You can bid on 4 online Alexander Technique sessions at the St. Luke Community Healthcare Foundation online auction taking place September 21 – September 25. Visit https://one.bidpal.net/stlukefoundation to bid on that and other donated items. Money raised this year will go to maternal and child services, to improve outcomes around depression, substance use and mental health.
September is Pain Awareness Month
Persistent pain tends to be an invisible ailment that leads to isolation, job problems and suffering. Understanding the underlying causes of pain can help reduce pain, alleviate suffering and improve quality of life.
Pain can be triggered, maintained or exacerbated by anything that is (consciously or unconsciously) perceived as a threat. That means that we can experience pain whether or not there’s damage in the body (and we can have damage without pain, too.) That doesn’t mean that you’re crazy if you have pain without damage – it means you just may have to look a little harder for the triggers. Our brains take everything into consideration when determining whether or not to protect us with a pain experience, and some of those factors can be tricky to find.
One factor that can lead to problems like lower back pain is reduced postural tone. Reduced postural tone is related to overactivation of superficial muscles (“tension”). This combination leads to inappropriate loading of some muscles and atrophy of others.
When you do the Alexander Technique work, you learn to reduce unconscious overactivation of superficial muscles as you learn to reactivate deeper postural muscles. This improved postural tone not only helps to reduce pain, it helps you to move with greater ease and balance, which reduces fear and stress, improves muscle health and coordination and changes brain activity associated with painful movements, all of which help reduce pain!
Check out the September schedule below or contact me to schedule a private coaching session.
Update on me
I’m excited to be starting a Therapeutic Pain Specialist certificate program through Purdue University this month. I’m also very excited about being part of The Learning Center at Red Willow’s new Chronic Pain Program team. The program launches in October and will provide various options to support recovery from persistent pain, including Alexander Technique.
Wishing you a healthy and happy fall,
Mari
DiscoverEase in Movement
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