Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Empathy makes me more insightful or Is being dispassionate really objective?

I’m wondering about the role of empathy in healing.
Is it true that scientists/doctors fear empathy because it may obscure the diagnosis/treatment process?
Emotions might come in and we all know how unwieldy emotions can be—so it follows that getting to know your patient intimately might be a bad thing because you then could get confused on the scientific path.
For me the empathy (I admit to being the empathy queen) sends me to the exact right balance in doing body work with people. It’s in service of the person that I use my eyes to scan their bodies, my instinct to sense the rigid places.  I call forth everything I’ve ever read and everything scientific and from the dance world I know to impact working with the them. The gift I give them is the balance I feel within myself.
Empathy/emotions have energy and I need every bit of that energy to find the eureka solution in the situation before me.

Jessy Yates and Tamar Rogoff at the March 2015 NYC Cerebral Posse Meeting
Jessy Yates and Tamar Rogoff at the March 2015 NYC Cerebral Posse Meeting

This is me and Jessy Yates at our last Posse meeting. Jessy either whizzes around on her scooter or falls chaotically at a rapid rate through space to wherever she is going. Here we are using my ski poles upside down to slow her down and give her balance and awareness. In the background the whole Posse is giving verbal feedback. In this collaboration Jessy also has to find her sense of empathy for me and my body, as our conversation goes back and forth--body to body.

For more information about the Cerebral Posse, follow this link: The Cerebral Posse

-Tamar

For more information about the film: Enter The Faun

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