Somatic Patterning

SP 101 and 102: Spine and Postural Muscles

Due to overwhelming requests, our most popular course on the spine and postural muscles has been expanded into two modules. This information is usually not taught in massage schools. In this unique approach, you will learn how to integrate postural stabilization exercises into hands-on massage and bodywork techniques.

In both courses, will apply this material to self-care and body mechanics so that you leave feeling straighter, connected to your core, and energized. We will also cover hands-on techniques and client education methods so that you can expand your skills with powerful tools to create deep and lasting change in the core muscles. SP 101 focuses on the lower body and thorax. SP 102 focuses on the neck, head, and shoulders.

Both courses provide skills for posture and core muscle assessment. We will show you more than just figuring out what’s imbalanced about a client’s posture. We’ll show you how to teach your clients exactly which postural core muscles to train and how to train them. This approach goes deeper into the body than strengthening and stretching exercises. It changes the neuromuscular wiring that prevents people from moving efficiently. It develops healthy muscle-use patterns that underlie optimal posture, that relieve chronic back pain, and that prevent injury. SP 101 has no prerequisites. The prerequisite for SP 102 is SP 101.

SP 103: Palpation and Tissue Layering. 

Improve your quality and precision of touch with this course on tissue layering. In this class, we will explore palpation and touch skills through each tissue layer—the skin, superficial and deep fascia, muscle, bone, joints, organs, lymph, circulatory system, and nerves—using passive hands-on techniques—contact touch, gliding, compression and traction, and effleurage and petrissage. For more information about the touch exercises offered in this class, read Maryann’s Somatic Anatomy article called “Palpation and Tissue Layering.” This class will help your cultivate a stronger presence and clarity in therapeutic touch. It also improves ease of movement and body mechanics in massage. Great advanced palpation education for massage students and practitioners. No prerequisites.  

SP 104: Foot, Ankle, and Knee.

Improve your ability to treat foot, ankle and knee injuries and imbalances with this course. In this experiential kinesiology class we will systematically explore the joints and muscles of the foot, ankle, and knee. We will also look at how joint alignment, menisci in the knee, and specific muscles contribute to the stability of the body above. Class includes palpation of muscles and joint motion, a series of passive and active neuromuscular patterning skills for improving foot, ankle, and knee alignment and motion, and treating common injuries and problems in the lower limb. Prerequisites include SP 101 and SP 102.

SP 105: Hips, Pelvis, and Gait.    

 If you like to walk and want to learn about gait, come to this class because it includes 4 outdoor gait labs (1 hour each) where we go for walks around a track to apply classroom material. In this class, we’ll assess gait patterns through several paradigms: the movement pathways and kinematic chains in the Rolf recipe (which Tom Meyers calls the “anatomy trains”); push and reach patterns; 2 phases and 7 subphases of gait; the lumbopelvic rhythm and joint motion in each plane; and supporting reflexes. The class will culminate with a final gait lab at beautiful MacIntosh lake (weather permitting). It also includes video analysis, trouble-shooting guidelines, and a series of neuromuscular patterning exercises and bodywork interventions to treat common gait problems. Bring your walking shoes and dress for outdoor weather. This class is great movement teachers as well as bodywork practitioners. No prerequisites.

SP 106: Kinematic Chains in Motor Development  

From birth to walking, we all go through a series of developmental movement patterns. The series is called the “basic neurological patterns” because they wire our motor pathways in the brain and nervous system. The process is spatial; it creates clear lines of movement in the body that are easy to see, understand, and learn. There are 4 vertebral patterns. Each one corresponds to a movement pathway through the body: 1) spinal, 2) homologous (upper and lower), 3) homolateral (the ipsilateral division of bilateral body halves), and 4) contralateral. Minor gaps in this sequence can cause prominent muscle and joint imbalances later in life. These problems are easy to fix by learning and practicing the developmental movement sequence. That will be the focus of this course. Come prepared to move, bring your kneepads to crawl on the floor and learn how babies move. Wear warm, flexible clothing; layering works well. The class includes assessment exercises to identify body problems that occur when a particular pattern is weak, plus hands-on skills for using push and reach patterns in massage and bodywork. No prerequisites.

SP 107: Cranial and NS balancing

Deep nervous system relaxation is the key to a successful massage and bodywork session. Nothing releases until something relaxes, even during deep tissue work.  In this class, participants will learn touch skills for releasing of autonomic nervous system tension, for balancing the brain and spinal cord with the peripheral nerves, and for working with the nervous system as a tissue layer. Course units include a ten-step protocol for cranialsacral therapy; cerebrospinal fluid rhythms in myofascial release techniques; cranial bone motion and balancing; and neural tractions to unwind tensions in the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. To brush up for this course, read about the anatomy and physiology of the cranial fluid system in your Anatomy & Physiology text, and come to class ready to relax and receive. Another great class for massage students or practitioners of any level.  No prerequisites