Ease and harmony — that’s what the body seeks to rediscover with Ortho-Bionomy, a gentle osteopathically-based system for working with the body’s self-corrective reflexes. According to Ortho-Bionomy founder Arthur Lincoln Pauls, D.O., ease and harmony are things we already know, and Ortho-Bionomy is one way of remembering. It is an educational tool “of a high order.
I am sitting on my chair
at a quiet beach.
The sun is shining brightly.
Warm waves lap at my feet
as they dangle in the water...
I move my feet together
and scoop the warm water over my shoulders
and scoop the warm water over my face...
then scoop the warm water over my head
covering me with a warm waterfall.
One of the most gratifying aspects of my work with Williams College swimmers was utilizing Russian Sports Massage when addressing their injuries. This part of the sports massage program can also become one of the most frustrating if the therapist doesn’t obtain the expected results. Most of the time, thank goodness, I am gratified and not frustrated. We, as massage therapists, sometimes expect too much out of what we do and when the outcome is not as quick or as complete as we’d like, we become frustrated.
Last time we discussed various types of injuries which can plague swimmers. Here, the specific Russian Sports Massage treatment for those injuries will be discussed.
The injuries were grouped into overuse, trauma-related and environmental. We also alluded to the fact that even though these injuries occur in swimming, the same injuries can happen in other sports and everyday activities. Therefore, the treatments presented here would also be appropriate for the same conditions found in the general population and other sports.
T’ai chi and qigong remind us that we are energy by immersing our mind and body in the experience of it each day. This constant immersion reminds us how closely we are linked to all things. This isn’t an illusion. The illusion is that we think we are separate from the world. The rainforest and ocean are the earth’s lungs and thermostats. Without them we perish. So, to feel ‘connected’ to the world is to become real. T’ai chi and qigong help us to become more and more real.
Taking the Waters. It’s a phrase that holds mysterious connotations from a simpler, ancient time. Just as with water therapies today, Taking the Waters was, and is, a physical venture into healing, cleansing and rejuvenation. What has been significantly lost from the Taking the Waters experience of old is the integration of domains. Art, socialization, nutrition, honest leisure, discussion, music — these interdisciplinary elements were all part of the spa culture of which Taking the Waters has historically been a part.
Bangkok, Thailand, a city famous for its exotic offerings, is also the site of Wat Pho’s Traditional Medical and Massage School — a center for the teaching, research and practice of the Thai healing tradition. It is a school unlike those seen in North America. At Wat Pho, massage and medicine are taught in a Buddhist temple — the “wat” — adorned with filigreed designs and garden statues of figures in various postures dating back to the 16th century. It is here, in these forms and in this temple, that we find both an ancient art and an age-old philosophy.
While working in critical care I realized that communication with my patients was a major problem. Most of them could not express their needs to me because they were intubated (a breathing tube placed down their throat) and therefore could not speak. Almost all of these patients were attached to heart monitors and had many intravenous lines. Sometimes there were so many machines monitoring essential body function it was hard to remember that underneath it all was a person — someone’s loved one.
Many therapists know first-hand the therapeutic value of yoga and neuromuscular therapy. Consider what might happen if the fundamental laws behind the two disciplines were combined to incorporate their very best principles. The wonderful results of this combination are what many therapists are stumbling upon, a process we’ve called Balancing the Asymmetric Body.
A monk asked Master Haryo, “What is the way?” Haryo said, “An open-eyed man falling into the well.” The Zen koan was as much of a riddle as my pain and failing health. I was young, healthy and had been an athlete much of my life. I never thought my childhood was all that “alternative,” but my father was a chiropractor and treated us as we needed it. We also did not receive immunizations.
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