For those in PAIN - Somatic exercises

Those that know me, are aware that I've been dealing with a very painful on and off again condition called "Costochondritis" (inflamation of the rib cartiledge). This condition is almost debilitating when I have a flair up. A very gifted massage therapist once told me that I was involuntarily contracting the muscles in my shoulders, causing "bracing" and throwing my entire structure out of whack. It's a mind thing, as I seem to put myself into a constant state of fight or flight. Intellectually I understood what she said, but I couldn't seem to consciously overcome my bracing.

I have just started my Masters in Holistic Health Education, and just read something that rocked my world that I wanted to share. Thomas Hanna is the Director of the Novato Institute of Somatic Research. My reading was from his book: "Somatics, Reawakening the Mind's Control of Movement, Flexibility and Health".

Hanna discusses a state of forgetfulness called sensory-motor amnesia (SMA). SMA is the body’s response to daily stresses and traumas and the subsequent muscular reflexes that create habitual muscular contractions involuntarily. He explains how our sensing and moving of muscles are a feed-back loop, going from the muscle to the spinal cord and back again without involving the nerve routes up to the brain. In my reading, he shows four case histories of patients that were greatly relieved as they increased their awareness of these involuntary muscle contractions and retrained their mind/body connection.

I'm shocked at how easy it was to understand from Hanna's succinct writing, how our bodies are put into these painful states; from our spinal cords and it's feedback loops, subsequently affecting a great deal of our organs. I wonder how many people here at Curezone have simply suffered a trauma or injury that so compromised their framework leading to a great impact to their overall health? Thinking back on all my years here at CZ, I'd say a great many.

Attached is a link to his site. I urge anyone out there dealing with PAIN to check this out, or possibly get his book.

http://www.thinkingallowed.com/1thanna.html

http://www.somaticsed.com/





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