably best left undissolved. The goal is the maximum opening possible given the character structures of the two people. Some armor may incidentally be loosened.

What follows is a sequence of work down the segments. Here, as before, the instructions are addressed to the guide: through helping another person work, some objective understanding of armoring can be gained; and for the explorer new to this kind of exploration it is useful to be able to let go under another person's guidance rather than having to keep referring to instructions.

Work on the segments can best be combined with the gentle work on the breathing suggested in chapter 2. This can be used as a basic framework. Here too the explorer will start out lying on the back with knees up and head tilted slightly back, and be encouraged to sigh out fully with a sound. Once the sighing out has started, one or other of the measures suggested below may be attempted. But, a final caution: keep the sequence. Never do work on the lower part of the body before confirming that the upper segments, and particularly the eyes, are not blocking seriously. Since there is a chance deep feelings may well up, it is essential to be sure the person is in contact.

In the case of an outburst of fear, anger, or grief, follow the procedures you have already worked with in chapter 3.