Avelene Wellness

26/06/2023

Avelene Wellness will be closed for vacation July 14th to July 23rd. It's very easy to forget to slow down and rest... Be sure to be kind to yourself.

26/02/2023

BODYWORK WITH YOUR EYES

In Zero Balancing, we don't just "look" at our clients. We commit to "seeing" them and what they do in response to ZB. The bodywork that is done is ultimately THEIR work, not ours. It proceeds from inside out. But we can see the trajectories of their inner work through changes in breathing, movement, facial expression, etc. This sensory aspect is an essential capacity emphasized by Zero Balancing. Learning Zero Balancing will give you a much deeper level of knowledge and skill in seeing and responding to these "working signs."

"While with an eye made quiet by the power
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things"
~ William Wordswoth

I've heard a study was done of films of Feldenkrais, Trager and Ida Rolf working. The study was looking for what made them masterful, what distinguished their work from their students. It turns out they were not apparently "doing" any different moves than their students. What they were observed to be doing, quite differently, is they were paying attention to the client, "tracking" the client with a far higher degree of concentration.

It turns out observation skills and the sensory aspect of bodywork is as important as or more so than the motor actions we take. So use your eyes brilliantly and you will SEE what needs to be done.

19/02/2023

Yes

18/02/2023

You have the power!

11/01/2023

Friendly reminder...

18/10/2022

Noted.

🔊 THE FOOT, KNEE AND HIP CONSTITUTE A KINETIC CHAIN

A study by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) and Harvard Medical School suggests new guidelines may be in order for evaluating and treating lower extremity pain. Investigators set out to determine if there was a relation between foot pain and lower extremity joint pain, and they found a significant association between foot pain and knee or hip pain.

The study shows that a physician evaluating a patient for foot pain should also ask about possible hip or knee pain, and vice versa, so we can address all of a patient's issues. In medicine, many times it comes down to 'what does your MRI look like or what does your x-ray look like?' But it's really important to conduct a thorough medical history and physical exam. A comprehensive orthopedic evaluation may prompt a broader treatment strategy and possibly a referral to another specialist.

Studying the interaction between the knee and the foot, or the hip and the foot is very important because it's a kinetic chain.

The kinetic chain, the notion that the body's joints and segments have an effect on one another during movement, can play a key role in pain. The foot is the first part of the body that makes contact with the ground. Its primary function is a shock absorber. If the shock-absorbing capability of the foot is somehow altered or minimized, it's going to affect other body parts.

The foot is also the foundation of the body. If the foundation is not sound, it could have a deleterious effect on the joints above the foot and ankle, namely the knee and the hip.

Researchers found that foot pain was associated with bilateral and same-side knee pain in men and women. For example, men with right foot pain compared to those with no foot pain were five to seven times more likely to have pain in their right knee or in both knees.

Foot pain was also associated with hip pain on the same side in men. In women, bilateral foot pain was associated with hip pain on both sides, on the same side or on the opposite side.

A theory that may explain study results looks at how an individual modifies his movements and postures when experiencing pain. This can result in malalignment and other problems, and the challenge for physicians is to develop a treatment plan to address all issues. The correlated and compensatory posture and movement theory may explain how multi-joint arthritis develops, as well as other abnormalities and associated pains that can result from overuse or trauma to one or more structures in the kinetic chain.

Source: Hospital for Special Surgery

11/10/2022

The body never lies

🔈 PELVIS TENSEGRITY
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The pelvis is the center of gravity and the largest bony complex in the human body.
The pelvis and sacrum are linked via strong ligaments and muscles, creating a tension system that works with the compression-bearing bones to create a local tensegrity system.
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These ligaments are visualized in the picture, they include the posterior SI ligaments (Iliotransversosacral, Axile, Zaglas, Bichat), anterior SI ligaments, the iliolumbar ligaments and the sacrotuberous and sacrospinous ligaments.
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Locally, these ligaments need to have balanced tension to maintain SI joint integrity and normal bone positions in space.
If one of these ligaments is injured and loses its optimal tension/quality, disruption of the tensegrity balance ensues.
This leads to increased compression stress in the pelvis/SI and hip joints, but also leads to distortion of the global tensegrity of the body.
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For example, in the picture we can see a normal, balanced pelvis icosahedron on the left with the horizontal balance beams through L4 and the greater trochanter did the femurs.
On the right, we can see the consequence of an injury to the right SI joint/ligament complex. This leads to pelvic and sacral shifting, unleveling of L3 (blue dot) and functional scoliosis, anterior-inferior shift of the left ilium, valgus stress in the left knee, and pronation stress in the left foot-ankle.
The white arrow represents the downward compressive force of gravity. If the tensegrity is balanced, the body can adequately resist gravity without breakdown.
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Disruption of this tensegrity system is the source of joint degeneration and pain, all results of decreased space/compression in the joints.
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This is but one example of how loss of connective tissue tension/quality leads to compression stresses as well as local and global distortions of the tensegrity system.
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In biotensegrity, micro affects macro, local affects global!

Credit: Stefanduell

25/08/2022

Rest.

LET YOURSELF REST

If you’re exhausted, rest.
If you don’t feel like starting a new project, don’t.
If you don’t feel the urge to make something new,
just rest in the beauty of the old, the familiar, the known.
If you don’t feel like talking, stay silent.
If you’re fed up with the news, turn it off.
If you want to postpone something until tomorrow, do it.

If you want to do nothing, let yourself do nothing today.
Feel the fullness of the emptiness, the vastness of the silence, the sheer life in your unproductive moments.

Time does not always need to be filled.

You are enough, simply in your being.

- Jeff Foster