This is a really interesting and thought provoking interview.
http://www.cbc.ca/video/news/audioplayer.html?clipid=2421296702
In the first 10 - 30 minutes of sleep a mouse brain increases the exchange rate of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) into and out of the brain having a complete exchange of fluid in the brain. This is a 10 - 100 fold increase in circulation compared to an awake mouse. This seems to "sweep" out the brain of metabolic wastes. This could be helpful in the prevention of Alzheimer's disease.
Just another good reason to be getting a good nights sleep!
Friday, 3 January 2014
Saturday, 23 November 2013
Simply TMJ
It was a very successful workshop on November 2nd and 3rd. It was a slightly larger group than I usually teach and presented the opportunity to use Lesli Smith as my Teaching Assistant. I always enjoy having a colleague to work and practice with because it further challenges me to be exacting with our presentation of the hands-on techniques.
I also upgraded my audiovisuals to include a projector and screen. Now I can have anatomy pictures up on the screen so everyone can be "on the same page." I think with more practice with my new AV equipment the courses will be even better in the future. The feedback would suggest the students liked it too.
I must congratulate the class on great work. Some of the hands-on can be challenging; both to the patient AND therapist. This was clearly demonstrated when we treated the back of the tongue and going down the throat to treat the pharyngeal constrictor muscles. Yes there was some discomfort at the time but afterward it seemed that everyones tongue waggled much easier!
Thank you all who attended for making the class so much fun!
It was a very successful workshop on November 2nd and 3rd. It was a slightly larger group than I usually teach and presented the opportunity to use Lesli Smith as my Teaching Assistant. I always enjoy having a colleague to work and practice with because it further challenges me to be exacting with our presentation of the hands-on techniques.
I also upgraded my audiovisuals to include a projector and screen. Now I can have anatomy pictures up on the screen so everyone can be "on the same page." I think with more practice with my new AV equipment the courses will be even better in the future. The feedback would suggest the students liked it too.
I must congratulate the class on great work. Some of the hands-on can be challenging; both to the patient AND therapist. This was clearly demonstrated when we treated the back of the tongue and going down the throat to treat the pharyngeal constrictor muscles. Yes there was some discomfort at the time but afterward it seemed that everyones tongue waggled much easier!
Thank you all who attended for making the class so much fun!
Saturday, 12 January 2013
How Muscles Really Work
Lets look at how muscles really work. This might come as a bit of a surprise to you, I know it was for me.
In 1951 Feneis took samples of the flexor muscle in the finger and he made cuts over a huge distance doing about 1900 slices. He traced single cells and what he found was that one cell starts and ends then another starts with gaps in-between. They are lined up but they are like a series of tiny "little worms" but they don't necessarily touch each other. They are all independent worms all scattered longitudinally through the muscle. See the photo below.
Muscle fibres (cells) are discontinuous; however, its collagen is continuous. In other words the muscle fibres don't run from one end of the muscle to the other. The below picture is misleading, and its also how most of us have been taught to think of a muscle. The muscle cells are long but are not more than a few millimetres at most, not centimetres. In other words one muscle cell of the sartorius muscle does not run the whole length of the muscle.
So each "little worm" muscle cell doesn't pull directly on the next cell. It does it by pulling on the collagen. The collagen is spread throughout like an unbroken fabric in the muscle, a molecular continuum from one end to the other that runs around twisting and making spirals connecting each of the muscle cells. The collagen holds the muscle together like a unit and transmits the force from one little worm to the next, to the next and so on until it reaches the tendon and then the bone.
A muscle like the drawing above (or in the top diagram of the below photo) that had each fibre running from tendon to tendon could not work. When the muscle contracted and hardened it would cut of its own blood supply and compress its own nerves and render the whole action useless. The interesting thing is Niels Stensen wrote this in 1667, and yet I wasn't exposed to this view until now.
The true architecture of a muscle is a parallelogram where the tendon plates are offset to each other and the muscle fibres run between them on an angle. Where the tendon plates are K, M, D, C and E, F, O, N and the muscle fibres are A, B, F, E and C, D, H, G in the below diagram.
On the below picture you can see the representation of the collagen fibres as a cross hatching that is molecularly continuous from one tendon plate to the other and around all the muscle fibres. As the muscle fibres (1 and 2) shorten and thicken (1' and 2') it preserves constant volume. One tendon is fixed (the top) and the other is free to move. The space between the fibres is not compromised, in fact there is a slight increase in the available space so that more blood can be drawn in, or lymph can flow and nerves aren't squashed. You can see a blood vessel between the fibres as a red dot. This is a simple representation in two dimensions, whereas real muscles are complex and have a spiral to them.
Here is a representation of the orientation of fibres in the deltoid muscle. It is aligned like a chevron. Somehow this type of explanation is missed in texts I have read. It certainly seems a very logical setup.
Unfortunately modern textbooks don't talk about this it would seem. Somehow science has overlooked this contribution from long ago. When we look at muscles in this way it does explain so much.
This material was taken from a lecture by Dr Brian Freeman PhD, Embryology from a Biodynamic perspective; in Bath, UK July 2010.
In 1951 Feneis took samples of the flexor muscle in the finger and he made cuts over a huge distance doing about 1900 slices. He traced single cells and what he found was that one cell starts and ends then another starts with gaps in-between. They are lined up but they are like a series of tiny "little worms" but they don't necessarily touch each other. They are all independent worms all scattered longitudinally through the muscle. See the photo below.
Muscle fibres (cells) are discontinuous; however, its collagen is continuous. In other words the muscle fibres don't run from one end of the muscle to the other. The below picture is misleading, and its also how most of us have been taught to think of a muscle. The muscle cells are long but are not more than a few millimetres at most, not centimetres. In other words one muscle cell of the sartorius muscle does not run the whole length of the muscle.
So each "little worm" muscle cell doesn't pull directly on the next cell. It does it by pulling on the collagen. The collagen is spread throughout like an unbroken fabric in the muscle, a molecular continuum from one end to the other that runs around twisting and making spirals connecting each of the muscle cells. The collagen holds the muscle together like a unit and transmits the force from one little worm to the next, to the next and so on until it reaches the tendon and then the bone.
A muscle like the drawing above (or in the top diagram of the below photo) that had each fibre running from tendon to tendon could not work. When the muscle contracted and hardened it would cut of its own blood supply and compress its own nerves and render the whole action useless. The interesting thing is Niels Stensen wrote this in 1667, and yet I wasn't exposed to this view until now.
The true architecture of a muscle is a parallelogram where the tendon plates are offset to each other and the muscle fibres run between them on an angle. Where the tendon plates are K, M, D, C and E, F, O, N and the muscle fibres are A, B, F, E and C, D, H, G in the below diagram.
On the below picture you can see the representation of the collagen fibres as a cross hatching that is molecularly continuous from one tendon plate to the other and around all the muscle fibres. As the muscle fibres (1 and 2) shorten and thicken (1' and 2') it preserves constant volume. One tendon is fixed (the top) and the other is free to move. The space between the fibres is not compromised, in fact there is a slight increase in the available space so that more blood can be drawn in, or lymph can flow and nerves aren't squashed. You can see a blood vessel between the fibres as a red dot. This is a simple representation in two dimensions, whereas real muscles are complex and have a spiral to them.
Here is a representation of the orientation of fibres in the deltoid muscle. It is aligned like a chevron. Somehow this type of explanation is missed in texts I have read. It certainly seems a very logical setup.
Unfortunately modern textbooks don't talk about this it would seem. Somehow science has overlooked this contribution from long ago. When we look at muscles in this way it does explain so much.
This material was taken from a lecture by Dr Brian Freeman PhD, Embryology from a Biodynamic perspective; in Bath, UK July 2010.
Saturday, 5 January 2013
2013 Course dates!
Yes finally the dates are set.
Advanced Cranial: Front of the Head
March 23, 24, 25 and April 6, 7 and 8th, 2013.
FYI Easter is on the 31st of March.
Advanced Cranial: Back of the Head
September 21, 22, 23 and October 5, 6, and 7th, 2013.
FYI Thanksgiving is October 14th.
TMJ
November 2nd and 3rd, 2013.
I hope to see you then.
Check out dynamictherapies.com for more detailed info on the courses or call me at 604-418-8071
Advanced Cranial: Front of the Head
March 23, 24, 25 and April 6, 7 and 8th, 2013.
FYI Easter is on the 31st of March.
Advanced Cranial: Back of the Head
September 21, 22, 23 and October 5, 6, and 7th, 2013.
FYI Thanksgiving is October 14th.
TMJ
November 2nd and 3rd, 2013.
I hope to see you then.
Check out dynamictherapies.com for more detailed info on the courses or call me at 604-418-8071
Friday, 7 December 2012
Upcoming Courses
I am currently looking at the calendar to set up dates for the Front and Back of the Head courses as well as the TMJ course. I will hopefully have dates for 2013 set soon.
Embodying Embryology, A Continuum Movement Exploration
Last week end I attended a three day workshop titled: Embodying Embryology, A Continuum Movement Exploration. It came at a great time as I have been studying embryology in greater detail.
It was taught by Cherionna Menzam-Sills. She is a Contiuum instructor and also a Biodynamic craniosacral therapist and teacher. For those of you who have started looking further into the cranial field she is married to Franklyn Sills, a noted instructor and author of Cranialsacral Biodynamics Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. I should point out at this point that Continuum was developed by Emilie Conrad.
I first heard about Continuum in the book by Bonnie Gintis, Engaging the Movement of Life: Exploring Heath and Embodiment through Through Osteopathy and Continuum. It stimulated my imagination and I wanted to find out a little bit more. I recommend you visit some of the links to find out more for yourself.
It was a very interesting three days. Actually difficult to explain. Basically we are trying to get our bodies to move in a much more fluid way. Instead of using our normal patterned movements we are listening to our bodies with "open attention" and moving how the tissues are wanting to at the time. When you work out in the gym, or do other patterned movements you start to densify your tissues. This method works to reverse that densification. You feel much lighter afterward. We used several sounds while sitting or laying on the ground then would allow our bodies to move. It is similar feeling to a whole body unwinding. I must say it was very meditative, relaxing and freeing. The depth reached was surprising and beautiful.
Each day we would start out feeling our bodies and taking a baseline of how we were feeling. I was definitely feeling much more fluid and mobile at the end of the days. The last day I started with a bad headache but postponed taking any painkillers as a test to the techniques. I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome. Neck, back and headache felt much better during and following the movements. I will be continuing Continuum as a home practice along with my meditation practice.
It was taught by Cherionna Menzam-Sills. She is a Contiuum instructor and also a Biodynamic craniosacral therapist and teacher. For those of you who have started looking further into the cranial field she is married to Franklyn Sills, a noted instructor and author of Cranialsacral Biodynamics Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. I should point out at this point that Continuum was developed by Emilie Conrad.
I first heard about Continuum in the book by Bonnie Gintis, Engaging the Movement of Life: Exploring Heath and Embodiment through Through Osteopathy and Continuum. It stimulated my imagination and I wanted to find out a little bit more. I recommend you visit some of the links to find out more for yourself.
It was a very interesting three days. Actually difficult to explain. Basically we are trying to get our bodies to move in a much more fluid way. Instead of using our normal patterned movements we are listening to our bodies with "open attention" and moving how the tissues are wanting to at the time. When you work out in the gym, or do other patterned movements you start to densify your tissues. This method works to reverse that densification. You feel much lighter afterward. We used several sounds while sitting or laying on the ground then would allow our bodies to move. It is similar feeling to a whole body unwinding. I must say it was very meditative, relaxing and freeing. The depth reached was surprising and beautiful.
Each day we would start out feeling our bodies and taking a baseline of how we were feeling. I was definitely feeling much more fluid and mobile at the end of the days. The last day I started with a bad headache but postponed taking any painkillers as a test to the techniques. I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome. Neck, back and headache felt much better during and following the movements. I will be continuing Continuum as a home practice along with my meditation practice.
Monday, 5 November 2012
Studying: Good for the soul
It has been a busy time.
I did a guest appearance at a cranial study group. These therapists all took my Advanced Cranial Therapy courses. It was a great pleasure to see them studying and practicing their skills.
It was great to discuss the experiences they have had and to give support and direction where needed. We talked about appropriate approaches for various situations such as assessing base strains in small children and the necessity of using a dynamic assessment versus a static assessment of the lesions.
Next we got to the table and did some fascial work with the horizontal diaphragms of the body. It is fun to integrate feeling the cranial rhythmical impulse throughout the body and overlay that with feeling motility patterns of the diaphragms as a assessment tool. Learning how to change your "filters" of your brain to tell your hands what you want to feel is always an excellent skill to develop and fine tune. It seemed everyone enjoyed feeling the connection of the bone and connective tissues.
I also finished teaching another term at Utopia Academy. It was a wonderful time for me again. I must say it is a real pleasure teaching there, The students and administration are welcoming and gracious and everyone seems to get along smoothly. Either the students are getting extremely bright or I'm a suberb instructor because they all caught on to the cranial concept rapidly. It sure makes my job easy!
On a personal note, my study group is continuing into it's third year of study and mentor ship into Biodynamic Cranial. Howard Jones has been meeting with us for about seven hours once a month. It has been an eye-opening experience. We are now diving into biodynamic embryology. A subject that will probably take us a solid year to cover. Anyone interested in this topic I highly recommend:
The Ontogenic Basis of Human Anatomy. A Biodynamic Approach to Development from Conception to Birth. By Erich Blechschmidt.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Ontogenetic-Basis-Human-Anatomy/dp/155643507X#_
That's all for now. I will talk soon about my plans to introduce a year long cranial course with mentor ship components.
I did a guest appearance at a cranial study group. These therapists all took my Advanced Cranial Therapy courses. It was a great pleasure to see them studying and practicing their skills.
It was great to discuss the experiences they have had and to give support and direction where needed. We talked about appropriate approaches for various situations such as assessing base strains in small children and the necessity of using a dynamic assessment versus a static assessment of the lesions.
Next we got to the table and did some fascial work with the horizontal diaphragms of the body. It is fun to integrate feeling the cranial rhythmical impulse throughout the body and overlay that with feeling motility patterns of the diaphragms as a assessment tool. Learning how to change your "filters" of your brain to tell your hands what you want to feel is always an excellent skill to develop and fine tune. It seemed everyone enjoyed feeling the connection of the bone and connective tissues.
I also finished teaching another term at Utopia Academy. It was a wonderful time for me again. I must say it is a real pleasure teaching there, The students and administration are welcoming and gracious and everyone seems to get along smoothly. Either the students are getting extremely bright or I'm a suberb instructor because they all caught on to the cranial concept rapidly. It sure makes my job easy!
On a personal note, my study group is continuing into it's third year of study and mentor ship into Biodynamic Cranial. Howard Jones has been meeting with us for about seven hours once a month. It has been an eye-opening experience. We are now diving into biodynamic embryology. A subject that will probably take us a solid year to cover. Anyone interested in this topic I highly recommend:
The Ontogenic Basis of Human Anatomy. A Biodynamic Approach to Development from Conception to Birth. By Erich Blechschmidt.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Ontogenetic-Basis-Human-Anatomy/dp/155643507X#_
That's all for now. I will talk soon about my plans to introduce a year long cranial course with mentor ship components.
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