You’ve heard the saying, “Stress is the #1 killer.” Well, then, I’m asking all health care professionals as well as the offices and institutions that we work in to become aware of our internal states of and environmental spaces where stress, worry, anxiety, and fear live and to replace those states with presence and tranquility despite the severity of the situation. If you live up to what you know I assure you your patients and clients will have more positive responses and outcomes. If you find this difficult and you see its effects on your patients and clients have the courage to give them my contact information. www.medicinevolution.com

Last week I had the opportunity to work on someone suffering from an array of symptoms such as fever, body/joint pains, headache, and a stiff neck from sleeping wrong. The most pressing and debilitating complaint was the neck pain because it exacerbated everything else on every small movement.

This is where courage, experience, and listening (with my hands) come into play and prove valuable -sometimes beyond medicine.

I began, like always, by touching and assessing the fluidity of the body or lack of it. Keeping mindful of the symptoms, but knowing they were simply the background of something closer, something more tangible. You see, the body will always express an imbalance on any level (physical, mental, emotional, etc.) as a symptom or a group of symptoms in the muscles and soft tissue. Why? Because symptoms are simply a pysical articulation o fsome inner imbalance. In my limited experience of 13 years, it is more frequent than not that symptoms stem from a structural imbalance(s) than from a viral or bacterial illness. It is sad that the treatment of such things isn’t referred more to people who do the type of work I do.

I didn’t touch the head or neck that session, even though at the end of the session those areas remained in pain. What I did do was go to where the body and my hands felt the most structural restrictions. Which happened to be the sacrum and low back, but my hands could tell this wasn’t simple. I worked right along the spine, in deep joint crevices of the sacro-illium, and around the mid-back where both head/neck and shoulders were not feeling connected to the lower spine and pelvis. In about 30 min I can tell by tissue changes whether or not I can help a person. Things were progressing well so I knew I needed to trust the work, my hands, and the healing potential of the body. By the end of the session movement was flowing as I rocked the hips I could see and feel movement through the spine move all the way up to the head. The ribcage was soft again, breathing more complete. I had to trust my clinical experience (backed that up with hundreds of years of knowledge passed from bodyworker to bodyworker through the ages) that the spine reflects itself vertebrae to vertebrae, the top most reflecting the bottom most, the base of the skull reflecting the sacrum – I left him in expert care.

I went for a second session the next day. I went with an open mind but I admit I was slightly haunted with thoughts that I would have to do direct work on the neck. So much was better, the symptoms were gone or at least very, very bearable. The suffering was gone from an observer’s view and that was expressed subjectively. When clients are suffering and tests fail to confirm than get  under the scrupulous knowledge of expert hands. Hands which know they are not perfect and will quickly and humbly bow out of any situation too much to bear.

I am thankful for my teachers, I am thankful for those who have the courage to take a different almost untrodden path, I do hope that people out there read this and come to structural bodyworkers like myself. If you aren’t in my area I will try my best to connect you with someone who maybe qualified closer to you. I was on the other side of the table years ago, this gave me my life back and I truly believe that others need this opportunity. Cutting people off from this type of work is oppression, it is selfish, it is insane.

The muscular and soft-tissue systems of the body can be a key to deeper illnesses. Read this article on massage and asthma.

December 2011
Massage Therapy May Improve Asthma Symptoms in Children

Massage therapy may improve lung function for children with asthma, according to a new study.

Numerous theories exist on how massage therapy may be beneficial, although there is limited research on the mechanism of action. There is promising preliminary evidence that suggests massage therapy may be beneficial to the lung function of children with asthma; however, data are not conclusive.

In a new study, 60 children with asthma were randomly assigned to receive 20 minutes of massage therapy from their parents at home for five weeks in addition to standard asthma care, or to a control group of only standard care. Several lung function tests, including spirometry, which measures the volume of air that can be inhaled or exhaled, forced expiratory flow in one second, which is the speed of air coming out of the lung, were performed on the first and last day of treatment.

The researchers found that at the end of the study, forced expiratory flow was significantly higher for children in the massage therapy group when compared to the control group. There was also a significant improvement in the forced respiratory flow to forced vital capacity (volume of air that can be forced out after full inspiration) ratio. No significant improvements were found for other lung function tests, including the peak expiratory flow.

The authors concluded that massage therapy may improve lung function for children with asthma. However, further well-designed studies are necessary to confirm these findings.

For more information about integrative therapies for asthma, please visit Natural Standard’s Comparative Effectiveness Database.

To comment on this story, please visit Natural Standard’s blog.
References

Abdel Fattah M, Hamdy B. Pulmonary functions of children with asthma improve following massage therapy. J Altern Complement Med. 2011 Nov;17(11):1065-8. View Abstract
Natural Standard: The Authority on Integrative Medicine. www.naturalstandard.com

The information in this brief report is intended for informational purposes only, and is meant to help users better understand health concerns. This information should not be interpreted as specific medical advice. Users should consult with a qualified healthcare provider for specific questions regarding therapies, diagnosis and/or health conditions, prior to making therapeutic decisions. Copyright © 2012 Natural Standard Inc. Commercial distribution or reproduction prohibited.

Homeopathic medicine is one of the greatest medicines of our age and I believe that John Feissel is one of the best homeopaths of our day. If he isn’t yet, he’s on his way. I’ll be posting more regularly on homeopathy and directing my readers to consult with John personally.

Welcome to the web site of John Feissel’s homeopathic practice, located in Philadelphia, PA. If you have any questions or comments, or would like to schedule an in-person, telephone, or email consultation, please contact me:

Telephone: 215-375-7183
Email: johnfeissel@msn.com
www.feisselhomeopathy.com

http://sammysellshomes.com

Health and Wellness – The Tri-Valley is Filled With It!

March 5, 2012 By Sammy Shrimali
Meet Chris Corrales, CMT
Founder of MedicinEvolution – bodywork beyond massage, in Dublin, California

The Tri-Valley is a not only a beautiful place to live, but it is home to some talented health-and-wellness professionals.
The fact that Chris Corrales works in the business of helping people find ways to relax and live pain-free is no surprise, given his calm, professional, relaxed demeanor. My team had the pleasure of meeting with Chris this week.
Describing the services of his Dublin, Calif., – based MedicinEvolution as a “complete and systematic approach to balancing the body,” Chris said that his methods of holistic body work and massage focus, in great part, on fascia.
Fascia, Chris explained, is connective tissue found in all parts of the body.
“It’s an organ of structure and an organ of support,” he said. “It supports the body from the general structure (of a system) down to the cellular level.”
To use Chris’s analogy, think of fascia as the pith of an orange, which is the soft white substance found throughout the fruit.
Pith is found in abundance as a protective coating under an orange’s skin, just as it is found between each section of the orange and surrounding each pocket of juice. Fascia, he explained, exists in at least as great abundance and in similar patterning throughout the human body.
“There’s superficial fascia surrounding groups of organs, and then there are layers and depths to it, surrounding organs and organ parts,” he said. “But working fascia can be difficult. You can’t just stretch it. You need pressure, heat and intention to release it.”
Intention, he said, is where much of his work as a Rolf practitioner comes into play. He works closely with patients to help them want and learn to move in ways they may not think they are capable, given their pain or discomfort.
“I work with patients who are dealing with everything from cancer to fibromyalgia, to joint pain,” he said. “But I’m working with human beings, and every human being is different and everyone brings different life situations.”
Chris’s practice offers a holistic approach to healing. While he values the importance of working cooperatively with physicians, he believes that long-term use of prescription drugs can lead to other diseases or problems than what those medications were originally prescribed to treat.
“I do massage, but I don’t want anyone to think that is all I do,” he said. “It’s really holistic, alternative medicine.
The Rolf method, in which Chris is specially trained, is the most holistic method in bodywork, he said.
“I focus on accessing the parasympathetic nervous system,” he said, explaining that within the autonomic nervous system are two branches – parasympathetic and sympathetic.
Sympathetic responses, he said, include adrenaline releases, which he describes as toxic.
“The parasympathetic nervous system responses are based on rest and relaxation, and that’s what we aim to access,” he said.
The 10-session Rolf techniques each build on one another and occur in the relaxed setting of Chris’s Dublin office.
He tailors each patient’s program to meet their needs and includes massage methods that address the frontal spine, the neck and many other parts of the body for creating overall structural integration for improved health.
Chris offers his services on sliding-scale fees and is open to discussing modified payment plans for individuals who may not be able to afford the traditional plans.
You can contact Chris for a consultation at 925-922-2246.