Migraines
Sunday Nov 01, 2009
Migraines vary in nature. Some seem to
be related to car accidents or hormonal changes, some to chronic
tightness and stress, and some don’t seem to be related to anything
in particular. Many women report that they had started experiencing
migraines around the age of 6. Often, there is a visual component
at the onset of the migraine such as seeing an aura or sensitivity
to light.
Some people get good results while working with a neurologist to find a combination of medications that the migraines respond to. The way I work with people who experience migraines on a regular basis is to find the pathways of tension. Usually, there is a chronic tension in the scalp, particularly in the occipital area and the temples and behind the ears. It seems to be these places that the migraines relate to. To me, these denser areas feel like ‘gristles’ in the connective tissue that is between the skin/hair layer and the scull. When you press on these gristles, the sensations associated with migraines can be triggered.
With some clients, when we massage and soften these denser tissues on the scalp, the symptoms of migraines can ease. I encourage people to feel these places and massage them. It can be an instant relief for regular headaches and sometimes even for migraines.
The neck and shoulders usually play role in the tightness in the head. I work with those areas as well as inside of the sinuses and mouth if a person is open to that kind of work.(I work in gloves and with a lubricant). We create spaciousness in the head so that the little bone structures of the scull can respond to the cranio-sacral fluid pulsations that is a sign of a healthy nervous system.
There seems to be no way to predict if a person with migraines will get relief with Rolfing. Some do and some don’t.
Some people get good results while working with a neurologist to find a combination of medications that the migraines respond to. The way I work with people who experience migraines on a regular basis is to find the pathways of tension. Usually, there is a chronic tension in the scalp, particularly in the occipital area and the temples and behind the ears. It seems to be these places that the migraines relate to. To me, these denser areas feel like ‘gristles’ in the connective tissue that is between the skin/hair layer and the scull. When you press on these gristles, the sensations associated with migraines can be triggered.
With some clients, when we massage and soften these denser tissues on the scalp, the symptoms of migraines can ease. I encourage people to feel these places and massage them. It can be an instant relief for regular headaches and sometimes even for migraines.
The neck and shoulders usually play role in the tightness in the head. I work with those areas as well as inside of the sinuses and mouth if a person is open to that kind of work.(I work in gloves and with a lubricant). We create spaciousness in the head so that the little bone structures of the scull can respond to the cranio-sacral fluid pulsations that is a sign of a healthy nervous system.
There seems to be no way to predict if a person with migraines will get relief with Rolfing. Some do and some don’t.
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Lower back
Thursday Oct 29, 2009
One of the most common things people
come to me for is tightness or pain in the low back area. It is
usually in the lumbar spine or the junction with the sacrum.
In majority of these cases, the muscles that go along the spine are very well built up, sometimes on both sides and sometimes more on one side. These muscles, called the erector spinae, are tonic muscles that keep us upright. Tonic means that they provide postural support. When they are chronically tight, they are working overtime.
One thing I often notice with such tight erector spinae muscles is that two or more of the lumbar vertebrae are not aligned. One can feel it by palpating the sides of the vertebrae and comparing their pliability and suppleness in the grooves along the spine. If the rotation of the misaligned vertebra is big enough, a person may feel symptoms in certain movements or positions. This creates caution and guarding in the area to protect the low back from pain. The chronic anticipation of a pain creates more tightness and eventually, the guarding prevents movement from traveling through the spine. It becomes more rigid because movement doesn’t dissipate evenly.
When I work with such issues, I differentiate the fascia and loosen the muscles of the low back area. I work with the soft tissue around the misaligned vertebrae so that they can return to their optimal place.
The biggest piece is what we do in our every day life. I suggest to my clients to start allowing the low back to be soft while sitting, standing or moving. When the discomfort arrives, it’s more helpful to change the sensations by relaxing into it as opposed to tightening against it. As the area starts moving again, things continue to articulate better and blood flow increases. This decreases inflammation and health can return to the area.
Eventually the area can stay relaxed without anticipating the pain. We may have to change how we stand or sit by reminding ourselves of alignment but that’s a small price to pay for having a pain-free back. The more body awareness we have throughout the regular days, the easier it becomes to do this unconsciously. Now, let your lower back be soft!
In majority of these cases, the muscles that go along the spine are very well built up, sometimes on both sides and sometimes more on one side. These muscles, called the erector spinae, are tonic muscles that keep us upright. Tonic means that they provide postural support. When they are chronically tight, they are working overtime.
One thing I often notice with such tight erector spinae muscles is that two or more of the lumbar vertebrae are not aligned. One can feel it by palpating the sides of the vertebrae and comparing their pliability and suppleness in the grooves along the spine. If the rotation of the misaligned vertebra is big enough, a person may feel symptoms in certain movements or positions. This creates caution and guarding in the area to protect the low back from pain. The chronic anticipation of a pain creates more tightness and eventually, the guarding prevents movement from traveling through the spine. It becomes more rigid because movement doesn’t dissipate evenly.
When I work with such issues, I differentiate the fascia and loosen the muscles of the low back area. I work with the soft tissue around the misaligned vertebrae so that they can return to their optimal place.
The biggest piece is what we do in our every day life. I suggest to my clients to start allowing the low back to be soft while sitting, standing or moving. When the discomfort arrives, it’s more helpful to change the sensations by relaxing into it as opposed to tightening against it. As the area starts moving again, things continue to articulate better and blood flow increases. This decreases inflammation and health can return to the area.
Eventually the area can stay relaxed without anticipating the pain. We may have to change how we stand or sit by reminding ourselves of alignment but that’s a small price to pay for having a pain-free back. The more body awareness we have throughout the regular days, the easier it becomes to do this unconsciously. Now, let your lower back be soft!
Trauma
Monday Oct 26, 2009
Trauma comes in many shapes. Wars, car
accidents, surgical interventions, violations of personal space in
physical and emotional ways, continuous stress and many other life
situations can leave a mark on a person’s ‘blueprint.’ Some of us
are more resilient than others and can resolve these traumas on our
own in our own ways. But for some, it lives in our bodies for a
long time.
Peter Levine, the founder of awareness therapy called Somatic Experiencing, writes about trauma and the nervous system activation that changes the body chemistry. Animals instinctually dissipate stress through movement but humans don’t always do that. We often freeze as a response and the trauma is not allowed to be processed in the body. Over time, the internal tension accumulates.
The story I heard in my training was about a polar bear in a Zoo in the United States. It had been given some vaccination while sedated and as it was coming back to consciousness, it was making movements with its paws lying on its back. I was told that Peter Levine identified this behavior as a running motion by which the polar bear dissipated the violation experienced with the sedation and vaccination.
In my Rolfing practice, I notice that people sometimes experience feelings and movements that are associated with certain places and events in their lives. It may be a concrete or abstract awareness but after the experience, the person feels more integrated or whole or relieved. As if the meaning is felt within the cells themselves and the system can re-set.
Peter Levine, the founder of awareness therapy called Somatic Experiencing, writes about trauma and the nervous system activation that changes the body chemistry. Animals instinctually dissipate stress through movement but humans don’t always do that. We often freeze as a response and the trauma is not allowed to be processed in the body. Over time, the internal tension accumulates.
The story I heard in my training was about a polar bear in a Zoo in the United States. It had been given some vaccination while sedated and as it was coming back to consciousness, it was making movements with its paws lying on its back. I was told that Peter Levine identified this behavior as a running motion by which the polar bear dissipated the violation experienced with the sedation and vaccination.
In my Rolfing practice, I notice that people sometimes experience feelings and movements that are associated with certain places and events in their lives. It may be a concrete or abstract awareness but after the experience, the person feels more integrated or whole or relieved. As if the meaning is felt within the cells themselves and the system can re-set.
Third Session of the Basic Series
Thursday May 14, 2009 Filed in:
10 Series
The third session completes the opening in the superficial layers of the body. Its main goal is to create more space in the pre-vertebral space. It finishes the series of the first three sessions which can stand alone. After the third session, the person feels integrated since work has been done to create movement adaptability (1st session), support (2nd session) and the front/back balance (3rd session). If I see a person just once, the third session offers a coherent experience for them to integrate.
The third session is about opening the sidelines. A person lies on their side and I work with the "side seam" between the front and back. When a person stands in profile, I see the tissues distribution between the front and the back along a plumb line. I look for ankles, hip joint, shoulder joint and the ear lining up above each other. In a well balanced and aligned person, these structures will be in line.
Depending on where the main issues are, I start either at the hip or neck. If I start with the neck, I differentiate the trapezius muscle from the front of the neck and shoulder, and often I work with the nuchal ligament on the skull (especially when I know the person has headaches on a regular basis). I work with the armpit, the pectoralis muscles, and the ribs. I have a good access to the quadratus lumborum from the side. I work around the femoral trochanter, differentiating the Tensor Fascia Lata and the gluteal tendons. Often, I work all the way down to their peroneal muscles and ankle, helping the range of motion and the way they track in gravity.
Third session covers a lot of territory. It is important to go for a walk afterwards and feel the depth of breathing and moving inside. It often seems like the zippers on the sides have loosened up and one can be free of the "straight jacket, " and still be aligned. One can feel after the third session as if they can be "stacked up" on top of themselves. Like they can rest into their body for the first time. The plumb line appears.
Second Session of the Basic Series
Friday May 01, 2009 Filed in:
10 Series
The second sesson is all about the foundation. Finding the support of the earth underneath can help the rest of the body "stack up." It is a state of resting into gravity when one can just be.
This is possible when we trust our feet and legs to carry and support us. The feet and legs are connected to the point where whatever issue is in the foot is also in the lower and/or upper leg and vice versa. They go hand in hand because tendons in the foot originate as muscles in the lower leg.
Most of us experience some kind of ankle or foot issue in our youth as we climb trees or hike on uneven surfaces or stab a toe. Some of us were not allowed to run around bare-foot, some of us wore shoes that were at times too small and some of us wear high heels and inserts. Some people have a genetic propensity towards high or low arches. Environmental factors such as the gait of the parents matters as the child learns to walk and naturally emulates the people around.
The Foot
All of these factors influence the four arches in the foot. There is the medial arch (in the middle of the foot) balanced by the lateral arch (on the outside of the foot), and there are two transverse arches across the metatarsal bones and the cuneiforms. Naturally, they all have the ability to spring up and down as we walk, giving us a sense of propelling forward without too much effort. It has been observed that people who walk bare-foot as children tend to have the most balanced arches.
During walking, there are two stages of the foot participation: landing and push-off stage.
Landing
As we contact the ground with the foot, there is a sense of landing. When all of the arches are allowed to land and touch the surface, all 26 bones of the foot move. This is very profound because all of the bones form many joints with each other. All of these joints are synovial which means that they have fluid that lubricates and cushions the joints during motion. When the joint stops moving due to an injury or tightness of the surrounding soft tissue, the production of the synovial fluid decreases and the joint becomes compressed. As a result, the joint has less space and the cartillage is replaced by scar tissue that can lead to arthritis.
Push-Off
This stage involves pushing off while bending all the toes in the foot. A lot of people walk without using their toes at all. This can be a result of wearing hard-soled shoes or having no heel strap. Whenever I buy shoes, these two criteria are essential - soft and bending soles, and a heel strap. The former allows for bending the toes and the latter allowes the whole foot to lengthen and relax without the insecurity of having the shoe fall off (which creates tension in the plantar fascia).
The Lower Leg
As I mentioned before, the foot issues reflect in the lower legs and vice versa. The muscles of the lower leg become the tendons in the foot. They act as pullies around the inner and outer ankle bones (maleoli). They attach to the bones of the foot to create the four arches. Often, muscles in the calves get "glued" together and lose their function of differentiated movement. These adhesions are the fascial sheaths that don't permit the muscles' independent movement and it ultimately results in imbalance in the arches in the foot.
As the lower legs and feet become more balanced, they provide more stability and mobility for the rest of the body. Finding a good foundation results in ability to feel aligned. The lower back and abdomen can stay soft yet supported. In this state, the body can rest into itself. Yeah!
First Session of the Basic Series
Friday Apr 24, 2009 Filed in:
10 Series
Before I see clients for the first
session, I ask them to fill out a health form. I have them mark on
a picture the areas that are bothering them. We talk about them so
that I have an understanding what's going on. Then I have them
undress to their level of comfort. I have them walk and move to
show me their particular structural issues.
The Basic Series recipe is a guideline that help focus each session on particular goals. The goals of the first session are finding rapport between client and therapist, preparing the body to receive more order and to open the breath to oxygenate the body more efficiently.
Most of my sessions start with some neck work. It helps the client relax deeper into the massage table and opens up the spinal column to receive more length. As Jan Sultan says, it takes "the lid off the pressure."
After the neck work, I move to the arms, costo-sternal facia, front and around the hip, hamstrings and the back muscles (erectors spinae). The first session contacts the superficial layers or those that are available to be released. It greatly varies depending on several factors:
From my experience, all of these factors change as the client progresses through the series. One of the wonderful by-products of increased body awareness is their increased ability to speak about the sensations they experience. Many report that being able to talk about the sensations helps them feel their bodies and lives more intensely, more of who they are.
The Basic Series recipe is a guideline that help focus each session on particular goals. The goals of the first session are finding rapport between client and therapist, preparing the body to receive more order and to open the breath to oxygenate the body more efficiently.
Most of my sessions start with some neck work. It helps the client relax deeper into the massage table and opens up the spinal column to receive more length. As Jan Sultan says, it takes "the lid off the pressure."
After the neck work, I move to the arms, costo-sternal facia, front and around the hip, hamstrings and the back muscles (erectors spinae). The first session contacts the superficial layers or those that are available to be released. It greatly varies depending on several factors:
- clients' sensation threshold
- how hydrated the tissues are
- body awareness
From my experience, all of these factors change as the client progresses through the series. One of the wonderful by-products of increased body awareness is their increased ability to speak about the sensations they experience. Many report that being able to talk about the sensations helps them feel their bodies and lives more intensely, more of who they are.
Basic 10 Series
The 10 series evolved as a systematic
approach to the structural alignment of the body. A single session
can address specific issues in the body but cannot accomplish
alignment everywhere. The Basic 10 series can do that for most
people. Each one of the ten sessions focuses on a particular goal.
The work starts with superficial layers and opens up a way to
contact the deeper structures which is sometimes called the
core.
Here is a brief description of the goals of each session:
1. breath and its many dimensions
2. support of core through feet and legs
3. opening the dimension of depth
These three sessions can stand alone as they complete the opening of the superficial layers. Deeper sessions follow:
4. letting the legs support the core
5. expanding the core
6. allowing the back and legs match the core
7. putting the head on
8-9. furthering anything to help organism be congruent
10. closure of the process
For most people, a week is a good length of time between sessions. It's long enough to integrate the changes and allow them to become "normal." And it's not too long for the tissue to go back to the adaptive patterns that it's used to.
Each session builds upon the work of the previous session. The changes tend to be cumulative; as one area opens, other places try to accommodate the new equilibrium that is being formed.
The results are often surprising for people. As the weeks go by, some notice transformations not only in their bodies but also in their lives in relationships to others and foremost to themselves. The old nagging thoughts become less loud and a new outlook on life emerges. Some deep-seated tensions disappear to give space and energy to the new, more centered state. Being becomes easier and less effortful.
Here is a brief description of the goals of each session:
1. breath and its many dimensions
2. support of core through feet and legs
3. opening the dimension of depth
These three sessions can stand alone as they complete the opening of the superficial layers. Deeper sessions follow:
4. letting the legs support the core
5. expanding the core
6. allowing the back and legs match the core
7. putting the head on
8-9. furthering anything to help organism be congruent
10. closure of the process
For most people, a week is a good length of time between sessions. It's long enough to integrate the changes and allow them to become "normal." And it's not too long for the tissue to go back to the adaptive patterns that it's used to.
Each session builds upon the work of the previous session. The changes tend to be cumulative; as one area opens, other places try to accommodate the new equilibrium that is being formed.
The results are often surprising for people. As the weeks go by, some notice transformations not only in their bodies but also in their lives in relationships to others and foremost to themselves. The old nagging thoughts become less loud and a new outlook on life emerges. Some deep-seated tensions disappear to give space and energy to the new, more centered state. Being becomes easier and less effortful.
What is Rolfing?
Friday Apr 10, 2009 Filed in:
Rolfing
Rolfing is a hands-on manipulation of
connective tissue such as tendons, ligaments and fascia. The main
goal is to establish order and alignment so that the body can
naturally find ease and support in gravity as opposed to fighting
it.
In particular, Rolfing frees restrictions that form as we age and compensate for the injuries that might have happened long ago but didn't quite resolve. These restrictions are often adhesions or fibrous scar tissue that feels denser, less innervated and dehydrated. They prevent full range of motion and thus spreading the adaptation pattern to other parts of the body.
Some Rolfers and Structural Integrators including me, believe that aging is basically dehydration of tissue. It means that fluids cannot get to the particular tissue. One of the causes is often chronic tightness of the area that restricts the blood and lymph flow that is so important in bringing the nutrients and flushing out the toxins. Over the decades of such restrictions, muscles, connective tissue, nerves and organs function sub-optimally. Tissue is no longer elastic and flexible. We become rigid, often both physically as well as psychologically.
As one of my instructors at the Rolf Institute said, the body IS movement. That is what we do every second of our lives; be it playing tennis or just breathing while we sleep. There are many ways to encourage the body moving. I personally find several things helpful:
1. Body awareness
2. Walking
3. Getting rolfed
4. Rolling on a ball and working "the kinks" out myself
5. Hot tubbing
6. Continuum movement
7. Gyrokinesis
All of them help me connect with my body in a deeper way. When I am connected with my body, I am able to recognize when a part of me isn't "happy." It becomes intuitive to adjust and adapt myself to the circumstances. I align my body with my life. Life truly becomes effortless and joyful.
In particular, Rolfing frees restrictions that form as we age and compensate for the injuries that might have happened long ago but didn't quite resolve. These restrictions are often adhesions or fibrous scar tissue that feels denser, less innervated and dehydrated. They prevent full range of motion and thus spreading the adaptation pattern to other parts of the body.
Some Rolfers and Structural Integrators including me, believe that aging is basically dehydration of tissue. It means that fluids cannot get to the particular tissue. One of the causes is often chronic tightness of the area that restricts the blood and lymph flow that is so important in bringing the nutrients and flushing out the toxins. Over the decades of such restrictions, muscles, connective tissue, nerves and organs function sub-optimally. Tissue is no longer elastic and flexible. We become rigid, often both physically as well as psychologically.
As one of my instructors at the Rolf Institute said, the body IS movement. That is what we do every second of our lives; be it playing tennis or just breathing while we sleep. There are many ways to encourage the body moving. I personally find several things helpful:
1. Body awareness
2. Walking
3. Getting rolfed
4. Rolling on a ball and working "the kinks" out myself
5. Hot tubbing
6. Continuum movement
7. Gyrokinesis
All of them help me connect with my body in a deeper way. When I am connected with my body, I am able to recognize when a part of me isn't "happy." It becomes intuitive to adjust and adapt myself to the circumstances. I align my body with my life. Life truly becomes effortless and joyful.