Yoga Physical Therapy

Sound of stars recorded by #Hubble

When so many studies confirm the connection between trauma, especially childhood trauma, and auto-immune diseases, among many other diseases, why aren't doctors addressing this? Because most do not know about it - not the internists, not the rheumatologists, hardly any of them. Study after study since the ACE study in the early 90s confirms this.

I loved this video on women living in their bodies. The star of the show was Aime Lo, in her teen years, asking difficult questions - about the effects of media on self image, plastic surgery, judging self and others and more. Her father, Antony Lo, a thought leader in physical therapy and creator of this video series, towards the end asks a question from a parenting perspective, which you don't want to miss.

On proprioception

The many responses and coping mechanisms people with complex PTSD (c-PTSD) may have.

You might want to read this - it’s amazing. Even in death he’s still teaching us.

This simple, clear and compassionate podcast on the relationship of chronic pain and trauma is highly recommended to people who live with chronic pain. It is also helpful for practitioners who work with those who experience it.

This is an important read. It’s important for the people who have ACEs and the people who work with them. There are revolutionary new ways to work with people with ACEs. It is crucial for people with ACEs to receive appropriate and effective care to get to the roots of the many obstacles having an abusive childhood history brings. You know, because it’s the gift that keeps on giving. Then, because trauma is a hot word right now, it can be difficult to find the people and treatments which will really and truly help. Unfortunately, it is frustratingly difficult to find a person who is the right therapeutic match *and* who has the advanced skill set needed to work effectively to begin to really heal. It’s a lifetime’s work.

"In essence, healing is a highly subversive act in our culture. Whether in a medical or more direct psychotherapeutic sense, our work with people is about subverting their self-image as isolated, simply biological or simply psychological creatures, and helping them see the connections among their existence, the nature of the culture we live in, and the functioning of all of humanity. It’s about challenging the idea that someone’s value is dependent on how well they fit into an abnormal, unhealthy culture. Ideally, as healers in the broadest sense, that’s what we should be doing." (h/t Shelly Prosko)

Interesting article on current pain theory. However, I found the comments section even better for a broader, more realistic view.

Brilliant coach who checks a lot of boxes: community connection and engagement, coordination, balance, cardio, rhythm, dance, spatial awareness, proprioception, kinesthetics. All of which contribute to not just physical, but psychological health, too, not to mention a helluva lot of fun.

Challenges will make you stronger !

Manual release of the psoas. Not.

Today’s mantra

Have you heard of ACEs?

Things that heal

Chronic pain can be relieved better without taking opioids

yoga, dance ... parkour?

There is so much I love about this article. mindfulness was once a radical practice. But now it is being weaponized to further disempower the weak and vulner...able. It cannot be a solution to social justice issues. Yes, we can be mindful of our reactions, we can understand that anger is toxic for our own bodies, and we can be mindul of our responses. But we can not mindfulness-away injustice. "...governments often opt for treatments that focus on the individual rather than social maladies. Most don’t want to be thinking about how their policies might be contributing to problems in the first place, An industry has formed around the ‘stressed subject’, says Ronald Purser, a long-standing Buddhist and academic at San Francisco State University. His particular concern is the commercialisation of mindfulness, whose original status as a radical Buddhist practice has been almost entirely lost. The dominant mindfulness narrative is that stress is all inside your own head, he says. You can’t separate the individual from the environment. We’re embodied social beings. https://www.newstatesman.com//how-mindfulness-privatised-s

One of the Greatest Tai Chi Masters in the world today.. Wang Shifu with this Spectacular demonstration of his Tai Qi Qiu style

photo of Bowery graffiti wall by Anne Taylor

The gut-brain axis is bi-directional. Just as gut bacteria can cause changes in the brain (mood, pain), stress can alter gut bacteria. It's not all diet - the psychosocial piece is key. Not to forget that a history of childhood abuse, especially sexual abuse (whether remembered or not), is also correlated with fibromyalgia. As are many other diseases.

I love simple explanations of complicated concepts! This is great for understanding the difference between proprioception and interoception. This is the artist's website. http://www.susanmcculley.com/

Interesting. I'd like to know more about how hypnosis affects the brain in people with PTSD and c-PTSD, childhood trauma.

Ever wonder why you keep getting depressed, even with therapy? Did you experience childhood abuse? The effects of childhood trauma lives on in the body, brain and nervous system long after. Its adverse effects are far more far reaching than previously thought. Few MDs and few psychotherapists are aware of the research. Why is that important? Because standard therapies - psychodynamic, psychoanalysis, CBT - don’t work well for childhood trauma. Although they might help in the short-term, they don’t help for long.

It's not all about stretching a "tight" psoas

All of our emotions are important, especially the ones we tend to suppress, judge and ignore - like anger, sadness, fear. Sadness is especially difficult for me. Anger is a right up there, too. In order to heal and recover, to get relief from depression, I am learning to feel what they are telling me. Feel them in my body.

"We refer to the many studies, mainly on humans, implicating specific microbes in the elderly brain, notably herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1), Chlamydia pneumoniae, and several types of spirochaete, in the etiology of AD. Fungal infection of AD brain has also been described, as well as abnormal microbiota in AD patient blood. The first observations of HSV1 in AD brain were reported almost three decades ago]. The ever-increasing number of these studies (now about 100 on HSV1 alone) warrants re-evaluation of the infection and AD concept."

Check out this Dance/Movement Therapy perspective on working with children with autism. I post this for parents, teachers, therapists and others who work with children on the spectrum. Occupational therapists use Sensory Integration, a brilliant treatment method. When I worked with children as a PT, besides Sensory Integration, which I applied through a physical therapist's eyes thus goal structure, I really struggled to find meaningful ways to help. As a PT, unless I was working in a sensory gym, at least in my experience, I couldn't document the relational skills and intentions, which is primary in this population. You can't document that in a PT paradigm. It's not in the book. But this, this is an integrative way to work on relationship and the body/movement skills.

Gorgeous soloist with shocklingly weak feet and ankles, and yes, she's had a severe injury where she was waylaid for over a year. #overpronated #forcingturnoutatfeetanklesknees

Lissette Holland from Belly Guru in Charlotte, NC on what happens in your mid-back when you breathe. It's really good.

Short Permission and Compassion Practice from Somatic Experiencing practitioner, Kyra Haglund. Beautiful.

Yoga, meditation, tai chi, qi gong and other practices increase vagal tone

Robert McWilliams shows a lovely way to strengthen upper back muscles. He says, "If you have recurring upper back pain, it may not simply be about tension, but about rehabilitating an old injury, from a fall perhaps. Try this!' Thank you, Robert!