Working in the complimentary alternative medical field (CAM), I too often meet clients that want to be fixed. Something has happened in their life dynamics, they’re not happy, the pain becomes chronic and then all the justifications as to why this has happened develop. They’ve run the course of different disciplines still looking for an answer, is there one? The answer is yes and there’s something you can do about it!

“When you get injured, you limit movement to stop the pain. Once the pain is gone, though, you don’t start to move as if you were never injured — the brain still remembers the injury and protects the area,” says Elgelid. Such compensation can lead to further problems. “Unless you retrain those movement abilities, you limit yourself more and more.”

Our problems are not always from an injury but often from a lack of awareness as we move through our careers or sports passions, locked in habitual patterns of thinking and moving that limit ourself and lead to these debilitating concerns. Sometimes it’s simply that we’re not functioning or playing as well as we know we can.  How do we maneuver through this hurdles when the standard and honored approaches don’t do the trick? To learn more and find out what you can do now to improve how you live life so that you can do what you want when you want, click here!

This is really a must! Learn about how we learn and can reprogram ourselves to achieve our real desires.  Thoughts, imagination, movement and creating new patterns, for more information click here.

For those that live with Fibromyalgia there is hope!  When integrating a variety of complimentary alternative medicine (CAM) approaches there is considerable improvement for those living with this condition.  When a combination of CAM approaches are integrated on a weekly basis there is significant improvement in ease of function, reduction of pain and a greater sense of self.  One of my colleagues, Eveline Wu, GCFP worked with clients who alternated Feldenkrais (R) Functional Integration (R) sessions with massage, Reiki, hyperbaric oxygen therapy and Chiropractic specifically of the C1-C2 area and many had marked improvements in their symptoms.  I would gather that CranioSacral Therapy would also be another wonderful approach to integrate.  The one thing that impressed me the most was that it was essential that each of these sessions happen in a close time frame so that the benefits could integrate into the next modality for optimum learning and improvement of symptoms.  Diet is another focus to be addressed.

For more information to find a Feldenkrais practitioner in your area contact the Guild at www.Feldenkraisguild.com.  There are hundreds of practitioners throughout the world too!  To learn more, click here.

So how do we quiet down, slow down to better listen to our bodies, to all of us? It isn’t about being a rag doll, lazy or without desire, but rather how to listen to our inner voice, our gut and mind-body to improve the areas where we feel stuck.

The Feldenkrais Method ® of Awareness Through Movement ® classes are a sure way to improve your life, enabling you to have more freedom in thoughts, movements and returning to the activities you may have felt you can’t do. If you want to, there is a way to restore your wellbeing to be able to have more ease, comfort, balance and vitality. To learn more read the Cover Story article in the Women’s Magazine here.

The importance of balance and how without it the quality of our lives is in jeopardy.  We’ve all learned of seniors who have fallen, broken their hip and their life is never the same.  What about athletes, performers and the average fellow maybe out to walk their dog or trip over the curb or jump out of the way of a turning car that is oblivious to the surroundings.  Being agile and balanced is essential and there’s a clear and effortless path to maintain it and restore it!  To learn more about the latest scientific study on balance and The Feldenkrais Methof (R) read more here.

All to often we are looking for the quick fix, take a pill, have somebody else do it to us so we don’t have to be responsible. There are so many reliable sources that share how this approach is dangerous. It is our body, mind and spirit and it is up to us to be more present and aware as to how to change things for the better. Here is an informative article/blog from Newsweek that shares a wonderful approach derived from the Feldenkrais Method (R) call Sounder Sleep (R). To learn more about how you can improve your life, get more restful sleep and not have to rely on another drug with all the side effects, read more here.

When we take the time to engage all of ourselves, quietly and listening with all of our sensory awareness we can make the impossible not only possible but completely elegant and awe inspiring.  To understand more about true organic learning tune into the Scottish percussionist and composer Evelyn Glennie who lost nearly all of her hearing by age 12.  Her presentation on TED is thrilling and proves what we can really do if we quiet down, become aware and listen.  To learn more click here.

This is an interview with Dr. Michael Merzenich, neuroscientist and Anat Baniel noted Feldenkrais  (R) practitioner who has continued the evolution of organic learning, creating her own dynamic approach working with children with brain damage.  It is all about how our brains work and how to learn!   This is a must for anyone who wants to enjoy more of life, to be able to do what you want to do no matter what you age or issues.  You can learn and achieve beyond your limiting beliefs!  To learn more click here.

Research shows that “More than 10 million people in the U.S. suffer from TMJ problems, and 80% of them are women.” The symptoms range from mild discomfort to debilitating pain, including migraines and too often develop into chronic pain issues and destruction of tissue.

Current treatment options usually consist of splint therapy, attempting to mechanically correct the alignment of the jaw but in truth do not change your pattern of grinding and bruxism but only guard your teeth from further grinding, clenching and more deterioration. Then there’s sedatives, massage therapy, as well as various exercises to reduce the mental and physical stress levels of patients. And then, surgery, a last resort, irreversible and often unsuccessful due to never addressing the habitual musculo-skeletal tension and neurological patterns.

Dr. Frank Wildman, founder and creator of The Intelligent Body TMJ Program has developed a simple, effective and non-intrusive self-care alternative that complements traditional treatment options. What if it were possible to move beyond this troubling and painful dilemma! Would you be interested?

The Intelligent Body TMJ program contains 5 lessons based on the Feldenkrais Method® and uses a unique understanding of human neurology to reduce chronic tension in the jaw, face, neck and upper back. Each lesson is 10 minutes long. They are gentle, specific and ingenious movements that enable you to learn how to “recruit” and develop new and more efficient ways of employing your muscles. You can alter longstanding inefficient habits that use too much tension and stress and learn how to develop more functional and healthy patterns of movement.

To learn more about Dr. Frank Wildman and his approaches click here.

Here is a wonderful approach that can be applied to any and all disciplines to enhance the ease and effortlessness in performance whether it be sports, music, theatre… These are the comments of an athlete who partakes of Awareness Through Movement (R) classes from Stacy Barrows, a Feldenkrais practitioner and PT.

“…The students in this ATM class ranged from PT’s, Pilates instructors and personal trainers. They were patiently ready to follow a discovery process that led them to easier movement and softer postures. All with more comfort and less pain by report.” This blog appeared the next day from one of the participants:
“The workshop consisted largely of the instructor leading the ten participants through a series of nearly-imperceptible movements, usually done lying on the floor in a darkened room. I’d done a few hours of Feldenkrais work in graduate school and so knew a little about its wonders, but I sensed the skepticism among some of the other students: What could THIS be doing? It didn’t last long, because almost instantly, most of us felt different. Taller, longer, more aligned, more easy in our movements. As a guy with some theatre background, I noticed that the voices in the room sounded richer, more resonant. And, as cheesy as it sounds, people looked happier. I was, once again, blown away, and totally sold on its benefits.”
To learn more read here.