1 day Ago By Angela Rose | Columnist
I have a client who came in with shoulder pain, she said it’s getting unbearable. We’ve gotten her from a pain scale of 7 to a 2. Her shoulder pain is not just in her shoulder it is a culmination of the posture and tension throughout her body that she has been carrying for the entirety of her life.
She has a lump in the bottom of her foot, she has had surgery on it and it didn’t take the lump or the pain away. She leans away from the pain to the left side and does not evenly distribute the weight in her feet. Her spine deviated in a zig and a zag, her pelvis was high by at least 1.
5 inches on her right side when she arrived, her head cocked to one side, her ribs collapsed on one side. There is a zig zag pattern that runs through her body and yes she has scoliosis. I see scoliosis in different degrees of severity quite frequently in my practice.
Spinal compression and pinched nerves are a result of...
fascial restriction. Fascial restriction can be released with MFR. I treat my clients with Myofascial Release exclusively because it delivers the best results.
If you want to get out of pain, find greater ease and mobility, you need to release your fascial restrictions. I went to a lecture last Saturday with Gil Hedley PhD, he was doing a nerve tour. He has been a Rolfer- a structural integrator and he unveiled groundbreaking research and discoveries from his dissection lab.
Showcasing the extraordinary nature of the brain and the spinal cord- he calls himself an integral anatomist. He is a poet, a philosopher of sorts, and I could relate so deeply with him. In his messages as he showed us slides of the three subjects that he dissected he had such a beautiful reverence for all of the people who had made his research possible, including the lives of the people who had left their bodies and donated their bodies as cadavers.
He dissected his subjects and uncovered their nerve trees. He had such detailed anatomy of the nerve branches, and he showed us so many of the nuances and complexities of these human bodies as he followed and meticulously uncovered the branches of the nervous system. What I learned from Gil is that each body’s nervous system has their unique nervous system in a different location.
That a diagram of the human body is a map, and that the actual landscape of each person’s body is different from one another, yet similar. The anatomical structure of a body on a diagram is an average, taken from many different bodies, it is “about” where the thing is. It is not an exact science.
He had a few themes in his talk and this was something he kept referring to. How important it is to be present with what is in front of you, who is there presenting with their unique individualized body. Which is something I have also touched on, and what I have been taught by my teachers.
We need to see what’s here, in the present moment. How the body, the client is holding space and centering in this time. What is constant is change.
We are always growing, changing, shifting, nothing in the living is static. He showed slides of the layers inside of the skull and the heart’s vascularization of the brain, and spoke poetically on how our heart and brain are inseparable. As humans we separate things in our minds so that we can focus on one thing, and in fact nothing is separate.
We are all interconnected and interrelated, especially inside of our body. As we poured through the five hours of anatomy it was thick, there were so many things to learn and know, and so much that I knew and was familiar with. What I love is that I went to a school where I learned Latin at a young age.
That has come in handy in my profession, the language of anatomy is latin. Latin words have roots and so do nerves. Nerves are wrapped together with arteries and veins, they are all interwoven together spiraling with each other.
Some nerves branch out and then come back together, some are embedded within muscles, adipose tissue fascial sheaths, tendons and ligaments and these pathways of each person are different. It makes me question the accuracy when doctors have a blanket understanding and do not see an individual and take time to listen and observe. Coming from their minds may not able to see the whole picture.
The allopathic linear approach is lacking because there is not enough attention to the specific details that lie in physical structure and the tissue of the unique individual. Gil used this example of losing your keys. Have you ever lost your keys he said.
He then talked about the left and right hemispheres of the brain and the cognitive vs creative function. He likened logical critical thinking of the left brain to looking through a 6 foot straw. The left brain needs to focus so it actually erases the thoughts, memories and function of the right brain, the creative, contextual intuitive side.
So when you are hyper focused you can actually miss your keys right in front of your face. So when you lose your keys go out, put your feet in the grass, the ground, maybe soon the snow haha. Take a few deep breaths and relax.
The right brain can see things better, and includes the mind but is not limited by it. Stay open, stay relaxed, everything works better this way. In my practice I focus on the presentation of my client.
I look to see what is holding back, what is rotated, bending, tight, crunched, collapsed, how the fabric of the tissue is arranged and organized. What is disorganized? I take note of each lump and bump each bony prominence where the belly button is pointed, the taught, and loose tissue, the curve of the spine, the health of the spinal cord, the height of the hips the position of the pelvis the flexibility of the ankle, the knees position the importantly the relationships between the segments and individual parts. I get close and then I step further away.
I read the body for symmetry and organization, for tone, size and shape. I consider myself a sculptor and an artist. And I listen, I stay present and observe.
I notice and listen deeply to the sea beyond all the lines to where the center is and the holding patterns that may be blocking the potential harmony within the body. When I body read I can see how I can bring the body back into alignment, so the different segments are not fighting with each other. There is often torsion, where twists tend to spiral the body further out of alignment.
To unwind tension requires finesse. You can’t push too hard, or the body will resist and fight back. It is a deep play on listening.
And this is where we adopt the flow state. I have a client I have been seeing, she just had her seventh treatment. She came into my office barely able to walk.
She was screaming as she hobbled and bent over in agony and severe pain. She has worn holes in her shirt where she has grabbed her back right where she hunched over in kyphosis. She has been angry and upset.
She has been devastated at the loss of both of her daughters, these traumatic events in her life have been overwhelming. She was convinced that she would be in pain forever. She has also been extremely hard on herself, and the only relief she would find is in bed, so that’s where she’s been for 2 years.
I have been working on her and the results are why I do what I do. She is now inches taller, she comes in with a smile on her face, she is having days where is not in pain and she is sitting up straight. She is learning how to handle the extreme circumstances life has dealt her.
Most importantly she is noticing how she has been beating herself up, and she is learning to curb this addiction. She is learning to love herself and to breathe through her pain. She is healing, she is walking up right.
We are working on her gate. She is remembering when she used to dance, she is learning how to dance again and to move in more grace with each visit. She is learning how to end the pain cycle and to be open to the possibilities of a bright future.
She hugs me and thanks me every time I see her, for helping her get her life back. There is still some pain but the difference is noticeable. Her level of pain is becoming more and more manageable, and she is getting up to do the chores, she is learning how to sit up tall and be present in her body, she is getting back to life and back to offering herself the love she deserves.
I am so grateful for her, she is my teacher. She has taught my inner voices to center in wisdom and like good parents to talk nice to myself. We need to love ourselves, even when we are hurt and dysfunctional.
We need love. 100 out of 100 babies die if they are not touched after birth. Our skin, our connective tissue needs to be touched, held, loved and soothed.
We need pressure, hugs, we need squozen. We need love. Love is the answer to every question.
Make sure to be gentle, patient and kind to yourself and every part of you. Because you are a miracle. This life is a beautiful gift and we are alive now.
This is the time to fully live..
