Feldenkrais and Hanna Somatics for Maintenance and Pain Management

by | Dec 6, 2017 | Fitness, In the News

Jane Brody, the legendary health journalist for the New York Times, recently wrote an article extolling the virtues of the Feldenkrais approach to pain management and recovery. Lesser known is the work of Thomas Hanna, who introduced Moshe Feldenkrais to the United States and studied with him for many years. Hanna took the physics and mechanical engineering basis of Feldenkais’s work and added in neuroscience, psychology and philosophy to create a version (Hanna Somatics) which has been an intimate part of my daily routine for fifteen years. Both are worth checking out as self care for yourself and your customers.

Micro-Movements

by | Jun 4, 2012 | Fitness, Videos

Since I work primarily at home, I spend at least an hour a day in the kitchen. Most of the time I am fixing a meal, but sometimes I am just warming up water or leftovers in the microwave.

The minute or two while I am waiting for the timer to ding is a great time for a fitness moment. Even my relatively tiny kitchen contains all of the essentials tools for a brief workout: a counter and a doorway.

Check out this three-minute video for suggestions about turning your microwave moments into a micro-movement program.

This video that is part of my Fitness Lifestyle approach that I encourage my customers to adopt. Feel free to link the video on the customer resources section of your website.

http://youtu.be/OQriMwP1NY4

Stand Up and Get Fit

by | May 15, 2012 | Fitness

Last week I caught a Fresh Air interview with New York Times columnist, Gretchen Reynolds, author of The First 20 Minutes. One of her science-based claims that caught my attention was the importance of standing regularly to break up periods of sitting. It is the kind of key recommendation that we can offer to all of our office-bound massage customers because it takes so little effort and has such big rewards.

Reynolds recommends standing for two minutes every 20 minutes while desk-bound even if you can’t move around your office. “If you can stand up every 20 minutes — even if you do nothing else — you change how your body responds physiologically.”

The basic problem with sitting for extended periods is that sitting makes it harder to get moving and our bodies are made to move. If you can stand up every 20-minutes the big leg muscles start contracting and releasing enzymes that break up fat in the bloodstream reducing the amount of fat in your heart, liver and brain and decreasing the chance of diabetes, heart disease while improving energy, mood, brain function, memory. If you can walk even a little bit, the benefits multiply.

My rational mind just loves having my personal behavior validated.

Split keyboard

Since I spend a large part of many days sitting in front of a computer, like I am right now, I worry about repetitive strain injury. In fact, during one intense desk-bound work period about a decade ago, I did begin to develop symptoms in my wrists, forearms and elbows. I managed those symptoms by switching to a split keyboard, which allows the wrists to be at a more natural angle to the forearms, and by learning to mouse with my left hand as well as my right.

About two years ago, I added a new routine to my workday. On the desk next to my keyboard is a timer that chimes once every 25 minutes and then again five-minutes later. During that five-minute interval the rule is, I have to be standing and away from my desk.

I used to be one of those people who could focus intensely for hours at a time without taking a break. Many times I didn’t want to take a break fearing that it would break my concentration or make me lose my train of thought. No longer.

While I started taking five-minute stand-up breaks for ergonomic reasons, it turns out to have multiple unintended benefits.

  • The break actually improves the quality of my work. Moving my whole body by standing up activates more parts of my brain. Recent research detailed in Jonah Lehrer’s recent book, Imagine: How Creativity Works, talks about the importance of distraction in the creative process.
  • I get more chores done. It is amazing how many things you can check off the To Do list with a focused five minutes: feed the birds, clean the toilet/sink, do some dishes, vacuum a room, get some rice cooking, load the washing machine, make a quick phone call. Did I mention I work at home?
  • I get more focused exercise. Ten push-ups, pull-ups, squats, etc. along with rehab work for the knees, shoulders, elbows or wherever I happen to have a current issue needing attention.
  • I get to take a breath. Studies have shown that when we get excited or anxious, like working under deadline or on an idea we think has potential (me, most of the time), we unconsciously slow down our breathing or hold our breath. Something to do with not wanting the tigers nearby to eat us. Not good.
  • I get to see what’s up with my neighbors. One of the exercises I do during that five-minute break is look out the window and refocus my eyes for distant vision. Staring at a computer screen all day is a great prescription for eyestrain.

Since I live in San Francisco, I already have customers who work at adjustable-height desks that allow them to work standing or sitting. Your massage customers who are cubical dwellers will find their own ways to fill their stand-up time. Our job is just to let them know that it is important.

Chair Massage: A foundation for fitness

by | Feb 5, 2012 | Chair Massage, Fitness

While I am a big believer in making every moment a fitness moment (see Creating a Fitness Lifestyle), the reality is many people don’t have even the most basic motivation to move to a healthier lifestyle. That’s where chair massage fits in because it not only requires minimal motivation, it actually provides motivation and support for getting off and staying off of the couch.

The reason why I consider chair massage foundational fitness is because, of all the activities that fall into the fitness/wellness category, chair massage is the one that requires the least time and effort, while offering the greatest value. The only motivation required for chair massage is to sit down and do nothing. The chair massage specialist does the rest.

This is one of the most unique and important features of chair massage. All other wellness modalities require high degrees of motivation, practice, support or cost, for example, dieting, exercise, smoking cessation, Yoga, meditation, table massage and Tai Chi.

The foundation of fitness is movement. It is movement that creates circulation in the body/mind and, as I am fond of saying, circulation is not optional. Without good circulation your body and your mind literally wither away and eventually die. Much of what we define as the “aging process” is simply a result of inhibited circulation/movement.

Exercise, which requires a high degree of motivation, is active movement, where you move yourself. Massage is passive movement, where someone else creates the movement/circulation within you and requires minimal motivation.

In addition, over time, as people experience regular massage, they reopen the communication links between their brains and their bodies. That is to say, massage heightens awareness of our internal sensations about what makes us feel good. As a result, recipients tend to become more motivated to lose weight, stop smoking, eat better and even develop a regular exercise program.

As lifestyle changes go, regular chair massage is a great place to start. It triggers the pleasure centers while enhancing circulation. On an ongoing basis it supports all other fitness/wellness activities and lifestyle changes. Each massage rebalances the body/mind by smoothing out the rough edges created by exercise, dieting or withdrawal from smoking and other addictive substances.

Best of all, you don’t have to be overweight or a smoker or in shape or out of shape to benefit from a chair massage. It is the most egalitarian of all wellness modalities and provides a solid foundation for fitness. Given its low cost, chair massage clearly provides the greatest value.

Creating a Fitness Lifestyle

by | Jul 5, 2011 | Fitness

TouchPro Fitness MomentWe all believe in the importance of fitness. Heck some of us are selling it. But what is fitness, and how do you achieve it?

My idea of fitness is a broad one. It includes physical, intellectual, social and spiritual components. But my concept of fitness does not mean merely maintaining the status quo. To me, keeping fit means getting better: stronger, smarter, more flexible, more self-aware, more engaged, more fully human.

We aren’t designed to stand still; we are designed to move, to learn and to grow. True fitness means being able to cope effectively with the accelerating pace of change and the increasing complexity of this global village.

I find that my biggest barrier to developing a fitness routine is lack of motivation. I don’t even like the word “routine.” It just sounds so boring and isolated from my the rest of my life. I don’t want a fitness routine, I want a fitness lifestyle.

Even getting to the gym three times a week can become just another chore for many of us that absorbs way too much precious time and money. Kids raised in the country during the 1950’s, as I was, didn’t need any motivation to stay fit. We were on the move from sun up to sun down, running, climbing, crawling, balancing, lifting, and building our way through each day.

In that environment every moment was a fitness moment and the combination of all those moments created a natural, organic fitness lifestyle. I still believe that model of fitness to be the best. All that’s required is the addition of a little awareness and creativity. Most fitness moments add no additional time to your day but add a huge amount to the quality of your life.

Here are some are some guidelines and examples for building a fitness lifestyle, moment by moment.

  • Be curious, ask questions, experiment. This attitude is innate in every kid. If it got squelched in you. revive it. For example, I never go on a diet. Instead I do open-ended dietary experiments like seeing what happens if I drink my breakfast every morning in a smoothie. Some of my experiments result in enough positive effects that they turn into habits. If they do, great. If they don’t, try something else. Everyone is different, so your fitness lifestyle will be unique to you.
  • Multi-task. If I find myself standing in line or on a train, I do isometric leg exercises, even if I am also reading a book or listening to a podcast. If I am waiting for the microwave to beep, I do a couple of push-ups or other exercise on the side of a counter.
  • Break a routine. Boredom is a big flag of opportunity signalling you to look at an unconscious routine with fresh eyes and find some aspect that you can turn into a fitness moment, like switching your tooth brushing or hair brushing hand.
  • Sweeten the moment. We all know we should eat more dark leafy greens, but a salad for breakfast seemed too radical. However, adding raw spinach or kale to a morning fruit smoothie tastes great and is far healthier.
  • Spice things up. A part of me responds well to challenges and competitions. I decided I wanted to lose a few pounds so I began keeping a spreadsheet, with a graphic chart of my post-shower weight every morning. Just that extra 30-seconds of record keeping is a fitness moment that helps keep me off the Haagen Dazs coffee ice cream.

I will be adding regular posts to this section of the blog and invite your comments and suggestions for fitness moments. How do you create your fitness lifestyle?

In touch,
David

The Curious Disparity of Ambidexterity

by | Jul 5, 2011 | Fitness

After an operation in 1974 put my right shoulder out of commission for a couple of months, I realized how little dexterity I had in my left hand relative to my right. What’s that all about, I thought. Who made that dominant hand rule that we live our lives by anyway? What’s so great about only developing half my body.

That’s when I began my lifelong quest for ambidexterity and I now consider it to be an essential aspect of my fitness lifestyle.

For the last four decades I have experimented with switching hands (and feet) for a wide variety of daily activities. In the bathroom I learned to hold a razor and shave with my left hand as well as my right and recently I started using my left hand to hold the toothbrush. I also noticed that in the shower, I would always stand on my right leg and wash my left leg first. Now I stand on the right first.

In the dining room I am equally comfortable eating European-style (fork in the left hand, knife in the right) and periodically, for a change of pace, I put my water glass or tea cup on the left side of my plate.

Any time I switch to using my non-dominant side I am exercising not only my muscles, but also my brain. I am building new sensory/motor pathways that build upon each other making any subsequent change a bit easier.

While these experiments may slow me down a bit initially, they can turn each moment into an “sensational” adventure. When I use my left hand I no longer  brush my teeth automatically and unconsciously. Because I am learning a new motor skill, I am forced to pay close attention and really feel the bristles as they cover each surface of each tooth.

That level of attention can shift me easily into a timeless place where the two minutes that I used to begrudge to this task become a gift of intimacy with my body. Yeah, I know I’m weird.  But so are dancers, musicians, and athletes, all of whom seem to find “the zone” more easily I qould guess because of their bilateral efforts.

There are literally dozens of opportunities every day to nurture ambidexterity throughout all parts of your body that take no time and little effort. For me this relatively modest effort at ambidexterity has had a big payoff personally and professional.

When I do massage it is clearly an advantage that both sides of my body are nearly equally adept at techniques and both hands are equally sensitive. Likewise, since much of my day is spent working at the computer keyboard, being able to alternate “mouse-ing” hands has been crucial to alleviating and preventing repetitive strain injuries.

On the more mundane level, I am better prepared for those awkward occasions when only a left hand will do, like tight spaces with a screwdriver or a wrench.

Give bilateralism a try!

In touch
David