Spencer Relief Technique

Blue Blue Hills

Are You Really Taking Care of Yourself?

How do we, as a society, define taking care of ourselves? Have you thought about that? Do you ever wonder why the incidence of life threatening diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes are inherent to American people more so than any other culture?

Our blanket is the level of stress we are under. However, if that is indeed the case, then why do places such as Japan, or China, who have higher levels of pollution and stress not have such elevated levels of mortality related to these disease states? The answer is simple ~ diet and exercise. Japan contains the highest level of centenarians in the world; the longevity is presenting a headache actually, as the country has one of the lowest birthrates, raising fears of a demographic crisis as a smaller pool of workers supports a mass of elderly.

We live in a fast food, drive everywhere type of environment. As a society, we have become so far removed from old world practice, that it is causing us to be one of the most unhealthy societies. Juvenile diabetes is at an all time high and as I pose to my students ~ are disease conditions actually inherited or is it perhaps bad habits handed down from generation to generation? Of course genetics play a role in disease, but if inheritance only accounts for approximately ten to twenty percent of risk, does it not make sense that nutrition and exercise make up the foundation?

Coffee for instance makes the body think it is under attack (or stress). It produces the stress hormone cortisol. Why not replace coffee consumption with something like green or chai tea?

It is almost as bad to drink orange juice on an empty stomach, almost, but at least there is a way to offset this behavior. Orange juice on an empty stomach spikes your glucose or sugar levels. You should have a base of protein in your stomach prior to ingesting OJ to engender healthy consumption.

Fruit is another component behind health that we are seriously lacking. I tell my clients and students if you are going to skip one food group do not have it be fruit! Fruit provides a plethora of disease preventive antioxidants and phytonutrients we cannot get from other sources. The recommended amount of seven to nine servings daily is integral to fighting off cancer, aging gracefully and provides a host of other benefits. Yet we are failing miserably in our consumption.

White flour product is perhaps our greatest evil. Did you know that the body cannot process refined sugar efficiently? What occurs is white flour turns to sugar in the body and gets stored in the liver. It engenders excess weight and sets us up for Type II diabetes. All Type II Diabetes Mellitus is, is poor nutrition. If you cut white flour completely out of your diet the body will actually experience a withdrawal similar to any other type of physiological addiction. You can start by simply replacing the white flour with stone ground wheat.

Lack of water consumption is another one of our evils. We believe that drinking less than the eight eight ounce glasses of water daily is okay. In theory we are not replacing what our body loses in sheer physiological response. We need over a gallon of water daily to be hydrated adequately. Yet no one really drinks enough water based on the eight by eight heuristic. The other important thing to note with water consumption is that you never want to guzzle water. If you drink water too fast it over taxes the kidneys to the degree where the electrolyte balance gets thrown off and you can actually drown (a condition known as hyponatremia).

These aforementioned factors are what create the elevated levels of disease in our society. In order for change to come you must begin by beginning. Do not overwhelm yourself; just make small changes until the little differences accumulate to make significant shifts of health. And always remember that nothing is hard unless, you tell yourself it is difficult. ;-)

Like Lilies that float effortlessly in a pond

each moment we spend open will bring

a fresh bouquet of gifts

If we only will pay attention,

to where we are being led...       lls

Oh my aching back...

I often wonder how conditioning becomes so deeply ingrained. But as I ask myself this question, I revert back to one of my college psychology courses about Pavlov's Theory: http://www.psyonline.nl/hof/en-pavlov.htm

How does conditioning occur; and how long does it actually take to become brain washed (for lack of better verbiage)?

I have a client who is a professional firefighter. J.M. is 26 years old. When I first treated him he had chronic neck, and shoulder pain. After a short period his pain went away. The build~up in his muscle tissue was one of my worst cases. J was always active in sports, primarily swimming and water polo. It only makes sense then that his shoulder muscles had the caliber of toxins built~up within that region.

Recently J presented with back pain after a week of sitting in training classes for becoming a personal trainer for the fire department. It is not as though JM had not had prior issues with his back. On  occasion this area flares up related to his activity. I would lightly address his back muscles though because of our focus on his shoulder and neck muscles.

I found myself questioning his behaviors over the past week of not treating him. We went through an entire list. The thought then came to J that the air tanks firemen use which is supported through an ergonomical backpack, J was not placing the waist support properly on his waist to take the pressure off his back!

So, does this come down to a matter of conditioning or is it simply that we do not think about our behavior(s) until the body signals us through the pain response? Sometimes even the pain response will catapult us into taking a mask like an aspirin. Once the pain goes away we will not go and get it checked out because, we think it is better. Problem is however, it is not!

The times where we ignore the body's signal response of pain is what creates chronic states later. I believe conditioning factors into the equation. After all aging is supposed to bring pain and stiffness, right? That is a societal conditioning only it is not true.

Pain is not a natural outgrowth of aging.

Everyone Needs an Angel...

It is the weekend. A weekend like any other. The weather is shifting. It is trying desperately to change to winter, but fortunately the weather patterns are not complying!

One of my students lost her Father. I knew in a nanosecond that she had because, I heard it in her voice. An absentee slip I called her because of, said she missed classes due to an illness. In that moment I felt her pain, as she recanted the details. A pain that makes my heart ache.

It does not feel like thirty years ago, but it also does not feel like yesterday either that my Dad died. The infamous they say death becomes easier with time; the old adage that time heals all wounds. I often wonder however, if they have experienced loss such as that?

I admire my students because they are trying to change their lives. Sometimes they are the first in a multitude of generations to attend college. I tell them upon the very first day of class that they should be as proud of themselves as I am of them. It takes a lot of courage and effort to be first or to recognize a need to change.

My students...each class is uniquely different, but there are always consistencies. There are always parallels with anything in life if you think about it long enough!

So, what does one say when one's parent has died? I went to class and had all her classmates fill out a card. I wish I could do something outside just handing her a card. A card seems so trivial. I was however very proud of what D's fellow classmates wrote. And I know why I am always so proud of them.

I carry an angel in my pocket. Now I carry two, because one of my old angel coins found her way back. They are my guns because with them I always feel safe. I give a lot of them away. I go back and buy some more.

I was almost done getting my hair done last night when an old woman sat at a dryer across from me. I made her laugh for a while until the laughter ended and she became very serious. "May I ask you a question?"

"Absolutely," I responded.

"Are you certain that if you died tonight you would go to heaven?"

"Yes, Ma'am, I am, without a doubt certain."

"How are you so certain?"

"Well, I am a clinical massage therapist and I have a lot of karma coins saved up. I give away more than I have and continue to do so. So, I know for all I have extended and have yet to extend, I will, go to heaven. But, thank you for asking." ;-)

It was in that exchange that I knew what I would give Desiree. An angel to guide her. An angel to console her. An angel; everyone needs an angel.

Spencer Fun Filled Facts...

Today when I met with my friend John for lunch I spoke to him about my blog. I told him how I had this thought about writing facts I accumulated throughout my life. This thought came to me the other morning in light of my brother Larry.

When I was a teenager Larry and I spent a fair amount of time together. I would take the train into the city and we would play racquetball, or go see the Cubs play or something. I miss those days, because after my Father died, things dramatically began to shift. Every time Larry would cross a street and inform me of the need to cross at an angle (to save time of course), he would append the advice by stating it was a Spencer Fun Filled Fact. You had to engage in whatever it was he was selling, because it was a Spencer Fun Filled Fact! He would also commit to one day writing a book to disclose all of his facts; one day. Well, here it is several decades later and no book titled Spencer's Fun Filled Facts exists! So I have decided through this forum to carry the torch.

My students often tell me that I have this broad expanse of knowledge. I never really looked at it that way. I guess however, when it is all said and done I do. The trick with knowledge is it is meant to be shared, otherwise, what is the point behind possessing it, right? ;-0

When I was finished working today my client reached in his back pocket to get out his wallet to pay me for the session. This particular client sees me for chronic back and hip pain. Actually, when he was first referred to me he walked in my office with the support of a cane; a cane he had been using for over a year. D.B. was in a car accident and had several bulging discs in the aftermath. D had one administration of an epidural cortisone injection. After the very first session he got up from the table, walked out of the room and then walked back in with a Cheshire grin. D.B. walked over to the corner and looked at me and said, "I forgot my cane. I felt so good that I forgot my cane!"

"Nice," I responded. I also knew in no time flat he would no longer be needing that cane.

So today when he reached in his back pocket and pulled out his thick wallet, I educated him on placing that wallet elsewhere. I asked him to view its thickness. I then took his wallet, placed it in my back pocket, sat down and asked D to look at the way I was now seated. We concluded together that sitting on a wallet causes his hip to misalign, places pressure on his sciatic nerve and iliac spine that over time will create nerve damage, as well as engender back pain. He took his wallet and placed it in the interior pocket of his coat jacket.

The last fun filled fact I will share in todays correspondence is about crossing your legs when seated. Did you know that when you are seated and you cross your legs that posture places three times your body weight onto your lumbopelvic spine? Three times Your Body Weight! Being a lady I love crossing my legs when seated, but I think about performing that action now because I really do not want back problems at this stage in my life.

So, those are my two fun filled facts of the day. Life is a series of choices. It truly is the little behaviors that when shifted make a huge difference in how we feel in the long run.

Perpetual State of Gray...

Today is one of those days where I feel like curling up to a good book, deep within the covers of my bed. I do not like cold weather. I am never pegged as being from Chicago related to how bad I am with cold. Interesting, not so much, that is just my reality. I aspire to be in the mountains of Arizona where the sun shines in the winter. I believe that is really the crux of my issue with winter here. There seems to be a perpetual state of gray that hovers. It sails in toward the end of October and stays until March. Okay, so perhaps I am being optimistic because sometimes, it can stay clear through April! That is the beauty of living here they say; if you wait a minute the weather will change. Is it selfish of me to want it to shift back to summer? ;-)

So today I have to venture out because my refrigerator looks like a highway in the midst of an ice storm. Desolate.

It is my day off, so no stories to tell really. I get back to my work tomorrow ~ and through work, experiences and stories always follow.

Be well and stay warm.

Ch, ch, chan ges...

I often wonder why people think change is so difficult. Is it just a matter of telling yourself that something is hard - that makes it so hard? After all, that is the premise of Quantum Physics, right? Our thoughts are what create our reality...And, our reality is nothing more than our perception.

I was introduced to the practice of energy over two decades ago through my cousin. My cousin studied under a man named John Sylvan who started Sylvan Mind Control. Essentially, he instructed on how to harness the power of the mind by controlling your thoughts. Complicated? It could be if you think of how many thoughts one has in a day. How can you stop negative thoughts from controlling your existence? How do you counteract them?

I like things simple ~ the simpler the better with me. When I began my massage therapy program I told myself (and others) that I was not a science type of individual. I am definitely an arts kind of girl! So, to replay that tape upon the very first day of school I told everyone that I would not pass anatomy. It was too hard because I am not a science kind of person!

Well, here it was half way through the program and I was failing Anatomy. One of my girlfriends reminded me of my words (which I had no recall of saying). I told her that was ridiculous. I know anatomy, and science, well, in my undergraduate degree I did very well in pathology and physiology. Pathology and Physiology are science. In that moment I reprogrammed the tape. I went from nearly flunking anatomy to getting an A!

I worked the Chicago Marathon show at McCormick Place prior to the marathon. A very handsome man named Kyle appeared at my booth. He sat down and I did what I always do when working on someone ~ educate on the muscles and trigger points. A little while later his son Nathan appeared. Kyle introduced me and was laughing while telling Nat that I was educating him on anatomy. I picked up on the fact that something was up and asked what he did for a living. Kyle informed me he was an anatomy professor!

"Well, how did I do?" I asked.

"Great," he replied. "You want to come and teach my class?"

So, the moral to the story is I created my own reality. Only until I recognized what I did and shifted my thought pattern did things change. Well, it works the same with anything. I like to explain it this way: When you oversleep, are late for work, and you tell yourself it is going to be a bad day, what happens? It is a bad day! A day that spirals until it seems that the only salvation is for its end, so you go to sleep early and hope tomorrow brings  a better day.

Change works along the same spectrum. I have come to realize that almost 90 percent of the population are dehydrated. I know this from my work. When I try to move people from a state of dehydration to hydration I know immediately whether or not they will succeed. I know this because, the ones who will find success will be the ones who do not tell me how hard it is going to be to drink that much water.

I advise my students that the way to change is to just do it! Quit whatever it is you are trying to change, be it drinking soda, coffee, sleeping on your stomach, whatever by just stopping the behavior. Commit to change and guess what will occur ~ it will be gone.

First International Conference on Fascia Research at Harvard Medical School

Back in September, the director of Northwestern Business College (where I teach Contemporary Health Issues) gave me an American Massage Therapy Association newsletter. Efthimios provided this because of my role in research with my technique and the AMTA's query for research abstracts.

I went to the site and began looking at the requirements. The main thing was I missed the deadline. The other component was I would have to sign away all of my rights to my research (not an option)! But, the wonderful thing was I stumbled upon the Fascia Research Congress. I went directly to their site and tried to register. The conference was sold out! At that time the Fascia Research Congress was looking at the possibility of creating ancillary seating. I signed on and prayed I would be accepted. A week later I was informed I was attending! I was elated, because intuitively I knew I would have some questions answered in the body of the symposium. I also knew I would meet whomever I needed to fulfill the same thing.

I departed Chicago on October 3. I wanted a day in Boston to get settled prior to attending. The first day of the conference would bring a twelve hour day, so I just wanted to unwind from my hectic work week.

I woke at 0600 the morning of the 4th. It was an absolutely beautiful sunny day. The energy on the street was incredible or perhaps it was an extension of how I felt. I felt like a character out of a movie. The moment and everything attached to being there felt surreal. I walked past Harvard Medical School's campus and headed left toward the auditorium. I made my way upstairs to start the day; a day packed with fascia science.

As I sat in the ancillary seating I thought there was no way the conference could meet my expectations. I felt this way because whenever the bar is at its level it usually brings disappointment. Once the first speaker gave his presentation, I knew my expectations were going to be exceeded! I also discovered upon review of the material given that I would receive 17 continuing education units from attending. How sweet! I was there just to learn more and have some questions answered about my work. 17 CEU's was definitely a bonus!

The main thing that immediately hit home was how little we know, as a medical community, about the connective tissue matrix of the body. Our educational structure is designed to look at Anatomy; function has been a glimmer of consideration, as had fascia. I have been asking a question to doctors about my work for years. I asked how they cannot know about soft tissue dysfunction, more specifically how beneficial massage is to eliminate pain within this structure? They considered it holistic! I considered it rudimentary medicine.

The fascia research congress took thirty, yes thirty years to come in to existence! I could not be more excited however, because western practice is realizing the need to meld with eastern practice in research. I feel it is only a matter of five years, perhaps a bit more before they will meld completely to create the whole or balance in our medical structure.

All the top scientists presented their current findings on fascia. When they got to the science of exercise physiology they said what I have known for a while. We have to quit overloading the muscles. Static exercising is not a good nor healthy approach.

I do not like nor agree with the administration of Corticosteroid injections. I would not give them to my dog let alone a person I love. Yet the common approach for anything muscle related is to administer cortisone injections and pain pills. I am trying to figure out all the biochemical milieu shifts in the muscle fiber related to this approach. All I know is what I see from a symptomatic standpoint. All I know is what I feel beneath my fingers in the muscle fiber from these injections. They are not a good approach. It was so incredible to hear that reiterated from the top doctors in the world; now if we could only get Orthopedics on the same page.

The same doctors also stated that our approach with lumbopelvic back pain needs redefining. 70 percent of all spinal fusion surgeries are viewed as unnecessary. Spinal fusions are not a good plan because they create an "unstable machine."

There is so much that was brought into the light with this symposium. I am very excited though about the shifts that are coming for medicine. With advances in technology comes advances in our thinking and approach. Something has to shift ~ change is coming. That is the main hope I walked away from with this conference outside the plethora of information on fascia. Knowledge is absolute power. I always educate my students on the need to research and have the information one needs to make strong choices. Knowledge is the key to being your own best health care advocate. When one begins to accept something that does not resonate in their gut as truth ~ trouble will certainly follow. There are no quick fixes, but if we allow the body to do what it is designed to do naturally, (heal), it will do just that...Heal.