Ortho-Bionomy is a gentle technique developed by Osteopath, Arthur Pauls. Coming from a Remedial Massage background, I began to study with Ortho-Bonomy Instructors as an ongoing professional development requirement, but soon realized the benefits the treatment can offer, beyond that of massage. Studying in a self paced way and applying the work as I learned, with my clients, I spent the next (7) years training to become a Practitioner of Ortho-Bionomy and now use this work only. Ortho-Bionomy differs from many forms of body work in that it treats pain with comfort.......let me explain this a little.......
Ortho-Bionomy works with the natural movement and structural patterns of a client's nervous system. These natural patterns are what allow our body to heal when injured. But sometimes, through injury, incorrect posture, repetitive overuse, disease or even aging, these patterns for self correction become overridden, confused, or inaccessible and healing can't occur. I learned that when I worked supportively with, instead of against, the body's natural reflexes corrections occurred painlessly for clients. Ortho-Bionomy Practitioners are trained to assess imbalances and assist the clients body to access the self corrective capacity, to return to optimum health. The client is fully clothed and the practitioner usually works with him or her on a bodywork table, although the practitioner may work with the client seated or standing as well. After discussing the clients state of health and presenting issues, both the practitioner and client work together to assess and support the self-correcting patterns related specifically to the issues or conditions that the client is experiencing. The techniques used range from the purely physical to the purely energetic. This allows the practitioner to employ techniques which are appropriate for each client and each condition. Some of these techniques include:
Positional release
Range-of-motion exploration
Isometric and isotonic techniques
Gentle rocking
Static holding
Subtle or minute movements
Postural re-education
Work in the energy field of the body
Cranial and visceral balancing
Neurolymphatic balancing
At no time does the practitioner use any movements or contact that cause discomfort for the client. At the end of the session the practitioner may identify self care exercises for the client to do after and between sessions to continue the releases and to retrain the body in its new patterns. Clients are encouraged to receive two to four sessions initially after which an on-going programme of self care and/or additional individual sessions can be developed.
