#Neuromuscular Reprogramming NMR

[bodyalive]

How to Shift the Body into the Parasympathetic Side of the Nervous System

Breathing out and holding out or pausing at the bottom of the breath amplifies the body's natural production of Nitric Oxide, a vasodilator that expands the porosity of our vascular system. During Covid, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital found that Nitric Oxide improved respiratory permeability & bronchodilation. (They were not looking for the vasodilation effects but I’m sure that must have been happening too.) I first learned about breath holding out from Rosealba Courtney DO Lac from Australia, who used it to test Eucapnic metabolic health, the O2/CO2 exchange rate in the lungs. This was a contributing factor to asthma and sleep apnea and restricted breathing exercises could be used to cure asthma. Then I encountered this again studying at the beginning level with Lois Laynee. She had adopted a practice of Breathing out while humming to increase Nitric Oxide and Vasodilation and used it to calm the nervous system. One of the key actions to making the shift was swallowing at the bottom of the breath before inhaling again.

Signs that the parasympathetic nervous system is coming back online in the body:

+Spontaneous swallowing. When we are in a state of shock, our mouth dries up, we don’t produce saliva (neither are we producing digestive enzymes), and in order to swallow our food we need to drink something. Eating when in a state of stress, you can’t digest your food.

+Intestinal gurgles and rumbles. Have you noticed that when a client begins to relax that their organs and intestines begin to gurgle? As the parasympathetic wakes up, the viscera wake up.

+Yawning. Did you know you can make yourself yawn simply by rubbing your jaw muscles vigorously with your fingers and opening your mouth wide anticipating/expecting to yawn. Fake it til you make it.

Putting these two things together has enabled me to work effectively with shifting people out of long Covid symptoms. It has become my conviction that breathing dis-regulation is the metabolic habit that locks our nervous system into the Sympathetic side of the CNS where natural healing and self regeneration cannot happen due to the ‘emergency’ metabolism associated with the fight for survival.

[Thanks Jocelyn Olivier and Neuromuscular Reprogramming]

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Ball and socket joints:

Definition: A joint in which a ball moves within a socket so as to allow rotary motion in every direction within certain limits. 2. An articulation (such as the hip joint) in which the rounded head of one bone fits into a cup-like cavity of the other and admits movement in any direction.

Ball and socket joints such as the shoulders have infinite vectors of movement. This is a thought I’ve heard before from @John Welch, one of my favorite movement educators. Makes sense to me...

This presents us with the need to calibrate each position in a ROM with the other muscles that are part of maintaining and functioning in that position. Being willing to look at each degree of ROM and check muscle relationships to see if that position is fully supported is the sophisticated opportunity presented by NMR. How long will that take? That depends on how many of the muscles that the joint depends on are ‘on the map’ and ready for action…

Jocelyn Olivier :: Founder of Neuromuscular Reprogramming

[bodyalive]

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Some thoughts on the Subjectivity of Muscle Testing...

Anyone use Muscle Testing in their practice? Here are a few things to watch out for when someone is muscle testing YOU.

If you go at it with preconceived expectations you will prejudice the result, (just like a scientific experiment can be influenced by the vested point of view of the observer). The result of your muscle test will match your expectation. So if you are not entirely void of having anything to prove, your muscle testing will not be accurate. (Beware of those who test you for the need of supplements who have those supplements for sale on their shelves!)

Skeptics will never be able to master muscle testing as they'll be up for proving it is bogus by making it all come out incoherent.

I consider that MMT is best used not as a TEST of anything as much as a way of having a kinesthetic conversation with the body, a form of biofeedback that helps a person to learn new movement options. It is the Missing Link in the Movement Re-education process.

In NeuroMuscular Reprogramming we use muscle testing to cue the organizational intelligence of the body to discover dysfunctional neuromuscular pathways and then use our other manual release techniques, (your choice of modalities), to enable the body to discover (or recover) better, more efficient, easeful movement coordination options.

Additionally, if a person's nervous system has organ, breathing regulation or emotional disturbance the results of muscle testing will be extremely variable and unreliable.

I can see why many people have contradiction with the use of this tool. It requires taking a lot of things into consideration. It is not a simple pulley and lever system with measurable results. It is a way of conversing with a dynamic, living, intelligent system. Much can be learned about that system through the use of MMT.

[Jocelyn Olivier]

Anne Weinholt

source: tanya jonsson

[barre2barresg]

Interview with Inner Work Coach: Delphine Supanya

Barre 2 Barre is excited to host Delphine Supanya for her upcoming workshop series: Post-Pregnancy Neuromuscular Reboot. In preparation for the two special sessions we will share with her on September 22 and 29, we interviewed Delphine to discover more about her practice and journey to becoming an inner work coach. Read on to learn about Delphine, and join us for these next two healing Saturdays. 

Tell us about your journey to becoming a meditation and inner work facilitator. 

I started meditating when I was around three years old. I grew up in a Vipassana Buddhist family and we practiced chanting and meditation daily. I particularly liked the ceremony around prayer- not in a religious sense, but in the way that it taught me to 1) check in with myself every morning and evening, 2) set positive intentions for the day and 3) express gratitude for any experience or lessons learned. This taught me to “check-in with myself” on a physical and emotional level and has helped me greatly in cultivating a sense of awareness from a very young age.

Meditation became an even bigger part of my life when I started to experience chronic pain due to the neurological illnesses I had to live with. This is when I started to explore the realm of meditation techniques (outside of the ones taught through vipassana) and discovered that meditation can be the simplest thing I practice seamlessly throughout the day - whether in stillness, during an activity such as a physical practice, or while eating, walking, picking my fruits and vegetables out at the store, and even while having a conversation. Meditation became my tool to manage anything that would cause emotional, energetic and physical imbalance or misalignment. Over the years, I fine-tuned my practices and found myself combining different meditation techniques to fit any situation or challenge I was facing. These are tools I enjoy sharing with the world now. 

One of the gifts or as I like to call them “side-effects” of having a meditation practice is that it teaches you to focus. It is not about emptying the mind at all but setting your attention (using the mind) on something very specific. We talk about Formula 1 drivers or rock climbers entering a meditative state of focus - it is the same thing. Until two years ago, I was in a state of chronic and often debilitating pain. Meditation helped me bring my focus to the task of completing five law degrees in three countries and working as an international lawyer in a fast-paced and ever-changing environment. I came to truly understand the concept of “Mind Over Matter” and the Mind-Spirit connection. 

My path to becoming an inner work facilitator started when I emerged on the other side of a Near-Death Experience or NDE. I was recovering from post-stroke paralysis and understood that the Body is an integral part of the human experience, and that the “Mind Over Matter” and Mind-Spirit connections were not sustainable for healthy living. It was through deep Inner Work that I was serendipitously forced to reconnect with my Body and understood the Mind-Body-Spirit connection. This is when everything shifted within me and I used what I now call Inner Voyage Integration, Neuromuscular and Somatic Movement practices and Yin Yang Nutrition to fully recover from paralysis, reverse years of chronic disease, eradicate pain from my life, restore my eyesight, and become healthy enough to be able to conceive a child again. All we need to heal lies somewhere within us. It is now my joy to facilitate others into finding themselves and their own path to self-healing and expansion. Everyone deserves and is capable of living a vibrant, joy-filled life. 

Could you describe/explain a few of the therapy modalities you practice?

Meditation 

Through meditation and hypnotherapy, we address specific areas of the human psyche to kick-start the body’s natural ability to self-heal and change the structure of the brain. I like to combine a multitude of meditation practices that I have come to experience and integrate over the last twenty-five years. The variety of methods reflects the variety of situations and states we experience as human beings on a daily basis. It is easier to reach a meditative state once we have experienced it for a prolonged period of time (25 to 60 minutes). As practice makes master, I then advise to practice 60 second meditation series throughout the day. These short meditations can be prolonged but are initially very efficient to reduce stress by achieving balance and alignment anytime, anywhere. We are naturally able to seamlessly integrate meditation into our lives. In the 21st century, it is no longer required to join a monastery to learn how to live mindfully and holistically.

Inner Voyage Integration

Inner Voyage Integration (IVI) is a deep meditation practice which I facilitate during private sessions. It combines several of the most effective practices I have learned, experienced and integrated. IVI reestablishes communication pathways between the mind, body, and spirit in the gentlest manner to reactivate the human’s self-healing capabilities from the inside out. It addresses the physical, psycho-somatic, emotional, and energetic aspects of your being and has been described as “one of the most rapid and accessible approaches to transformation and healing". This is the method through which I recovered from paralysis, reversed disease, and improved my life in all ways. I continue to witness everyday how effective it is at changing people’s lives as much as it has changed mine. 

Neuromuscular Reboot

On the physical side, I also practice Neuromuscular Reboot (NMR), an easy to remember tool that can be applied anytime anywhere and only takes 15 to 30 minutes to practice and 2 to 3 hours to learn. NMR is a series of exercises which lay the foundation for a connected, efficient, leaner and stronger physique. If you wonder how athletes and dancers get the tone in their muscles, it is through neuromuscular therapy. My teacher, Melvin Hart, and I have taken this approach further by combining it with neuromuscular reprogramming to enable a full body reset (on a physical, neurological, emotional and energetic level). This method is so beautifully efficient to kick start a balanced and healthy lifestyle and any movement practice. We practice it everyday ourselves first thing in the morning and as part of our warm-up before any physical activity. 

What keeps you motivated to continue on your path as an inner work teacher? What are some changes you have seen in your clients that inspire you and reaffirm the power of your practice? And specifically with pain and pre-natal complications?

It is such a privilege to witness such deep transformations and self-healing. It has become my daily job to assist people in finding themselves and coaching them through their own evolutionary process. To me it is about reintroducing magic and awe into our lives and witnessing how rediscovering that changes people on a deep level. It is the most beautiful experience when someone rediscovers that all they need to find happiness has been residing within them all this time. The path to healing anything is through inner work and self-love. I enjoy accompanying others on that path very much. 

I have seen people who were in pain for years walk out of a session pain-free and come back to learn how to maintain that state. Some are even learning the technique now and facilitating other people through this process. 

One pregnant woman came to me as she was considering sewing her cervix due to complications during her second term. After one session together, all her bleeding stopped and she delivered a healthy boy through a beautiful natural birth. The work clients like her do extends to after birth as well, as parents are more and more interested in maintaining all things magical throughout their child’s education. 

I learn so much witnessing such deep transformations and we create such meaningful connections. I have seen hundreds of people in the past two years and look forward to assisting anyone who feels called to evolve and transcend what has been limiting their happiness. 

What is your experience in working specifically with mothers?

For the last two years I have worked with mothers and mothers-to-be, before and after birth. 

Through the inner work, the mother gets to connect very deeply with her infant in-utero and interact with it before it is born. It is one of my greatest joys to facilitate such experiences and see how a mother connects and interacts with her child. The inner work also helps greatly with any pre-birth complication such heavy bleeding, low-lying placenta, or ectopic pregnancy. 

This year, and especially since I experienced a miscarriage myself, I have been assisting more women with physical, emotional, and energetic recovery after birth. To clarify, by birth I mean any birthing constellation - namely birth, miscarriage, abortion, and false birth. Having experienced the physiological and emotional changes myself, I developed an easy to practice post-pregnancy program that aims to deeply reconnect a woman to herself while benefitting from a physical upgrade. I have come to understand, through my own experience and observing other women, that pregnancy is not only the birthing of a child, but also the birth of a stronger and more connected version of oneself. There are not enough programs for mothers that address the physical, emotional, and energetic realities that are all part of the experience, which is why I created the Post-Pregnancy Neuro-muscular Reboot workshop series. 

Could you share one or two simple but effective tips anyone could incorporate into their daily lives to manage stress or anxiety? 

My favourite tools to manage stress and anxiety are the following: 

Tool 1: Check-in Body Scan 

Take 60 seconds a day to sit down, close your eyes and do a quick body scan. Scan your body from the top of your head all the way down to your toes, notice and acknowledge how you feel on a physical level (tension points, sore points, points which feel good), on an emotional level (am I angry, frustrated, stressed? anxious?) and on an energetic level (I am tired, I am energized, I am so-so). Whatever it is, I invite you to notice and name those sensations. We lead such busy lives, and we do not take enough time to check in with ourselves and notice how we feel and where we are at. The simple act of acknowledging a state of being is already very healing as what we are doing in that very moment is being present. Once we name the sensation, it has been felt, noticed, acknowledged, and it can now move into the past, i.e. no longer affects us on an unconscious level. This will reduce your level of stress, irritation, and anxiety. The best part with this practice is that during those 60 seconds, you meditated. 

Tool 2: Smile 

Take another 60 to 180 seconds a day (several times a day if you can) after the Check-in Body Scan to smile. Make the biggest full-toothed smile you can muster, feel your cheeks extend to almost touch your ears, and feel your eyes move diagonally towards the top of your head. Once you are there keep the smile and breathe. You can do this with your eyes closed or opened, in front of a mirror, and anytime, anywhere. Smiling releases pleasure hormones called endorphins, which are natural painkillers, and antidepressant hormones such as serotonin. It not only reduces stress but also boosts the immune system. Once you are done smiling, take a few seconds to notice how much better you feel and take that newfound sense of self and joy to continue your day in a more beautiful manner. 

[bodyalive]

“swinging” (c) Bernd Walz

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Descending Modulation: Why Massage Therapy Can Alleviate Pain Posted by Mark Olson | Oct 24, 2019 | Massage, Massage Science [Thanks Barbara Sharp Lmt]

“Clients walk out of a massage session feeling better, not because circulation was altered in the tissue or because of any direct mechanical manipulation of soft tissues, but because of the symphony of nociceptive modulatory activity that emerges both from tactile input and from the meaning the client derives from environmental and social cues. (11)

Once we understand that the tissue is (often) not the issue and how pain is generated and modulated in the brain, we can realize that placebo effects are nowhere near fake but rather an essential therapeutic tool to wield against the real basis for pain. Understanding the mechanisms of descending modulation’s nonspecific effects means that our treatment strategy doesn’t require mechanical focus on the region with the pain. It also means that educating our clients about how pain works becomes part of the treatment (since it can further enhance descending inhibition), and that what and how we communicate to the client about their condition plays a much more central role than what would be expected with the common, passive, unidirectional, tissue-centric model of pain.

Classes on effective listening and communication skills may truly be more valuable than classes in one massage modality or another.” I think the Neuromuscular Reprogramming model using competent, exacting and still soft manual muscle testing fulfills the active communication aspect better than words. Gently teaching a nervous system how to achieve a motion or hold a joint using a fully balanced set muscles does reduce pain.

[bodyalive]

Is Psoas REALLY the cause of our low back pain?

Some say YES; lengthen Psoas when it is short, it’s torquing the spine. TRUE a short Psoas will torque the spine…But does that Psoas test strong? What if it’s locked short due to weakness? Do we still lengthen it?

Some say Psoas is primarily expressive of emotional stress.

TRUE that it activates with the Sympathetic Nervous System SNS. But did emotional stress start the issue or does the torque in the spine create tension in one branch of Psoas and reflex into the psycho-emotional system due to the stress on the spine.

In my experience it can go either way: Emotional Stress can cause expressive shortening of our extensor muscles along the spine (low back and neck primarily and the Psoas simultaneously). But physical torque in the spine can cause subliminal stress resulting in psycho-emotional tension which is often resolved by eliminating the physical tensions without engaging the psychological system.

When people tell me about their psychological issues I have to tell them "not my area of expertise" but anxiety is real and real physical dysfunctional coordination creates stress on the system that creates anxiety.

Have you noticed that people's levels of anxiety go down with the bodywork you do?

Can you see the horizontal branch of the Psoas on the right side that attaches to L5? What do you you suppose that branch does and how would you muscle test it?

We may not get all this answered in Mod 1 NMR July 19 - 21st but we will be well on our way to resolving issues related to the Psoas, Iliacus, Pectineus, Rec Fem, QL, Erectors, Hamstrings etc etc etc.

[Jocelyn Olivier]

[bodyalive]

Key Take Aways from NMR Mod 1

1. More than one muscle can cause a coordination problem to persist. Those compensation muscles that came on board to help you ‘get by’ can become part of the problem. Or, as Deepak Chopra was reported to say: "Muscles that fire together, wire together."

2. Preparing the client to benefit from bodywork is essential to getting great results with muscle testing and with bodywork in general. Both client and therapist must be in a parasympathetic state for best results.

3. Never release deep muscle tensions without first providing big muscle support. Those deep muscles are tight for a reason. If you ‘dig them out’ you may destabilize someone’s body.

4. Engage passive ROM to find the exact right position and alignment for a muscle test.

5. Stay out of the pain zone when challenging muscle engagement.

[Jocelyn Olivier]

[bodyalive]

Here are some take aways from Mod 1 NMR.

There will be a free demo of NMR in Duluth on June 30 from 3 - 5 pm. The address is on the flyer. See attached.

These were sent by a student after beginning the study of NMR.

1. Whatever accommodations or compensation a person has, they are not necessarily the cause of the weakness that required them to overwork. THAT ACCOMMODATION is not necessarily the source of the problem! Beware of assumptions. Ie., It’s tight therefore it is ‘causing’ the inhibition I am seeing. Keep looking. Sometimes you will be peeling through the layers of time because indeed a tight muscle WILL be producing inhibitions, but perhaps not be the cause of the inhibition that required it be become tight in the first place.

2. If we can’t get a muscle to let go with our massage treatments it’s because the body views the tension pattern as necessary- This is why Deep Tissue is met with so much energetic resistance. ABA is better because it changes the functional relationship with the neuromuscular system. Once all muscles are facilitated (even for a temporary time), the body will simply relax it’s coping strategies and an surprising opening in ROM and softening in tissue rigidity will occur that makes the tissue work SO MUCH EASIER.

3. We can’t see the blind spot in our visual fields- we can’t feel the kinesthetic ‘blind spots’ in the body.

4. Body collapses into long held distortions/compensations/old habits as we age. If not addressed our patterns will become more and more visible as we age.

5. Massage clients (people in general) don’t heal because they have a lack of down regulation, ie., the parasympathetic nervous system can’t turn on, the client is always in a state of hyper-arousal. Healing of tissues and learning of new strategies happens in the activation of the Parasympathetic nervous system.

True Dat!

Jocelyn Olivier

[bodyalive]

Anatomy of a Scoliosis Pattern — a Real Life Story

Client in today had a hip and low back problem that showed up when running up uneven stairs. This is probably not a new problem as she has a Scoliosis pattern. (Many people do who’ve never been ‘diagnosed’.)

Her right hip has been painful and tight; her right pelvis is ‘hiked’; her right lumbar is ‘flat’; the right QL is short.

When prone, turning bent legs left against resistance is weak at T/L junction and L5/S1 junction. Since the body is 3-dimensional this means her lumbar likes to turn left at T12/L1 AND L5/S1.

But on the left side of the lumbar, the TOP of the QL at T12/L1 is thick and tight. Scoliosis often has this pattern. Side bending using QL on the Left side she is strong at T12/L1 and weak at the insertion of QL onto the Iliac crest. So, TOP of the QL on the left is Strong for Side Bending and Weak for Rotation. On the right the insertion of QL on the Ilium is VERY tight and strong and inhibiting the lateral hip stabilization of Glut Med/Min. BOTH Erector Spinae up and down the spine are weak. The right hip therefore is ‘gripped’, externally rotated to brace for the weak back and Glut muscles. The right Iliacus is very tight also creating the perfect picture for compression of the hip joint: External Rotators co-contracted with Iliacus. This co-contraction flattens the lumbar spine. Erector Spinae is not functional/active/responsive and the Psoas on the right side is not supporting the upper end of the lumbar lordosis from the front. It tests weak.

The right rib cage is narrower than the left at the bottom. When my client inhales using the diaphragm, the right side does not expand as well as the left. This too, is a common pattern of some cases of Scoliosis. Are you confused? How does all this fit together? What can be done about it?

I’m just glad that NMR does not try to understand the whole pattern at once... These compensations were built on top of one another over many years of coping. You would never know this client has Scoliosis if you saw her in line in front of you. NMR tackles the most strategic imbalances first. The T/L junction is #1. Remaining functions of the ‘waist’ are next; then the way in which the pelvis deviated to accommodate the shorter muscles.

When I look at these ‘types’ of Scoliosis there is no way to understand from a 2-dimensional drawing the dynamics of what is going on in Scoliosis patterns. The ’shape’ of things is less important than What’s working vs. What’s not working.

These muscle patterns can be re-programmed. If you are curious, consider studying NMR. We’ll be doing an Advanced NMR for Scoliosis class in Dallas the first weekend in August.

[Jocelyn Olivier]

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

How to Reduce Tension in the Back of Your Neck and Shoulders

Did you know you can reduce tensions in the back of your neck and shoulders by Breathing Out through the Pores of Your Skin into the Space behind your neck and shoulders?

In the 7 Laws of Huna Healing from ancient Hawaii, they say “Where your attention goes, that’s where your energy flows".

We have 2 kinds of attention: Focused Attention and Spatial Attention. Focused Attention uses all of our attention in one direction.

The word “Attention” has the word “Tension” within it. When we pay intense attention to something, we amplify our tension. We over focus. Focused attention moves our energy forward, the attention of hypervigilance.

Breathing out through the back of the body moves energy backward, inviting and enabling a more spacious awareness. This moves our energy out beyond our body and promotes the good peripheral circulation that accompanies relaxation. You can feel your limbs and periphery getting warmer. This is a self-tuning way to access the Parasympathetic nervous system or PNS.

Hyper-vigilance or a dominance of the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) contracts muscles throughout your body and contracts circulation from the periphery to the core to protect the survival of the organs.

You can control your own energetic state and level of muscle tension using Breathing as a vehicle for moving your energy into the space beyond your body.

(Jocelyn Olivier). [Neuromuscular Reprogramming]

[bodyalive]

The Shape of Things

Massage gives my hands lots of Information about the Shape of Things. This is the shape of things after many years of doing the same things in the same way. This is apparent when you start working on a body doing massage. Physical Therapists have a lovely term for this: Effort Shape.

When I start work with a new client, I frequently start them face down. By the time you stroke the map of the spine you can begin to feel the torques that are there for instance.

If the left QL is shorter than the right, the pelvis is likely to have a right rotation. When the client is instructed to turn their pelvis to the left, they may dig their knee into the table to make that happen. If you stretch the quad on the left it may feel tight and restricted compared to the right hip. Because the pelvis is rotated right and all the weight is being carried on the left hip the ES will test weak on the right side. The support for the back will be coming from the grip of the external rotators in the right hip.

The Shape of Things is quite apparent. It also predicts weaknesses:

A hiked Lt QL pulls your weight to the left: Rt Erector Spinae and QL are often inhibited. This puts a torque into the pelvis with a left Iliac crest anterior tilt and right rotated pelvis.

The kinetic chains of inhibition/facilitation from these basics through to the legs, shoulders and arms are numerous.

Often, we don’t realize a problem exists with the base of support in the pelvis for our movement system until our knee starts hurting or our hip joints begin to wear out.

Mod 1 NMR will give you a coherent strategy for changing the Shape of Things. The current NMR teaching schedule is up on the NeuroMuscular-Reprogramming.com/events website.

No matter where you are in the world you can join us for the Live Streaming series broadcast via Zoom simultaneously with the in person class in Marin County CA.

Sign up for all 4 modules at once and save big money!

[Jocelyn Olivier]

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Success Treating Migraine -- How to Treat it

A client came in whom I've worked with a lot. Her spine has many twists and turns from multiple falls being an equestrian for 25 years. At this point, in her 60's she's experiencing a lack of energy and general difficulty putting on muscle. Migraines are part of the picture.

I've worked with her sub-occipital rotators before but they haven't stayed corrected. The migraines are less frequent but not gone. What else am I missing? Clients who present with complex problems are my favorite these days because they make me think and learn new things. Sometimes I have to relearn something....

A major area of instability in many people's spine is at the base of the rib cage where the lumbar spine is vulnerable to torque injuries. A left torque will create weakness down the medial side of the opposite leg and up into the back of the opposite shoulder and also inhibit the ability to twist the spine to the right. Often this will be accompanied by an inability to get the 'push reflex' to work through the left leg. All these events are predictable and repeatable. If you don't correct that fundamental torque, the problems will recur.

The work the client does at home is crucial.

I corrected the sub-occipitals then had my client fire off the left lumbar preferred rotation. I then rechecked the neck and the correction I had done minutes ago was gone. I released the left lumbar at the T12, L1 junction, training the spine to be able to rotate right without using the left back extensors to push it. (Yes, your back extensors will get active in rotation if your rotators don't work.) After releasing the left QL and Extensors at T12/L1 I retested the sub-occipitals and they were testing strong. I ran the same tests twice through to double check. Yup, doing fine.

I saw that client again today. I ask how the Migraines were since our new discovery. SHE HADN'T HAD A MIGRAINE IN FOUR MONTHS. Miracle! When I retested the left lumbar rotations to the sub-occipitals no errors occurred in the firing patterns. No muscles 'switched off', a term used for muscles that fail to respond reliably when muscle tested.

For those of you who know muscle testing, you can test the preferred lumbar rotation against the cervical rotations and release the lumbar to correct the cervical inhibitions. Pictured here are 2 of the major players in lumbar rotation: QL and Serratus Posterior Inferior SPI, (a very important player which opposes the full expansion of the back of the diaphragm. Frequently locked short following past falls which ‘knocked your breath out’). These short tight muscles end up inhibiting the sub-occipitals on the opposite side.

A major area of instability in many people's spine is at the base of the rib cage where the lumbar spine is vulnerable to torque injuries. A left torque will create weakness down the medial side of the opposite leg and up into the back of the opposite shoulder and also inhibit the ability to twist the spine to the right. Often this will be accompanied by an inability to get the 'push reflex' to work through the left leg. All these events are predictable and repeatable. If you don't correct that fundamental torque, the problems will recur. If you don't address the secondary relationship between suboccipital torque and Thoraco/Lumbar torque, the problems will recur.

What is the role of Serratus Posterior Inferior? I looked up an image of it. It's a lot more superficial than I thought.

This lovely strong muscle the Serratus Posterior Inferior ties our lowest ribs to our spine. When you take a blow to your back and get the ‘wind knocked out of you’ this muscle contracts and frequently doesn’t let go. SPI is superficial compared to the QL, another prime suspect for being ‘frozen’ tight = always a culprit when someone’s ‘back went out’, along with the Quadratus Lumborum on that same side.

Jocelyn Olivier :: Founder :: Neuromuscular Reprogramming

[bodyalive]

“We can’t see the blind spot in our visual fields and…

We can’t feel the kinesthetic ‘blind spots’ in the body.” [Jocelyn Olivier]

Thomas Hanna said these spots have "Sensory Motor Amnesia", a lovely name for 'can't feel it; can't use it'.

Why can’t we feel them?

They are no longer on the proprioceptive map. Is something pathological going on? No. Only the motor messaging system having a ‘brown out’. There’s a communication breakdown in our proprioceptive system.

What does it take to get it back on line?

In a temporary way: touch and movement will all help us feel ourselves better. Sensation is information that the body uses to self-correct.

NeuroMuscular Reprogramming NMR® uses proprioceptive feedback loops to re-educate the motor coordination system. First, through light muscle testing, a client feels what's not working, then the learning brain wakes up and begins re-tuning things like established coordination sequencing patterns. Your body has the ability to remake neuromuscular connections. As therapists we facilitate that. NMR is a fast and efficient tool to help that learning happen.

[NeuroMuscular Reprogramming]

[bodyalive]

For instance, “in the case of a weak glut max muscle the job of forward drive and hill climbing will be compensated by the external rotators of the hips”. Tight and fixated external rotators also reveal weak lumbo-sacral erector spinae muscles.

The ability to reprogram coordination dysfunction is a gift and a blessing. This is the work we do in NeuroMuscular Reprogramming.

A complete 4-part series to become a certified NMR therapist starts September 29. Sign up now to get 16.5% off when you sign up for all 4 classes! Click the link below to learn more: https://neuromuscular-reprogramming.com/.../mod-1-intro.../

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Introduction to “Stacking” = Getting more results faster

More than one muscle can be inhibited by a fixated or dysfunctional muscle, one that is hypertonic but not functional. Any hypertonic muscle will cause inhibitions in coordination with other muscles. Starting with an apparently hypertonic muscle that tests strong in the clear we will "Stack" a series of other muscles after testing it.

"Stacking" is testing muscles in a sequence, starting with a muscle that is hypertonic and testing strong in the clear.

Example: The Piriformis is tight and sore. It tests strong in the clear. We test ALL the muscles in the back of the hip in order, Gluteus Medius abduction, Med/Minimus lateral stabilization, Piriformis, Gemellis, Quadratus Femoris (QF). Piriformis, Lateral Stabilization, Gemellis were inhibited. These muscles are synergists. Released Glut Med abduction. Tested in same order. All strong.

Tested the same muscles in reverse, starting with QF: Piriformis and lateral stabilization tested inhibited. Released QF. Retested in the same order. All strong. This demonstrates that MORE THAN ONE MUSCLE can contribute to a structural weakness. Until you find ALL the contributing factors you will not have corrected the problem.

Q & A: What was the persistent weakness in this synergistic series? Since it was tight and sore to start with but tested strong in the clear, would we have thought to reduce its tone?

Stacking speeds up the amount of work you can get done with NMR in a given period of time. First you must rehabilitate the muscles’ ability to fire, THEN assign exercise AS NEEDED to recondition a formerly dysfunctional system.

This is a screen shot from Essential Anatomy 5, a wonderful app for isolating and analyzing anatomy and function.

[Jocelyn Olivier :: Neuromuscular Reprogramming]

[bodyalive]

The Key Element in Scoliosis...

and Tension between the shoulder blades...

When one side of the spinal extensors gets tight, the opposite side will be inhibited and/or weak. This is a “C” curve in Scoliosis.

You already know to stretch the tight/concave side and condition the lengthened/weak side. What you may not already know is that tight extensors inhibit all rotations to the opposite side. If you do not cue and correct the extension to rotation coordination problems the problem will not resolve. This is why NMR is such a great addition to the management of Scoliosis.

It's not just Scoliosis that has tight one sided extensors. Lots of us have that pattern but don't have a dramatic curvature of the spine.

The key element is rebalancing the rotations to extensions. Then integrating the rotational segments to each other.

[Jocelyn Olivier]

[Neuromuscular Reprogramming]