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personal health
| 11/4/2009 10:39:00 AM Email this article • Print this article |
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Maren Waldman and Ron Floyd collaborate for this innovative new course. (Photo by Rachel Philipson) |
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Stretch it Out
Taryn Thompson
Reporter
It's anovel combination of movement, stretching, anatomy and - drum roll, please - self-massage. Yes, the User's Guide to Your Body will explore ways to mitigate stress and teach techniques to reduce painful areas of chronic tension - all by oneself. The informative workshop series starts next week through the Ithaca Center for Health and will focus on understanding and taking care of one's own body.
And, while the class is open to everyone, it's actually perfect for those who know nothing about anatomy or massage; but it will also serve as a refresher course for seasoned body workers. It does, however, require a moderate level of mobility.
Headed by licensed massage therapists Maren Waldman and Ron Floyd, the class will cover the whole body, working upward from the feet through the legs, hips and back, up to the chest, neck and head. Instruction and movement will change each week, depending on the body area of focus. The overall goal, Floyd said, is to teach people how to better maintain themselves in order to use their bodies more efficiently.
"We'll learn just a pinch of physiology, a couple of things that are good to know about how muscles work," Floyd said. "And the anatomy is very elementary, just to get a sense of what movements are available in each joint."
With approximately a half-hour of lecture on anatomy, the class will involve some movement and stretching broken up in different places, in addition to some self-massage, and participants will learn aspects of self-care that can be employed right at home. Waldman, also a dance artist, said her massage therapy treatments and dance lessons are starting to overlap.
"Instead of only giving somebody a massage, I'm always educating them as best I can about their body," she said.
"I give them specific stretches that will target a painful area or area of discomfort or stiffness, and sometimes instead of stretching I feel like giving people gentle movements," Waldman said. "When people have pain, sometimes it's because there's a pattern in the body that's not working. By asking the body to slow down, you basically retrain it to move healthier or in a way that will not be painful."
The course is designed to help participants gain a greater understanding of how the body establishes these patterns that lead to tension. Breaking these patterns enhances grace and poise while reducing pain and fatigue, Waldman said. The course will also explore how posture and movement patterns can affect mood and mental state. Waldman and Floyd will be presenting a lot of information and offering a suggested reading list, too.
"The handouts will be illustrations and text so that when they go home, they can look at it easily and remember what they did, and maybe do it a couple of times," said Floyd.
"You have to be able to see and understand what you're doing before you start massaging yourself," Waldman said. "When you can really picture what's going on, then you engage the mind, and that can go a long way to helping what you do become more specific and more efficient."
Massage therapists often receive calls from people in emergency situations, Floyd said, but most are unable to take a client day-of.
"This will help mediate those things, and help people know how to get themselves out of those acute situations," he said.
Floyd said employing certain tools can augment self-massage.
"There are a lot of different types of balls and different kinds of props that we'll use, all of which are relatively inexpensive," Floyd said, listing golf balls, squash balls, racquetballs and tennis balls among them. The User's Guide to Your Body will also use "foam rollers," which Floyd created by cutting pool noodles into one-foot sections.
"The idea is to use one's own weight to apply pressure, and then we'll take them through specific movements depending on where the tool is that engage opposing muscle groups that can get stuck together," Floyd said. This happens if muscles are strained or overused, or as a result of insufficient water consumption or insufficient stretching.
"If they get stuck together, we're working against ourselves in certain movements, which can cause pain and lower our energy levels," Floyd said. "If we keep these muscles open and separated, then we have more energy."
The class is perfect for those already on the path to learning about their bodies, and only involves non -aerobic, uncomplicated movement. The course would also be beneficial for yogis and yoga teachers looking to refresh their understanding of anatomy, or for athletes, performers or others who use their physical bodies regularly in their work.
"It will be at a level that pretty much anybody can understand, and if you know some stuff already it will depend your knowledge," Waldman said.
Because class size is limited to 12, participants will receive very personal instruction. The User's Guide to Your Body will be held over six weeks in two-hour sessions on Monday nights, beginning at 7 p.m. at Soma Living Arts. Participants may sign up for the entire course or take individual sessions, as well.
The series begins Nov. 9; registration is required. Visit www.ithacacenterforhealth.com for more information.
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Suicide has recently come to Ithaca in a very public, and at times controversial, way. This past academic year, after three years with no suicides, Cornell experienced what is known in the scientific community as a "suicide cluster." OK, so maybe you're like me and you thought this whole JetBlue flight attendant story was good for maybe one news cycle.  |
