What should I wear? Flexible clothes that fit close to the body--yogaish.
What should I expect from my first session? We’ll talk about your history, injuries, surgeries, etc. as well as movement goals. We then do a walking analysis to see how you may be compensating with every step for an old (or current) body pain. Believe it or not you can even compensate with your walk for shoulder pain. I’ll also have you move in different ways to see how things may be getting stuck as you attempt certain activities.
How often should I come? Typically I like to see people once per week for 4 weeks at the very beginning--this is why I offer a discount package. This allows us to quickly build on each session and get a solid shift in your body. At the end of those 4 weeks, I’ll give my recommendations for the next month or two and then you return when you need a ‘tune up’.
How can my movement change after a few sessions? It may sound crazy, but the body wants alignment and flow--to feel pain free. It’s incredible how quickly it goes back to doing what it wants with a bit of gentle coaxing.
How long should I expect to see you? Typically between 1-3 months. I have many clients that I see regularly (once or twice per month, some once per week) for a year or so. We are always evaluating your progress as to what your goals are and how frequently your body may need a tune up to keep new stressors from taking hold.
I feel so much better after seeing you, so I’m good, right? Great! So so happy you’re living with greater quality of life! Keep in mind that things happen regularly--you travel, sleep weird, do a long day of yard work, suffer some stressful family/work incident...the body will truck on through all of this, but often does so by routing around that physical or emotional tension. It’s a good idea to plan to check in from time-to-time and take care of you so that you can go about living your life how you want to live it.
Why are you working on my hips/feet/legs, when my shoulders hurt? Everything is connected! I address body issues according to connective (fascial) tissue lines, not just bones and muscles. This also means that if you have a lot of pain in one spot of your body, we can start to make it better by working somewhere down the connective tissue line which always helps take the pressure off the pain spot. Sometimes working distal, or away from the problem spot, makes the pain completely go away. Meaning that often the reason for why you feel pain in one area is actually coming from another.
How can a trapped emotion affect my movement? Holding onto things can shut down different parts of the body. For example, if you grew up in an environment where you didn’t feel like you could express yourself, you may have tightened your jaw to just grin/grit and bear it. Now, you may have chronic neck and shoulder tension, or maybe even headaches. It could be that shoving those emotions down for years correlates to prolonged tension in a place that now suffers from chronic pain. Once again, it’s amazing how quickly the body lets go once you can identify these holding patterns and let that old stuff go.
I just got to work and have a session today and I forgot to bring workout clothes. Should I cancel? Nope. You would not be the first person and I can always come up with something that will keep progress up even if you have your work dress or pants on. Come on down!