Ortho-Bionomy BODYWORK

what to expect in a session with me

what is ortho-bionomy® BODYWORK?

Ortho-Bionomy® bodywork is a gentle and deeply relaxing, hands-on, osteopathically based system of body therapy that works by tapping into our amazing natural capacity for self-healing. 

Done with a safe, gentle touch to promote our bodies' innate intelligence and awareness, this work awakens for me a fascination, wonder, and delight.

Ortho-Bionomy is done cooperatively, The receiver helps by sharing what feels best as the therapist gently move their body into comfortable positions.  The receiver is encourage to give input and direction.  Indeed, that usually gives the best results.

On the anatomical level, Ortho-Bionomy bodywork is about creating dialogue with a body’s internal fascial web and nervous system, resulting in the release of excess tension to support healing. 

This work nurtures our ability to live well, to move well; it helps  reduce pain and discomfort.

I am an associate member of Society of Ortho-Bionomy International,
working for practitioner level membership.

what to expect in an ortho-bionomy bodywork session with me

Duration:
The session usually lasts about 90 minutes, allowing for a 15 minute intake, 60 minutes of hands-on work, and 15 minutes to wrap up and transition out of session.

Intake/check-in:
Our first session will begin with an intake interview. I'll ask you questions about your health history and your movement patterns. We'll review injuries you've sustained, activities that are important to you, ways you use your body, and any physical challenges, discomfort and/or pain you may experience. I will listen carefully and together we will complete your intake form.

We'll begin each subsequent visit with a check-in about how you feel and discuss any requests for specific focus.

The interview/check-in questions/answers, and movement exploration that follows, will both give us a starting place for the session. 

Movement exploration:
I'll guide you through a few movements to explore both how you move, and perhaps explore how different awareness of focus can help you move better. Sometimes this include eye movements, breath awareness, and/or increasing awareness and focus in the hands, feet, and spine, all areas with many bones and joints. Often it includes noticing gait. This part of the session can last 1-10 minutes.

My training with tai chi, Z-Health neuroscience driven movement education, hula, Pilates and my massage education training all influence how I guide this movement exploration.  

The session set up: a comfortable massage table:

You will lie on a comfortable padded massage table. The sheets I use are all 100% cotton.  We can add pillows under your knees or elsewhere to help support you in a position that is as relaxed and at ease as possible.  I will provide blankets and heated rice packs if needed to keep you comfortably warm.

You'll be fully clothed; no massage lubricant is used:
These Ortho-Bionomy sessions are done thru clothing and without massage cream, oil or other lubricant.  My hands will touch and rest directly on your skin where it is exposed, and on your clothing where it covers your body.

What to wear:
Wear comfortable clothing that allows free movement, as I may move your arms or legs.

I strongly recommend wearing natural fiber clothing for the session, such as 100% cotton, rayon, wool or silk. Natural fibers allow my hands to better physically and energetically connect with your body. Polyester fibers create a plastic like barrier that will reduced both your and my ability to feel.

(Can you visualize the difference between touching a natural orange verses a plastic orange, or a piece of plastic verses a piece of wood?  Can you visualize the energetic difference between shaking hands with a plastic bag on your hands verses shaking hands with wool mittens on?  Our hands relax and connect much more fully on natural materials.)

Layers can be helpful to keep you warm or cool enough, along with the blankets I have available.

Grounding:
Once you have settled comfortably on the massage table, I will take a moment to become present in my own body.  I do this by intentionally noticing my physical connection with both the skies above us and earth beneath our feet as I take several slow breaths.  I'll feel the energetic connection running thru my spine and full body. 

I will be aware of my connection with my teachers, and with people who have come before me and those who will follow me, and my priveledge and responsibility for being the link between the two. 

I will tell you what I'm doing.  You will have the opportunity to become present in your own body.

An optional spoken blessing:
During the intake I will have asked you if you would like a spoken blessing included in your session.   If you have indicated you want a spoken blessing, I will offer a personalized blessing towards the start of the hands-on portion of our session.

Here is a sample blessing for a client named Jane which I give voice to with my hands resting quietly on her body.

"Spirit of Peace, Spirit of Harmony, Spirit of Love,
Bless Jane with health from the top of her head to the soles of her feet.
Bless her from the depths of her heart
and through every cell of her body,
every thought in her mind,
and every beat of her heart."

Offering a spoken blessing comes via my long term practice of lomilomi. 

The hands-on Ortho-Bionomy Bodywork treatment begins:
See description below

The completion:
When the hands-on work is done, usually after about 60 minutes of treatment, I'll invite you to rest a few minutes and then slowly get up, checking to be sure you are level headed.

I'll then invite you to slowly and deliberately walk around the room, noticing any interesting sensations in your body.  Time allowing, we will repeat some of the movements we used in assessing at the start of the session.

The session will be complete.

 the hands-on experience of ortho-bionomy bodywork 

The hands-on part of the Ortho-Bionomy Bodywork treatment:
We will usually start with "the squeaky wheel", the part of your body that is calling loudest for attention at the moment.

what's a fascial web?

An artist rendition of the fascial web that spreads thru the entire body, connecting all the various pieces.

The fascial web is a continuous, three‑dimensional network of connective tissue that wraps around and connects every muscle, bone, nerve, blood vessel, and organ in your body, acting as both a structural scaffold and a dynamic force‑transmitting system. 

I visualize the fascial web as a dynamic spider-web like substance, as shown in the next photo.

photograph of fascia

Here's an anatomical drawing that shows sheets of fascia surrounding  parts of a muscle.

anatomical drawing showing fascial sheaths around a muscle.

I will gently place my soft, attentive hand on the "squeaky wheel" point on your body, using either my relaxed fingertip pads or my open, relaxed palm to monitor sensation.  We will refer to that hand as my "monitoring hand".  As I settle into my own body, you may feel my monitoring hand become a bit heavier as I sense to your body. My hand will be connecting and carefully listening to your tissue, connecting with your nervous system, and specifically listening for the directions of pull of your internal fascial web deep to the skin.

This fascial web is palpable just below the surface of the skin, and also all the way into the organs and bones. 

When a pulling or pushing pressure is applied to fascia in one part of the body, it can cause a chain reaction in fascia throughout the body.  It can make other parts of the body release or increase tension.  Out goal is to help the body release excess tension.

Once my monitoring hand has stablized on your "squeaky" wheel spot, my other hand will begin gently moving your body around this spot in a shared process that you and I  do together.  I will apply gentle pressure in different directions, and you will tell me which you like better. 

After one spot releases, we move to another spot, and another, and so on.

Self-correcting reflexes are stimulated for the client via the use of gentle movements, comfortable positioning, subtle compression and contraction.  This increases ease of movement, natural re-alignment, relaxation, and relief from tension and pain.

Ortho-Bionomy bodywork provides a profound way of remembering an ease and harmony in our bodies that we intuitively recognize.