Functional Movement: An Antidote to Chronic Pain

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The human body is designed to move freely and heal itself at any age. But unconscious neural patterns can interfere with the body’s natural self-healing process and lead to chronic pain.

Often, out of our awareness, our body and brain gets disorganized. When this happens, we may experience problems with self-healing caused by a sluggish sensory motor system.

This unconscious process is what Thomas Hanna calls “Sensory Motor Amnesia.” He suggests that gradually, humans lose their memory of how to efficiently coordinate certain muscles. When this occurs, the body then operates on a type of auto-pilot. The lack of awareness is often due to sensory nerves which are not properly sensing what the muscles are doing.  This malfunction in the sensory motor system can cause fundamental deterioration in our movement and quality of life.

In other words, pain may be a result of the way one moves, whether one overuses, underuses and misuses some parts of their body. However, with a deeper sense of awareness and proper communication with the brain, it’s possible to recover simple, inherent ways of moving that release stuck neuro-pathways and alleviate pain and symptoms. 

What Is Functional Movement?

Functional movement is when each body part is being used optimally, resulting in organic ease physically, emotionally and mentally. In other words, enhanced functional movement accesses a wide range of direct benefits, including:

•   a balanced, aligned, pain free body,

•   fluid and flexible movement

•   clear thinking

•   comfortable and pleasurable emotions

•   a peaceful, purposeful, powerful Self

Functional movement hydrates, nourishes, and revitalizes by restoring  mobility, increasing oxygen and blood flow, and eliminating physical and emotional pain in a holistic, integrated way. 

Re-educating one’s body begins with the brain, the body’s operating system. When one understands that physical, emotional and mental habits are responses to one’s unique history, changing those habits becomes possible.  The habits that contribute to dysfunction and pain can be unlearned, and pain can be lessened.

In other words, functional movement can be an antidote to chronic pain.

How Does Functional Movement Heal?  

Those interested in learning more about this cutting-edge, non-invasive approach may choose to read “The Brain’s Way of Healing,” by Norman Doidge, M.D. This recent New York Times bestseller offers a deep dive to the viability of changing habits as a pathway to healing and  stopping pain permanently without pills, shots or surgery.

Are you ready to find a brain-body antidote for your chronic pain? Let’s talk. Email Judy.

Judy Ban Greenman

Judy Ban Greenman is a Natural Pain Relief and Empowerment Coach. She helps people access physical and emotional freedom, so they can transform struggle, reduce symptoms, move freely, and live fully with ease, choice and connection. Learn more about her work at Body Brain Freedom, https://bbfree.co/.

How To Identify A Good Functional Movement Trainer

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Functional movement replaces effort and repetition with brain and body awareness. It boosts the immune system, reverses chronic pain, releases emotional trauma and removes energetic blocks. Use the 5-point checklist to quickly identify a functional movement trainer who’s the right fit.

The journey to find a good functional movement  actually begins with one’s own decision making process. First, a person has to consciously decide to work with the body’s innate wisdom. Then, it becomes important to understand how this relates to one’s values and ideas about personal wellness. Finally, it becomes possible to identify a good functional movement trainer with whom to work.

Why work with the body’s wisdom?

The nervous system functions as an intelligent, brilliant circuitry within the body. Once the decision is made to tune in and turn on that brilliance, it becomes possible to rewire the connections between body and brain from the inside out.

Repetitive activities, such as stretching, may help in the short term. However, external modalities can be limited in their ability to improve mobility or affect healing in the long term. That’s because functional movement is important to personal wellness. Even professional movers, such as athletes or dancers, can improve their comfort and performance and avoid injuries through functional movement awareness.

Limited movement can limit choices

Blocked movement can be an expression of one’s inner story. Trauma and emotions often become trapped in the body. If one’s movement is limited, it may be that one’s personal power, agency, or ability to feel supported in life are also limited. In these cases, a functional movement trainer will leverage  the brain’s neuroplasticity to activate deep, organic integrations which encourage whole body healing.

Too, mobility, flexibility and comfort decline as one ages. External fixes don’t affect this trajectory. But functional movement changes the brain to more efficiently coordinate the use of muscles, bones, breath, posture and movement. The result is a balanced distribution of mobility within the body. Healthy, balanced movement offsets the declining trajectory that is symptomatic of lifelong habits of the body, mind and emotions.

How to Identify a Good Functional Movement trainer

A good functional movement trainer will be able to focus on the specifics that increase one’s ability to make movement easier by using the brain, without effort, repetition or imitation. He or she will understand what is needed to unlearn healthy movement habits and make whole body-brain connections.

In other words, students should seek a mentor who understands the unique brilliance of the nervous system and can guide them to access and activate the intelligence of the body to rewire a wide range of experiences, compensations, strategies, and limitations.

Is the functional movement trainer a good fit?

Here is a quick checklist to help identify whether a functional movement trainer is a good fit.

  1. Does their definition of wellness and mindset align with that of the student?
  2. Does s/he respect body awareness and understand the interconnectedness of movement, thinking, emotions, posture, and behaviors?
  3. Does s/he know how to change the “software” in the brain in order to optimize self-healing and outcomes?
  4. Does s/he know how to communicate the significance of functional relationships needed to recognize and reverse damaging habits?
  5. Does s/he honor the power of self-referential healing versus interventions?

Ultimately, the answers the body holds are unique to each individual. Accessing this wisdom can be incredibly profound, changing outcomes and creating freedom. Improving movement improves all facets of experience: thinking, feeling, and quality of life. When working with an aligned functional movement mentor, life becomes infused with relevance, significance and profoundness. It’s an exciting personal journey of discovery, healing, and agency.

When one accesses the deeper intelligence of the body-brain relationship, it’s possible to tap into the resourcefulness needed to solve any problem.

Ready to tap into the body’s wisdom? Email Judy here.

Judy Ban Greenman

Judy Ban Greenman is a Natural Pain Relief and Empowerment Coach. She helps people access physical and emotional freedom, so they can transform struggle, reduce symptoms, move freely, and live fully with ease, choice and connection. Learn more about her work at Body Brain Freedom, https://bbfree.co/.

Functional Movement: An Antidote to Chronic Pain

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The human body is designed to move freely at every age. But unconscious neural patterns can interfere with the body’s natural self-healing process that ideally keeps us youthful and active. 

What Is Functional Movement?

Functional movement is when each body part is being used optimally, resulting in organic ease physically, joy emotionally and clarity mentally. In other words, enhanced functional movement accesses a wide range of direct benefits, including: 

  •   a balanced, aligned, pain free body,
  •   fluid and flexible movement
  •   clear thinking
  •   comfortable and pleasurable emotions
  •   a peaceful, purposeful, powerful Self

Functional movement hydrates, nourishes, and revitalizes by restoring  mobility, increasing oxygen and blood flow, and eliminating physical and emotional pain in a holistic, integrated way.

 

Somatic re-education begins with the brain, the body’s operating system, and the brain-body connection. Practitioners work from the understanding that physical, emotional and mental habits are responses to one’s unique personal history.  When a person unknowingly creates repetitive movement patterns to compensate for childhood experiences, injuries, or stress, habits are formed. 

Habits can restrict a person’s movement options. As habits continue, parts of the body may be mis-used, over-used, or under-used. Pain is often the result of these habits. Fortunately, this type of dysfunction can be unlearned. 

Who most benefits from a functional movement perspective?

Ultimately, any individual who wants peak use of their body at any age and in any capacity can benefit from a functional movement approach. This include those who are:

  • Sitting at the Computer, which places an 80 percent more load on the spine than when standing
  • Sedentary which can increase risk for arthritis, as movement is necessary to encourage blood flow and oxygen-rich circulation
  • Physically active, but who walk, stand or run bearing weight unevenly, unconsciously wearing out the tissues and the joints

When is it time to learn functional movements to heal my body?

Arguably, functional movement should be as much a part of our self care as exercise and brushing our teeth. Helping the brain and body function better after a day of habitual activity gives it a “reboot.” Anytime one notices sluggishness, fatigue, frustration, lack of clarity, negative emotions, sleeplessness, or pain, functional movement can offer relief.

Where Can I Learn More About Functional Movement? 

Those interested in learning more about this cutting-edge, non-invasive approach may choose to read “The Brain’s Way of Healing,” by Norman Doidge, M.D. This recent New York Times bestseller offers a deep dive to the viability of using the brain’s neuroplasticity for healing and stopping pain permanently without pills, shots or surgery. 

Or, you can reach out to me personally with your questions. I will be happy to help.

 

Judy Ban Greenman

Judy Ban Greenman is a Natural Pain Relief and Empowerment Coach. She helps people access physical and emotional freedom, so they can transform struggle, reduce symptoms, move freely, and live fully with ease, choice and connection. Learn more about her work at Body Brain Freedom, https://bbfree.co/.

6 Principles of Neuroplasticity: Harness The Brain’s Ability to Unlearn Pain in The Body

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Do you know that the human brain has the ability to unlearn pain in the body?

We often reach for ‘temporary pain relief’ from external sources like pills, shots or even surgery.  But for a permanent solution to chronic pain, the brain needs to unlearn patterns that keep recreating pain.

Neuroplasticity, or the innate capacity to learn and unlearn, allows individuals to overcome the unconscious, habitual patterns of thinking, moving, feeling  and acting. In other words, it’s possible to learn to utilize self-healing  for pain.

Unlock Pain Free Living  Today

Our experiences in life are restricted by what is or is not permitted to move in our bodies.

These limitations result not only from physical injury, but are a direct reflection of our rules, strategies and beliefs.  As children, we learn what not to move in order to be loved or at least survive. Our adaptation to life on Earth, and our caregivers, expose  us to experiences of rejection, fear, permission and encouragement. All these and more become wired into our personal pathways of movement.

Permanent pain relief and the potential for true healing incorporates the following principles:

  1. Healing goes beyond curing.Healing does not start or stop with the current medical model of fixing or curing. It may include it if we have a spurting artery, a broken bone or a virus or some other medical problem. If you’re feeling unaware, stressors are high, and you’re out of alignment, damaging joints or negatively affecting the body, then you may benefit from a somatic approach
  2. Healing is a way of learning.The brain learns through rediscovery of functional movement and the bringing back of awareness to any aspect of self. These are always two crucial elements of healing. Somatic re-education is the pathway to rediscovering new ways of moving more efficiently, comfortably and safely.
  1. Personal history determines the way we move.The reason movement counts is that our personal histories are our movement. Our limitations result not only from physical injury but are also a manifestation of our fears, permissions, encouragements and all the beliefs we formed since we were a baby. What is or is not permitted to move in our bodies is a direct reflection of how we organized our self to seek love, approval or survival…depending on what environment we lived in as a child. So when we free up movement, we typically free up a lot of unconscious ways our body is holding pain.
  1. Our minds, emotions and body are interconnected.Healing needs to honor the interconnectivity of our mental thoughts, emotional state, habitual behavior and movement. For example, physical injury may reopen past emotional wounds and create anxious thoughts about the future.  Emotional trauma is lodged in the body’s posture, movement, and energetics. Such patterns may lead to dysfunction such as back pain, headaches, sleeplessness and so on. Interconnectivity of our approach allows us to understand the coded messages from the body signaling a need to heal.
  1.   Physical conditions can be improved with movement.Even structural issues like bulging or herniated discs, scoliosis or arthritis requires learning a better way to move, to increase comfort and avoid or minimize future or further damage.
  1. The body is a system, not a symptom.Bodily symptoms are a sign of a faulty system. The body functions as a whole integrated system which is organized by the brain at command central.   Illness isn’t a myriad of isolated symptoms.

Unlock Pain Free Living  Today

Let’s put these 6 principles of neuroplasticity into context.

As a child, our clever brain and nervous system learns to crawl, walk and run. We grow into adults, these movement patterns become less efficient as they are influenced by injuries, repetitive stress and emotional/physical traumas.

Our brain figures out alternative neuropathways intended to avoid pain or further injury. These compensations are less efficient, and always more injurious as they become unconscious habits that still fire long after the stress or original injury is eliminated.

All these unconscious habits and harmful compensations are running in the background of our daily physical activities. Often, over time, we reach a tipping point where we have used up our body’s margin of error. Our brain attempts to warn us via pain and symptoms that we are in danger.

When we ignore the pain or muscle through it, the brain gets stuck firing the now involuntary, habitual pain pattern. According to Hebb’s Law: What fires together, wires together.

We often mistake this stage as an “All of a Sudden Injury”, “Chronic Pain” or “Premature Aging.” But the truth is that the dramatic breakdown — a herniated disc, a torn labrum, a blown out knee, TMJ, arthritis, fibromyalgia, etc. was initiated by how the brain commanded the muscles to fire.

Damaged neurons fire incessant false alarms, making us believe the problem is in our body when it is mostly in our brain. Long after the body has healed, the pain system is still firing in our brain.

Unlock Pain Free Living  Today

If you address pain relief with methods to rewire the brain instead of simply treating the local symptom, you actually ‘unlearn’ pain and upgrade the brain’s entire operating system. In this way, neuroplasticity supports each person’s ability to truly heal from inside out. It’s possible to re-discover and re-learn the ease, fluidity, and freedom the brain created innately.

Judy Ban Greenman

Judy Ban Greenman is a Natural Pain Relief and Empowerment Coach. She helps people access physical and emotional freedom, so they can transform struggle, reduce symptoms, move freely, and live fully with ease, choice and connection. Learn more about her work at Body Brain Freedom, https://bbfree.co/.