Why do I love Portland? Because it’s February, and even though the weather is still cold, things are springing to life. I am originally from Chicago, and grass starts to turn green around April. Grass (what little there is) barely turns brown here if at all, and it starts to grow again in January. I mean, come on people…it’s February and trees and bushes are all ready starting to bloom….that’s AMAZING.
Feel free to insert any action if you want, and the answer is still the same. NO. If you have an underlying pathology (i.e., disease), then there is something that can benefit from “fixing”. But other than that, there is nothing wrong with anything you move with your body. And if anyone (Rolfer or otherwise) tells you that, stop, turn around, and run out the door. Rolfing looks to help free your body and give you options of moving differently. We want you to be able to choose what feels “right” for you in the moment to be able to do. Sometimes, having a slouched, hunched posture is really beneficial (think dark alley and not wanting to be noticed, or hide-and-seek)–it can make you smaller and harder to notice. If you’re getting yelled at by your boss or significant other, standing tall and proud may not help that situation. On the other hand, if you’re talking about how great your weekend was or something inspiring to you, that same posture isn’t really appropriate anymore. I sometimes want to giggle on the inside when I hear “Is my breathing wrong?”. Are you breathing? Then it’s not wrong!! Now, there might be a more efficient and easier ways to breathe, but they aren’t “better” in a judgement way, just different. Unfortunately, I find the English language limiting in this way–better/worse shouldn’t be linked to right/wrong, but they often are. Scoliosis provides a wonderful example. Everyone has some level of scoliosis–if you didn’t, you’d find it very hard to walk since your spine wouldn’t move very well. But some people develop clinical scoliosis. Are Rolfers looking to straighten that spine out? Nope. We want the spine to still be able to move functionally with no restrictions. Now of course, as you remove the restrictions, the spine tends to become straighter, but the motion is the real goal. Basically, Rolfing helps you to find about the way to move that best suits you and your individual structure.
Well, it’s that time of year—cold and flu season. So, today’s post will be about your sinus health. Anatomy lesson of the day: you have way more sinus space than you think you do. Most people just think that the sinuses are the space inside your nose. That is true, but the bones also have air-filled spaces that are part of the sinus complex as well. Basically, you have sinuses in all of the bones that make up the front of your face and even some deeper bones. The frontal (forehead), maxilla (cheeks by the nose), ethmoid (upper portion of the nose), and the sphenoid (central bone of the skull) bones ALL have sinuses in them–on both sides of your face. All of these sinuses drain into the nasal cavity at some point. That congestion you feel could be coming from any of those points. Rolfing also deals with sinuses a fair amount. Because of the fascial connection, your sinuses are affected by the fascia and muscles in your nose, face, jaw, cranium, and neck. Tightness in any of those places can end up causing some congestion. As part of the 10-Series, those areas definitely get addressed. However, work can also be done in the nasal cavity itself to help open up those passages and get things flowing again. One self-care tip is to use a neti pot for some sinus irrigation. If you haven’t heard of them, basically, it’s a little pot you put some lukewarm salt water in and pour it into one nostril….until it runs out of the other nostril. Yep, you read that right. It derives out of Ayurvedic medicine. Basically, it helps to flush nasal irritants out and clean out those sinuses. Tips for the wise–if you use a neti pot, make sure you use the recommended salt level. Too much or too little salt can cause a burning sensation. Also, you want to use lukewarm water. If it is too hot, you can scald yourself and your sinus linings (not fun, I’m sure), and if it is too cold, it won’t be comfortable. I just recently starting using a neti pot to work on some deep congestion issues I’ve been having. It sort of feels like I’m drowning a bit, and feels a bit uncomfortable. This is mainly because I hate breathing through my mouth. But, I can definitely tell that it helps to clean out a lot of mucus from the nooks and crannies up there.
One thing new clients often don’t understand initially is that Rolfing is a process. Traditional massage therapy does yield cumulative effects, but it is usually done as single sessions. There isn’t any sort of flow between the sessions. Rolfing is most definitely done as a process. That is why there is such power in the 10-Series. You could basically think of it as a one super long session. Time does play a factor in this setup: working through the whole body from the surface to the core just physically takes a long time–that’s a lot of territory to cover. Also, it is a learning time about your body. You won’t understand everything the first time–just like any new activity. It takes time to build up your skill level. You are essentially relearning the language of body sensation, and specifically your body’s unique dialect. As I’ve mentioned before Rolfing is also about empowering you to be able to take over some of your care. You go to the Rolfer to get some external guidance and assistance, but the “heavy lifting” is still for you to do. It is like school in this regard–your teacher leads you through exercises and examples, but you have to do your own homework OUTSIDE OF CLASS. We all learn by doing, not by being told how to do something. I recently thought of a new analogy for the Rolfing process (I do like analogies). It is like using a swing. Sure, you can do it entirely yourself–get those legs pumping and timings right and off you go. However, swing your leg not on sync or shift a rhythm, and it can be hard. The Rolfer acts like the friend helping the swinger out. You are still learning the timing and speed, but your helper gives the push at the right time, with the right power, and right angle to keep you going. At some point, you are fully able to take over the process yourself. That is how Rolfing ideally works. The Rolfer is there to help push and guide you with the correct timing and pressure, but not do the work of swinging. Then you can later use that knowledge and guidance to keep evolving your own structure outside of and after your sessions.
The holidays can be a challending time for people. I’m not going to lecture anyone about overeating and underexercising. What I will talk about is your body usage patterns. In time of stress, people tend to revert back to their original/familiar movement patterns. This is why when we get back around family or friends we don’t often see, everyone slips back into familiar roles, even if everyone is different away from that setting. We feel safe in those old habits and unconsciously know that. So, remember if you are being stressed around family and suddenly notice old body issues you thought you had dealt with coming back, take a second and take stock. Go through any new routines you’ve learned about getting into your body, and when you are alone again (even if just at night), take those few minutes and work your way from your old patterns to your new patterns. Your body will thank you. Rolfing is about learning how to communicate with you body and being aware of how you use it. Even noticing slipping that you are slipping into old habits furthers that goal.
North Star Integration has been under, shall we say, technical difficulties for the last month or so. Needless to say, everything is back up and running. Sorry for the lack of updates to the blog. This shall be rectified.
The financial times sure are tumultuous right now. And many people are wondering about what’s a good investment, or how to deal with the stress of the times. If you wondering about something to invest in, invest in yourself. The return on that investment is always positive. Not a great time to make sure your body is functioning well and free from restrictions. Put some time, energy, and money into yourself. Exercise is a great way to fend of the effects of stress. Plus, we live in an information saturated world. This breathing time–quite literally breathing time–lets our brains unplug and reset. Go out and take a walk, play with your kids or pets, read a good fiction book. Basically, any time you spend on yourself can only benefit you in the end.
A recent client interested in Rolfing recently asked me this question. And it’s a valid question, as Rolfing does generally cost more than a normal massage (at least as long as you aren’t going to a “spa”–you’d end up paying more than for a Rolfing session). Well, several answers come to mind. One primary difference is that Rolfing isn’t really massage, and shouldn’t be equated as such. Massage therapy schools require their students to train in multiple modalities–Swedish, deep tissue, spa-like treatments (hot stones, salt scrubs, etc). This results in a practitioner who has some skill at a lot of different things. As they go into practice, they may specialize in something or take classes for even more styles. Rolfers, on the other hand, spend their ENTIRE training learning only Rolfing. So we come out of school being really good at one thing. And, such specialization/depth-of-training and skill level demands a premium. Many types of massage are geared only toward relaxation. This is a worthwhile goal in and of itself, but it doesn’t get to the root of body issues or help you to learn new patterns. Other types of massage are designed with more of a therapeutic mindset, but they tend to miss the mark. Rolfing is not meant for relaxation, even though many people find it relaxing. It is meant to transform your body and evolve your structure. And its unique holistic approach sets it apart from anything learned in massage schools or naturopathic colleges. Make no mistake about it–Rolfing changes your body and the mind-body connection. And duration of the effects is probably the biggest reason why Rolfing costs more than a normal massage. Most people, even though who love massage, admit that the relaxation or muscle relaxation usually only lasts for a couple of hours or days. In this regard, the massage acted more like an aspirin to dull a headache. Sometime the headache goes away on its own, and sometime you need more aspirin. The effects of Rolfing are felt for hours, days, week, months, and even years later. People who don’t get additional work after a 10-Series can be viewed much later, and their body will have continued to improve over time. Rolfing isn’t an aspirin for the headache, it’s helping to resolve the headache so no aspirin is needed. Massage can be effective, especially if the body issue is recent or temporary (like a pulled muscle). But for deep, chronic, systemic, non-local body issues, Rolfing is the way to go. You often would need to constantly go to a massage over and over as the effects wear off and the issue returns. This would be penny-wise and dollar-foolish. I’m not going to say that Rolfing is cheap, but it is cost-effective and it’s an investment in your self. You won’t be disappointed in the return on your investment.
If you watched any of the Olympic Race Walking, please don’t take your walking lessons from them. While they may be able to walk fast, they are not walking with whole body wellness in mind. They do have some great hip mobility, but most of the motion is restricted to side-to-side movement, and not in all three planes of motion. Their knees all seem to be buckling, and almost every single one of them was only using the outside part of the feet. However, the biggest tell-tale that their walking styles are not free flowing, natural, easy walks is their torsos. You may ask yourself, who cares about the torso in walking? Well, quite frankly, you should. Your spine should be able to respond to your walking by compressing and lengthening pike a spiralled spring. This action allows the stress of walking to transmit through your body, and it also activates all of the various pairing of muscles to allow efficient walking. If you spine can’t or isn’t allowed to handle the motion, other parts of the body have to take over. That is why most of the race walkers were pumping their arms like no tomorrow and their heads were sliding side to side. Plus, from the Rolfing perspective, it seemed like most of their motion was coming from their sleeve and not from their core–lots of motion with not so much stability. If you see any of the race walking events, just watch the participant’s torso. If you look around at about their sternum or breast bone, if there any motion there, or it just seem like a quiet place with everything else in their body moving around it? I think it would also be interesting to see these athletes walking around normally. Do they still have traces of the “race walking” gait, or it entirely just a motion they do for events. I’d guess that they at least bear the trace of their race walking in their everyday walking as well.
The Internet world and sporting world is a buzz with Kinesio tape. If you’ve watched any of the Olympics, you’ve probably seen it. It’s the black tape on shoulders of athletes like volleyballer Kerri Walsh. And no, it’s not a tattoo, but it may have helped her and her teammate, Misty May-Treanor win some gold. You may have also seen it various pink or blue colors on a LOT of other athletes as well. Do only Olympic athletes use this mystical, magical tape? No. A lot of other superstar athletes have used it including Lance Armstrong, Serena Williams, and whole slew of others. Sure, the makers of the tape say it’s good for athletes, but it’s also good for the everyday athlete and more run of the mill things. So, what is the magical tape good for other than winning gold medals and Tour de France? Basically, you could think of it as athletic tape on steroids (and from the planet Krypton). Normal athletic tape is used for taping up weak joints and muscles to get someone moving again. It’s not very stretchy, it’s not the nicest to remove from body hair, but it does do it’s job. This is where Kinesio tape takes the cake. It is significantly stretchier than normal tape–the makers claim it can stretch up to 130-140% of it’s normal length. Try that athletic tape! Plus, their some sort of sticky magic, I’ve seen it applied to a (hairy) forearm, and removed without even the slightest grimace. It’s stretchy nature also allows for two types of applications–stretched and unstretched. The way you use it depends on whether you looking to increase fluid flow to an area to aid healing, or if there is a musculoskeletal injury you’re trying to support. So, it can be used to help support injured joints and muscles to (according to the manufacturer) relieve pain and speed healing. This is of obvious benefit as a palliative measure to anyone whose had these issues but still needed to make full use that area–so pretty much everyone. Some of the athletes are using it in post-surgery situations to help protect them as they get back to their activities. Another advantage over normal athletic tape is it’s width. This allows the Kinesio tape to be cut into those fun shapes you’re seeing all over the Olympics. The shapes are designed to follow the natural path of the muscles across the body. I’ve only ever seen athletic tape really used to help shore up joints by wrapping them tightly in place, usually adding support at the expense of mobility. As the name “Kinesio tape” evokes, it allows the wearer to still move with the tape in place. The tape is also water resistant, which is why some swimmers/water polo players are wearing it, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen happen with any from of normal athletic tape. It’s an interesting product, and I’m curious if it would be any supporting benefit to the Rolfing process. The added lymph flow would definitely be an assist in any area that has a lot of fascial adhesions that have just been broken up to help get the re-released toxins out of the area.
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