Since Kelley founded Radix in the early 1970s, Radix practitioners have continued to develop the concept of pulsation of the life force, and have expanded its application from personal growth work to such therapeutic issues as dissociation, trauma, abuse, emotional containment, interpersonal relationships and the role of physical boundaries in all of these.
When describing Radix work there has been much debate over many years as to what to call it. It is difficult to know whether to call it body work, psychotherapy or personal growth work. In a sense it is all three. Perhaps it can best be seen as a bridge between the physical, the psychological and the spiritual – a way of linking body, mind and spirit.
A doctor may refer someone to Radix work because of problems like back pain, hoping that as emotional and thinking issues are addressed, the patient will let go of bodily tensions and experience less musculoskeletal pain. Or they might sense a relationship between other kinds of physical symptoms and their patient’s emotional and psychological wellbeing.
Someone else may be referred by a counsellor or psychologist because they are out of touch with their feelings, or are overwhelmed by them – and as a result experience bodily, behavioural or thinking problems.
Others choose to do Radix work because they want to discover more about themselves and to grow in acceptance and delight in who they are. They want to deepen contact with themselves and their world.
In the first example, the presenting issue is physically based, in the second the emphasis is psychological and in the third it is self - discovery. However, because of the close relationship between the body, mind and emotions, the benefits may expand into all these areas, whatever the initial purpose.