It wasn’t until a couple of years later when I began a 2-year training in Biodynamic Craniosacral therapy, that I discovered the value and importance of working with the brain and nervous system in order to heal chronic pain and tension effectively.

Craniosacral therapy is a is a gentle form of bodywork that helps to release tension held deep within the nervous system so that the rest of your body can relax and start to heal from the inside out.

Fast forward several years — my 3 kids were now in college and I moved to Washington, DC for a new relationship. While working on Capitol Hill, in my Massage / Craniosacral therapy practice, I found myself referring many of my clients to a somatic practitioner who used a method called Feldenkrais® to help people find relief from chronic pain.

As a massaage therapist, I could help my clients feel calm, relaxed, and even release troublesome, tight muscle tension. But the benefits lasted only a day or two.

But Adrienne, my Feldenkrais practitioner, was able to unravel chronic musculoskeletal pain that a person had experienced for years—even decades—permanently. She was my “go-to” person for maintaining my own body.

FELDEN-WHAT??

The Feldenkrais Method® works with a person’s brain and nervous system while the practitioner makes small, gentle movements with your body. As you’re being gently moved, your brain registers sensory information, and it identifies the most efficient, easiest way to move. In the process, unconsciously held muscular contractions—muscle contractions and tension you didn’t even know you were holding—are released spontaneously.

For many years, dancers, musicians and athletes, particularly in NYC, have known about Feldenkrais to help them heal from injuries, and reach their optimal physical performance. But other than certain pockets of people who rely on their bodies to be highly functioning, the method is not well known.

(And to be honest, the strange name doesn’t help!)

Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, was a mechanical and electrical engineer, earned a D.Sc in physics from the Sorbonne, was a soccer player and had a black belt in judo. Basically, he was brilliant.

Dr. Feldenkrais began to develop his method when he was faced with a knee injury that threatened his ability to function. He applied his knowledge of physics, body mechanics, neurology, learning theory and psychology to a new understanding of human function as he healed his knee when doctors told him his chances of walking again were 50%. In developing his work, Feldenkrais studied anatomy, physiology, child development, movement science, evolution, psychology, and a number of Eastern awareness practices and other somatic approaches.

While I was living and practicing in Washington, DC, I was fortunate to study with one of Dr. Feldenkrais’s original students and a living legend in the field, David Zemach-Bersin, for 4 years in the Feldenkrais NYC professional training program.

THE BRAIN IN THE CONTROLLER OF THE BODY

Now, as a trauma-informed Somatic practitioner, I never cease to be surprised and amazed at the innate inteligence of the human brain and nervous system.

The brain is the controller of the entire body. The brain tells us when to breathe in and out and how much oxygen we need at any given moment. The brain tells our organs how and when to function.

And the brain monitors our muscle tension — when to contract and when to let go, when to stabilize parts that have been compromised by injury and when it’s safe to relax.

We can apply pressure to, or stretch the muscles, and they’ll release. But within a short timeframe, they go right back to their habitual “patterns” of contraction because this is how the brain has “wired” them. The muscles are only following the brain’s orders.

But when you work with the root of the “muscle tension” issue—the brain—the muscle tension that has been part of your life for months or years, or even, decades, will let go.

When you work with your brain and nervous system, new healthier neural pathways override the old, unconscious, habitual pathways.

As I continue to help clients find relief for chronic pain, I’ve made an important observation about the human nervous system overall:
Emotional tension = physical tension.

What this means is that so many people live with chronic stress and anxiety and overwhelm. But most of us have never been taught how to regulate this in a significant way. We can try to “manage” our stressful feelings or distract ourselves by having a couple of glasses of wine or going for a run or taking a yoga class or even scrolling on our phones. But actually changing the neural pathways of stress and anxiety is not something most of us know how to do. And why would we?!

SYMPTOMS OF CHRONIC STRESS, ANXIETY AND OVERWHELM

Familiar symptoms of a dysregulated nervous system are things like shallow breathing, rapid heart rate, sweaty palms, grinding our teeth, digestive issues like Crohn’s Disease and IBS, migraines, and so on.

But chronic muscle tension like jaw pain, neck and shoulder pain, back pain, lower back pain, hip pain, etc. is quite often caused by a chronically dysregulated nervous system as well.

One of the most common ways we humans experience anxiety or unresolved trauma in our bodies is CONTRACTION.

As I’ve learned about this, both personally and with my clients, it’s become clear to me that working with physical symptoms of chronic pain is only part of the solution. Learning how to release the anxiety or overwhelm through the body, brain and nervous system is the pathway for lasting change.

As a “trauma-informed somatic practitioner,” I have a toolbox of effective somatic exercises and practices to work with people living with chronic pain and anxiety get out of pain for good and get back to living their lives and doing the activities they love.

Some of my favorite somatic tools include: Feldenkrais, Havening Techniques, Craniosacral Therapy, and Therapeutic Massage.

My newest training is in Somatic Experiencing®, a method designed to release trauma from a person’s body and nervous system, created by Dr. Peter Levine, an internationally respected author and teacher. I’m halfway through this 3-year program.

How is working with me different than with other practitioners?

CHRONIC PAIN SYMPTOMS

When people have chronic pain, they usually seek treatment from their doctors or specialists for a particular part of their body. That medical specialist focuses on that specific body part and usually offers either surgery, medication or advises a person to go to physical therapy. The physical therapist will focus on that specific body part, or attached parts, and advise stretching, strengthening, deep pressure and exercises. A massage therapist will offer some movement, pressure and stretching.

All of the above can be helpful to some degree, but isolating and focusing on one body part often doesn’t address the root of the problem in terms of being functional and painfree. And often the pain will reappear within a few weeks or months.
My focus is on the whole person and how all “the parts” work together as one whole, integrated, moving system. Instead of isolating specific body parts, I work with the brain and nervous system through movement and attention to sensation.