Assimilation

Assimilation practices are added at the end of Baseworks practice sessions. While they may superficially resemble relaxation or body awareness exercises found in yoga or wellness contexts, they serve a fundamentally different purpose.

What Assimilation Is

Assimilation is a calibration tool. Following sessions where the spine has been mobilized in various positions of gravity, Assimilation allows the neuromuscular system to process the experience of the practice.

The practice has two phases:

1. Voluntary Spinal Tractioning

The practice begins with voluntary tractioning of the spine while supine. This involves:

• Mobilizing the pelvis, shoulders, and spine
• Anchoring the pelvis through spinal mobilization to create a tractioning effect
• Extending through the legs, feeling the extension originate from the hip
• Mobilizing the neck to create traction between the ribcage and the back of the head

This tractioning is similar in principle to what an osteopath might do in certain treatments, but here it is self-administered. The goal is not to “flatten” the spine but to traction it—creating space and setting up the body so that it feels comfortably heavy on the floor before stillness.

2. Stillness and Weight Awareness

After the tractioning preparation, the body remains completely still. Attention is guided to the weight of the body on the floor—heels, calves, pelvis, shoulders, arms, hands, head.

This focus on weight is not about relaxation or body awareness as ends in themselves. It is a tool for staying present:

• Not phasing out
• Not drifting off
• Not checking out or “getting cosmic”
• Remaining aware of whatever is there to be aware of, on an individual level

What Assimilation Is Not

Not Relaxation

While comfort is encouraged, Assimilation is not a relaxation practice. The purpose is calibration, not withdrawal or rest.

Not Body Awareness Practice

The weight awareness component is a tool for maintaining presence during calibration—not a body scan or mindfulness exercise in the wellness sense.

Not a Cool Down

As stated in the Primer course: if you feel you need a cool down after completing a Baseworks practice session, this is a point of self-reflection indicating that more attention to Intensity Modification is needed.

The Calibration Function

Calibration through Assimilation is subjective for each person, based on:

1. Individual body condition — Some may find it deeply settling; others may notice discomfort related to their physical state.

2. Relationship to practice outcomes — Discomfort can also arise from projecting expectations about what the experience “should” be, or not getting outcomes in the way one perceives they should arrive.

3. Nervous system processing — Mobilizing the spine throughout a session affects the central nervous system. Assimilation provides space for the nervous system to adapt to and process the practice outcomes. These outcomes are subjectively different for everyone.

Why This Framing Matters

Baseworks is not a wellness practice, and Assimilation should not be framed or communicated in ways that suggest generic relaxation, body awareness, or mindfulness approaches. The precision of language matters:

• “Calibration” rather than “relaxation”
• “Processing” rather than “releasing”
• “Staying present” rather than “body awareness”
• “Setting up the body” rather than “letting go”

This distinction maintains the methodological integrity of Baseworks and prevents misunderstanding by participants who may come from yoga or wellness backgrounds expecting familiar frameworks.

Related Concepts

• Movement and Emotional Processing — How practice can sit alongside life experiences and help calibrate them
• Ignition — The counterpart practice that opens sessions (also not a warm-up)
• Intensity Modification — If a cool down feels necessary, revisit this

Origin

This note consolidates explanations from Session 6 (Winter 2026 Montreal Study Group) and cross-references the Primer Segment 7: Assimilation, particularly Lessons 7.1 (Concept: Assimilation) and 7.5 (Key Points: Spinal Traction).

---

Version History

Date	Change
2026-02-23	Initial version created based on Session 6 discussion and Primer Segment 7 reference