FAQs

Q. Why should I get a Zero Balancing session?

A. Zero Balancing can address specific issues and enhance overall feelings of wellness. ZB feels great and often provides these lasting benefits: improved feelings of health and well-being; stress release and enhanced energy; reduced pain and discomfort; increased balance, stability, and mobility; heightened feelings of connection, peace, and happiness; and release of present and past mental, physical, and emotional tension.

Q. What is Zero Balancing?

A. Developed by Fritz Frederick Smith, MD in the early 1970s, Zero Balancing is a powerful body-mind therapy that uses skilled touch to address the relationships between energy and structures within the body. Following a protocol that typically lasts 45 minutes, the practitioner utilizes finger pressure and gentle traction on the bones and joints to create fulcrums, or points of balance, around which the body can relax and reorganize.

Q. How is Zero Balancing different from other modalities?

A. Some bodywork, such as massage, Rolfing, and chiropractic, focuses primarily on improving the function of the physical body. Other modalities, such as acupuncture, Reiki, and Polarity Therapy, work to enhance body energy. A Zero Balancing practitioner consciously and actively engages BOTH body energy and body structure simultaneously – bringing them into balance within themselves and with one another. The result is greater than the sum of the parts, enabling the person on the table to feel engaged on the levels of body, mind, and spirit. Often with Zero Balancing both energy and physical function improve dramatically.

Q. Who offers Zero Balancing?

A. A wide variety of health professionals offer Zero Balancing as an integral part of their practice. They include acupuncturists, chiropractors, craniosacral therapists, massage therapists, medical doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, osteopaths, physical therapists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, and others. Practitioners may be found in private practice, health and wellness centers, hospitals, and spas.

Q. How are ZB practitioners certified?

A. Certification in Zero Balancing follows approximately 175 hours of continuing education (100 class hours, 75 practical), one-on-one mentoring, and successful performance evaluation. This individualized learning program transforms students of Zero Balancing into practitioners who embody the fundamental skills of this art.

Q. Who should seek Zero Balancing?

A. People of all ages can benefit from Zero Balancing. It can help amplify feelings of wellness in healthy people and can help those with health challenges and stress to feel better. ZB has been shown to help calm the nervous system, improve sleep and breathing, improve joint mobility, and reduce fatigue. Zero Balancing supports the body's natural healing processes. ZB works in conjunction with medical therapy and is not a substitute for it.

Q. When is Zero Balancing contraindicated?

A. People receiving Zero Balancing should not be acutely ill, recently injured or recovering from recent surgery, or in the first trimester of pregnancy. Practitioners should also proceed with caution in cases where the spine or joints may be compromised or unstable, such as in cases of advanced rheumatoid arthritis or Down's Syndrome, or in cases of joint replacement surgery. If you've recently had surgery or a bone fracture, we recommend that you wait 2 to 3 months after your procedure or injury before receiving Zero Balancing. In addition, we recommend that people should not receive Zero Balancing while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Feel free to discuss your concerns with your doctor and/or a Certified Zero Balancing practitioner.

Q. What can I expect during a ZB session?

A. A ZB session begins with a discussion of your current state of health and goals for your Zero Balancing treatment. Goals may range from reducing tension or discomfort in a particular area to improving energy level to helping with sleep issues or stress relief. You will first sit and then lie on your back, fully clothed, on the massage table. Your practitioner will assess your body for tension, particularly tension held in the bones and joints. Then your Zero Balancer will place gentle finger pressure or traction called fulcrums into areas around the spine, ribs, hips, feet, and neck to support the body, allowing it to deeply relax and release held tension in these areas. Zero Balancing enables your own energy to flow in stronger, clearer ways – helping you to feel more like yourself and more at home in your body. A typical session lasts 45 minutes. After your session, the practitioner will give you a few moments to rest, after which he or she will ask you to walk to integrate the work and to give you an opportunity to notice any shifts that might have taken place during the session. Often ZB takes you into a deep state that is similar to meditation, so it's helpful to walk to transition you back into the rest of your day.

Q. What should I wear to my Zero Balancing session?

A. Please wear loose, comfortable clothing that allows you to move and stretch easily.

Q. How does Zero Balancing work?

A. Zero Balancing addresses the structure of the body, the energy of the body, and the relationship between the two. Zero Balancing focuses on the foundation joints – those joints whose function has more to do with transmission of force than with locomotion. When foundation joints are compromised, other tissues will compensate. This compensation results in many hidden imbalances that impact a person on both conscious and unconscious levels. Zero Balancing helps resolve imbalances in the foundation joints and release the compensatory patterns. By squeezing and stretching bone and other tissues that conduct electrical currents, Zero Balancing uses the client's energy to clear vibrations held in those tissues and in fields of body energy. Vibration holds information. When releasing, organizing, or balancing vibration, Zero Balancing has the effect of harmonizing the mind as well as the body.

Q. What is special about ZB touch?

A. Zero Balancing places a strong emphasis on safety, and never seeks to force any change. Zero Balancing touch feels good, and when there is some soreness, it should "hurt good". A hallmark of ZB is what we call Interface Touch. In Interface Touch the practitioner is aware of both his or her energetic and physical boundaries as well as those of the client. This touch is respectful, supportive, and meets you precisely where you are. ZB does not introduce outside energy into your body. Rather, ZB clears energy blocks in your system and allows your own energy to flow in stronger, clearer ways.