Chronic left SI joint pain that doesn't budge is humbling. This patient had done everything right, good body awareness, great yoga practice, excellent care before arriving at my door, and still the pain persisted. So we started where we always start: listening. Over our first few sessions, the right thoracolumbar junction kept speaking up, and we kept following it. Things were moving, the relationship was deepening, even if the symptoms weren't shifting much yet.

Then came the flare. She could barely walk. I was finishing up my own urgent care visit when she reached out, and I saw her that same day. I had no idea what I was going to find or what I'd do with it. What happened in that session, starting with the diaphragm, moving into the liver, following fascial tension down the right leg, dropping her into an altered state and cutting her pain in half, is what this post is really about. And what came after, a three-way collaboration with her PT that neither of us planned, has been some of the most satisfying work I've done.

I have been seeing more and more folks coming into the clinic with either a diagnosis of dysautonomia or a symptom set that fits the dysautonomia picture. Dysautonomia is not a “medical diagnosis”, it is a grouping of symptoms that indicates underlying autonomic nervous system disorder. The actual cause may remain a mystery but treatment can follow the specific presentation of each individual case. This is where our skills as bodyworkers can be supportive for those with these symptoms. 

I’m excited about our Visceral Techniques curriculum. I believe working with the viscera is of increasing importance and I want people to be able to access this potent region.

We are super excited to be presenting a synthesis of our manual therapy approach to the abdomen--specifically focusing on chronic digestive patterns in the small intestine (such as SIBO)--coming up next weekend. 

As many of you who treat these conditions know, they can be complex and often defy available diagnostic categories and treatment protocols (e.g. patients often relapse, symptoms can be beguiling and mysterious, and lab results can run contrary to the patient experience).   In our course, together we will explore a holistic understanding -- combining a felt-sense approach to the abdomen with insights from both osteopathic and classical Chinese medicine.  We hope it will serve towards the further understanding and treatment of these difficult cases.

Hi all,

I have been engaged in some ongoing subterranean contemplating about the vagus nerve and our touch-oriented work. One of my favorite means of studying is to hold within myself what I call, "open questions". Questions that are difficult to answer but the pursuit of them can continue to deepen and evolve my understanding about the topic in question. Open questions are fun because they just exist out there (or in here) and often insights will be stimulated by encountering some seemingly unrelated idea or phrase or poem or perspective - something that allows me to see the question or topic slantwise. I like slantwise seeing.