THE DREAMING BODY Myofascial Release

Miracles....limps...something different

2011-11-22T00:35:00.000-08:00

"My limp is nearly gone...I'd like to book another session....but I'm not expecting miracles..."

What is it about society today that many of us have written 'miracles' out of the realm of possibility? I don't have the answer to that question but I'm happy to say that I believe our bodies have been designed to do amazing things like self-correct and heal. Sometimes our bodies need a little help to achieve it and this help can come in many forms. One such form is myofascial release treatment following the John Barnes' method. Whether it's relief from pain, restoring motion, or eliminating limps, to me, these are all amazing results that can feel miraculous!

What has your body been waiting for? Has it been missing something? See if myofascial release is the 'missing link' between how you feel now and how you'd like to be and feel. Try a session today!

What is Myofascial Unwinding?

2011-09-16T01:52:00.000-07:00

How often have you heard someone say, "I just need to relax and unwind!" as a figure of speech? Unwinding is a realistic phenomenon and our bodies really do know how to unwind!
We often unwind in our sleep at night. Ever woken to find yourself in a completely different orientation than when you went to sleep? Do you find yourself all twisted and tangled up in the sheets? Your body is simply self-stretching and self-correcting itself letting go of tightness and tension...

More specifically, unwinding is allowing our body to find the 3-dimensional positions in space it needs to get into in order to stretch, release, and eliminate pain and tension. Not only do we unwind when we sleep, but we can unwind with hands-on treatment and gentle bodywork. Often the positions that emerge through unwinding aren't linear or structured. However, our bodies know best and when we 'take the breaks off' and just let go, our bodies will take us right to where we need to be. It's as natural as a rope unraveling or a cat stretching... The beauty of letting our bodies unwind with a therapist present is that the therapist can assist us with getting into and supporting us in these key positions for a deep, complete releases with relief that lasts.

Let your body unwind today!

Book a session at The Dreaming Body and experience myofascial unwinding.

What does fascia (connective tissue) look like?

2011-08-27T16:32:00.000-07:00

It doesn't show up on x-rays or MRI's, so what does fascia look like? Using specialized imaging we can see fascia as a whitish, thick, sinewy substance forming a network that surrounds and infuses all the structures in our body from head to toe. This web-like matrix gives our cells, organs, bones, vessels, nerves, and muscles shape and stability. Fascia holds our body's fluidity but when it becomes restricted, it becomes a source of pain, tightness, and limits our ability to move easily. Through the fascial system, information and energy is transmitted throughout our body. This communication system gets impeded when there are restrictions. Thus, it's important to keep our connective tissue healthy and working well!

How is your fascial system doing? Could it do with a bit of softening, stretching, and releasing?

Book an appointment today at The Dreaming Body for a session of myofasical release!

Click here to see a video of fascia in a live, human being!

What is it about the city?

2011-07-25T02:07:00.000-07:00

Melbourne, Victoria

A weekend in Melbourne gave us a dose of the fast-paced, busy, environment a city has to offer. Over stimulating our senses on tastes, smells, and noise, we took in the bright lights, sounds of traffic, conversations of masses of people merged together as a chaotic hum, and the rumble of trams and trains. Sights and sounds of nature slipped into the background to be unnoticed and virtually undetected. Yet, the rush of the city offers a bit of an adrenaline kick, a sense of excitement, and easily catches you up in its whirlwind of 'go-go-go'! We let this wind carry us and through tasty food, cultural encounters, train rides, an art exhibition, and the well known fire show at the Crown...

Soon our time was up and we headed back to Buninyong where civilization lives on the edge of concentrated nature. Our senses were attuned again to birds calling, wind whistling through trees, dirt roads, bush, and scurrying of wildlife.

Both environments have much to offer and can bring balance to our life experience. While appreciating my mini-taste of the city, I found myself welcome the country atmosphere - a place where tuning in and unwinding seems to come naturally and easy What's your style? What's your taste? Do you resonate more with the city, the country, or equally to both?

Need some time out?

Submerge yourself in the energy of a little country town surrounded by nature...

Have a treatment at The Dreaming Body in Buninyong, VIC!

The beauty of letting the body lead...

2011-07-17T05:47:00.000-07:00

When is the last time you've listened to your body's wisdom, your inner guide, or your gut sense? Society doesn't offer many opportunities to do so but Roger and I were glad to be able to give a taste of this to participants at the MS Family Camp over the weekend. Through touch using myofascial release and gentle encouragement to tune into their bodies, we facilitated a deeper awareness and opened the door to 'letting go' at the body level. Tightness, tension, pain, and even neurological symptoms were relieved and eliminated simply through letting the body lead allowing it to do what it needed to achieve enhanced well-being. For some, this was just breathing gently and deeply into their bodies - for others it was letting their bodies move and stretch as tight tissue softened and released under our hands. Regardless of the unique experience each one had while on the treatment table, the effect fostered expressions of gratitude and left a smile on people's faces!

As a myofasical release therapist, it's always a privilege to facilitate the body's natural self-correcting mechanism and help people to let go and experience authentic results....

Want an opportunity to listen to your body's wisdom and see where it takes you?

Contact The Dreaming Body to book a session for yourself! 5341 2335

Is your therapist empowering you?

2011-07-12T02:59:00.000-07:00

Feeling powerful and free!

Our bodies are designed to self-correct and heal. Every now and again, we need a little help from the hands of a skilled therapist. Not only should your therapist help you achieve your goals within a short time frame, but your therapist should be teaching you how to self treat and enhance your body awareness. Why? Learning self-treatment techniques catered to address your specific needs empowers you to be able to take care of yourself. Deepening awareness enables you to be 'tuned in' to your body so you can take care of tension and tightness as is arises rather than when it accumulates and starts 'screaming' at you! Awareness brings choice - the choice to listen to our bodies and take care of ourselves. This option is cut off from us when we lack awareness and are unable to listen to our bodies. Thus, treatment sessions that facilitate improved body awareness coupled with self-treatment instruction offers a powerful combination that will accelerate your healing journey.

Do you know how to self-treat?

Do you have good body awareness?

Come to The Dreaming Body, deepen your awareness, and learn how to treat your own fascial restrictions safely, naturally, and effectively!

What is a Cranio Cradle?

2011-07-09T01:49:00.000-07:00

Ever wish you could take your therapist's hands home with you? Now you can with the Cranio Cradle home therapy system! Made specifically to function like therapist's hands, this tool offers the opportunity to treat yourself in the comfort of your own home.

Place the Cranio Cradle under your head to ease symptoms such as neck pain, headaches, teeth grinding and stress. Used under your low back area, the Cranio Cradle can be used to relieve back pain, sacroiliac pain, and tension. There are six different orientations in which the cranio cradle can be used to target your specific symptoms and meet your individual therapeutic needs.

Everyone who tries it, loves it!

Want to see demonstration videos?
Go to http://www.thedreamingbody.com.au/massage_buninyong.html

Want to meet the founder of the Cranio Cradle?

Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl70Cf81KPY

Want to try it out for yourself?
Ring the clinic 03 5341 2335 to schedule a time for one-on-one instruction
or order online at http://www.thedreamingbody.com.au/massage_buninyong.html

What is a Body Back Buddy?

2011-07-06T02:16:00.000-07:00

Body Back Buddy

Do you find yourself rubbing or pushing your fingers into that thick, tight, and sometimes painful area between your neck and shoulder? If so, you intuitively know that pressure in these areas will result in release and relief! However, our arms and fingers often fatigue before the tissue releases completely, and in a short time, we're back to pressing on those sore and tender spots! An ingenious invention, the Body Back Buddy, solves this problem by allowing us to apply pressure into those tight areas without wearing out our arms and fingers. With this special tool, applying gentle pressure long enough to allow the tight tissue to fully release becomes easy! Just find a tight spot on your back with one of the knobs and allow the weight of your arms and hands on the handle to apply gentle, therapeutic pressure. As you maintain the pressure and breathe softly into the area being treated, the authentic releasing begins and oh what it is to feel the tension and pain dissipate! Want to give it a try? Schedule a time to stop by the clinic and we'll be happy to give you all the tips in person! Each Body Back Buddy comes with a small 6-page leaflet of colored photos demonstrating a variety of uses for treating other areas of the body.

Want one posted to you?
Go to www.thedreamingbody.com.au/massage_buninyong.html

Is myofascial release massage?

2011-06-23T20:59:00.000-07:00


The Cross-Hands Release

This is the most common question we are asked and understandably so! After all, the John F. Barnes approach is new to Australia. Massage can be a great way to relax and feel good for a while, but have you noticed that the results don't always last? If so, you need to give American-based myofasical release a try! Rather than rubbing or 'twanging' through the tightness, myofascial release applies gentle, sustained pressure to areas of restriction and allows time for the body to release. This time frame is a minimum of 2 minutes for each restriction as it takes that long for the tissue to start to soften and elongate via the piezoelectric effect. Shorter time frames feel good but yield temporary results. Thus, giving ample time for each restriction to release is critical to be able to authentically impact the connective tissue of the body and access the root cause of pain, tension and stress!

No oils or creams? Yes, that's right! In order to sustain gentle and firm pressure into areas of tightness, myofascial release must be applied to dry skin. Sliding will only push the tightness around rather than releasing it.

Take the leap! Try something new and let your body gently release and unwind at The Dreaming Body today!
03 5341 2335
www.thedreamingbody.com.au

Who is John F. Barnes?

2011-06-05T22:49:00.000-07:00

Reprinted with permission from Paoli MFR Treatment Center

How did this man with whom I had a profound, direct encounter become known as the guru and expert leader of myofascial release? Pain, desperation, and life experience are all behind his development. The journey was instigated by a weightlifting injury that triggered severe back pain. A myriad of eastern and western modalities offered some relief but were always short lived. As an athlete and physical therapist, pain stood in the way of living life fully. Out of desperation, John agreed to a fusion of his spine which again offered some relief but no permanent change in symptoms. With the realization that no one would help him but himself, he began to listen to his intuition, or gut sense, which led him down the path of self treatment and accessing his body's wisdom and natural healing instincts. Years later, we are beneficiaries of John's perseverance and persistence regarding his personal journey with pain and his professional journey into the realm of alternative therapy. Nothing stopped him--- not even severe criticism and ridicule from colleagues. Today, at over 70 years of age, he continues to teach his technique of myofascial release throughout the United States and Canada and practices in his specialized clinics: Myofascial Release Treatment Center in Paoli, Pennsylvania and Therapy on the Rocks in Sedona, Arizona.

For people who really want to change and are willing to trust their body's innate ability to heal, John's clinics offer hope where there hasn't been any. How do I know? As one of his therapists for nearly two years, I was able to see first hand, the transformations that myofascial release treatment brought to patients from around the world. As John's staff, we journeyed with patients through the ups and downs, chaos and calm, and messiness of healing. What an honor to facilitate this process and treat side by side with the master and developer of a technique that the world has been waiting for!

Pioneering John Barnes' Myofascial Release technique in new territory has called me to Australia. Leaving John's clinic was challenging but more growth and change awaited outside of Paoli, Pennsylvania. Joining my husband nearly two years ago in the first Australian practice to use John's technique exclusively has meant that a new population of beautiful people have access to an authentic treatment modality that offers real, long lasting change and empowerment to embrace life fully!

Want more information about John, his clinics and his seminars?

Visit: www.myofascialrelease.com

Healing Ancient Wounds

2011-06-05T19:56:00.000-07:00

I came to know of old wounds through a book I almost didn't finish reading.... As a high school student, I began to focus on a career involving health care as I wanted to make a difference in other people's lives. The rehabilitation field, particularly physical therapy, captured my interest and I completed observation hours at a privately owned physical therapy clinic near my home in DuBois, Pennsylvania, USA. I had been told, "they do things differently there..." My interest was further peaked as I could see that the patients actually got better after a few visits compared to other facilities at which I had spent time. All I knew for sure was that the therapists spent 30 minutes, uninterrupted one-on-one time with patients. That time was filled with hands-on touch ----no ultrasound, no electrical stimulation, no TENS, or modalities typical to physical therapy.

Seeing the difference in how patients were responding, I wanted to know more about this unique hands-on therapy and was loaned a copy of Healing Ancient Wounds. It was heavy, hard-covered, and had a bearded man leaning on a walking stick with a cougar cat in the background and purple splattered all around as a back drop. Hmm.....not what I'd call a reputable source for a university bound teenager! As I turned to the first few pages, the content again inspired questions and confirmed that this was not what I had been looking for when I expressed a desire to learn more! Since the book was borrowed, however, obligation took me through the first chapter and then the next.... at which my interest began to grow, reading became easier, and I picked up speed as I traveled through the text and examined the artwork scattered throughout. Titles like, ..."Authentic Healing" ..."Letting Go" ..."Leaning Into the Wind" contained concepts that were new to me, concepts that were mind expanding, and concepts that were beyond my level of understanding. Some of the information that leapt off the pages I simply could not swallow or absorb as they conflicted with my belief systems. I found myself skimming wide-eyed through those sections wondering if I should even finish reading the book, but something compelled me persevere through the 347 pages.

At the end, I concluded that there was something very real about the book and something that resonated deep within. Thus, I knew I needed to receive this work for myself. I was now aware of a long term solution to the back pain that would wake me at night and to the emotional upheaval I felt inside that none of my counselors or psychologists were able to reach or help. Healing Ancient Wounds showed me that if I just "hung on" until I could get to John's seminars, I'd be OK. Through my undergraduate and graduate studies over the next six years I buried myself in school work putting my inner feelings on the back burner as much as I could. As soon as I finished my Master's degree in Physical Therapy, I registered to take two of John Barnes' seminars back to back. 2005 was when I came face-to-face with the man I had read about - a master, a renegade, a physical therapist, a teacher..... and my world changed. The seminar experience was more than what I could have dreamed or imagined. I knew that this was my calling, my passion, my future career, and the answer to many of my physical and emotional issues. It took all my courage, but on the fourth day of being together, I volunteered to be a demo for an unwinding technique in front of an audience of over 100. I knew this was my moment. I knew this is what I had been waiting for. Despite fear and reservation that had kept me shy and introverted for so many years, I stepped up on stage, got on the treatment table and was soon under the hands of a master. His presence was reassuring ----his touch was soft and gentle ----his voice soothing and encouraging as he addressed the audience and demonstrated the technique. Just connection through touch was enough for me to let my whole body - my whole being engage in my first authentic experience of John Barnes' Myofascial Release. My body's inner wisdom came to the forefront and took me into positions, places, and feelings in which I could finally let go - all the while being kept safe by John's touch and presence.

The volcano inside of me finally erupted requiring no explanation, no talking, and no coping strategies. Out came everything that was driving my pain, discomfort, unhappiness and inner emotional turmoil. In a short while, I naturally reached a place of quiescence feeling like years of baggage and weights had been lifted off and now I was finally free.....free to be me...free to flow with life again... ahhhh! What a powerful feeling to heal old wounds!

Want your own copy of John's book?
Go to: www.thedreamingbody.com.au