Hands-On Healing: The Metamorphic Technique

Within the last decade Medical science has become increasingly aware that both experiences in the womb and at birth can affect us for all of our life. During the nine months of gestation, our potentials are established. Unfortunately, as we move through these formative stages, the blocks to these potentials are also established. We will function with these blocks in place until they are brought into our awareness and released. In the 1960s, an English naturopath, Robert St. John, developed from reflexology what he first called "prenatal therapy," then later the Metamorphic Technique or Metamorphosis.

He came to realize there are different "maps" on the feet--physical (as in reflexology), psychological, and a "time" map that includes our prenatal experiences, even before conception. Metamorphosis is a way of reeducating the subconscious mind. The practitioner acts solely as a catalyst much in the same way as the earth is a catalyst for the growth of a seed. There are no impositons or expectations. The practitioner trusts that the person's own Life Force will do the healing on all levels: spiritual, physical, emotional, behavioral and environmental--whatever is needed at the time. In the Metamorphic Technique, contact is established through the practitioner who lightly touches the spinal reflexes on the feet, hands and head. The feet represent the moving center of the body and how it moves through life and change. They indicate how we are supported, if we are grounded, and what direction we choose. The hands represent how we handle life and its changes, how we give and receive. The head which is the creative, thinking center, represents how we think about life, change, and how we create. By working on these areas, primary patterns and attitudes, present since conception, are contacted and loosened so that the healing Life Force may flow freely. Channels blocked by genetic or karmic influences are opened. In this way a true transformation of unwanted life patterns is facilitated. Robert St. John formulated his own "maps" of the feet, tracing relationships between areas of the foot, other parts of the body, and even topics of conversation! He noted that many people would begin to talk about mothering, nurturing, and birth when he worked about the heel area.

Upon further meditation, he realized that "mother" implied the presence of "father" and surmised that the masculine principle would be at the opposite end of the foot in the big toe. He realized that between these two areas the stresses formed at conception could be pinpointed. St. John maintained that predispositions, established at the moment of conception would color the gestation period and influence a person's whole life. The moment of conception, according to St. John, is when everything if fused together: the genetic material and karmic patterns, all the "unfinished business" that we have decided to work through in this lifetime. If stress is heavy during the gestation period, the developing child can get "stuck in time," and the Life Force within them can be blocked. During a one-hour, weekly session, 40 minutes is usually devoted to the feet. The rest of the time is given to the hands, head and spine, though this may vary upon the recipient's needs. Sessions are extremely relaxing. People often feel energized and integrated after a single session. Some people go into a deep meditation-like state where there is total quiet and peace. It is in these moments that the deepest parts of ourselves can be accessed in total freedom. As we move into the 21st century, it is beneficial to resolve past patterns that we no longer need in order to heal ourselves. The Metamorphic Technique allows this healing to take place in a gentle way. Once healed we can be free to create a new humanity and a new planet Earth.