Beth Drayer Movement

02/17/2025

Breaking Up with Back Pain Workshop 🏋️‍♂️🚀

Struggling with nagging back pain? It’s time to take control! Join us for the Breaking Up with Back Pain Workshop, where you’ll learn practical, effective strategies to reduce pain and move with confidence.

✔️ Understand the root cause of your pain
✔️ Learn simple exercises to improve mobility and strength
✔️ Get expert guidance to prevent future flare-ups

Whether you’re dealing with discomfort from long hours at a desk or staying active with aches and stiffness, this workshop is for you!

📅 Thur Feb 20th
📍 811 N Catalina Ave Redondo Beach
⏰ Time: 7-8pm

Register: www.BethDrayer.com/workshop-registration

Say goodbye to back pain and hello to better movement! 🙌

02/08/2024

Why is this important?!?

Understanding this hierarchy and the brain/body's messaging mechanism is crucial for maintaining overall health and addressing discomfort effectively.

When your brain senses
potential threats to other bodily systems, it communicates this through pain signals. These signals, often manifested as pain, serve as an alarm system, alerting you to potential issues that need attention.

One well-known example is the referral pain pattern associated with the heart and left arm, particularly evident during a heart attack.

However, not all pain signals are as alarming. Sometimes, discomfort arises simply because certain organs or systems are not functioning optimally, leading to tension in surrounding areas.

For instance, tension around the liver can manifest as tightness in the right hip flexor or pain in the right shoulder. By addressing this tension and restoring mobility to the affected organ, such
discomfort can be alleviated directly, improving hip mobility and reducing pain.

If you're experiencing persistent or chronic pain that doesn't respond to typical stretching or strengthening exercises, there may be an underlying visceral issue that needs attention.
Ensuring that these internal systems feel safe and supported is paramount, as unresolved threats can hinder the effectiveness of localized treatments for joint or muscle pain.

By prioritizing the body's internal safety and addressing underlying issues, we pave the way for effective pain relief and allow the body to heal itself naturally.

Following this hierarchy ensures a
comprehensive approach to wellness, promoting long-term health and mobility.

10/12/2023

Hello All!!!
Just wanted to let you know that I will be hosting a workshop 2 weeks from today THUR Oct 26th at 7pm. "How to fix your aches and pains without going to the Doctor or taking Pills"

To Register click here: www.bethdrayer.com/workshop-registration

Looking forward to seeing you there!

07/12/2023

I can't tell you how happy this makes me!

A few weeks ago, I was working with one of my clients who originally came to me with Right Hip/Low Back pain. He is doing fantastic! In just four sessions, he is essentially pain-free! in his hip...we are now working on his shoulder! This is particularly impressive given that he is an active individual in his 60s who participates in a range of physical activities, including various martial arts and free diving.

Anyway, during our session, my client mentioned that he had hosted dinner guests over the weekend, and one of the women expressed her struggles with hip pain. His response...he immediatly shared with her the exercises that we had been working on, including his personal favorite (and one of mine as well). After just a couple of minutes of showing her some stuff she felt a LOT better!

Not gonna lie...this made my day! For him to be that confident in the work that we are doing to share it with his friends means the world to me! And it immediately helped her as well! Twofer!!

Give this one a try and, let me know how it goes. Leave a comment below or in the DMs.

Helps loosen up tiny muscle around your hip. The tendon of the TFL is your ITBand which travels all the way down to your knee. So if this is tight you can ha...

07/05/2023

I love to learn especially in a hands on format. I'm a "I need to see it and feel it to believe it kind of person".

My friend and mentor hosts an online course once a year and I particiapated a couple years ago during the midst of the Pandemic (why not learn during some slow time)
She has developed a system that integrates Typical Western Sports Medicine with Traditional Eastern Medicine and it is fantastic! It focuses on listening to what the body wants and needs. It teaches that YOUR body is the smartest in the room, I'm there to listen, guide and facilitate YOUR body to moving better and feeling better. It gives me tools to focus in what needs to be worked on first to give YOU the best results. A few weeks ago I was talking about the heirchy of systems in your body. This is where I learned this concept from and have embraced it fully!

Now, also once a year she hosts a weekend of alumni of her course to come together and hone these skills. And each time it gets more amazing! As my friend Shante say....there is nothing like being in the room! For three days we come together to continue to grow our skills, learn from one another and become better clinians. And it is so much fun! There are tons of Ah Ha moments. I spend a good bit of time thinking which of these things will match well with the people I am currently working with. I get so excited to come back and go to work....it's so energizing!

All of this to say I can't wait to see you soon! And get you moving better and feeling better!

If you have any questions or want to set up a time to chat and see how I can help you, leave a comment below or in the DMs.

06/28/2023

Do you have pain in the front of your shoulder?

Do THESE https://youtu.be/xv8yae63VmY.

A lot of the time all the muscles in the front of the shoulder and chest are stonger and tighter than those in the back. This causes the head of the humorous (the ball of the ball and socket joint of the shoulder) to sit forward. This puts extra pressure and tension to the front of your shoulder joint capsule. (Your shoulder joint had a LOT of connective tissue surrounding it to hold it together.)

If the head of the humorous is getting pulled forward it starts to stretch the front of the capsule you start to get pain in the front of your shoulder.

This started to happen to me a few years ago....oddly enough it bothered me most when I was vacuuming, when I pulled the vacuum back towards me my bent elbow moved backwards but the head of my humorus moved forward and pushed on the front of the capsule. Really made me want to stop vacuuming lol!

I have actually seen this same situation in several of my clients lately as well!

So by doing tricep work it helps to keep that joint centered within the joint, and has been a big help for both me and my clients!

Give this one a shot and let me know how it goes. Leave a comment below or in the DMs!

06/21/2023

I can't believe I have been writing emails for over 3 years and have never writen one about these!

ROWS! https://youtu.be/7GoKwy4B_8U These are banded rows. Easy to do at home if you have a band. If you don't have one, you can get one from Amazon for about $15. They are great to have for many other exercises as well.
If you have shoulder pain, neck pain, or back pain.... you should be doing these!

With all the things in life that we do that are focused directly in front of us, our fronts get tight and pull our bodies forward and curled toward fetal position. After working on opening up our chest as we did HERE https://youtu.be/bX1xBC-9XDM. We can then strengthen our Lats and muscles around your shoulder blade because they have been on a stretch from sitting on our phones and computers.

A lot of the tension we feel in our necks, shoulders and backs is actaully all of the muscles being stretched all the time. As we start to stretch out the front strengthen those muscles in the back, that tension goes away.

Give this one a shot and let me know how it goes. Leave a comment below or in the DMs

Give this one a shot if you have neck or shoulder pain.....because they usually go together!After you work on stretching and opening up your chest (see my ch...

06/14/2023

I warn you now....this one will VERY likely leave you sore for a couple of days!

Now I'm not into make you sore for the sake of soreness! Contrary actually! When you do an exercise or workout and you end up feeling tight and sore for the next couple of days, that tells me you need more work in this area (oh I think I have a new email brewing here.....but for another time!)

I have been working with a bunch of pickleball players lately (weird I know!) and have added THESE https://youtu.be/swZHwGRqt68 to their sessions. There is a lot of side to side movement while playing pickleball and being able to control your core and legs is a huge part of that!

But these are just a great movement for everyone! You will feel a lot of core stability need for these as well as working on the strength of your inner leg muscles (something you probably haven't worked on for a while....WILL BE SORE!)

Quick tips:
1. Only go as far out as you will be able to bring your leg back in, slowly increase range
2. Slightly lighten up your pressure on the slider foot when sliding back toward your body, makes sliding easier!

Give this one a shot and let me know how it goes. Leave a comment below or in the DMs

Whoa boy! These lunges using the slider disk (can use a paper plate at home) give you a completely different experience than a regular lateral Lunge. You ...

06/07/2023

Have you been on your phone or computer a lot lately?

It seems I have been having a lot of conversations about wrist pain lately.

This https://youtu.be/no1fsUKkIUA is one of my favorite stretches for the wrist! I warn you, go slow! This one is INTENSE! And a little bit goes a long way. So just a few reps at a time to start getting more motion going.

Give this one a shot and let me know how it goes. Leave a comment below or in the DMs!

If you use a mouse, phone or keyboard a lot.....this one is for you! Go slow because this one can be intense! You may feel this anywhere from your thumb to y...

05/31/2023

If you currently find yourself in a pain/tightness cycle, what do you do to get out?

You MOVE!

It sounds a bit counterintuitive. If you are tight or are in pain, moving doesn't necessarily feel great so you don't really want to do it, but the less you move the more tight and painful things get! So even if it is just a little bit, trying to find a small range that doesn't hurt and then trying to work into a bit greater range a little bit at a time. Movement and strength is the BEST way out of pain.

Movement increases the blood flow to the area which will allow for more healing of the tissue and can break this cycle.

Of course this is after the central nervous system has been addressed and it is ready to accept movement to start. Again my favortie way to address this is through breathing like THIS https://youtu.be/8sbSvI_PjkA . Once your nervous system is ready and there are no other restrictions from other parts of the body....then you can start moving.

This doesn't mean that you are going to grab this heaviest dumbell you can find. This means start gentle movement through a pain free range of motion and keep working through that. Little by little you will be able to move further with less pain.

Unfortunately many times you are told to rest and it will get better. But the reality is that you rest let's say a week and when you go back to moving again it hurts the same if not worse than when you stopped, this is due to the tissues getting tighter from not moving.

I hope all this makes sense, if you have any questions leave them below or in the DM!

05/24/2023

To continue the discussion from last weeks email a bit.....

The way your body is set up, is you have mobile and stable joints stacked upon each other.
Upper Cervicle - Mobille Scapulas - Stable
Lower Cervicle- Stable Shoulders- Mobile
Thoracic Spine- Mobile Elbows - Stable
Lumbar Spine - Stable Wrists - Mobile
Hips - Mobile
Knees - Stable
Ankles - Mobile

I think this picture is super helpful in showing this.

Let's say that you start to lose mobility in a joint that should be mobile such as the hips. You still are going to walk and move around so that mobility is going to be taken up somewhere else above or below the hips. Many times it is the low back that starts to add to it's mobility. But the low back should be stable. When the brain senses this excess motion in the low back, it thinks "low back you are moving too much, I don't feel safe like this, you are suppose to be stable" the only way it knows how to make things stable is to make the muscles around the area tight. To the brain, tight is stable. In actuality strengthening the muscles around the area creates stablility.

So now both your hips are tight and your low back is tight. Moving around doesn't feel great so you don't move as much, which then makes your hips tighter and this cycle goes round and round.

But the scenerio could be you sprained your ankle 20 years ago and have lost mobility there. It became unstable from the injury and the brain made everything around it tighter to create the stability it needs. Now you can't dorsiflex (bringing your toes towards your head) much, so when you walk, you actually rotate your foot out a bit and can't push off your big toe correctly. This will effect the mobility of your hip (now turned out a bit to clear you foot when walking) and your low back compensating for the ankle and hip mobility.

Then there are the people who used to be very flexible and have lost a good bit of it now. I see many people who have done yoga for quite some time but are now struggling to get into positions that used to be easy for them. Their body is CRAVING for strength and stability.....they are mobile, and some overly so. What they need now is strength.

Hopefully this makes sense to you. If not let me know! I love talking about this stuff and am happy to discuss it more. Leave a comment below or in the DMs!

05/17/2023

I want to give you a little insight into how your body is set up to protect itself, and what that means for you.

First and foremost is the Central Nervous System (CNS). Particularly the Brain. That is why we have a hard shell around it to protect. But the spinal cord is also vitally important again having bony protection surrounding.

Next, are the Heart and Lungs....Also some bony protection to these vital organs. Though due to modern medicine can be replaced if they are injured or break.

Then comes the rest of your internal organs, most are involved with digestion, filtration and such. Though important....not vital to stay alive. Again with modern medicine there are work arounds.

Last are the muscles and bones....these are actually part of the protective mechanism of the body. Thought bones give us structure, they also protect (rib cage, skull) The muscles attached to the bones by tendons give us our movement. They also protect the nervous system, the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) These are the nerves throughout the body. The body however would rather tear a muscle than a nerve, so think about times you have strained a muscle....it was more so protecting the nerve from getting injured.

So when dealing with an injury or point of pain, all of these layers need to to be addressed as well, if your body doesn't feel safe (in protection mode) it will continue to protect itself. Many times this is just calming the brain/body and making it feel safe.
There are many ways to do this my favorite is using breathing exercises. THIS https://youtu.be/8sbSvI_PjkA is my current Go To. Why? Because it actually gets two birds with one stone, breathing exercises effect the CNS by getting you out of the "fight or flight" protection system and into a "rest and digest" calm system. It also gives valuable sensory feedback to the upper thorax where your heart and lungs are sending signals that they are safe as well. Again, I love me a 2fer!

Give this a shot! It is a really great way to just relax at the end of the day! If you don't have a Coregeous Ball. You can used a pillow folded or a rolled up towel, something with a little structure but give to it. A soccer/volleyball are too big and too hard.

Hopefully this makes sense to you. If not let me know! I love talking about this stuff and am happy to discuss it more. Leave a comment below or DM!

Makeing sure the Central Nervous System (CNS) feels safe is the first line in your body feeling better and moving better! This is my Go To way to affect the ...