I have to confess to living a pretty idyllic life. I do a job that I love and can't imagine doing anything else. How many people can say that?! I don't take it for granted, but sometimes I feel it strongly; this afternoon is one of those times.
I have had the privileged of 'Nerding Out' (as David calls it) this week with some amazing people and I am still processing it all and I feel it will take a while to settle in the brain.
On Friday I spent time with Leon Chaitow at the New Medicine Group up in Harley Street to learn about Breathing Pattern Disorders (BPD) as it is a common condition for those in chronic pain. It was a fantastic topic to cover as it was not aimed at those who have lung based pathologies; (i.e. Asthma, Cystic Fibrosis, Emphysema etc.), but for people who are in pain or under a lot of stress and find themselves panic breathing. If you know of people who have very tight neck muscles at the front of their necks, you can be pretty sure that they breath in a rapid way using only the top of their lungs. This puts a huge amount of strain on the muscles that allow us to breathe such as the diaphragm, pelvic floor, intercostals around the ribs, the neck muscles such as the scalene group and the sternoclydomastoids along with many others. The problem with panic breathing, or simply not using the whole of the lung, is that it means that you can end up breathing about 20,000 times a day! That's a huge amount for your body to cope with.
Why do we see this in people who have chronic pain and/or stress?
Well, it's simple really. Pain and stress puts our bodies into a fight or flight situation which means our brian gets us ready to fight an attacker or run away from it. To do that it needs a lot of adrenaline, oxygen and a bunch of other chemicals, so we breathe rapidly to make sure we are ready to go! When we get to the stage where this is happening all the time we get into a lot of problems with the rest of the body, putting more strain on it. And lets face it, if you are in pain and under stress, you don't really want any more in your life to deal with. The answer is to slow it all down!
In the treatment room there are some beautiful moves that I can do to help deal with trigger points (made of congested and tight muscles and fascia) around the ribs, the diaphragm, pelvis, hip flexors and neck, so at least we are dealing with any pain patterns that they are causing. I can also help calm your breathing down by stretching the muscles that have become tight through over work, especially your Psoas and Quadratus Lumborum, Scalene group and Sternoclydomastiod. The Trapezius and Rhomboids are also indicated with BPD, so I can make sure your fascia is released and at ease during your treatment session as well. I will also work on your breathing patterns with you (as always I give you homework to do!), and I will make sure that we soothe your mind and body before you leave so you are at a relaxed place, giving your body room to breath easily and in a relaxed manner.
Many people over breath as they think that they can't get enough air into their lungs, however a lot of the time it's all about getting the air out. There are some great exercises you can do at home that are based on Pranayama Yoga Breathing Techniques. If you have a Mac (is there any type of computer?!), iphone, ipad etc., there is a great app that you can down load so that you can learn as you just click here!
You can also Google Pranayama and you can get some great ideas, blogs and books off the web if you wish.
You will be hearing a lot of this thinking and learning in the future as I think it is key for pretty much everyone I see and the techniques are wonderful for most massages, so no doubt you will be experiencing a lot of it too!
My 'Nerd Time' is continuing a pace as I am off to meet Eyal Lederman at the Jing Institute of Advanced Massage in Brighton on May 19th to learn about 'Body Harmonics'. I'm really interested to hear what he has to teach us as I have read a few of his papers on-line and he certainly is challenging some traditionally held views on body-work and it's always great to be moved on from where you are mentally.
So it's all go! I have also sent my 4th assignment off for my Aromatherapy Course with Stonebridge College, (is a distance learning college), so that is great as well.
What I'm loving in the Treatment Room today: My dry body brush, Arnica Salve and Seaweed and Arnica Foaming Bath.
After the car bump 2 weeks ago, my body was looking rather bruised, but I feel that thanks to the Arnica and lymph massage from dry body brushing (twice daily), my bruises have recovered twice as fast as normal.
Music in the Treatment Room today: It's Monday; my day off! I popped into Guildford to have a very bright and bubbly chat with my Mum over coffee at 'Glutton and Glee' on Tunsgate Road. It gave me the perfect opportunity to say 'Hi' to Harvey at People Records on Castle Street. I am now enjoying the collection I bought;
- Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
- Elbow – Build a rocket boys!
- James Vincent McMorrow – Early in the morning
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