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Need to de-stress? Let Andrea walk all over
you
Backwalking is good for relaxation and energizing
BY ANDREA CAPLAN
PHOTOS BY NOELLE TAN
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In her body work for clients,
Andrea Kaplan uses her own body for resistance and pressure
during stretch routines and Thai-style backwalking.
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After the Pentagon was hit
on September 11, 2001, I volunteered to work as massage therapist
for members of the rescue squads as they returned to the hotels
housing them in Crystal City. Twice following the disaster,
I went to the Crystal City Hyatt to help rescue workers de-stress,
and to relieve muscular fatigue and injury. During the first
long evening, the stream of exhausted men seeking relief seemed
to be never-ending, and I realized I was exhausting myself.
So, I decided to "go public" with work I had been
doing in my home office: backwalking. As a kid, I had walked
on my father’s back and knew how much a person could
enjoy it. But it certainly was not on the agenda in massage
school, nor had I seen it offered anywhere as continuing education.
Since taking two professional training courses in Thai-style
assisted-yoga stretching routines in 1998 and 2000, I had
been using my feet, knees, elbows, and even literally my head
in working with clients–in effect, crawling all over
them–so walking on their backs wasn’t, pardon the
pun, too much of a stretch for me to consider. Also, I had
been noticing for several years that working hard with my
hands and elbows was jamming them, and I was looking for a
way to exert less force and spare my joints, while yet having
more impact.
 By
the time of the attack on the Pentagon, I had just completed
training at the Washington Institute for Body Psychotherapy,
where I had become acutely aware of character structure and
its defensive patterns in the body, otherwise known as "armoring."
As a longtime client of body psychotherapy myself, I had personal
experience with using my therapist’s weight to "take
over" my body’s pattern of defensive energy trapped
in the muscles, so that such energy could be released and
allowed to run a different, healing course, even if only briefly.
I wanted to see if the rescue workers would benefit from it,
too.
So, on my second trip to the hospitality suite, I brought
my body cushion and set myself up next to the wall, upon which
I could lean for balance. (In my office, I have ropes hung
from the ceiling, which give me far more stability as well
as mobility, but you have to improvise when you take your
show on the road.)
Some of the men were either disinterested or downright wary
of backwalking, even as they watched their comrades enjoy
the process. And, true enough, backwalking is not for everyone.
But many were grateful, and claimed the work to be highly
effective for them–relaxing and energizing at the same
time. And that was exactly what I was aiming for, along with
saving my own upper body from overuse, while incorporating
more of me physically into my work.
I now use backwalking as an integral part of my stretching
routine with any clients who are enthusiastic about it beforehand,
provided it is not medically contra-indicated. Most clients
simply enjoy the weight, the shifts, and the stretches as
I walk on them. But some clients have begun to use me more
fully in co-creating their own sessions, particularly when
I walk on them, and this has led to some very satisfying results.
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