Whole Healing Myofascial Release Healing Into Wholeness

Whole Healing Myofascial Release Healing Into Wholeness

Myofascial Release Treats The Whole Person

Whole Healing Myofascial Release – Healing into Wholeness with Myofascial Release

Myofascial Release Whole Healing MFRWhole healing and healing into wholeness through myofascial release is not only possible but necessary.  Whole Healing beyond just the part of you that hurts, beyond that one spot.  Many times in life past and present we are viewed upon and treated by the traditional medical system based upon a specific pieces or part of ourselves. We see this doctor for this symptom, that doctor for that symptom, this other doctor or therapist for this other symptom and so on and so forth.  This is a very myopic view point and we ourselves are conditioned to think of ourselves as such.  “My Shoulder hurts” “I have a Head-ache” Maybe they are related. or “My Right Low Back Hurts” and “My Left Knee Hurts”, Maybe there are related. They very well could be related and there is hope, there is light at the end of the tunnel, the horizon looks bright.  In the not too distance future there is a shift occurring from the traditional approach of treating the body from myopic parts and transitioning into treating the whole person.  Fortunate for me and ultimately you, the shift that is happening comes in the form of Myofascial Release and comes to you from a Barnes trained specialist like myself.

The “Golden Standard of Myofascial Release 

John F. Barnes's Myofascial Release ApproachMyofascial Release is a broad term that describes many different types of manual therapy.  Through both personal and professional experience, as well as the countless success stories heard and witnessed world wide, undoubtedly the Barnes Myofascial Release approach effectively and successfully treats the whole person, heals the whole person including the symptom .  The John F Barnes Myofascial Release approach as taught by John F Barnes is a hands-on soft tissue technique that facilities the movement and healing of the fascial system as a whole. The “myofascial” or “fascial” system is a continuous 3-D web of connective tissue that surrounds, infiltrates, and connects every tissue, organ, and cell of our body from head to toe, skin to spine and all areas in between.  The ultimate goal of Myofascial Release (MFR) is to help release fascial restrictions (e.g. scars, tissue damage, stress, trauma, birth injuries etc.) gently and over time to allow your body to properly realign and heal naturally, thus returning you and your body to normal function, movement and sensation.  Fascia’s function is to provide support and structure to the body as well as work as a bracing mechanism from injuries much like a shock absorber.

For more information on Fascia and further information as to the specifics of (MFR) please visit https://www.mfroftampabay.com/about-myofascial-release/

The Golden Missing Piece of The Puzzle

Myofascial Release golden pieceThe Barnes approach to Myofascial Release is not only the Golden Standard in (MFR) but it is the Golden Missing Piece in all of traditional approaches to healthcare. Fascia is a continuous web that responds to tensions in other areas of the body.  It can be difficult to visualize the impact and importance of this beautiful tissue. An easier cMyofascial Release Jellocomparison is a bowl of jello with pieces of fruit floating in it.  Each piece of fruit within the bowl of jello represents all the various muscles, bones and organs, while the jello represents fascia. Visualize the jello being jiggled or compressed which causes the whole bowl of jello to move and be affected as well. This is just how fascia responds and because of this very fact, we as Barnes trained Myofascial Release Therapist are treating and assisting the entire system to heal. One simply cannot treat only one aspect of the body, one piece without affecting the whole system, the whole person. You are more than parts, you are so much more and deserve to be treated as a whole person, body, mind and spirit.

Fascia is as Unique as Your Finger Prints

Myofascial Release Myofascial Release Fascial Uniquenesstreats the whole person, not just the parts, not just the symptoms.  Traditional healthcare identifies with parts, with pieces, with symptoms and then places “Labels” upon them and then society wants to define you, me, us accordingly. We are more than a label!  By definition, a “label” aka a “diagnosis” is a term for a collection of symptoms.  Many times symptoms like pain, weakness, fatigue etc are the commonality between the various “Labels”. The label is then determined by the number or type of symptoms  that you present with. I don’t know but in my most humble opinion the only label that I have is either my name, my gender and my species. I am not my neck pain, my shoulder pain, my whatever “fill in the blank”.  Fascia is unique just like our finger prints. We all have finger prints and there are no two finger prints alike and so is the resulting restriction that occurs when the Fascia becomes injured or in a state of dis-ease and this is where symptoms begin to manifest.  We both can have shoulder pain but the cause can arise from two totally different reasons or areas within the body that have responded to an event causing distortion. Please note this is not by any means to disregards any systemic illnesses or disease processes. This is an attempt to bring back a whole person approach to treating each of us. I want us all to broaden the views of our selves and our symptoms to a more global view, a whole system vantage point. It is when we begin to see the bigger picture of ourselves and what is going on within our bodies and begin to trust what we feel on the inside verses what the label describes us as.

You do have parts and you do have symptoms but they do not define you!

Myofascial Release LabelsI would like to examine the various symptoms that are often felt in the various parts of the body but lets first examine the word Disease. Disease is a given name or label for a collection of symptoms. Many times we have to have a certain number of symptoms in order to qualify to earn the label of a given illness or disease.   Did you know that most all diseases or “Label” have the same or very similar symptoms? Each disease, ilness or “Label” then has as a specific variant or two that might distinguish it from the others. As technology advances and the minds and views of the medical community broaden, Fascia and the manner in which the body is treated is the Barnes Approach to Myofascial Release is being accept solution to treatment and is “alternative no more“. So many “Labels” and/or symptoms are effortlessly released and melted away with the gentle sustained pressure used with Myofascial Release.  This fact is why a Barnes trained therapist might be releasing your hips when you in fact came for the nagging left shoulder pain. We treat the whole person, at that includes the symptoms and looking and feeling further into the fascial system for the other areas of restriction or the root cause.

Treating the Whole You

heart-puzzle-300x263Below is just a small comparison of some known symptoms associated with some of the more common Labels, Diseases.  In addition, I am not stating that you should not seek out medical advice and intervention, I am just attempting to show how treating the whole person and not just a particular symptoms is going to provide some lasting relief for the whole you.  Myofascial release if nothing else provides the body a way to release stresses and strains and bring an ease to the body, mind and spirit. I have looked at the symptoms of pain, numbness, tingling, weakness, loss of function, joint aches, muscle aches, swelling, fatigue, memory/brain difficulties, bladder and bowel difficulties, stomach difficulties, vertigo, visual difficulties, sleeping difficulties, respiratory difficulties, cardiac issues, emotional changes, and difficulty with movement. Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, Myofascial Pain Syndrome, Polymyalgia, MS, and Lyme all have all if not most of the same symptomologies of each other.  Myofascial Release looks beyond the label or the symptom, we look at how you and your body mind and spirit are moving and feeling and by using the techniques taught to us by my mentor and friend, John Barnes, many symptoms melt away or are certainly diminished in severity.  Many times I can have any number of the symptoms above but I am without a disease, illness or label, I am simply a grateful therapist assisting others in gently finding and releasing their symptomatic fascial restrictions away.

For more information on how to see and feel Myofascial Release and its endless benefits that it has to offer and provide you, your body, mind and spirit please visit https://www.mfroftampabay.com/.  For further articles of interest https://www.mfroftampabay.com/resources/

 

 

Healing the Ultimate Goal

Healing the Ultimate Goal

Healing – The Ultimate Goal

Healing is a Journey

Whatever It Takes By Whatever Means Possible

Rocktape-shoulder-detailHealing is the goal and how we meet that goal is doing whatever it takes to get you there!  There is one tiny aspect that is bigger than life and that is authentic and ultimately lasting healing takes two people, me and YOU! On my end on the equation I need to always bring my best game and that involves not only my skill set but maintaining that skill set through personal practice, continuing to nourish my knowledge as well as staying open and being open to new and old ways as well. New ways can consist of being willing to try out new things.  As I myself found this work by my own person journey and path as a patient myself, I know what feels right and what does not as well as what follows along with the principles of myofascial release. So this is where whatever it takes comes in.  One aspect that my mentor John Barnes teaches all of us is to start thinking and acting from our feeling intelligence also known as intuition. So I have had this growing sense that I needed to attend a Kinesiotape class.  My growing intuition did not let me down and I am now incorporating this into my tool box of providing my clients “whatever it takes” methodology and implementations. In addition I have now experimented with various brands and have personally found RockTape to be superior and even though its more expensive it works. This is not to say that everyone gets turned into a mummy because that is not within the principles as well. It is not a band-aid either, as a fellow colleague of mine likened it to taking home a set of therapy hands for a few days. Again like the Barnes method of myofascial release, you will just have to experience it to feel what all the fuss is about.

Whatever It Takes By Whatever Modes Possible

Since heaIMG_0436ling is the goal and doing whatever it takes to get there, another aspect involves bringing some of my old skill set of my physical therapy training into the equation just modify it to be delivered within the myofascial principles as well.  Whether it is relearning movement patterns, safely making adjustments to the home or making recommendations for better shoes, better suited treatment tools like a soft foam roller or therapy ball or what adaptations to the way in which you engage in exercise or get in and out of your car or the ergonomics of your desk at home or office, it will all come from both personal and professional experience and knowledge with what works best for you and me in regards to our fascial systems.

Whatever It Takes By Whatever Means and Modes Possible

Sometimes a massage is needed

Sometimes a massage is needed

Healing is the goal and doing so by whatever means and modes possible. This is where the old and the new come together. As I personally found myofascial release and knew professionally that it was what was needed in my career to help those of us out there that just the traditional health care model just did not work for, I found myself adding another set of letters to the end of my credential.  So now my name is followed by PTA, LMT  as well as business owner. Initially, I did attend massage school with the mindset of only attending to get the license but not until recently did I feel into this area and the impact that it can have. See in my former physical therapy training we did massage and the old form of myofascial release, soft tissue mobilization.  I can say I never enjoyed giving or receiving it as it forced and was even painful. In massage school I learned proper body mechanics right from the start. In PTA school we learned temporary body mechanics as I call it as it was only performed and implemented mostly during transferring of patients. I also learned what a massage feels like. I am very pleased that my school focused on the basics verses attempting to instruct us on the various forms and handing us a certification classifying a 1000 different methods. My instructor believed that we then specialize through continuing education the various other forms. Yes I did come into LMT school already specializing in the John Barnes method. I initially never thought I would do a traditional massage but that is where my myofascial principles have come into play.  Recently a client just did not feel up to doing myofascial release and just wanted a “regular” massage and did I know of anyone that did that?  Normally I would not have bent and been open to new ways of thinking and seeing things but that day and I found myself saying, “we can do that”.  It has been nearly a year since I gave a “regular” massage but it was just like riding a bike only now with better body mechanics and never forcing or plowing through the tissues of the body. Ultimately relief was achieved that day for the client and they are able to continue along their path to healing.  The goal of all of this is providing lasting and authentic results and relief for the client and sometimes a traditional relaxation massage is what it takes.

Whatever It Takes On Your Part

Healing is thIMG_0434e goal and my part is by providing the most current and up to date training and skills sets that I possibly can, providing them by new and old means and modes necessary to achieve the goal. Now on your part as the client, it means that you are going to have to feel. That is it, simply feel whatever it is that is occurring within your body mind and spirit. Also you will have to show up to treatment and by that I mean you have to be present and simply feel whatever is occurring or not within your body mind and spirit. Lastly you should try to perform what self care treatments that your therapists teaches you during each session but never forcing and simply by feeling what is going on in your body by using your feeling intelligence and intuition because you do have it and myofascial release helps you to feel for it.  If your self-care is hurting or is too painful then its too much and too much force is being applied.  I liken the self care and the application of it to the daily maintenance of brushing our teeth.  We need to brush our teeth to maintain good oral health and we certainly know not to use too much force on the teeth and gums because they can begin to hurt and bleed. Well when we force the fascia either as a therapist or with self care, we are doing some form of damage to the fascia. In the case of fascia however it just causes further tightness and painful restrictions throughout the body.  This is why most traditional “home exercise” programs are not performed by most because they hurt and do not work. However this is myofascial release, the Barnes method and it does not force, should not hurt and is a necessary aspect to the ultimate goal of healing with authentic lasting progressive results. Oh and one last very important item, you need to be seen by a John Barnes trained therapist that actually does myofascial release and not just banking on the name or modality. There are tons of forms of myofascial release but there is only one that stands out from the rest and that is the Barnes Methodology of Myofascial Release. There are no fancy rocks to consult or bait and switch tactics to use.  There is one minor detail of course and that is you have to actually be on the schedule to begin to reach for your goal. So why not do so today if you haven’t already, why wait or delay any longer?  Lets get you moving free of pain and restrictions.

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Feeling the Feelings with the Help of Myofascial Release

Feeling the Feelings with the Help of Myofascial Release

FEELING THE FEELINGS WITHOUT THE WORDS OF THE STORY

Feelings - We must Feel to Heal

The Story Doesn’t Matter, The Emotions and the Feelings Do!

Feeling felt begin without words, less talking.  Getting better at the ability to feel and ultimately to heal begins with the all encompassing approach called Myofascial Release.  When we talk about the event through words telling the story, the scenario of what has created pain or dysfunction within our body, mind or spirit, we lose the ability to really feel the emotions, restrictions and effects the event created within on our body’s primary system of function and communication called the Myofascial System.  The Myofascial System of the human body composed of Fascia is connected to every cell whether muscle, bone, nerve, or organ within that system and this includes other species of animals as well.   When we repeatedly talk about an event or injury over and over whether physical or emotional, we deny the myofascial system to fully process all those necessary feelings and emotions that the “story or cause” created within us.  We deny ourselves the ability to fully and completely heal.

Feel to Heal - We Must Begin to Feel to Heal

We Must Begin to Feel to Heal

As we begin to feel the feelings, whatever they are within our bodies and we begin to detach from the story of who, why, what, where or when the feelings were caused and/or created, we actually begin to make huge shifts in the physical state our bodies are in.  Do you really “think” you do not have feelings about a certain event that caused a physical strained on your body?  How about when the physical strain caused you an increase in discomfort or to have to miss out on something really important you were wanting to do?  How about when the physical strain caused you pain?

Feeling and Being Okay is Okay even if it is not Okay right now!

Being Okay is Ok even if it’s not Okay right now!

Sometimes we need to feel and “be” with and accept a particular emotion that is stirred up and felt within ourselves no matter how small or large, real or seemingly insignificant.  There is no set time frame in which we have to feel a certain emotion but there is one thing that is for definite and very real, if we do not feel and process emotions or the physical deficits that are involved with trauma, injury or emotional strains, it most certainly will cause dysfunction within the fascial system of our bodies.  The dysfunction in most cases is what is known as a restriction which is caused by a solidification of the ground substance of the fascia.  The ground substance in the body gives us our fluidity and flexibility and when injured its gives us tightness, restrictions and pain. The ground substance hardens and is kind of like water turning into ice, and can often feel as hard as bone.  This can in most cases be avoided and resolved if we process the emotions that we are feeling at the time they arise within us and let them be actually felt and then move through us and we can then maintain our fluidity and flexibility.

Feeling the Feelings to Heal

Getting Better at Feeling~JFB

Through the use of Myofascial Release, the Barnes Approach, a therapist can find areas of tightness and restrictions that are within the body’s fascia which causing aches or pains and can lead to an array of symptoms that can then become labels or names of various illnesses.  Myofascial Release can be utilized to simply to maintain a general state of well-being and even be used to improve physical abilities with various activities whether recreational or professional.  Myofascial Release can be used very effectively for poor postural alignment due to birthing injuries or sedentary activities of work and life. To completely resolve most types of fascial restrictions, one must get better at feeling and find a highly skilled Barnes trained Myofascial Release Therapist. For more information about what Myofascial Release and Wellness of Tampa Bay can help assist you with please visit https://www.mfroftampabay.com on line or call 727-755-1982.  I can feel you will not regret the decision to begin to feel and move your body and life like you have never felt before