Massage & Bodywork

NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2022

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breathing could result in muscular imbalance, motor control alterations, and physiological adaptations that are capable of modifying movement." YOUR PEACE, POWER, AND PRESENCE IS ONE BREATH AWAY Establishing any conscious new habit, like a modified breathing practice, has the power to improve the unconscious movements, patterns, and habits that have led to pain. If you are currently experiencing pain in your body, we invite you to get curious about that pain through your breath. Take a deep breath and exhale a friendly and audible "hmm" as you ask yourself, "What can this pain teach me about how my body wants to move or be still?" Inhale and exhale "hmm" as you breathe in and out this question for several cycles. Simply feel yourself open to the possibility of understanding your body more. Many breathing practices have been developed over centuries by practitioners from around the world, but there is one practice that has stood out for us that we feel moved to share with you. It's a breathing practice developed for modern humans in modern times: the decompression breath as taught by Foundation Training founder Eric Goodman, DC. Practicing the decompression breath daily has revolutionized the way we experience our body from the inside out. Specifically, it has helped us unshackle from general pain or discomfort we experienced as "normal," and instead created a more integral structure that supports everyday movements at and away from the table. Decompression breathing has also become a reliable touchstone to shift away from fatigue, procrastination, and complacency. DECOMPRESSION BREATHING ORIGINS: FOUNDATION TRAINING Foundation Training is a system of movement therapy devised and evolved by Goodman in response to the ineffectual allopathic approach to the insidious, chronic pain he was experiencing for years. The decompression breath, along with the tenets of "anchoring" and accurate "hip hinging," form the tripod upon which Foundation Training rests. It has become a fundamental practice for Heath, who uses it daily. Together, we believe decompression breathing is a missing linchpin in most yoga training and core-strengthening practices, and has the potential to help shape-shift the alignment of the spine. Heath's chiropractor can attest to the positive benefits years of decompression breathing have had on improving the alignment of Heath's scoliotic curve. COMPLACENT VERSUS ACTIVE ADAPTATION In Goodman's latest book, Foundations of Health: Harnessing the Restorative Power of Movement, Heat, Breath, and the Endocannabinoid System to Heal Pain and Actively Adapt for a Healthy Life, he points out that many (if not most) people become passive in their approach and relationship to chronic pain, f luctuating stressors, and debilitating immobility. Folks passively wonder, "When will this be over?" or "Who can help me?" or the particularly troublesome question, "Why is this happening to me?" Though these questions point to resolving the matter, they don't L i s te n to T h e A B M P Po d c a s t a t a b m p.co m /p o d c a s t s o r w h e reve r yo u a cce s s yo u r favo r i te p o d c a s t s 81 TAKEAWAY: Instead of thinking your way out of stress, breathe your way into more ease, power, and openness. generally lead to significant, dedicated action to resolve the underlying challenge. Or if action is taken, it often includes becoming more passive and dissociated from feelings of discomfort by distracting ourselves with food, drugs, entertainment, etc. This diversionary tactic is known as "complacent adaptation," which relies on us becoming less aware of how our thoughts and behaviors are contributing to our present state of wellness or disease. Decompression breathing offers an alternative approach to being passive. Rather, it provides a reliable way to embody "active adaptation," the intentional practice of engaging and evolving with the ongoing and ever-morphing varieties of stress in our lives. With more repetitions of any active adaptation practice, we generate more resilience in our nervous system, our thoughts, our feelings, and our relationships. With more repetitions of any active adaptation practice, we generate more possibilities within our nervous system, our thoughts, our feelings, and our relationships. In fact, intermittently getting active helps prime the pump on our manifestation capacity and is a reliable catalyst for getting things started or done. Trying getting active with your breath. And if it feels good to you, add it to your personal self-care toolkit.

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