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stiffening allows a client's nervous system to accommodate a new threshold of activation. By waiting and relaxing into each place where the slight stiffening starts, your client's nervous system increases its adaptive range. This resets the stimulus thresholds that usually result in bracing. Your client's nervous system is also being reminded that everything is OK; nothing bad happens in this position— the head does not fall off, get whipped around, experience pain, or any other subconscious catastrophic expectations that may be coupled with particular head and neck positions. Of course, not everyone's neck bracing is related to body memories of physical trauma; sometimes, it's simply hard to let the head go. Tension, stress, eye or jaw strain, postural habit, illness, or, as described earlier, support or stability deficits elsewhere in the body, can all contribute to vestibular reactivity and bracing patterns. As mentioned, this technique can often help clients who have preexisting dizziness or vertigo, as long as special care is taken to keep the eyes open (since vertigo, like motion sickness, is often activated by contradictory information from the inner ears and the eyes). It is also important not to lift the head so far or so fast that the dizziness is worsened. Once activated, vertigo may need some time to subside before attempting the technique again. A small minority of clients with vertigo will not be able to tolerate any head lifting or holding; this technique would be contraindicated for such clients, and for any clients with a very recent neck injury. Lowering the head in the sagittal plane, as described here, stimulates two of the inner ears' three canals related to rotational motion (the anterior and posterior semicircular canals). The third horizontal semicircular canal can be engaged with slow side-to- side rolling of the head, again feeling for your client's ability to release the head at each step of the way. Another variation is to carefully work with the client's head off the table, or to use a drop-table to continue lowering the head posteriorly past anatomical position. This allows you to work with a larger range in the sagittal plane; however, keep in mind that having one's head held off the edge of a table violates our earlier perceived-safety principle of making sure there is something under the head to support it. In addition, neck hyperextension itself can aggravate some neck conditions, so keep the neck long, use this variation with care, and use only with relatively healthy clients. Whichever variation you choose, once you've lowered the head to the table, you've finished this technique and are ready to move on in your session. Patience is key. You can easily perform this technique too quickly, but I don't think it can be done too slowly. Taking a full five or even 10 minutes to lower the head once will be time well spent. Notes 1. Yates et al., "The Effects of Vestibular System Lesions on Autonomic Regulation: Observations, Mechanisms, and Clinical Implications," Journal of Vestibular Research 15 (2005): 119–29. 2. Moshe Feldenkrais, Explorers of Humankind, (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1979). Til Luchau is a member of the Advanced-Trainings.com faculty, which offers distance learning and in-person seminars throughout the United States and abroad. He is a Certified Advanced Rolfer and originator of the Advanced Myofascial Techniques approach. Contact him via info@advanced-trainings.com and Advanced-Trainings.com's Facebook page. I t p a y s t o b e A B M P C e r t i f i e d : w w w. a b m p . c o m / g o / c e r t i f i e d c e n t r a l 117 In the Vestibular Orienting Technique, the head is lowered extremely slowly, while the practitioner feels for the slightest hint of the client holding or bracing the head. When these responses are encountered, the lowering is stopped or slightly reversed, while the client is instructed to allow for an even heavier head. Image courtesy Advanced-Trainings.com, used by permission. 6