Anatomical balance is the ideal upright state where the weight
of the body rests on the skeleton. In that balanced state, the
muscles are able to perform their work, then rest and recuperate
between tasks while the bodies weight is supported by the skeleton.
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What do both of these postures feel like?
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Do they feel distinctly different?
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Muscle Management's goal is to present information about your
body in a manner that is easy to understand, useful and that will
aid you in your goals of regaining and maintaining your personal
physical balance and health.
The price of adaptation... The human body performs many tasks
that include self-repair, maintenance, and an incredible ability
to adapt. We fall, we get up, we pay too little respect to the
pain (we have more important things to do), adapt to the pain,
and move on with our busy lives. But at what price? Over time,
how many adaptations can we make and still function without interfering
with those self-repair and maintenance abilities?
Indications of an excessive level of adaptation can include:
Increased aches and pains throughout the body, deterioration in
balanced posture, and loss of mobility and flexibility
Lauren's system of massage approaches the human body as a mechanical
structure (among other abilities, he was a structural engineer).
The primary component of the human structure includes a central
support tower (skeleton) with (muscles), levers and fulcrums (bones
and joints), and a hydraulic system (blood and lymph) that included
pumps and valves. When in a state of balance and ease, the weight
of the body is supported by the central support tower while the
guy wires are responsible for movement and stabilization and the
hydraulic system manages the lubrication, nutrient delivery and
much, much more.
Imagine these components after a hard fall while skiing, heavy
manual labor, or hunched over a computer for hours. The body might
react to these tensions with a tightening of the muscles and compensation
adaptations in its foundation region of the lower back - the location
of some the bodies largest bones and muscles. There may be no
visible indication of any potential lasting problem, as the skin
would quickly heal over any underlying muscular distortion.
However, the trained therapist might observe that the underlying
tissue region had distorted. Any stress within this heavy tissue
will produce compensations in the lighter muscles above and below
in order to maintain its automatic and continuous objective of
a balanced relationship with gravity.
This Berry Method of massage is termed "corrective" as the intention
is to relieve tensions in muscles, tendons and ligaments, correcting
distortion and thus returning the overall "structure" to a healthier
state of balance and ease. This includes repositioning and stretching
the underlying tissue and moving the body through the natural
range of motion that is often diminished due to adaptive compensation.
Lauren experienced that function and structure were directly
related and any improvement in balancing the structure will improve
the body's overall functioning. The primary goal is not so much
to "heal" the body, but to remove interference and allow the body
to use its incredible innate abilities to heal and maintain itself.
The Berry Method gives postural balance a tremendous amount of
respect....
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