Mike's Treatment Routines and chaperone

[Guest guest]

I wanted to add something here.

When Mike was here at my house for the So.Cal. EDSer party he worked on me.

I had my clothes on the whole time which made me feel very comfortable. No

oils or that sort of thing was used mostly energy work was done. I don't

think I would have felt comfortable taking my cloth of, towel or no towel.

that is just me so that worked out well.

But the most important thing that I don't think Mike has ever mentioned is

that Darlene is there 100% of the time. At least she was with me and when

Mike was working on guests at my SoCal EDSer party she pulled up a chair

right by his work area and was there the whole time.

I am not saying that this is his normal routine because I don't know, you

would have to ask Mike but I wanted you all, who might be a bit concerned

(after all this is very close body work), that she was there during my

session and the sessions that I witnessed at my house.

Debbi

Hope to hear from you soon!

Debbi

So. Cal. EDSer, in the Pink!

Mike's Trip - Treatment Routines

Treatment Routines - Mine

I got thinking this morning that, since I will be working with/on

many of you over the next few months, either at the conference in

July or as part of my roaming around the countryside, there might be

some interest as to what to expect from me in a treatment session.

Other than the broad, general descriptive posts of the various

modalities, just exactly what do I do for/during an actual treatment

session? How do I go about it? To a certain extent, it depends on

whether I am doing a very specific problem treatment or a full

systemic routine. By very specific, I mean something like treating

a headache, sinus congestion, indigestion, sprained ankle, sore

shoulder, whatever, but very specific in terms of condition or

location.

Specific treatments more often than not are with acupressure,

polarity, or a combination of both. They also tend to be fairly

short sessions of five to fifteen minutes at the most. Using my own

family as an example, one common problem is subluxed ribs. I use

polarity and generally have the rib back in place within two

minutes, longer if more than one rib is out. Minor vertebral

subluxations get treated the same as ribs, just a slight variation

of hand position. Just recently I seem to have developed the

ability to do a full spinal adjustment in about 10-15 minutes.

Headaches? Acupressure - and generally busted in less than two

minutes. Sinus congestion? I start with specific acupressure

points and finish with a lymphatic drainage facial treatment. This

takes longer - usually about 20 minutes. For basic joint pain

(knees, shoulders, wrists, and elbows depending on which one of us

is hurting), I just use the polarity X technique and can usually get

the pain level down to around zero within 3-5 minutes.

And contrary to what you might expect from some of my posts, I do

still use some of the " standard " stuff, when and where

appropriate.

As for " set up " - it doesn't matter a bit to me. For something like

a lymphatic facial, because of the delicate touch required and

length of time to do the routine, I generally would need or want

someone on the table. For the other stuff, I could care less -

sitting, standing, hallway floor in a casino, sitting in an

airplane, standing in a line at Disney World - makes not one bit of

difference to me. As long as I have room to work and not too many

extraneous distractions around me, it doesn't matter. We were at a

wedding reception last night for one of my nephews and I ended up

working on eight different people, just standing in the backyard.

None of the " sessions " took more than 5-10 minutes but included four

full spinal adjustments, one demo on treating migraine headaches,

one Acid Reflux treatment, and two stiff necks. And all while people

were milling around us, drinking beer, laughing and talking. Like I

said, I am not particularly fussy about " set up. "

Full systemic routines, however, are an entirely different matter.

These depend on the type of " treatment " I am going to do and how

general or specific that treatment will be. It can be anything from

a basic, Swedish relaxation session to a full-blown, purely

energetic routine. In some cases, I absolutely need to have the

person on a table, others I can do seated or even standing. Some

routines or treatments require skin on skin contact to properly

engage the tissue, others can be done totally off-body with no

physical contact at all, and every variation in between. And by

inference you can take that to mean that the type of treatment

dictates whether standard massage undraping is necessary or whether

everything is done fully clothed.

I am going to stress the above point because one of the hang-ups I

run into with people not really familiar with bodywork is the common

perception of massage in a spa setting - naked on a table with

strategic body parts covered by a sheet or towel. Specifically, the

two issues are modesty and body self-image and the question is " do I

have to take my clothes off? " The answer is " it all depends on the

type of session you want. " If you want a standard Swedish

relaxation, fluff and buff session with oil or gel - yes because

trying to use oil or gel through clothes just doesn't work.

And there are some treatment techniques where skin to skin contact

is required, such as standard myofascial release. On the other

hand, I can do MFR just as effectively with energy techniques and do

them through clothes. Lymphatic Drainage and Visceral Manipulation

depend to a certain extent on the strength of the energy field of

the person I am working on and how " on " I am personally at the

time. The stronger the field of the person I am working on, the

greater my ability to sense it off-body. I have also found that my

ability to sense things off-body is very greatly affected by the

energy around me. Specifically, I find that I can more easily do

things in a classroom where there are other energy workers present

than otherwise, simply because the energy amplifies and acts as a

power booster for me. Having said that, there will be times when

doing either LDT or VM where I would want or need the greater

sensitivity of actual physical contact. There are other times when

I wouldn't need it at all. It just depends on the circumstances at

the time.

I would categorize full systemic sessions as some combination of the

following:

- Standard Swedish Relaxation

- Standard Swedish Treatment

- Full System Acupressure

- Full System Polarity

- Full System Energetic Balancing

- Modality Specific Sessions

Full sessions take anywhere from an hour to up to three hours,

depending on what is involved. Really " serious " treatment work might

involve two or three sessions of two or three hours each.

The reality of the way I work is that I never end up doing just one

thing - my hands and intuition won't let me. Even if I am just

doing what my wife and I call a Fluff and Buff Swedish Relaxation

massage, my hands will automatically go into " treatment mode " if

they pick up an area that needs work. What do I mean by " treatment

mode? " My hands get very, very warm and I get energetic sensations

in them - they tingle and pulsate. I can control it in that, by

getting myself grounded and centered, I can in essence put them in

treatment mode. By the same token, if I am in a proper grounded and

centered state of mind (which should be the case ANY time I put my

hands on someone), they will go into treatment mode by themselves.

So, let's now describe a typical full session (as in 1-3 hours). I

am going to start by asking you questions. What hurts? What

problems are you having? Any specific goals you have in mind for

the session? Anything in particular you would like me to address?

Have you had any accidents, injuries or surgeries? What meds are

you taking? I am then going to do a visual assessment. What is

your posture? Do you have any spinal curvatures? Is your pelvis

tilted or rotated? Do you have the appearance of a shortened leg?

Is your head/neck tilted or rotated? Are your shoulders even? Are

your legs/feet laterally or medially rotated? Depending on what I

see, I might do a gait analysis by having you walk so I can check

your arm swing and heel strikes. I will also do a spinal

assessment by running a thumb down the center of your spine and then

along each side of the spine. This tells me whether you have any

subluxed vertebrae or ribs. All of the above give me clues as to

what problems you might be having and how to address them. Does it

look like you have fascial restrictions? Contracted muscles?

Subluxations?

For the actual treatment work, I generally start by having someone

on their back on the table. As part of my pre-treatment assessment,

I sometimes do a Therapeutic Touch scan to see what I pick up

intuitively. If I don't do that, I generally start the table work

by doing a Cranialsacral assessment for the same reason. Do I sense

any areas of blockage?

Actual work starts with a full body acupressure/polarity release

routine. This is usually about 70-80 percent acupressure and the

rest polarity and takes about an hour depending on what is involved

with specific joints like shoulders and knees. I do this because

very few people have had it done before and everybody needs it. It

opens up the energy channels in the body, helps remove energetic

blockages, reduces muscle tension, and releases fascial

restrictions, all at the same time. It also preps the body for more

specific treatment work. Intermixed with this, I might detect a

cranial imbalance and toss in a couple of cranialsacral releases as

well.

The next step might be a full cranialsacral session or more

extensive lymphatic work or some visceral manipulation. Or it might

be a full spinal adjustment using polarity or a PSOAS release.

Again, it all depends on the individual circumstances. For cases of

heavy energetic blockages, I might add from 30-60 minutes of Chakra

balancing before getting into specific treatment work.

I almost always end long sessions (particularly for the ladies) with

a lymphatic facial. It is incredibly relaxing and something I find

that they all really, really like. I then cap it all off with an off-

body Chakra Balance and close the meridians at the base of the head.

Basically, I never do two sessions in a row in exactly the same

way. Every person I work on is unique and I treat everyone that

way. (Which is why I could NEVER work in a spa setting where the

spa dictates the precise routine you HAVE to follow). At any rate,

this should give all of you a better idea of what to expect from me.

To learn more about EDS, visit our website: http://www.ehlersdanlos.ca

[Guest guest]

HI Barb,

I think I did this before, but just in case, when you talk to your Dad will

you tell him I would like to have him work on me at the conference. I don't do

well with massage, but would like to have some of the other energy work done.

I will be very busy with the conference activities since i am on the

ocnference committee, but should be able to sneak in some time. Thanks.

Hugs,

Sue

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 6/22/04 12:30:05 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

kdavis@... writes:

<< I will let him know, Sue. >>

Thanks Barb.

Hugs,

Sue