Everyone wants to feel more alive. Yet most people are simultaneously afraid of feeling the full “charge” of their aliveness. Taught to contain their charge through common child-raising practices, well-meaning school systems, and culture in general, the raging statistics on depression and anxiety suggest that too many people feel shut down and lethargic, out of touch with their life force, while others are plagued with the stress of having too much charge, whether in the workplace or in their own body. Many jobs dull the feeling of aliveness, while others demand more than we can provide. Even worse, pent up energy can sometimes erupt in destructive activities, such as addictions or acting out behaviors, or worse – sudden shoot outs or violence – if not addressed. And finally, blocked charge can result in disease, when left unbalanced over time.

Charge, as the basic life force, is little understood in the healing professions. Yet its understanding is crucial if we are to fully heal past traumas, meet the challenge of difficult situations, and overcome the stress of modern life.

Anodea Judith’s somatic therapy training workshops look at charge as the interface between mind and body, and the missing ingredient in Mind-Body healing. It brings you into a deep intimacy with your own charge, as well as an understanding of charge in your relationships, your children, and your clients or patients. It examines how you can become “overcharged” or “undercharged” and how to bring about balance through practices of charging and discharging. It describes the “comfort zone” in terms of the amount of charge you can handle, and shares ways you can expand your comfort zone, creating more freedom in your life.

After understanding the basics of charge you learn about the patterns that blocked or heightened charge can create, such as character complexes, body armor, behavior dysfunctions, addictions, and post-traumatic stress. In keeping with the author’s wide reputation as a writer on somatic therapy and the chakras, it also looks at how the chakras handle charge, and can become either excessive or deficient.

Concepts such as charging, discharging, binding, and harvesting the charge are taught through exercises that bring theory into direct experience. Special focus is given to working with trauma, where a high amount of charge is “frozen” into the body, mind, or behavior.

Cognitive therapies deal with intellectual understanding and insight, but fail to deal with the body. Bodywork therapies manipulate muscles, bones, and connective tissue, but fail to address the energetic underpinnings that create our sore muscles or misaligned spine. Spiritual practices such as yoga deal with cultivating prana through breath and movement, but seldom understand the way charge gets locked in the body in the first place, and have even less understanding of how to safely release it in the cases of past traumas and abuses.

–Anodea Judith