Spring is almost here!

March is that time of year that we know warmer weather is coming! Unfortunately we end up in a thaw/refreeze cycle and we often have wet, heavy snow to shovel. This is a recipe for sore backs and shoulder and slips and falls.

Please be careful everyone! If you end up with a winter injury, please don't be shy about reaching out to me for some self care. The longer we go with these things, the deeper we drive compensations into our system so it's usually best to get a tweak addressed sooner rather than later.

My hours will be shifting as of May 1, 2018 due to a change in caregiver schedules for my son. Currently I am available Sundays, Wednesdays, Thursdays. This will change to Sundays, TUESDAYS, Wednesdays. My new calendar is already up and running, so please check it out!

I've been quite busy over the past many months with finalizing upgrading my level of credentials to Certified Advanced Rolfer, which I hope to have completed after the review process this year. Stay tuned when this happens and for pricing structure changes.

This is all I have for now, just a light and breezy kind of Friday update!

Video Share: Oprah and Dr. Oz

Here's a 5 minute video where Oprah and Dr. Oz do a quick overview and introduction on what Rolfing is and what it does to the body.

You'll notice that even though it's really quick, you can see some results in Dr. Oz by Jon Martine. He's one of the faculty at the Rolf Institute and I had the chance to learn some of his techniques early in my career.

Pregnancy, Postpartum and beyond...

It's no secret to family, friends and my existing clients that I had a baby boy back in July 2015. My last blog post was OVER a YEAR ago!

Whew, parenting is exhaustive work!  I will say that I had a pretty easy pregnancy, very little nasuea, no back pain or weird food cravings.  I had him naturally and he's a healthy baby, so we're very lucky people.  The only problem we had was my insomnia during the pregnancy and his lust for life that now doesn't allow him to settle down very easily.  When we took a lactation class through the birth center, the nurse told us that the baby's sleep and wake patterns and activity level in the womb typically carry on into their first months. My husband and I looked at each other and said "Oh no!"  (As I am typing this, he woke up after only a 15 minute nap so it's, no wonder I get very little done these days.)  We might submit him for a metabolic study to see if he's able to convert milk to jet fuel in his digestive tract.  

Learning about pregnancy and the changes it makes to a woman's body and experiencing it first hand are two totally different processes. I am grateful that I am a Certified Rolfer surrounded by a community of well educated healers so that I could take care of myself and that they were there to back me up in my pregnancy.

Every week in my practice, I see women's bodies who have changed from carrying, birthing and nursing their children.  These morphological changes to her structure can persist for DECADES after her last child has grown up.  What am I talking about?  

Maladaptations of her pelvis and rib cage based on where the baby formed in her body.

 If a baby is carried high or a woman has a short torso, it can cause her ribs to flare out like a bell, which stresses her respiratory diaphragm and the fluid dynamics of her abdominal cavity.  If the baby primarily resides in one side of her pelvis, she can experience issues with sciatica, leg weakness, fluid retention and ligament laxity in her pubic symphysis and sacroiliac joint (SI).  The additional weight of carrying the baby causes her center of gravity to shift forward, which in most women causes her lumbar curve to exaggerate and her pelvis to go into anterior tilt meaning that the front of it dips like tipping a bowl.  This can tax the musculature in her legs and back because of the lengthening and shortening that has to take place in a short amount of time.

As the baby gets bigger, it causes out-flare of the top of the pelvic bones, which causes the sit bones to narrow in at the base of the pelvis.  This can potentially cause her to have a longer labor, or have difficulty pushing the baby through the birth canal, or have greater tearing because the tissue of the pelvic floor narrows and loses elasticity.  I'm always telling my pregnant clients to look into something called a Squatty Potty and take a variety of suitable prenatal yoga and Barre classes to keep their lower body musculature supple.

Ah, and let's not forget our friend, our hormones!  Relaxin causes all sorts of havoc in the body, lax ligaments in the hips, knees and feet.  This is why pregnant women are cautioned about over-exercising.  Hips bigger after pregnancy? Relaxin and outflare!  Feet bigger after pregnancy? Relaxin and the rapid weight shift!  

Kyphosis

We've all seen those pretty necklaces showing a mother embracing her baby?  Well, nursing and holding a baby in your arms while you look down at him or her adoringly can begin to increase the curve in your sternum, upper back and neck similar to how we're (literally) bent out of shape over the new phenomenon text-neck.  ...Grandma's hunchback?  Yep ladies, we're all headed down that road ourselves if we allow the muscular and skeletal imbalance to go unchecked.

Pelvic imbalances laterally and joint pain

How many women do you see carrying a toddler balanced on one hip?  That can create all sorts of tissue shortening and tightening in one leg and can increase the pressure in the joints of the knee, hip, ankle and vertebrae.

Cesarean

This is one I can't speak to personally having experienced, but I've worked with women who have scar tissue from surgical gynecological procedures such as cesarean and tubal ligation.  They might have persistent constipation or just a feeling of tightness and immobility in their lower belly.

What can Rolfing do?

I can help to balance the flared out ribs and pelvic bones during the last few months of pregnancy and anytime after your doctor gives you clean bill of health at your postpartum checkup.  We can address your pelvic floor, back and leg muscles (because they're all connected!)  When women have diastasis recti (a vertical split in the midline abdominal muscles) or urinary incontinence issues postpartum, we can make sure that you don't have too much or too little tone in any of the related structures.  Simply tightening your core or doing Kegels won't help the issue in most cases.  If anything, it can make those problems worse.

About 2 weeks before your due date, we can do a delivery prep session where we help to open up the hips and align the sit bones so that they can adapt and flex as the baby moves down the birth canal.  This appointment can make a world of difference for some women!  Many say they feel lighter in their bodies and they can move around much better in their last weeks of pregnancy.  Nobody wants to be that sterotypical pregnant woman who can't get up off the couch in her last few days of pregnancy.  It's so empowering to be able to go for a walk and have people tell you that you look great for being so pregnant!

If you have any questions about pregnancy or postpartum issues, please contact me at pagel.beth@gmail.com or just straight make an appointment.  As I always tell people, it can be wise to consult your doctor as well, but know that they might not be well versed in structural integration or functional anatomy.

When people tell me to 'take a seat' I often have the urge to take a hike instead!

We've been beginning to hear so much of it lately: Sitting and obesity is going to be more fatal and cost more taxpayer dollars on healthcare than the tobacco industry ever did.

With my baccalaureate in clinical dental hygiene, this is wild to me. I spent hours of every week working with my patients, coaching and encouraging them to reduce their tobacco use because the 5 year mortality rate on most oral cancers is around 50%. Scary stuff!

Scarier still, I was the one sitting for a majority of 8 hours a day in my chair educating my patients, plus my drive home, sitting during meals and then watching a show or two with my husband every evening after walking our dog.  Yes, I did get up frequently to take x-rays, clean the room, get instruments out of the sterilizer, flag the dentist for exams, but that was only 10-15 minutes per hour at most that I was up and around.  

My husband, most of my friends and family, and a significant number of my Rolfing clients work at jobs in front of computers, usually at seated desks.  For some of them productivity is the base of their performance and pay at their jobs, so breaks literally cost them money.  Many of them are told not to get up to walk around and talk to coworkers, but rather text or instant message them or call them on the phone.  Bathroom breaks are limited by management for several of the people in my head right now.  Yep, like elementary school kids who can't use the potty until they're done with their macaroni art for Mother's Day.

Would we be better off to get up and go outside for a smoke break every hour?  EEEEKKK!!!!  WHAT TO DO???  

I'm kidding, I would never advocate smoking as a means to well-being.  I'm just trying to illustrate a ridiculous point.

For many of my clients or family I've suggested that they seek a standing/seated convertible desk that they can move around throughout the day.  You might need a note from a doctor, physical therapist or chiropractor stating the issues you're having are related to the hazardous nature of your job.

If you're like me, you have the same couch since you were in college. It's broken down and uncomfortable and it makes me miserable to be on it for more than the length of a single movie.  I can't sit on it, it makes me crazy, so if I'm watching TV, often I prefer to sit on the floor or in a modified yoga pose.  Heck, as I'm typing this very post I can hardly sit still. I've gotten up at least 4 times.

Whatever you do, don't fall into the trap of thinking that a mere 30 minute walk each day is all the exercise you're going to need. Don't do it for any weight loss or food-guilt reasons (yes, I am also aware that it's Girl Scout Cookie season), but rather do it for the fact that it feels good to move your body.  I'm not a fan of fad diets, or calorie counting or categorizing foods as good and bad.  We can't demonize everything in the world around us.  Just try to eat the best you can and MOVE for 5-10 minutes every hour you're awake every day.

Begin to heighten your awareness of what type of movement suits your body type best.  Taking the stairs? Parking at the very last spot in the parking lot and walking? Yoga? Cartwheels in the park? Dancing to your favorite songs a few times throughout the day? Stretching like a cat in the afternoon sun?  Gardening?

How does your breathing change? Blood flow to your legs? Notice a wider peripheral vision?  Less tension in your chest and shoulders?  Feel less sleepy?

A common mechanism to motivate smokers to quit to getting them to realize their financial gains if they can cut back and eventually quit.  They can save thousands of dollars per year by not smoking.  What will our sedentary culture end up costing us?  I'm curious to see what studies and numbers will emerge in coming decades.

Just as so many have broken the habit of lighting up and taking a few puffs, we have to break the cycle of not getting up and off our duffs.   

~Beth Pagel

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2015/02/25/sitting-for-prolonged-periods-of-time-is-sabotaging-your-health-heres-how-to-reverse-the-damage/

http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/the-health-hazards-of-sitting/750/

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/21/health/sitting-will-kill-you/

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-sitting-health-20150119-story.html

We've taken everything else wireless, why not our bras?

Let's get with the times, ladies!  Why do we still torture ourselves with underthings that pinch and poke?

Ever since I started practicing on friends and family as a Rolfing student, I noticed that women's ribcages are deformed by their bras. You read that right. The underwire and too-tight banding and straps is creating a pivot point when we bend which causes a bell-shape in our lower ribs.  Yikes!  This is more subtle than the ol' concave torso that corseting created up until about a century ago, but it's still significant enough to impact the core of the body.

The ribs articulate to the vertebrae, which, I'm sure you've heard is important to the spine and nervous system.  What fills that three dimensional space between the spine and the breasts is our hearts, lungs, respiratory diaphragm, major nerves, arteries and veins, as well as the sac-like linings around the organs... ooohh, and all the muscles and that wondrous fascia that holds it all in place and gives it shape and stability.

Even without the trauma that underwires can impart to the ribs (and about half of women will experience this at least once) is housing a wee little human who deflects the lower ribs up and out to accommodate their growing form.  So you can imagine what an underwire can do to a ribcage during pregnancy when her body is creating hormones to make her frame more elastic and supple to allow her body to be shaped by the growing baby inside of her.  This is less than ideal for  those organs and important structures and all of their attachments.

The good news is that I typically spend the very first session devoted to normalizing the relationship of the ribs to each other, the spine, the neck and shoulders, the lungs and the respiratory diaphragm.  I don't even have to tell my clients what I'm doing but at the end of the session when they stand up to walk around the treatment room, at least 75% of them tell me they notice they're breathing better and they feel less tension in their shoulders.  Many more will tell me they look and feel thinner because their abdominal muscles are now laying flatter and longer.  Who doesn't love that?

So what to wear and buy?  Start with a bra fitting at a department store because sizes and fit vary widely.  Look for non-wired bras that you can at least slide 2-3 fingers beneath the band without fighting your way under the elastic.  The straps should not dig in or leave marks on your shoulders.  Make sure you can inhale your breath in all directions: up-down, side-side, and front-back.  Don't be shy about getting a bra extender for Pete's sake if you can't afford a new bra, because even an inch of space with give you more breathing room! 

You might need a new bra about every 6 months depending on wear and care, but especially if you've experienced change in your body composition or shape, had a child, are nursing, or are feeling like you're not as comfortable in your clothes.  

Tight bras not only impact your breathing, but it's also believed that it can lessen the lymphatic drainage which helps the body to clean out waste products from all of the cells.  Others in the alternative healthcare field have made study of the electromagnetic field and the interference in our bodies from the metal alloy being so close to our hearts and nervous system.  There are current lawsuits claiming that bras are chemically treated and customers develop rashes and other sensitivities to the ingredients in the bra such as formaldehyde. There are plenty of articles on the internet, but be sure that you verify what you're researching because there are some loons out there.  (It's quite possible that I could be one...) But I'm not at liberty to say whether all of the above are real threats or not because I don't have a lab and I haven't done my own clinical research.  Anyone who knows me knows that I'm skeptical on certain things, but I never rule everything out completely.

If in doubt, give me a shout and we'll hash it out.  :-)

Beth Pagel, Certified Rolfer and Women's Health Advocate

612-548-4325

pagel.beth@gmail.com

Watch out ImageTrend, I'm hanging out with you tomorrow!

I love health fairs.  Not only to participate as a provider/vendor, but also to check out what is the latest and greatest out there.

This year I was asked back to a nifty little software company tucked away in the wonderful little town of Lakeville to be in their employee health fair for the second year of my practice.  For this I'm feeling very lucky and grateful to be sharing my business and wellness practice offerings with people who work hard to make software that benefits a majority of the country.

People who work at computers all day, every day tend to become fatigued and experience a sort of 'out of body' experience which lends them to exhibit poor posture, spinal collapse and rounding and uneven weight distribution and a drooping neck and head.  All of this combined can compress vital nerves and blood vessels, compress the discs in the spinal column and create a downward spiral of muscle tension, shortening and limited movement.  Computer people begin to feel much older than they should for their biological age.

Rolfing can help to counteract this by re-education on posture and body mechanics to conserve energy and integrity of the system.  By lengthening muscles that have shortened and tightened we can decompress the body right down to the cellular level and bring much needed blood that carries nutrition and oxygen to the cells and in return removes metabolic waste.  Chances are if you have chronic knots or muscles that ache and burn, this is what's happening.  Your muscle cells are in a purgatory of sorts and they're starving for much needed help.

Call your favorite Rolfer (that'd be ME) and schedule a test drive for Rolfing today.  If you work at ImageTrend, I'll see you tomorrow and show you in person what we can do to help your specific needs.  If you book with me at the fair I have an extra-special offer for you to get you on the road to whole-body wellness!

How I crossed the bridge from traditional healthcare to HEALING

When I first meet every new client, I give them the chance to ask me any question they need to know about me before we begin our sessions.  My high school GPA, my dog's name, my belief in Santa Claus - nothing that is appropriate to know is really off limits.  The top question I get is:  What caused you to become a Rolfer?

Well, today marks the 6 year anniversary of my father unexpectedly passing away from complications of treatment of tracheal cancer.  Dad was a character:  strong and hardworking with a wicked sense of humor (i.e. putting a dead turkey in my bed when I was 13 after he came home from hunting, yes, I was sound asleep in the bed but not for long...)  Dad was the kind of guy who gave everyone the benefit of the doubt about everything.  If for some reason he didn't like you, then he had valid reasons because he was such a good natured person and saw the best in everyone until proven otherwise.

He had been in and out of the hospital for over 2 years since his diagnosis and had medications and interventions that lead to more interventions and complications.  When the Mayo Hospital in Rochester told him there was a 1% chance that they might inadvertently damage his spinal cord from radiation to this throat, we were that unlucky minority - uh, hello Wall Street, we were the original 1%...  His quality of life was greatly diminished, he felt like he was nothing more than another patient on his doctor's 'to-do' list for each day that he was in.  Insurance companies called him stating they felt his diagnosis of cancer was falsified and they wanted him to return to work even though his white blood cell count was dangerously low.  He was lost in the shuffle of what is traditional disease management in this country, he was a statistic, a claim number to everyone but those who knew him personally.

I'm not saying that a diagnosis of illness is reason to abandon life and go hide in the woods waiting for a natural death.  I ask of anyone to put up a helluva fight because you owe it to yourself, your family and those who look up to you for inspiration.  Traditional medicine and alternative therapies (not limited to Rolfing) together can foster a sense of balance in aggressive disease fighting processes and a gentle, nurturing healing to help your body bounce back much quicker.

Treating a person in body, mind and spirit. This is where I have dropped my anchor.  Medical information, advice and new dangers and warnings about medications change almost daily.  Sometimes you can see the writing on the wall but other times you are blindsided by complications and loss.  To me, a mainstay is wellness and support, which if you find the right network of providers, you will be offered holistic care that leaves you feeling rejuvenated and cared for.  Every person that walks through my door gets a thorough interview and we talk of their experiences and progress at every subsequent because the relationship that we embark on through their journey to find well-being is so vital.  

I'm not in a glamorous profession, I am self employed and I don't earn any bonuses or perks of any kind, I don't get paid holidays or triple time.  My top 'benefit' is knowing that I've improved the quality of lives of many people and that they know me by name if they need anything in the future or when they want others they know to experience the same healing that I can provide.

My career as a Rolfer is in honor of my father, may he be at peace and always know how greatly he is missed on this earth.

Calling all Dads......

Tomorrow you will probably get a tie.  Sorry, I can't help you there.  

Chances are it came with a gift receipt, so here's the deal: do an exchange for some new skivvies. Plain or humorous cartoon character ones that are coverage-appropriate for Rolfing appointments.

Then book a session with me because I know how lots of fathers are spending tons of time giving piggy back rides, teaching kids how be athletic (though you might feel you're too old to be doing this anymore), and lugging and reaching all that heavy and tall stuff that the other family members might not be able to wrangle.

So I get it, you're ailing but you're feeling too stoic to ask for help with your aches and pains. Not to worry, there's nothing fluffy or girly happening in my appointments, so it's not like sending your wife to the spa.  I aim to get your arms, legs, back, etc working more fluidly so you can get back to being the family hero.  Then you can spend time showing your kids what a slam dunk looks like without you waddling into the office on Monday morning with exaggerated stories of how you injured yourself.

Think of it like getting 100,000 mile maintenance on your car and I'm the mechanic.  

Through Friday, June 20th, I'm offering an introductory 3-Pack of Sessions for $300 (save $60) for Dad.  Either someone can buy the gift card for him or ol' pops himself can take the reins and shoot me a message that he needs a little maintenance.  

Thanks to all the Fathers out there for being the great guys you are, who always tell us to just 'go ask Mom' when we want to do something fun and you see no harm in it.

In honor of Dad, whether or not he's accident prone:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgbRy2goXaU

If you know your schedule, request an appointment here: http://www.balancedingravity.com/make-an-appointment

SourcePoint Therapy

Recently I took the first of three in a series of courses on energetic healing called SourcePoint Therapy.  Now, being a pretty skeptical person had to make sure I went in with an open mind instead of a furrowed brow because I'm personally not getting Botox. 

The premise of SP is that we have points on, in and around our body in which our body's geometry organizes itself.  When any of these points are at an imbalance or blocked, then we can manifest with problems, in my mind similar to chakras.  In the first phase of the training we learned about diamond points (north, south, east and west) that are outside of the body by about 1-2 feet and correspond to Order, Balance, Harmony and Flow.  Oddly enough, these points are 'palpable' in midair.  Was my BS radar at an all-time high?  Perhaps, but as the weekend unfolded I dropped some of my initial cynicism as experience after experience gave the same indications of the work.

We also worked with naval and sacral (or the sacrum, for which the bone is named 'sacred') and it seems nearly everyone's experience with the naval work was indicative of a place of deeper healing.  In my practice I have used this point on (skeptical) clients without telling them the premise of the work and over three quarters of the people ask me what I'm doing because they feel something warm and comforting in their abdominal area in front of their spine.

In SourcePoint, we can also scan the body for blockages and a place of entry point to lay our hands that is most welcoming to the body.  I would personally say that my fingers turned into the equivalent of dousing rods or magnets because when I would get over a certain area in my practice client's body my fingers would start moving involuntarily, which blew my mind.  Now we can ask ourselves if energy healing is real and get into a whole big argument and make a fuss.   Hearing from our practice clients that the student practitioners always seemed to go to the same areas without cues or hints or prior knowledge of health history was immensely fascinating to me.  Coincidence or not, I can't be sure but I'm working to add SourcePoint to my Rolfing sessions so that I might further heal my clients from their deepest needs.

Moms... Do we have to blame them for everything...ahem, Freud?

Next Sunday is the highly commercialized holiday known as Mother's Day.  Meant to drive greeting card, flowers and jewelry sales as well as increase restaurant reservations?  Maybe and maybe not.  In my life and Rolfing practice, I often see women who feel that they are over-worked and under-appreciated for being the driving force behind their nuclear family.  They're the chauffeurs, chefs, accountants, tutors, laundresses, and PDAs (er, what decade am I in again?) to many minors and lucky grown guys everywhere.  Often there's not enough thanks to these women to work to make houses homes and a tribe of people a family!

Now, a mother isn't solely a blood and birth relationship. It's a woman who shares her heart and wisdom with people who admire her and who value her successes, failures and insight that have culminated to make her the woman she is.  I was lucky enough to have had multiple 'moms' while I was a young girl trying to find my place in the world.  These women will always be in my heart because they have gone out of their way to 'adopt' extra children and set a place at their dinner table for me and tell me stories about their adolescence that consoled me through many difficult times.  I'm grateful for the perspective and humor that these women have imparted upon me and I hope to be able to return the favor myself someday either to my own children or to other kiddos who need a village of people to love them.  

To every mom (my real mom Cindy especially!), I want to take the time to say I love you for who you are and what you've done in the world.  Never feel like it doesn't make a difference in some way, even if you never get to the bottom of that laundry pile, or never get those stinkin' Pintrest crafts to look the way they do on the internet - it might be just a conspiracy anyways...  And the women who have days of time to get it perfect are probably boring anyways! :-)

If you've ever loved, wiped a tear, or nurtured or nourished anyone or anything, then I think that makes you a mother, even if you don't have kids to call your own.  Giving birth doesn't make you a mother and not having kids doesn't make you not one.  The bottom line is love.  Moms are often overlooked in terms of needs and wants because they usually want their kids to have a better life than they themselves had.  We don't need a holiday to love our moms, it should be done daily.

The process of growing a human can leave everlasting changes to a woman's body.  The daily grind can give her aches and pains that she glosses over because she has to work through her pain to keep on top of everyone else's needs and activities.  This is where I want to come in and reassure the woman who is your 'mom' that she's cared for and she doesn't have to live in survival mode.  

If you still feel like you need a reason to treat your mom to something special, then I'm offering from now until May 31st gift certificates for sessions of Rolfing at the price of buy two, get the third half off.  (A $360 value for $300 includes tax and gratuity.)

Contact me today and I'll help you return the favor of love and taking away some of life's pains.

Beth Pagel, Certified Rolfer  612-548-4325        pagel.beth@gmail.com

But due to communicable diseases, I can't kiss any boo-boos, sorry.  :)

My Holiday Wish for my Clients (and even non-clients!)

Love.

That's it.  But, I have a direction that I want you to channel that love: towards yourself.  Your body, mind and spirit. It's a package deal and it needs some TLC.

We all have things that aren't 'perfect' by societal and media/marketing/advertising standards of the modern era, but don't let that stop you from loving yourself.  Chances are you love the people around you, heck even your pets, and they aren't poster perfect...  So why can't we love ourselves and overlook the minor things we may not love in ourselves the way we do in others?

As society progresses we seem to find new ways of body shaming from hair (too much or too little or in the wrong place on the body), to height, slim vs curvy, muscular or not, scars and stretch marks, size of feet, crooked teeth, and we can go on and on.  Fashion and marketing changes - it has to or else we would be content to wear what we owned last season and we wouldn't buy what's in the stores currently. So it serves the industry's best interest to leave women feeling like they fall just short of where they 'need' to be to be beautiful.

It kills me a little inside when I have clients who are mothers who lament their body because of a cesarean scar, stretch marks, their 'poochy tummy' or other miscellaneous things that have changed her figure.  Her body did something amazing: created and sustained a life until it was viable to come into this world and then she's spend uncountable hours nurturing that life.  It's an experience that so many women and couples long for but their biology doesn't quite support that process for whatever reason. Celebrate your miracle of life and love because not everyone is blessed to go down that road.

Even if you have not had a child, please don't criticize yourself for being old, chubby, etc. Whatever you think is wrong with your body and you proclaim aloud, your body can hear it, yep it has ears.  

I had a client who asked me last week why I didn't compliment her on her recent weight loss of 15 pounds.  I would never dream to mention to someone who gained some weight, so why would I mention a weight loss?  My theory on complimenting on people's weight is that if that person who received attention for losing the weight and then has a couple pounds creep back onto their frame and they don't receive the attention anymore do they feel like they're no longer worthy and attractive?  Bodies were designed by nature to store and release energy for times of famine and disease and they're still excellent at doing that to this day.  It's not my place as a Rolfer to comment on a person's body weight unless I feel that it threatens their health and believe me, I will find the most helpful and diplomatic way to broach the topic so that it's not taken offensively by my client.

Gentlemen, you're next.  I'm not asking if you did one million sit-ups this year.  Heck, I don't care whether you look like Hugh Jackman or Homer Simpson.  I'm thrilled that you're seeking self care because our society doesn't always give men permission to look after themselves or let someone guide them in the path to wellness.  If you think your friends will judge you because you're being 'pampered' just send them my way and I'll show them how not frilly Rolfing is.  

Just don't show up in holy, stretched out and/or stained underwear, that's all I'm asking.

Self love and respect. No amount of shopping or gifts can bestow this upon you because it's found deep within us.  It's a relationship and one that will take some work, but I promise it's worth it.

Save BIG on your Rolfing with me!

Here's a quick reminder that if you plan to have Rolfing sessions with me in 2014 to set aside money in your HSA/FSA because for many people it's currently open season.  My session rate of $120 will remain unchanged.  If you prepay your whole body Ten Series to me by your fourth session, you save $200 as a package rate ($1,200-$200=$1,000).

What if you need to use up remaining money for your 2013 year before you lose it?  Get into my schedule before my calendar is all booked up!  Most people mistakenly believe that they need to pursue all ten appointments to benefit from Rolfing, but for many an average of 1, 2 or 3 appointments can help to ward off daily aches and pains.

Don't miss your chance to save an additional 30% on your Rolfing by having it covered by your pre-tax dollars!  This could leave your pre-paid Ten Series costing you around $600-700 if you take advantage of combining the savings.

Thank you Veterans and Active Military!

To help thank all of the hard working, self-sacrificing military out there, I am delighted to offer that for the entire month of November 2013 I am offering all active duty and retired/honorably discharged servicemen and women a 30% discount on their Rolfing Session at either my Mankato or Burnsville office location. Save $36!

Working for the VA for nearly 3 years opened my eyes to the injuries that are sustained and not always properly addressed due to constraints by the VAMC. If you have lingering issues that haven't responded to traditional methods, give me a call and we'll see if I might be able to improve your quality of life and move you past what's holding you back.

Common ailments that veterans have are: back and neck pain, pes planus (flatfoot), plantar fasciitis, TMD/TMJ, headaches, sciatica, knee pain, hip pain, shoulder and elbow pain and carpal tunnel/tennis elbow just to name a few!   

 Sessions with me can help to balance the body's soft tissues and ultimately lessen the strain on the skeletal system.  Chances are if you walk on two feet, some part of your body has to compensate to keep you upright, especially if you've hauled around a rucksack or jumped out of a plane! 

Rolfing isn't a cure-all, but I'm eager to help in any way that I'm able to so that a normal life can be lead by all of those who worked so hard to keep our country safe.  It's the very, very least I can do!

Rolfing as the last resort?

Over the last several months, I've seen a wider variety of clients than I ever thought possible.  I've helped adolescents with sports injuries, scoliosis and painful growth spurts.  Throes of people who are highly educated and overworked professionals are at my doorstep on a daily basis (no, Rolfing isn't for the gullible, sorry if you're trying to bust my chops).  Some people want relief for something specific, some just vaguely feel run down and defeated by life and the aging process.  Some of my clients have been at the ends of their ropes with pain and the medical community and feel like they have nothing left in their lives.  

Yep, you've read that correctly.  I have clients (yes, multiple people) who confess to me that they are so despaired that they've thought about taking drastic measures to end their suffering.  There's no shame in feeling that way, but something needs to be done to turn that ship around.  I listen to their stories and it usually goes along the lines of them having symptoms that the doctors can't figure out, thus begins the scans, blood work, and barrage of medical interventions.  Pharmaceutical Russian Roulette ensues where they just start prescribing and changing meds and dosages based on side effects and efficacy.  Once the doctors feel they've done everything they can conventionally think of, they recommend surgery.  On what? Anything they see fair game even if there doesn't appear to be a clear reason to cut the person open.  

Now, I'm not tearing down nurses, doctors, or the like. I have great respect for what can be accomplished in the medical profession.  Sometimes the medical profession recommends the person to have surgery at the persistent pushing of the insurance company to just get that person off of their list of people with vague and/or chronic issues so they don't have to keep revisiting the doctor.  

I have greater respect for doctors who look to alternative therapies such as accupuncture or Rolfing to help their patients thrive in life when suffering from chronic issues that aren't resolved by traditional therapies.  Don't get me wrong, we as human beings make errors and we only know what we know.  Every day I seem to learn at least 5 new things.  I hope to have a fraction of a grasp of what's out there by the time I'm 100 years old, but even much of that will be overturned as science progresses.  

 I've only yet met one orthopedic surgeon who has known what Rolfing is.  He's gone in and done surgery on joints and found 'nothing medically wrong' and he wants to know how I can help his patients get off pain meds and muscle relaxers.  He knows that surgery has made scar tissue in the area and can have greater implications for pain and joint mobility.  I shook his hand and thanked the man for wanting to empower his patients and give them options.  

 After all, we're human beings, not bags of meat and bones.  We have feelings, language, a past, present and a future.  I kindly tell each of my clients that they don't have to end their existence to end their pain.  Ultimately, the human being inside of each of us isn't addressed because of hospital bureaucracy often causes the average doctor to spend a mere 7 minutes with each patient.  People begin to see themselves as a rap sheet of medical conditions and drugs they're on.

I'm not a psychologist, so I don't offer any mental health advice, or anything outside of my professional boundaries.  But I help people to get back into touch with themselves and how to work through their pain even if we can't make it all go away.  I've never told my clients that the pain they feel isn't real because I can't see it in the chart.

As a Rolfer, my work isn't only in what I do with my clients, but in how I handle it with empathy and sincerity to see people reclaim their lives that are always worth living.  None of us is broken beyond repair.  No exceptions.

Change is upon us...

You've been warned that this might border on corny and/or nostalgic....

 As the seasons begin to change, it makes me realize that if something as gargantuan as a planet can shift, then what's holding the little tiny people who live on it back?

Fear of the unknown? Commitment phobia (1, 3 or the whole 10 sessions with a Rolfer is hardly a lifetime, heck not even a fraction of a week!)?  Worry that you'll realize what you've been denying yourself? Denial that we're worth caring for ourselves and each other?  Old underwear riddled with holes?

Yes, it can be a bit unnerving to have a holistic health practitioner look at how your body aligns and works while you're in your skivvies or some Lycra-butt-hugging-micro-shorts, but it serves a purpose of customizing your sessions and to see where we've made progress and where we yet can improve in the next appointment.  Trust me, when we're in the room for your session consult, I'm not checking  to see if you matched your top to your bottom or whether you have a cesarean scar or stretch marks or spider veins or cellulite.  95% of the population on earth has at least one, if not multiple of those things.  It's not my place to evaluate or judge those battle wounds on my clients.  

I'm more worried about how your system works and moves and it's my job to help you open up closed pathways and channels to create better nerve conduction, muscle differentiation, freedom for the bones to move and support you, just to name a few.  Yes, the sensation of Rolfing can be intense in places that have been held for a long time, and I do all that I can to help you through those sensations.

It's in the letting go of the adhesions and strain where we find ourselves shifting out of darkness of pain and limited living and into the light of spring.

It's in this 'tune-up' that you rediscover ease of movement that you haven't felt in years, decreased back pain and neck pain and headaches without medications that limit your quality of life, and a sense of reclaimed youth, height and vitality.  

Now that's what I call a heavenly body.