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
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
Wonderful post Tamar! Glad to see you finally writing about your process again! You need to keep writing. Your process is unlike anything else I have ever experienced. Your fascination with the body runs so deep that it was fascinating just to watch you watch my body. It is like you are under the spell of my body in the best sense. Empathy is very important for the brain and I think doctors do have empathy but they feel they have to stay objective so as not to frighten patients with bad news or have anybody get to hopeful in a situation they really have no control over. They have a lot of fear especially when they can’t “fix us” and I’m disappointed when scientists become so overly objective that they completely disconnect from what is right in front of them. The issue is complicated for sure. The ski polls are a clever idea! Looks like fun! I often play around with different kinds of crutches and/or sticks myself. I often wondered how Jessy balanced at all since she looks so “floppy”(NO OFFENSE TO HER!) so I give her a lot of credit for finding a way to balance that works for her and I think crutches might give her a sense of stability. Learning that emotion is another form of energy was a great lesson for me personally.
Hey Tamar,
A few weeks ago I spoke to someone in a medical field who told me “Intuition and empathy are just as important to science as the scientific method.” and it reminded me of this post immediately so just thought I would mention it here by commenting again. Intuition is something you have plenty of and I think I have learned to listen to my intuitions more since I have known you all. xo