If you hold anything for long, it will begin to speak to you. Every part of the body has a story to tell. You might think that toes, for instance, don’t have a lot to say, but you’d be wrong…
Read MoreThe Half-Moon Vector - A fulcrum for the whole field of the person’s structure and energy…
Read MoreSukha Yoga in Austin is one of the many vast resources for meditation, yoga and psycho-spiritual support that we luckily have available to us today….
Read MoreThe scapula, a floating bone? and the roots of wings…
Read MoreFrom Diocles of Carystus, 4th Century B.C. in Athens - Prescription for One's Morning…
Read MoreThe muscle perhaps most reflecting thought lies on top of the cranium with a central tendon, the galea aponeurotica….
Read MoreIn the trapezius, the vertical energy flowing through the body intersects with a horizontal flow through the arms and the hands, reaching out to the world around us. This may be seen as an axis of love…
Read MoreThe Zero Balancing Touch Foundation has generously given every one of us free access (until June 30th) to a very special meditation recorded by Dr. Fritz Smith, Zero Balancing’s founder, that has been circulated only in the Zero Balancing community for years.
Read MoreZero Balancing provides answers and fascinating new questions in the search for bodywork’s holy grail, the unified approach to mind\body healing. Its theory reconciles the rigorous demands of Western science with the cosmological radiance of Eastern models of health…
Read MoreHeart-Head Fulcrum - The most dangerous disconnect is that of the heart and head. “The heart’s so far from the head it doesn’t even know there is a head.” - Dr. Elvin Semrad
Read MoreOne of the most important groups of muscles often ignored by massage therapists is the intercostal muscles. They are core muscles involved more or less in every breath we take…
Read MoreWhen we do bodywork, our hands assume various positions. The more highly we regard the miraculous abilities, structure, and even linguistic capacities of the hands, the more meaningful and sacred our hands, their expression, and our work may feel.
Read MoreIt was 1967, the "Summer of Love," I was studying Indian music in Berkeley, California at the American Society for the Eastern Arts. One of my classmates was the obscure, brilliant guitarist, Robbie Basho. One morning I arrived early and Basho was standing on the front porch.
Read MoreThere are essentially two models for how we affect people positively through therapeutic touch. One is the soft tissue manipulation model and the other is the neuro-muscular or, if you like, structure and energy model. Both are useful and true in their way.
Read MoreThe primary issue for therapists working with the feet is a fairly simple one. Most therapists do not know the intrinsic muscles of the foot.
Once one has clarity about the muscles that are there, the work becomes quite straightforward. Exploring successively each layer of the foot,; doing some cross-fiber and direct palpation, assessing tension is the first step; and then melting with a “soft tissue fulcrum” where called for. This will have a dramatic impact on the foot and, because the energy upwells from the kidney meridian’s “bubbling spring”, this work affects the whole self.
Read MoreFor this fulcrum you will use your forearm, particularly whichever part of the ulna works best for your body/energy mechanics. This fulcrum involves active movement by the client. Ask client to very slowly and fully flex and extend ankle (e.g. “ Please point your toes and then lift your toes up.”). Explain the movement and have them try it once or twice. This also gives them the basis for a “feeling comparison” afterward.
Read MoreFor this fulcrum you will use your ulna just distal to the elbow. As you are standing at the side of the table facing the lower legs, you will usually use the arm nearer the head (i.e. right arm on the left leg and vice versa). This stroke involves active movement by the client.
Read MoreFor this fulcrum you will work with the heels of both hands together. The direction will be from lateral to medial. You will be working along the lateral margin of rectus femoris and across its belly. The structural objective will be create more freedom of movement between vastus intermedius and rectus femoris. The impact is amplified if you involve the client’s active movement.
Read MoreFor this fulcrum, you will be using primarily the same side hand as the side of the client with whom you are working. You will work with your loose fist while your other hand supports the leg. (Variant: you may choose to ask the client to interlace his/her fingers beneath the knee and actively stretch as you do this technique).
Read MoreThe lower legs lead to the thicker muscles and tendons of the thighs. Here our roots become our trunks. And like the lower legs, the thighs call for understanding, compassion, and nurturing. Ever notice how children running around seem to gain energy from running? Unfortunately, as we age, often the sheer joy of running, leaping, spinning around, escapes us, much to the detriment of our legs and our whole body and spirit.
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