Centerline Bodywork

Training has been great. The change I see in people after each season is amazing. The change I feel in my own body to this point is great!

to recap what each session addresses and the goal of each session so far:

Session 1 - working to expand vital capacity and breath and to horizontalize and mobilize the pelvis. areas addressed the arms, shoulders, ribcage, pelvis, neck and back.

Session 2 - working to create a more stable foundation to stand on. areas addressed are the ankles, feet, lower legs, pelvis, neck, and back.

Session 3 - working to find a front to back balance in the body. areas of focus is the side of the body from the hip to the shoulder, pelvis, neck, and lower back.

Session 4 - working to improve balance and function in legs and pelvis. areas addressed are the inside of the leg from the heel to the sit bones, pelvis, neck, and lower back.

Session 5 - working to improve core balance and function. areas addressed are the shoulders, chest, abdomen, pelvis, and neck.

Session 1 works to open the rib cage and creating more room for the heart and lungs. This allows for more oxygen in the blood. We work to loosen the fascia that surrounds the rib cage, looking for areas that don’t move with breath. Try taking a breath into your rib cage, rather than your belly, does your rib cage expand. Look in a mirror and breath, do you see expansion? Try focusing on breathing into the front of your chest, take another breath but now focus on breathing into your sides, and take another breath and focus on your back and expanding your back with breath. Now try taking another breath…do you notice a difference from when you first started?

Session 1 also works on hips working to start to free the pelvis and from the leg. Also helping the pelvis to find better balance and not have a tilt. Most people have a tilt to their pelvis forcing the abdominal muscles to hold the visceral organs, if the pelvis is balanced it becomes a container to support the organs. Balancing the pelvis also creates more length in the lower back and works to reduce and eliminate tension and pain in the lower back. Try laying on the floor on your back with your knees bent and feet on the floor, notice the amount of space in your lower back. There should be some space because the lumbar vertebra curve in, but too much space often is an indication of a pelvic tilt.

In session ten the objective is to connect all aspects of the body in order to create better function and movement. We do this by touching on the key areas that were focused on throughout the series, trying to create a joint to joint, or segment to segment connection that creates a continuous flow though the body.

Ben and Carol both found that after the session they felt more together, taller, and that they had more energy that lasted longer.

The great thing about the work is that the body will continue to adapt and change in the direction that the ten series has established.

Stay tuned to see where Ben and Carol are and how they are feeling in a couple of months when we touch base again!

Session 8 & 9 and working to create more freedom in movement and function of the Pelvic and Shoulder Girdle. We are working to have better joint movement and relationships in these sessions.

Ben and Carol both found more freedom in there leg and arm movement after the sessions. Carol speaks to how her arthritis doesn’t flair up as often, and how her knees and hips especially don’t bother her as much. Ben speaks to how when working with his Sensei (who is 35 years younger than him) he finds that he can keep-up and doesn’t fatigue as quickly as her used to.

Much of this improved function comes as a result of the better organization and alignment of the body’s structure, through Ida Rolf’s Ten Series of Structural Integration.

This session works to put the head and neck on top of the body, lining the ear up with the shoulder. Most people tend to carry their head in front of them, creating strain on their neck and shoulder region. We also work on the face if the client is interested, working to create more space in the mouth and nasal region.

Carol and Ben both found that they had more range of motion in their head rotation. They also both noticed that after the mouth and nasal work that they had an easier time breathing and Carol didn’t feel the plugging of her ears going from lower to higher elevation levels.

In session six we are working to stabilized the legs by creating horizontal and vertical alignment, also continuing to balance the pelvis.

In this work we create more freedom in the hamstrings and lower legs. As well as working to free the legs from the pelvis allowing the legs to move independent of the pelvis.

In this session we are working to balance the pelvis, so that it is truly a basin that holds the body’s organs. Most people have a tilt to their pelvis creating lower back pain and not allowing for the stabilization of the body’s organs. Working to level the pelvic girdle allows for the upper body’s weight to pass through the pelvis and out into the ground rather than residing in the lower back region often resulting in back pain.

We worked the abdominal region, the hip and gluteal region. This allowed for more stability in the pelvis and more support of the abdominal region and the organ’s contained there.

In this session we are trying to lengthen in inner leg and start to free the pelvis from the leg. Most of this session is done with the client laying on their side.

Ben: looking at our progress since session three Ben seems to be finding a line of energy that runs through him and supports him. Looking to see what we will pay attention to in this session it looks as though Ben’s adductors come forward when he bends his knees, we want to see them fall back. Also his ankle hinge seems a bit restricted. Through the session his tissue felt very tight and sticky as though there wasn’t good separation of his muscles. After the session as Ben bent his knees his adductors fell back and his ankle had more freedom, not causing his heel to rise.

Carol: as we saw with Ben, Carol has also begun to find this line of energy and support, so that she finds herself with better posture that is easy. As we assessed what stands out before session 4 there was a slight forward movement of the adductors. Working on Carol she felt that this was an easier session for her, and I felt that her body was more quick to respond to what we were doing. At the end of the session her adductors fell back.

I have been working on a client and he was telling me how he has been wearing an orthotic insert in his shoe for many years and over the last few weeks has quit wearing it and found that things are good. We have completed the sixth session, this is very exciting that he no longer feels the need to have a lift.

In this session we are working to create a line down the side separating the front from the back and creating a more even spread from front to back.

Ben: as we looked to see what changes occurred since Session 2 I noticed that his legs seemed to extend more vertically in relation to his foot, and doesn’t tilt as he bends. Ben commented that he felt a shift in his ankles as a result of the last session.

Looking at Ben from the side to see what needs to be addressed I see that there is more space in front of his are than I see behind his arm. We will work to balance this out more. Upon completion of this session there is more movement in Ben’s back as he breathes and a better balance of space front to back.

Carol: looking for what changed since Session 2 I noticed that Carol stood better with her feet parallel. Carol had not been doing her knee bends due to discomfort in her hip an knee.

She commented that her left hip had been acting up so she was concerned about laying on her side for Session 3. With that in mind we started by having her lay on her right side and worked on the left side hoping that by working to open the side body and hip that she would be able to lay on her left side. As we finished the left side and Carol turned to lay on the left side she was amazed that she felt no discomfort. We finished the session and took a look she seemed much more balanced and she felt no discomfort when she did her knee bends.

Ben & Carol’s homework: doing knee bends -  feet parallel, and knee coming over the second toe, helping to continue the work that we have done to this point.