Field NOtes Blog
Posts from Michael McMahon
Field Notes is the place where our clinical interests meet genuine curiosity about how bodies work, heal, and change.
Dysautonomia + Bodywork - What’s Our Role?
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.
The Vagal System in the Wild
We have had a bit of vagal system extravaganza at MMI lately. I have been inspired by some dissection stuff during my class with Gil Hedley to re-look at vagal system anatomy. Dissection is messy business, and while we saw the vagus in the wild, as Gil likes to say, it was difficult to get the impressions of it that I wanted.