{"id":66,"date":"2010-09-15T19:23:20","date_gmt":"2010-09-15T23:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nyphysicaltherapist.com\/blog\/?p=66"},"modified":"2010-09-15T19:23:20","modified_gmt":"2010-09-15T23:23:20","slug":"shhh-body-tuning-in-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nyphysicaltherapist.com\/blog\/2010\/09\/shhh-body-tuning-in-progress\/","title":{"rendered":"Shhh! Body Tuning in Progress"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tJason Alan Griffin<\/a>, teacher of Nia, Yoga Tune Up<\/strong>\u00ae<\/strong>, Strength and Toning, actor and model shares his early views of his apprenticeship with me. His observations have been condensed here for your interest.\u00a0 For more information from Jason, see: jasonalangriffin.blogspot.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

“I have been a fitness professional for 20 years. I work with people who are exercising and want to improve their bodies. And in this process, I\u2019m often stunned by how little conversation there is going on. At no time is there much inquiry on the part of the client; and if there is, it is usually an inquiry of me, not of their own body. Most people want to be told what to do and then they may or may not do it. But if they took the time to listen to their own body and then responded to what the body was saying, they wouldn\u2019t need to ask me anything; they\u2019d already know the answers. Or at least they\u2019d know where to find the answers.<\/p>\n

A simple thing like gentle, flowing movements of all the joints is something that your body will likely ask for every morning. Are you listening? That creak. That staggered movement. The stiffness. That is the language of your body. This is the language a Body Tuner speaks. By being alert to the sounds and sensation of your body, a Body Tuner hears your body\u2019s request loud and clear.<\/p>\n

Today, as I was watching Shmuel work, I was struck by how often people are wrapped up in their stories. They love to describe everything that was or currently is going on in their bodies and to relate a total history, complete with the opinions and \u2018diagnoses\u2019 of other professionals. Shmuel asks the clients to stop talking. \u201cI only want to know what\u2019s going on right now,\u201d he says. He asks, \u201cWhat are you feeling right now?\u201d<\/p>\n

The work of Body Tuning has no use for all the information clients want to give.\u00a0 It serves as nothing but a distraction. \u201cPlease listen to the guitar,\u201d Shmuel will say, referring to the peaceful classical music playing in the office. When the client is finally quiet and relaxed, Shmuel can better \u2018hear\u2019 the body. The body will ask for what it needs, and it will clearly and precisely describe what is wrong. A Body Tuner listens by touching and moving the body. It is an intimate relationship between body and hands.<\/p>\n

The techinique of Body Tuning seems to be one that would be very hard to teach, and I admire Shmuel for endeavoring to teach me.\u00a0 The work itself is powerful in its simplicity. As I watch, I sometimes think, \u2018that\u2019s yoga. If this person had been doing yoga, then they might not be here in this office.\u201d But then there are other times when he uses reflexology, or deep, constant pressure or traction.<\/p>\n

Today, as he was working on a famous dancer, Shmuel was mobilizing his hip and as he worked, I could hear him repeating \u201crelax, relax, relax, relax.\u201d At first, I assumed Shmuel was speaking to the person, but the dancer was lying on the table and seemed utterly relaxed. His right hip, however, was telling a different truth. I finally suspected that Shmuel\u2019s mantra was directed to the body, rather than the mind. \u201cRelax, relax, relax\u201d was what he wanted the muscles of the hip to do.<\/p>\n

When I first started to watch Shmuel work, my big question was \u201chow do you know what to do?\u201d But after only two days, having observed his work on about ten clients, I think I know how he knows what to do. He asks the body, and the body answers.<\/p>\n

And isn\u2019t that how it should be? If he sat me down and told me, \u201cFirst, you pull this, then touch that, making sure you always turn this that way first,\u201d I\u2019d glaze over from the dullness. But Body Tuning is exciting in that it is alive. It\u2019s fresh. There is no pattern, no system. It\u2019s a communication and allows the body to do its best. We all have the capacity to self-heal, and Body Tuning sets that capacity free.<\/p>\n

Today I was given the opportunity to assist manually. I was stabilizing the lower leg of a client while Shmuel was pulling the thigh. At first, I didn\u2019t feel anything happening, but after a minute or so, I started to feel the tissue of the leg shift and change. I could swear I felt it moving around, adjusting, making itself more aligned. And then I heard (or did I feel?) a few, very tiny popping sounds. Intuitively, I knew that felt good. Moments later, the client said, \u201cthat feels good to turn my hip that direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

How did Shmuel know? The client didn\u2019t tell him. The client never would have known that\u2019s what he needed. But this client was lying quietly and letting his body tell us what it wanted.<\/p>\n

If you made a lifetime practice of listening to your own body, you\u2019d be in great shape. But if you, like many people, have some pain in your body that doesn\u2019t seem to be going away, that\u2019s your body saying, \u201cThis is wrong! Do something different.\u201d My recommendation would be to try Body Tuning. And perhaps I\u2019ll see you in the studio so I can learn more from you and your body as it is tuned up.”\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jason Alan Griffin, teacher of Nia, Yoga Tune Up\u00ae, Strength and Toning, actor and model shares his early views of his apprenticeship with me. His observations have been condensed here for your interest.\u00a0 For more information from Jason, see: jasonalangriffin.blogspot.com “I have been a fitness professional for 20 years. I work with people who are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[28],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nyphysicaltherapist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nyphysicaltherapist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nyphysicaltherapist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nyphysicaltherapist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nyphysicaltherapist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nyphysicaltherapist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nyphysicaltherapist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nyphysicaltherapist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nyphysicaltherapist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}