Introduction to Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes (EDS) and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders (HSD) in Our Practices

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Introduction to Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes (EDS) and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders (HSD) in Our Practices

EDS and HSD are diseases affecting the connective tissues. They are thought to be genetic in origin. They are spectrum disorders and so symptom pictures are highly variable.

The Ehlers-Danlos Society offers this definition of EDS: The Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS) are a group of 13 heritable connective tissue disorders. The conditions are caused by genetic changes that affect connective tissue. Each type of EDS has its own set of features with distinct diagnostic criteria. Some features are seen across all types of EDS, including joint hypermobility, skin hyperextensibility, and tissue fragility.

Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders can co-occur with EDS or present on their own. There is often overlap in symptoms between the two and differentiating between them can be challenging.

The Ehlers-Danlos Society offers this definition of HSD: Hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD) are connective tissue disorders that cause joint hypermobility, instability, injury, and pain. Other problems such as fatigue, headaches, GI problems, and autonomic dysfunction are often seen as part of HSD.

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Myofascial Mapping and Techniques

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Myofascial Mapping and Techniques

Myofascia means the fascial system that contains, organizes and connects our muscles with each other across joints; including, tendons, ligaments and their bony attachments. 

The anatomy we learned in school, with its emphasis on origins and insertions leaves us with an incomplete picture of the soft tissue milieu. Our approach emphasizes the relationships between muscles via the fascia. 

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How do we talk about “safety” in our work?

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How do we talk about “safety” in our work?

I have been thinking about “safety” lately. I love the polyvagal theory because it places feelings solidly within the ranges of our physiological felt sense, aka interoception. Many people experience the range of their emotions as physiological sensations (or symptoms depending on perspective/severity). The polyvagal theory offers us a map to help our people interpret what the body is expressing. However, most articulations of the theory use the word “safety” in a way I find troubling.

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What Inspires you?

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What Inspires you?

Our job isn't easy. And the holidays can make everything more intense, highs and lows. This week I have already seen multiple folks in more acute states of struggle than usual. It can sometimes be a challenge to fully show up for our people and make sure we are tending to our own sweet selves. Don't worry, this wont be a treatise on self-care. Rather, I'm thinking about "inspo!" Sometimes inspiration just happens and that's rad but unpredictable and we might need it more frequently than that. I believe we can cultivate that feeling of inspiration in lots of ways.

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Conversation with Shayne Case + Michael McMahon

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Conversation with Shayne Case + Michael McMahon

We think you will enjoy this wide ranging and enlivening conversation between Shayne Case and Michael McMahon. Topics include perspectives on healing in this current time, big ideas, specific love of words and much more!

Shayne Case is a mother, healer, writer, medicine maker, and an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. 

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Perspectives on Fascia in the Media

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Perspectives on Fascia in the Media

The New York Times and Medicine Acknowledge Fascia is Important (!)

I always brace myself before reading an article in a mainstream pub about something that our collective fields have been working with and exploring for a very long time and to good effect (see NYT article on the vagus nerve that emphasizes potentials for drugs and inserted gadgets rather than attuned health care and relationships). Such was the case with the recent NYT brief on “New” understandings about fascia. 

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A Guide to Working With Post Spinal Surgery Folks - Spinal Surgeries, Part 1

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A Guide to Working With Post Spinal Surgery Folks - Spinal Surgeries, Part 1

Let’s talk about working with folks after a spinal surgery. This is a follow up to the post about “dose” when it comes to bodywork. We will see that dose, not just in one session but over the arc of treatment is important in these cases. We want to have our eye on the long game for our people.

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Why I’m not that interested in the question “what kind of craniosacral therapy do you do/teach?”

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Why I’m not that interested in the question “what kind of craniosacral therapy do you do/teach?”

I get asked a lot about “my approach” to craniosacral therapy (CST). Of course, I have one. It is always evolving and is rooted in my experience of doing the work with the people I am treating. I am not beholden to anyone else’s ideas about the craniosacral system, I love being with each person’s system and listening to and participating with  how their system presents itself…

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Vagus Nerve, Wellness Culture and Biohack Talk 

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Vagus Nerve, Wellness Culture and Biohack Talk 

Wellness/biohack culture is obsessed with the vagus nerve and yet often misses the point of what can be helpful about understanding the polyvagal theory and the individual dynamism of each of our vagal systems. There isn’t a shortcut for deepening our capacity for both self and co-regulation. 

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What does it mean to live into the principles of our work?

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What does it mean to live into the principles of our work?

I want to highlight a piece of writing  by Susan Raffo on the history of “Osteopathy” and craniosacral therapy (CST). It is an unfortunate history and needs to be addressed in all places that folks are learning and practicing this work. I am grateful to have come upon Susan Raffo’s work, both this piece and her newish book, Liberated to the Bone. 

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An Ode to the Diaphragm

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An Ode to the Diaphragm

The Diaphragm as a (silent) Mediator of Emotional Experience…The diaphragm is a myofascial structure with all of the properties of our myofascial system plus the added link to our autonomic nervous system via our breathing. Because of this connection with breath the diaphragm can act as a below-the-level-of-conscious-awareness mediator of our emotional experiences.

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Check and Adapt

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Check and Adapt

Check and Adapt is something I’ve been practicing since my time as a wilderness guide. It applies to everything from how I approach a client on the table to business planning at a high level to the ongoing evolution of the Moving Mountain Institute curriculum design. Once you start working you learn more information. Check and adapt gives you the flexibility to evaluate what’s working, what needs to change and ways to think about how to change.

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The Thoracolumbar Junction: The place you need to know, but maybe don’t… 

/ Moving Mountain Institute/
The Thoracolumbar Junction: The place you need to know, but maybe don’t… 

One of the most important regions of the body when it comes to treating myofascial pain and some visceral issues is the thoracolumbar junction (TLJ). It is where the thoracic spine meets the lumbar spine - and a whole lot more.

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Craniosacral Therapy: The missing link in healthcare?

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Craniosacral Therapy: The missing link in healthcare?

We are in the midst of evolving health challenges, and there is very little that the conventional healthcare system will be able to offer those who are suffering from complications related to long COVID. Our work as holistic health practitioners is a missing link in our decidedly under functioning healthcare system. Because of this, it seems relevant to consider craniosacral work as a component of care—and hopefully healing—for people suffering multiple chronic and long-term afflictions after COVID infection.

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CASE STUDY: Hands-on treatments after COVID infection

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CASE STUDY: Hands-on treatments after COVID infection

Under our current healthcare system, bodyworkers, naturopaths, and TCM practitioners are all expected to treat the people and symptom sets that the system can’t or won't.

We are the main interface with healthcare for many. That means we have to be looking out for our people. As we move deeper into the pandemic, our role is essential.

Providing effective treatment to patients in the healing and recovery stages of COVID infection demands a nuanced, oblique view of this new disease vector.

I recently had a case that underscores the importance of how we treat COVID, holistically.

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Flipped Learning for Hands-On Healers

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Flipped Learning for Hands-On Healers

You know the struggle so well. You’re psyched for a class and want to learn as much as you can to help your clients or patients. The instructor knows what they’re talking about and the technique is great. And yet…

It all happens too fast. The lectures, the labs, the task switching, the jumble and complexity and and and… and you can’t take it all in. You struggle to focus on the thing that got you so excited to be there in the first place.

A "flipped" classroom addresses this struggle. We feel it's the ideal format for learning hands-on skills like bodywork, acupuncture, and other hands-on skills.

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2022-2023 Course Calendar & Curricula Updates!

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2022-2023 Course Calendar & Curricula Updates!

We have updated our course calendar for the remainder of 2022 through May 2023! If you had told a younger version of me I would be having things planned a year out I would have never believed you!

We have been working hard in the background taking insights we have learned from our new cohort based hybrid craniosacral curriculum and applying them to our other curricula. I am thrilled with how it’s coming together.

Let me explain what we mean by our version of a hybrid course model - we think it’s pretty cool and a little different in our field.

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Anatomy As Symbol Language

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Anatomy As Symbol Language

Periodically we will use this space to share and elaborate on conversations that come up in class (truly, one of my favorite things about teaching and the MMI community are the spontaneous dialogues we get to have when we come together). I love the richness and the depth that we get to almost immediately. As it’s happening I wish more folks could have the opportunity share in the richness…

Image: Archaic cuneiform table E.A. Hoffman

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