Monika Volkmar Bodywork

04/02/2026

This is me age 13 in a Nutcracker performance. I am just on the cusp of dance becoming un-fun.

I'm starting to feel mild lower back niggles. I'm starting to question whether I needed to lose weight to be successful in dance (and life).

I was still happy and healthy and loved dancing because it was FUN to move.

I have regrets about many choices I made when I was dancing. One of them is not listening to the voice that said, "this isn't fun anymore and I want to stop".

It was a loud voice, and I suspect the intensity of my injuries were proportionate to the energy I used to silence it.

I wrote something new on Substack about the journey from here. When I stopped having fun.

It's called "What if 'Just Having Fun' is The Best Way to Prevent Injuries?"

Read here if you dig it: https://monvolkmar.substack.com/p/what-if-just-having-fun-is-the-best?r=p5zo9

Maybe there's something in here you can relate to if you've ever pushed yourself to continue on a path you didn't enjoy, ignored pain signals that led to injury, and just want permission to have fun again :)

Movement can and should bring joy.

See ya, gonna go try to do something fun.

02/05/2026

Last week I interviewed the newly PhD minted Dr. Melissa Biscardi about all things concussion rehab and prevention. Go on, call her Dr. Biscardi. It makes her uncomfortable ;) ...

In this clip Melissa highlights that the negative consequences of concussion can be mediated through a movement practice that prioritizes the mobility and strength of the neck and spine. Things like AiM and ELDOA can help by giving the body the capacity to better decelerate the jostling of the skull and help us be more resilient to concussive injury. Pretty cool s**t.

Melissa shares heaps of good insights from her years as a concussion clinician, as well as a sufferer of concussion herself.

I learned a lot in our conversation and, as a craniosacral therapist who touches skulls for a living, I was validated to hear Melissa mention how helpful CST is in the treatment process. It certainly was a game changer for me as an experiencer of many sub-concussive knocks to the head.

You can listen to the full interview with Melissa on Substack: https://monvolkmar.substack.com/p/interview-with-dr-melissa-biscardi

and Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3kT4H9S2QDvIZCLsKsjFVP?si=2Az2Bp2ESnKtlyitV4WGhg

01/20/2026

Alrighty it's time to share the first Movement Detectivery podcast of 2026. I realllllyyy enjoyed having this conversation with my friend and fellow body detective Ajna Samadi.

Ajna and I originally bonded over our eerily similar life-paths: We both studied dance, moved to Toronto, danced professionally (she more than I), got injured, stopped dancing and started studying Thai massage, realized there was more to helping bodies out of pain than just working on muscles, and discovered the joy of studying anatomy, movement, and the mind-body connection as a way to help others.

I wanted to speak with Ajna because of how well she is able to articulate her understanding of how our psyche affects our bodies. How unconscious beliefs, agreements, and behavioural patterns can be factors that cause and perpetuate our pain symptoms. Factors that aren’t always addressed in conventional manual and movement based approaches.

I think this interview will be beneficial for you if you are interested in somatic-based approaches to working with chronic pain that acknowledge that there is more going on than joint compression, muscle tension, and “bad” posture (though these are real considerations, too).

In our conversation, Ajna and I discuss:
- How pain is often an “alarm system” alerting us to larger patterns in our lives that need attention.
- How our symptoms may be manifestations of many broad, uninvestigated themes in our lives: Belief system, damaging values, lack of authenticity, and agreements we didn't know we made.
- Ajna’s discovery of the Dhyan Vimal Institute for Higher Learning, and how implementing the knowledge she’s gained through her studies have informed her personal and professional practice.
- The ABC meditation, which she feels to be one of the most effective, foundational ways to begin to build awareness of our reality an become less affected by external triggers.
- How our bodies need truth for well-being

And much more.

To listen to our entire conversation (in which Ajna is clearly a more eloquent speaker than myself) visit my Substack page: https://monvolkmar.substack.com/p/interview-with-ajna-samadhi

or Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2qp6MywiOwCKpSYyh5Vs3d?si=YxJG0yKKS-CRjOXJMiHYRA

Let me know what you think :) Thanks for the chat, Ajna.

12/11/2025

Helen Hall is best known as a movement coach in the UK specializing in helping people improve their running efficiency, but I know her as a movement detective extraordinaire.

She’s come to understand that our early movement development has a massive, yet underestimated implication in many pain and movement problems.

Helen has helped me tremendously with my own body. We met in 2019 in London when I was there for an Anatomy in Motion course. She invited me to come over to her clinic to have an assessment with her newly acquired, high-tech motion analysis treadmill X-ray device (Doris). The impact of that one session was transformative for me.

She asked me a question that truly changed the course of my personal and professional movement explorations: “Did you crawl as an infant?”. This led me down a fascinating path of studying infant reflexes, or, as Helen prefers to describe it, early movement development.

Helen inspired me to learn more about the impact that infant reflex development has on our options for movement as adults. Understanding our early movement development can help to make sense of why people get stuck in chronic pain cycles that don’t resolve in a linear way, in spite of doing everything that logic suggests should help.

In our conversation, Helen and I discuss:

- What are some tell tale signs that investigating early movement development might be a missing link?
- How concussion impacts our movement development
- How Helen uses the most advanced motion sensing technology currently available in her clinic to help athletes with in depth movement analysis
- So many stories of peoples’ mysterious pains understood through Helen’s holistic, movement based approach
- Is there a link between early movement development and ADHD?

And more.

My favourite part of this interview was when Helen validated my goal in life to be average, as she states, “With initial movement development, the ideal would be average. Because from that average it offers that little developing person maximum movement potential".

Cheers to being average.

I hope you enjoy this interview with Helen Hall.

Listen on Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/monvolkmar/p/interview-with-helen-hall?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=p5zo9

or Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3wtucc5DKzfUQN4GQM3SQM

Let me know what ya think :)

11/06/2025

Please enjoy this interview with Margy Verba movement specialist and instructor for Anatomy in Motion in the USA.

On top of being a friend and aspirational role model for how to be when I grow up, Margy is one of the first people I think of to ask whenever I have a biomechanics question because I know she’ll be able to answer in the level of detail of a PHd, even if her final conclusion is “I don’t know”.

And in a world where everyone seems to have a quick fix and definitive answer, hearing someone as intelligent and thoughtful as Margy say "I don't know" is refreshing and commands my respect.

In this clip from our conversation Margy is describing her "garage door" analogy she uses to describe the role of joint mobilizations and their importance in the work she does with her clients.

In our conversation, Margy and I discussed:

- What is massage therapy good for?
- Her experience with a total knee replacement.
- What makes knee replacements so challenging to recover from compared to other joints?
- Switching from “muscle-centric” to “bone-centric” thinking
- Margy’s transition from the computer world to pilates and movement
- How to start taking ownership of your body’s needs if you’re on a budget

And so much more.

I really enjoyed speaking to Margy, and I hope you do too. Check out our full conversation on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/3wtucc5DKzfUQN4GQM3SQM

09/03/2025

"Beneath all the programs I'm running, all of the theories, there's something going on here, and I can't feel it..."

Corey Hess is a structural integrator and movement educator in the Seattle area with a special expertise in Non-Directed Body Movement.

In this clip from my interview, Corey speaks to me about his very first experience with Non-Directed Body Movement in a class with Marilyn Beech.

The idea was to simply stand there and start to pay attention to the experience of being in your body, without controlling it or having an agenda to "fix" or "do" anything. Simply attwnding to any sensations arising in the moment and allow whatever movement spontaneously may begin to happen.

As Corey describes in our conversation, this experience was not only pivotal in his personal quest for solutions for a hip issue, but revolutionized how he decided to work with others in his own bodywork and movement teaching practices.

I first encountered NDBM in 2019 when I started having some of my own weird experiences of spontaneous movement, so I was extremely excited to talk to Corey about his work teaching NDBM. Non-Directed has become a movement “practice” that I've personally found to be one of the most effective, respectful, and honest way to deeply connect with my body and being in motion.

In our conversation, Corey and I discuss:

- His time studying in Japan in a Zen monastery
- Osteopath Dr. Marvin Solit and the origins of Non-Directed Body Movement
- What is NDBM, what can it do for you, and what is a class like?
- The parallels between craniosacral therapy, osteopathic techniques, and NDBM.
- What is the role of deliberate exercises and stretching and where does NDBM fit into a movement practice?
- How to consider working with traumas from the birth process, like C-sections, etc

And so much more.

If you enjoy what Corey as to say and want to explore NDBM, get in touch with him and ask about his classes. He teaches 5x/week on Zoom, teaches internationally, and has a really wonderful global community of curious movement explorers.

You can listen to this interview on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/3wtucc5DKzfUQN4GQM3SQM

I hope you enjoy this conversation. Thanks, Corey for sharing your wisdom and experience with us.

09/01/2025

Please enjoy the latest interview I did with structural integrator and movement educator Corey Hess!

I wanted to speak with Corey about his area of expertise: Non-Directed Body Movement.

NDBM is a practice I stumbled into in 2019 and it transformed the relationship I had with my body and my movement practice.

I am very grateful for Corey making the time to answer my questions and share his experience and wisdom working with NDBM for the past 20 years.

Corey gives an introduction to what NDBM is, how you can start, and how it has helped him and his clients with their bodies.

NDBM is a little weird and out there, but such a profound way of connecting and exploring our bodies in motion. I hope to raise awareness of this practice for anyone looking for a new way of interacting and communicating the with deep unconscious patterns our bodies develop over our lifetimes.

If you are open to letting go of the conventional fix-it, problem solving, and controlling ways of working with your body, and instead, exploring something a little more... Rebellious, creative, and unexpected, I think you will enjoy hearing what Corey has to say.

I hope you enjoy this conversation and entertain the idea of giving NDBM a try for yourself :)

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7MSw1CXAKVx3Gm41VyUCNr?si=GsfMTx6tRZWVafseEeG4KA

Movement Detectivery · Episode

08/08/2025

Please listen to this interview with Jordan Shane Terry

I remember a few things about when I first met Jordan about 9 or so years ago.

One, he got stuck with me as a partner to learn foot mobilizations in an AIM course, and good luck with that cause these feet are like little cinder blocks.

Two, I overheard him having a conversation about fairies, or some type of entity from another dimension.

Three, he knew a lot of things about a lot of things and I was a little intimidated cause I didn't know many things about anything back then (still don't, just more okay with it).

Anyway, the conversation I had with Jordan was full of fun facts about why the body does what it does and how to help it move and feel better from the perspective of someone who has a lot of different perspectives.

Jordan has SO much to share and I barely touched the top of my list of questions for him. In our conversation we discussed:

- How fascia touches everything
- Alternating joint theory
- Potential problems with Neurolink from a craniosacral perspective
- Power vs. Force, the “scale of empowerment”, and how different emotions affect fascia
- How the cranium and our spine move with our breath (and thoughts!)
- How Jordan’s jaw injury and scar was affecting his hip pain
- Injury Recall Technique
- Paired bones and “reactors”, and what is the mechanism behind them

And so much more.

On a sad note, our internet connection was a little shaky, and there is a whole 20ish minute chunk I had to omit because the audio wasn’t usable. Apologies. Hopefully, with my excellent editing skills, you won’t even notice the awkward transition I had to cut (but if you can tell me which minute it’s at, you win a prize!).

As you’ll hear, Jordan clearly has a lot of insight into the workings of the human body, and I hope you enjoy this conversation.

Here's a little clip from the conversation where Jordan brought up some fun facts about the impact the first Neurolink had on the movement of the brain and it was news to me.

Check out the full interview on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/3wtucc5DKzfUQN4GQM3SQM

07/30/2025

"Discipline"... I asked Dave Hedges about what he thinks helped him the most when he was trying to figure out his various body pains in his 20s, and his answer was his it starts with your attitude: Discipline and a willingness to take responsibility.

Listen to our full podcast episode on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3wtucc5DKzfUQN4GQM3SQM

I loved interviewing Dave. One of the reasons I wanted to speak with him is because of his intimate, complex, and thoughtful relationship with movement, his body, and how he works with other bodies.

Dave has such a broad scope of thoughts, ideas, opinions, practical skill sets, and experiences, and I loved discussing his story, his key learnings, and his philosophy for helping people improve their performance and chronic pain.

In this conversation we discuss:
- His early movement life and getting into karate
- The risk of identifying with a movement form
- Working with people vs working on people
- The importance of training both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems and what meditation actually helps us with
- What it means to cultivate discipline and take responsibility for your body, and why these are so important for getting out of pain
- Dave’s own back injury story and how he dealt with it
- Dave’s experience with Anatomy in Motion
- Why injury prevention as a goal is unrealistic, and what to focus on instead
- Training your “human animal”

And more…

I really appreciate Dave’s depth and honesty, and I found myself nodding along, resonating with what he was saying and how uncannily parallel our journeys were.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Thanks, Dave :)

07/30/2025

I'm having fun with this attempt at being a podcast host. So much fun that I made it official and uploaded a few interviews to Spotify.

I decided to start this podcast because I've become pretty unenthusiastic about what's up on the social media these days in the world of health, fitness, rehab, and bodywork. There's a lot of advice to "do this", "do that", "try this one weird trick", sensational and generic guidance. And it makes me feel gross to see it because what I've learned over the past 12ish years working with bodies is that there is NO ONE thing, or best thing. There's just what works for the individual. And all our journeys are unique.

But in that uniqueness of our individual journeys, there are universalities. Common shared experiences on the healing path.

Like the insight that getting out of pain is more than just stretching and strengthening.

Like the revelation that mayyybe my pain is related more to my stress and emotions than I thought...

Like the crazy link I discovered between my feet and my... Everything. And realized how connected everything is.

Like the weird time I rememberd an old head injury and got it treated and my hip pain went away.

I think the truth lives somewhere between the uniquely individual and the universal experience. Maybe...

This podcast is for all my fellow movement detectives- Curious about their bodies, and keen to learn how to become their own best therapists by hearing stories from experts in their fields.

Stay tuned for interviews with more movement and therapy professionals as they share their stories, knowledges, and moments of discovery.

Listen here:

Podcast · Monika Volkmar · I interview movement and therapy professionals to understand their stories and uncover pearls of wisdom that will help anyone on the path to understanding their pain and movement problems. I hope you'll find inspiration for your own journey of getting out of pain. If you...

07/16/2025

Today I have an interview with the incredible dance educator, Esther Juon, to share.

In this conversation, Esther and I discuss her incredible 40 year career throughout which she has developed her method for working to support and educate young dancers transition into pointe shoes safely.

She describes her journey with her body- Being told she’d be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life, and the 7 year journey in which she defied the odds and learned to walk again.

This experience fueled her desire to help dancers so that they would not to have to go through the same thing she did, and she created her education company, Juon Pointe, and the world’s most unique method for mentoring and preparing dancers to go on pointe safely through customized assessments, exercise programs, and an intelligent pointe shoe fitting process.

I consider this interview to be mandatory listening for any dancer, dance educator, or medical professional who works with dancers.

I really wish I had Esther in my life when I started ballet training at age 12, and after you listen to our conversation, you’ll understand why.

She is truly and inspirational, passionate, and opinionated educator, here to shake up the traditions of the way ballet is taught.

I hope you’ll enjoy this conversation and find it inspiring, whether you are a dancer, or not.

Check out our interview here: https://open.substack.com/pub/monvolkmar/p/interview-with-esther-juon-saving?r=p5zo9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

06/24/2025

New gait case study: Making connections between knee pain, spine mechanics, and an old head scar.

A little while back I saw Bayden for a session here in Melbourne and he agreed to let me use his gait video and session notes to create a case study for your learning pleasure.

I thought this was an interesting case to share because of how it tracked back his knee pain history to a head injury when he was just a wee lad.

Bayden's main complaint was right knee pain triggered by knee extension and shifting his pelvis overtop of his right leg.

Interestingly, while his knee did have some mechanics that were suspiciously incongruent, we ended up discovering that a movement limitation in his spine- An inability to access lumbar lateral flexion to the left, was contributing to the reason why his right knee hurt.

Our hypothesis is that his childhood head bonk created a change in his entire spine's resting position and perception of center which, over the decades, affected the mechanics of everything else below, and is now showing up in his right knee pain.

To test this hypothesis we played with mobilizing the scar on his occiput from where he had stitches, and found that it gave him back access to his spine lateral flexion left. Pretty cool s**t, eh?

In the video I've put together some clips from the full gait analysis video noting some of the tell-tale moments in his gait cycle where things look off in regards to his right knee mechanics, and then I've included the after video comparison, after we did some craniosacral work and explored some movements to better access spine lateral flexion to the left.

It is amazing to me the small, positive changes in his whole body (including feet!) after identifying and giving back access to just one joint motion- Lumbar spine lateral flexion left. Not to mention his knee feeling better.

If you want to read the entire case study, check it out on my Substack page, Movement Detectivery, here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/monvolkmar/p/gait-case-study-right-knee-pain?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=p5zo9

I've gotten some great feedback that these case studies have been helpful for at least 2 people in their study of closed chain biomechanics. Hope it helps you, too :)