This is the first of a series of several stories about people who have come to me in pain, and, through learning to relax their chronically tight muscles, have told me that they literally feel as if “they have their life back.” This photo shows a slim, athletic body that looks almost perfect; look closer, [...]
Archive for May, 2010
Get Rid of Your Pain and Get Your Life Back
Posted in Back pain, Hanna Somatic Education, Health, Movement, Muscle pain conditions, Posture, Uncategorized on May 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Movement Choices Can Help Relieve Your Pain
Posted in Back pain, Hanna Somatic Education, Health, Movement, Muscle pain conditions, Play, Posture, Uncategorized on May 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
So how many of you tried jumping to see how you felt? Did you notice HOW you jumped? Arms in the air? Legs pulled up? An enormous number of Americans nowadays work in a sedentary job – at a computer, desk or in a car. If you are one of them, think for a minute [...]
You Are How You Move
Posted in Movement, Play, Posture, Uncategorized on May 24, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Thomas Hanna once told a story about Moshe Feldenkrais, and how he said that if you want to get some insight to how a person thinks and feels, just look at their posture. Our posture and movement tells more about us than we realize. Just an animals take powerful stances in order to defend their [...]
Intelligent, Sensible Movement for a Pain-Free Life
Posted in Back pain, Hanna Somatic Education, Health, Muscle pain conditions, Posture, Uncategorized on May 21, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The other evening I attended a fascinating Buddhist meditation and lecture. Lama Gursam spoke about awareness and practice. He said that the only way to truly understand how to let go of painful, annoying or unpleasant experiences or feelings was through mindful observation, meditation and practice. This method, he stated, has been proven to positively [...]
Fluid Movement=Painless Exercise
Posted in Back pain, Hanna Somatic Education, Health, Movement, Muscle pain conditions, Uncategorized on May 19, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Let’s talk a bit more about Dr. Vijay Vad and his sensible prescription for pain relief: exercise, yoga, and other alternative strategies for pain relief.” He also mentioned that “flexibility needs to come first.” Flexibility is crucial to keeping muscles and joints in healthy working order. However, he focused on strengthening exercises, and never gave [...]
Pain Relief Without Drugs
Posted in Back pain, Hanna Somatic Education, Health, Movement, Muscle pain conditions, Posture, Uncategorized on May 17, 2010 | 3 Comments »
I just read an article in the New York Times about Dr. Vijay Vad, a sports medicine specialist from the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. He is a doctor who believes in the “power of the mind-body connection” and who sees yoga, exercise and other alternatives as positives strategies for pain relief. [...]
Movement for a Pain Free Neck and Back
Posted in Back pain, Hanna Somatic Education, Health, Movement, Muscle pain conditions, Uncategorized on May 14, 2010 | 2 Comments »
I’ve written about neck pain and how it isn’t always an isolated problem. Dr. Hanna, creator of Hanna Somatic Education, always said, “a stiff neck is a stiff body.” Even if you strain your neck, as in a case of whiplash from a car accident, the large extensor muscles of the back reflexively tighten. Remember, [...]
Top 3 Myths about Neck Pain
Posted in Back pain, Hanna Somatic Education, Health, Movement, Muscle pain conditions on May 12, 2010 | 4 Comments »
I’ve worked with a lot of people with neck pain, some so severe that they had to go on disability. Recently Tiger Woods dropped out of a golf tournament due to neck pain – a bulging disk. He said, “I can deal with the pain, but once it locked up I couldn’t go back or [...]
Sitting is Dangerous to Your Health
Posted in Back pain, Hanna Somatic Education, Health, Movement, Muscle pain conditions, Posture on May 10, 2010 | 2 Comments »
How interesting – last Friday on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer show, a journalist named ArianneCohen talked about her recent Business Week article entitled, “Your Office Chair is Killing You.” She must have read my blog post about chairs! Everything she wrote I’d already mentioned in my April 9th post called, “Chairs – Are They Really So [...]
How Hanna Somatics Can Improve Your Life
Posted in Hanna Somatic Education, Movement, Muscle pain conditions, Uncategorized on May 7, 2010 | 2 Comments »
I received a very inspirational email yesterday from Pete Karabetis, a Tango teacher in Baltimore. He’s planning to attend the weekend workshops I’ll be teaching on May 15 and 16 down in Baltimore. He told me that he’d been in pain for 9 years due to a hip injury and was open to anything that [...]
