Events: Classes, Workshops, and More
Looking for a workshop? class? Here are this issue's member events...
Corollary Discharge, an important ingredient in Hanna Somatic Education By Eleanor Criswell, Ed.D.
The term corollary discharge first caught my attention in a lecture by Yochanan Rywerant during Wave I of the Hanna Somatic Education training in the early 1990s. Later I read references to it in Vernon Brooks’ The Neural Basis of Motor Control. The concept of corollary discharge, and the related term efference copy, have intrigued me over the years, but they have remained somewhat elusive as I pondered motor mechanisms and worked somatically with myself and others. ************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************* The expansion of our awareness of corollary discharge has huge potential for enhancing motor functioning. As an HSE practitioner you will enhance your work with clients and students by being aware of this ever present dimension of movement.
Answers…
In the last issue, we posed this question: You've just done a great session with a new client, your best Lesson 1. The person gets up from the table, walks around a bit, and you ask, "Are you feeling any changes? What are you noticing?" They give you that blank stare and say "Well, maybe I'm feeling a little different, I'm not sure." What do you do? We received some great responses and would like to share a couple of them.
The Power That Made the Body
Today is the most exciting day to be a chiropractor. It always has been---at least since September of 1895---and it will always remain so. For that matter, today is the most exciting time to be an electrician, stockbroker, psychologist, or schoolteacher. For every day that we are alive we are, hopefully, appreciating---savoring--- the greatest gift we will ever be given. The word "chiropractic" means "done by hands," but I suggest that, if we read between the lines, it really means "done by Life," with a capital L. May we all, regardless of our age or time in practice, remain students of life, and of a human’s ability to live and celebrate life fully. Harvey Lillard’s story has been told, thankfully, millions of times. The take-home point, for years, has been that this first chiropractic patient was not a low back pain patient but a man who was cured of deafness through a series of chiropractic adjustments. As I see it, today, the take-home point of that story is much larger: our patients, clients, or practice members – whatever we want to call them – need not have neck pain or back pain to merit a visit into our offices; they only need to be alive and desirous of experiencing aliveness, inner growth, and a fuller tapping of their potential than they ever dreamed possible. That's my "chiropractic story" as I am sure it is many of yours.
Move Without Pain - A Book Review
This book is exactly what it says it is: a guide to moving without pain. The focus is really to help the reader learn the basic concepts and understandings behind how the somatic techniques work, and then to get them into movements. So the first section of the book, titled ‘Preparing to Move Without Pain,’ is only 35 pages long. In those pages Martha describes somatic education, sensory motor amnesia, the role of the brain, the three reflexes and the myth of aging, why stretching doesn’t work, core strengthening, and what pandiculation is in brief, clear analogies. What’s most impressive to me is how readable it is.
Understanding Trauma and Chronic Pain
For those living with long-term chronic pain, life often becomes a long, expensive and demoralizing search for relief. This was my journey, or odyssey really, for more than fifteen years. Over time, I lost confidence in my body and my life became more and more limited. By the late 90's, while I hadn't quite given up hope I had stopped actively searching for help. Then totally by chance, twice, I happened to turn on the radio at just the right moment and heard two interviews that changed the course of my life. The first was a conversation with Dr. Peter Levine, and a few months later I heard an interview with Eleanor Criswell Hanna. Both times my heart skipped a beat as I listened to them describe me. Levine described the unconscious, protective bracing that happens with trauma. Until then, I hadn't made a connection between my trauma history and my chronic pain. I knew my body was tense, but had had no success in stopping the reflexive holding. When Eleanor talked about sensory motor amnesia, I finally had an explanation for how and why the body forgets how to let go. Somehow the stars had finally lined up just right, leading me down a path not only to my own healing, but giving me the tools to help other people. In this short article, I will talk about what I have since learned about the intersection of trauma and chronic pain, and, in particular, some things bodyworkers should keep in mind about the peculiarities of working with a soma in traumatic overwhelm.
Sensory Motor Amnesia and The Loss of Consciousness
Iʼve always been intrigued by Thomas Hannaʼs notion of Sensory Motor Amnesia, ever since I was first exposed to the concept back in 1988 when Somatics was first published. Thomas had graciously asked me to review the book for California Biofeedback, the newsletter of the Biofeedback Society of California. In recalling that original review, the parts that jump out from my memory are the Red Light Reflex, the Green Light Reflex, and Sensory Motor Amnesia. In those days my attention was taken up with stress and autonomic nervous system regulation, so my interest in Somatics was somewhat peripheral to that. And although I was captivated by the concept of Sensory Motor Amnesia, I was confused by the use of the word amnesia to describe the dysfunction. You canʼt forget something that you werenʼt aware of, I remember thinking to myself.
Update from the Novato Institute Teaching Team
The Novato Institute teaching team: Eleanor Criswell Hanna, Phil Shenk, Susan Koenig, and junior teacher Lyman Spencer, continue to teach regularly, six times per year: Jan, Feb, Mar, and June, July, Aug. The HSE Professional Certification Training Program has been teaching in the modular system for several years now. There are 6, nine-day Modules per complete Training. The student comes twice a year, winter and summer, for about 3 years. It's amazing how fast time flies. We have three simultaneous "waves" going at all times. Each year we both start a new wave and end another.
Creating the New AHSE Website
After ending my career in corporate marketing, it was with some trepidation that I accepted the AHSE web site committee’s (John, Ken, Natalie) request to manage the web redesign project. You see, I actually knew what was ahead of me.
What Has the Board of Directors Been Up to Anyway?
Your Board of Directors thought it might make for a nice gesture to give you all some insight as to what goes on behind the scenes. Here’s a brief synopsis of the Board’s activities of late.