MedicinEvolution - Bodywork Beyond Massage » bodywork

Official Sponsor

chris — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:18:14 +0000

MedicinEvolution is now a sponsor of the Tri-Valley Triathlon club.

http://www.trivalleytriclub.com/

A MedicinEvolution Article on Tremors

chris — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:37:34 +0000

Here is an article I wrote for people who suffer for the nervous system disorder called Tremors.

www.tremoraction.org/pdfs/DEC-2011.pdf

Healing An Injury Through History

chris — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 18:54:05 +0000

I want to talk about compression injuries such as falls because they come up from time to time and even though they may be silent (i.e. no bones broken, no internal bleeding, perhaps there isn’t much pain at the beginning). Impact injuries, like an accident or a fall from a height, can wreck internal havoc. Knowing the causation is the first key. If your therapist hasn’t inquired about the causation of your problem let him/her know. In my experience impact injuries are different than most and need special treatment. Motor vehicle accidents can pose a situation where, no matter how much therapy or how many different types of therapy you pursue, the issues never really get resolved. Its not in treating the problem, but in understanding HOW to treat the problem. I treated a victim of a motorcycle accident years ago and got great results, thanks due to a teacher who gave an example of what was for me a simple but very realistic perspective of a fall victim she had treated. I followed suit with my client and I think it made all the difference. Together, my client and I, with imagination and recollection revisited the accident and put it onto paper. We drew out the scene using stick figures. He described flying through the air, the thoughts and feelings that were going through his mind, the light post that he crashed into, what the impact was like, the way his body impacted (what hit first, twists, contractions, etc.). For a Structural Integration practitioner the details here are important. Muscle hold memory, so revisiting the incident brings out clues with which help to unravel deep connective tissue holding patterns. Our sessions were powerful, they were deep, they were thorough, they touched on the various aspects of the moment, they dealt with the body’s twists and distortions, and followed lines of compression, adrenaline and emotion, flying through the air and landing on the ground. The scenario was the key, rewinding it and replaying it was the answer.

Rolfing and Running

chris — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 22:45:17 +0000

Here’s a good article on Structural Integration and running.

www.samjohnsonrolfing.com/Rolfingrunning.html

Rolf Structural Integration Manual Medicine and it’s Role in Asthma

chris — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 22:28:37 +0000

In the last 100 years chemical medicine’s miracles have overshadowed manual medicine, in recent decades the tides have begun to change.

Here’s an article on Rolfing Structural Integration and asthma. www.mybodyworks.com/feature.html

Mainstream Bodywork

admin — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 09:44:45 +0000

As bodywork becomes more mainstream particular therapies will be distinguished according to their capabilities, success rates, scientific and practitioner development, level of therapeutic be, and breadth.

Our Bodies: Structure, Function, and Sacred Flow

admin — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 09:04:14 +0000

A great benefit of modernity is that it has all enabled us to take from the good of the past and validate those things in ways that make sense and make their truths tangible. Massage and bodywork have been an essential part of medicine for many cultures throughout time, but in our age we’re probably the most in need of it as our bodies bear a burden from the lifestyles and stresses of our time. At www.massagetherapyfoundation.org you can find a growing body of research on bodywork that will substantiate and increase your understanding and faith concerning its positive impact on your health.

The Simple Purity of Bodywork

admin — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 17:33:37 +0000

Man is a confluence of material, mental, emotional, and energetic streams that have at the very least an indirect influence on one another. However, much of the time in a session of bodywork a client can immediately recognize a positive response in his well-being during a session.

Dr. Rolf observed that “for the therapist of the psyche, as well as the therapist dealing with the physical man, the goal is appropriate movement. The psychotherapist senses immobility in the dimension of time rather than space. The individual, bogged down, unmoving in time, unable to escape from his infantile or adolescent assumption or traumata, manifests this physically as well as psychologically. His lack of movement, his general or localized rigidity, are unequivocal in their statement.”

It has been my experience many times over that a proper session of bodywork can bring relief on numerous levels, even through the simple purity of bodywork.

“It’s Mystical, but it’s Physical”

admin — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:24:28 +0000

“It’s Mystical, but it’s Physical” (The way one client expressed his experience of Rolf Structural Integration)

In my practice, MedicinEvolution, I’ve heard clients say some of the most interesting things after experiencing Rolf Structural Integration. I want to share some of what I can recall with you.
•    Since the session the world has been more vivid, my senses seemed to be more acute. That goes for every sense, my hearing, sight, smell, etc. I notice things I didn’t before although they’ve always been right in front of me.
•    For some reason I have access to a wider range of vocabulary.
•    I felt a sense of spirituality. I became Muslim.
•    This work has will help develop your intuition.
•    I’m an athlete, I know my foot, but I’ve never been able to feel my foot like this before. The awareness that it has brought, amazing!
•    I’m much more aware of my body.
•    Before the work I used to live in the attic (pointing to her head). Now I feel like I’ve come down to live in the house (pointing to her body).
•    I wanted to get married, and now I’m engaged.
•    His confidence is better.
•    She’s happier!
•    That night after the 6th session all of my symptoms the night of the car accident returned i.e., vomitting, back pain, headache, etc. just like they were. By the time I woke in the morning they were gone. My back pain is gone.
•    Don’t take your hand off my back, I can feel the pain leaving through your hand. Keep it right where it is. (A very good friend during his bout with cancer, I miss you)
•    My asthma went away.
•    I totally forgot that I wore leg braces. That was 20 something years ago, and right now I am recalling the Dr. and his exact address. That’s weird. (While reestablishing balance in his lower legs)
•    Emotions could no longer anchor themselves to flesh, they’d come and go.
•    I grew an inch.
•    I feel stronger.
•    I feel younger.
•    I feel skinnier.
•    My old pants fit me again.
•    What I’ve learned from Structural Integration is that I can prevent my own future ailments.
•    I don’t get sick like I used to, I would’ve expected to get sick this winter.
•    I’ve experienced a new level of health and fitness.
•    I consider it a part of my training (as a triathlete).
•    I’ve been to a lot of reputable people but no one ( like a Structural Integration practitioner) waits for the body to move, I feel like this does something.
•    I can sleep better.
•    I didn’t feel a thing after the ten sessions. After returning from a 200 mile hike on the Pacific Coast Trail I don’t think I would’ve made it if I didn’t go through this work.
•    I was shy, the uprightness that I feel makes me feel better about myself.
•    After only a few sessions I could already feel the results not only in the way my back felt but my posture, breathing and the way I was moving. I knew that the underlying postural imbalances were beginning to correct themselves.

If you read through the literature of alternative medicine you can find interesting things like this. What I love about the Rolf work is that its focus is to release, clarify, define, communicate, support, and organize the physical body. As a result, the purity of the physical work can sometimes lead to a sort of veil being removed between different aspects of one’s being, the direct correlation, then, becomes clear. Here are some physical goals during the ten session process of Rolf Structural Integration:
•    Bringing length to the front of the body.
•    Stacking major segments more appropriately.
•    Increasing the vital capacity (breath).
•    Helping the (3) foot arches to function properly.
•    Balancing knees over ankles.
•    Lengthening the back and supporting the spine by restoring correct position of muscles and soft tissue.
•    To win back “sides” of the body
•    Coaxing length in inner legs and revitalizing the pelvic floor.
•    Awakening deep structures and relating anatomy superficial and deep.
•    Freeing the sacrum from the pelvis and restoring it as part of the spine.
•    Horizontalizing the pelvis (the “seat of the soul” as Dr. Rolf described it).
•    Enabling micro-movements to the bones of the head and unifying the spine and all its complexities.
•    Integrating movement of the limbs into the body and empowering a broader more unified range of motion.
•    Establishing optimal joint function, nervous system health, organ space, structure and function, function and structure, three-dimensional body.

Charming Growth

admin — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 08:13:56 +0000

Julia was two months old when she first came into the office. She was fussy, cried a lot, and looked small for her age. Despite what I perceived to be a trying child, her mother Michelle was happy and positive. Michelle seemed to have an intuitive sense of hope for her young daughter. On intake, I found a child who woke up every 1 1/2 hours through the night, cried incessantly, and made sharp body movements as if she demanded some internal change. She had been on a laxative for the past three weeks. Constipation seemed to be the underlying issue, however the frequency of her stools had not changed since starting the laxatives. She would still only pass a stool once every 5 to 8 days, which had been ongoing since birth. The laxatives weren’t working.

Julia went through ten sessions of bodywork. The first four sessions seemed very uncomfortable for Julia. She would cry and squirm as if she did not like the bodywork and was trying to get away. I imagine it was painful for her. Her mother would sometimes have to hold her to calm her down. I would work with Julia in this manner, but she was still clearly uncomfortable. By the third session her stools moved consistently every three days. By session five she began to sleep through the night, and by the seventh session she seemed better rested from her daytime naps. Furthermore, throughout the sessions, Julia’s body appeared to lengthen. By the eighth session Julia actually welcomed the sessions. It was as if she knew my intention, and she knew that what I was doing was good for her. She came more into her body -it no longer looked like a cramped living space and she was no longer making sharp body movements. In fact, her body movements became smooth and free. From that session on, she looked much happier and came in with a glowing presence. I felt as if living in her body was a lot easier now.

Julia’s infrequent bowel movements were not the cause of her problems - they were a symptom of some internal disorganization. On a surface level I could see and feel deep tense holding patterns. In school we were taught that movement patterns and the tone of soft tissue are clues as to what is going on at deeper levels in the body. For instance, one thing that was quite noticeable early in the sessions was how Julia would constantly carry tension in her back. There was quite a bit of tension in and around her neck and shoulders and her mid-lower back. As the tension eased, her stools normalized. Chronic tension can affect anything and everything from organs, bones, muscles, nerves, fluids, energy, mood, and/or emotions. Bodywork during the early stages of life can have positive effects for years to come.