 Meet today’s case study: ME Firstly, apologies for the up close foot photo, but I’ve had foot pain for the past month and I've got something important to share. It’s only in the last week that I’ve been able to stand up and walk around more comfortably, and put on a shoe! As much as do love the hippy barefoot life, I would like my foot to eventually be 100% better and here’s how I’m going about it. A fast and hilly hike with a big back pack (20kgs to be precise) caused repetitive strain in the muscles in my foot. My investigative mind couldn’t leave it there, as I thought – why the top of my right foot with the rest of my body completely fine? Could it be from the previous sciatic nerve impingement I suffered 15-20 years ago, still affecting innervation of those muscles? I needed to know where the energy was blocked, or the movement restricted in my body, to find out why my poor foot was having to work so hard :( Looking under my skin with an X Ray (ugh radiation) and an ultrasound revealed nothing “wrong”, but I had this very visible and painful haemetoma (bad bruise), with swelling preventing much movement. So, I’ve been exploring the biomechanical (bone movement) aspects of this issue, which my team and I suspect is likely poor breath and spine mechanics. But how could it be? Teaching GOOD breath and spine mechanics is my life! Well, it turns out the ol’ ‘plumber’s toilet is perpetually blocked’ scenario had to a degree been playing out for me and my craft, and it was time to give as much time, attention & enquiry to my own body as I do my clients. So, I figured, no time like the present while I’m stranded in my apartment in too much pain to get down the stairs! Working with fellow Anatomy in Motion practitioner and root-cause detective Jonathon Bullen and heart-led Integrated Wellness Chiro Simon Martin, I started to understand why my right foot was being so insulted. As suspected (because 'old movement compensation patterns die hard') and as revealed in a spine flexion assessment, my Thoraco Lumbar Fascia (lower back tissues) were still holding a protective pattern resulting in limited lumbar flexion (lower back forward bending). What blew my mind is that my perception of how my spine was bending was not aligned with reality. Whilst there had certainly been some improvement since the 'sciatic days', I thought I could laterally flex my spine right, but turns out I had just found a way of cheating that movement by rotating my pelvis to the left. Ideally, when we walk, our spine laterally flexes from right to left in the space of one footstep (in less than a second). If we can’t bend equally from right to left, we won’t move as efficiently, and will find alternative strategies to get from one foot to the other. Over time that compensatory strategy may result in things like, oh, I don’t know… Foot pain? This insight as well as the understanding from my previous lower back injury, led me to study more deeply the nerves that travel from the lumbar spine and sacrum down into the feet. Yes, the nerves that keep our feet alive come out of the lumbar spine and sacrum, i.e. the lumbosacral plexus. Divisions of the femoral nerve, emanating from L2-L4, branch off into the saphenous nerve and plantar nerves, give sensory and motor information to the sole and top of the foot. Divisions of the sciatic nerve, emanating from L4-S3 branch off into the peroneal nerves, posterior tibial nerves, and calcaneal nerves, which give sensory and motor information to the heel and lateral aspect of the foot. What if the nerves of my right lumbosacral plexus, that go all the way down my leg to innervate my right foot, are being compressed all the time, perpetually smooshed by my inability to open my spine into lumbar flexion and overdoing left pelvic rotation? What was even more apparent, is the impact this then was having on EVERY BREATH I took – inhibiting postero-lateral expansion of my rib cage and hence my breathing mechanics. Overtime this can significantly impact ENERGY and VITALITY, slowly dimishing as low energy becomes your new normal. Scary! For better or worse, I like to try to figure things out on my own if I can. I’m just thankful to my right foot for pushing me to ask for help instead of continuing to jam my spine into a compression … This split between perception and reality is completely normal. When we have pain, we typically experience a loss of proprioception (position sensing). This is why it is so valuable to have a (or a whole team of) support person(s) who can objectively tell you what your body is actually doing, so you don’t make a bigger mess of things, like me. Getting clear on how my spine was actually moving helped me modify my movement strategies (i.e. stop hurting myself), and things have been steadily improving. It also sparked me to learn more about the lumbosacral plexus and better understand the anatomy involved in my problem. If we don’t have an awareness of how we are organizing our bodies in movement, we don’t have a chance at understanding how to get ourselves out of the patterns that are keeping us stuck with pain and inefficiencies. Every injury and pain problem is such a wonderful opportunity to learn. So my plan moving forward? Or should I say to move forward with a balanced alignment and stop hurting my poor foot! - Mindful and targetted spine mobility exercises (see video below as an example) - Directional breathwork and self-myofascial massage to open restricted areas of my breathing space - Cold water immersion and beach break wave activation. I find this to really help with detensioning when there's been a protective pattern - Whole body movement of the Ido Portal lineage with Perth local brother and adaptable mover & thinker Vinicius Fernandez-Martini - Given the meta-physical nature of all things, I am curious as to how this physical manifestation may be related to the recent passing of my Dad and a corresponding sense of loss of masculine energy and support in my life. This enquiry has led me to the deeply intuitive Cha Higginson to help me delve into the what my soul truly needs and desires to feel supported, and I can't wait to add this vital piece to my healing journey. Interested in learning more about the connections in your own body like this? Want help making sense of gait and movement assessments so you can help yourself or your clients/patience with more confidence? A new Movement Discovery Journey is launching on 30 May 2022, with optional start dates when you’re ready to be get out of pain and find your centre. To have me on your support team, please get in touch to learn more.
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Butts (predominantly gluteus maximus a.k.a. glute max) are wonderful, BUT stability for the lower back must firstly come from the core and not from the peach.
Our glutes are prime MOVERS that transmit force up the body in sports, such as swimming and down into the legs for activities, like walking and running. Conversely, our core is made of predominantly smaller muscles local to joints, which help stabilise the spine and pelvis. Standing on one leg, for example, is a core stability exercise, and if you have a strong core, you will NOT need to tense your butt in order to avoid falling over. This would be ‘fixation’, which will create unnecessary tension in your system and more than likely contribute further to an UNSTABLE back and ultimately lower back pain. The 'core', referring to entire myofascial continuum - from the inner arches of the feet to the sides of your head – needs to be strong, adaptable and resilient to stabilise us. This means the BUTT can occasionally actually relax and then be ready to fire and do the job it was designed to do! I know this may be confusing due to many “experts” having told you the opposite, but I’ve seen it time and time again – when this old belief and neuromuscular patterning starts to be ‘undone’, magical things happen! Pain resides, the glutes actually wake up, and the client’s sense of power from within skyrockets on many levels. Client Revelation: "Words cannot express my excitement for what I am discovering working with Annelise. My body is changing, like its waking up! Following the birth of my children I had several pelvic and jaw surgeries, and the work to reconnect to my core it was hard! I had to undo everything I had previously learnt to fix my broken body, but Annelise helped remind me and to feel that actually nothing is broken! It took a while to undo what I had previously been lead to believe – that to protect from prolapse I had to walk around clenching my butt – the more butt clenches the better – I had turned into a protective tight ass! I didn’t realise that I had actually been creating a very uncomfortable and even damaging ‘armouring’ for my pelvis. With the movement discovery sessions I could feel my body start to unwind. A significant rotation of my pelvis literally started to unwind as we worked. It was quite an amazing and empowering feeling to be connecting to and feeling movement in parts of my body that I had completely forgotten about and previously felt were damaged forever." 1on1 sessions at the Scarborough studio guide you to safely start the unwinding process, in the most supportive possible way. Please do get in touch :)  Empowering people by guiding them with techniques that help them familiarise with their breath is not something I envisaged I'd ever be doing, but I'm kinda hooked. The breath is one mighty tool!
After years of dabbling in various breathwork styles I collated the techniques I found to be beneficial, but also fun to play with into an introductory course for those of you ready to master your breath, your life and (thanks for reminding us Wim Hof!) your chemistry. Throughout each course it is not uncommon to hear people's fears, stresses and anxiety start to disappear and be replaced with confidence and empowerment. At the end of just one course session, Julia T commented, "I was no longer nervous to speak to the group and I don't recall ever being this confident to speak in public." Whilst breathing exercises are no doubt one of the easiest ways to calm your mind, there are many benefits to practicing a breathing technique on a regular basis. One such advantage in relation to physical training is an increase in energy and vitality and a reduction in muscle recovery time (less DOMs!) For example, we can reduce fatigue when going for a run - running further, faster and becoming less puffed - simply by learning to breathe through the nose and utilising all 5 compartments of our lungs. The best way to achieve this? Start at rest, as often as you can! James Nester has inspired many of us recently with his captivating story-telling of his research and self-practice to reveal the science behind the art of breathing. He speaks of mouth-taping at night to encourage nasal breathing while sleeping, so I just had to try it. The verdict results in a slightly uninspiring story as turns out I'm not a chronic mouth-breather. There was no waking in the night gasping for breath thinking I was going to die, which is common at the beginning for those who have slipped into the mouth breathing habit. If you discover or know that this is you, perhaps starting your journey to enhanced health and happiness via nasal breathing while awake and conscious will make for a smoother transition :-) Another technique you can practice is to reduce your breath by learning how to breathe "less" or "quietly", so that if someone were watching you they could hardly tell you were breathing at all. This style of breathing is a relic from Butekyo, who used it as a means to retain more oxygen. Something else for which this method is also useful, (insert caption for seemingly random handstand pic above ;-P ) is to find your ultimate stability in a handstand, without holding the breath or gasping for breath and throwing you off your game! Become the master of your breath, and make more things possible.  Unexplained lower back pain is something that has plagued me to varying degrees throughout 30 of my nearly 40 years of life, and I must say that both the diagnostics to determine the cause, as well as the management strategies to either deal with or ideally dissolve the pain, have been severely lacking.
In previous blogs I’ve mentioned how this set me off on a path of self-diagnosis and management. What I discovered was that my body was in a constant state of low to high level inflammation with my nervous system on high alert, both leading to ongoing lower back tension. My investigations, study, research and inquiry also landed me in serving the way I do currently, in helping people to move and breathe better, and sustainably. Fittingly for my clients, it is usually always stress and tension which must first be reduced, to again have the body moving as an efficient, supported and COMPLETE whole. Like often attracts like and I would go on to encounter many other lower back pain sufferers along my discovery and healing journey. The more people I met the more I learnt about the causes of this sometimes unexplained and random affliction: endometriosis, scoliosis, sciatica, cancer, arthritis, osteoporosis, herniated disc, prostate issues, ligament strain, spinal stenosis, joint laxity, pregnancy or postpartum complications - the list goes on. The common aspect I have found among those with one of the above conditions, is that they either become protective around the affliction and hence stop moving, or are unsure how to safely do so. When the body is suffering we are often told to rest; to stop moving in case you do something that worsens the condition. However, a doctor’s recommendation to “take it easy” is not very helpful if it means becoming afraid to move. This type of fear can further inflame a condition and lead to even greater tension and lower back pain. Despite the serious nature of these situations, over time working with a variety of lower back pain sufferers, I started to see that the degree of suffering could be heavily reduced or even diminished simply by moving gently and breathing intentionally. One thing I personally needed to learn was how to move again, after being restricted and being told to not move for such a long time. So, what specifically did I learn and what can you do?
Applying the above will enable you to again enjoy being in your body despite years of tension and fear held around the lower back. It was from this place that the Pelvic Performance Masterclass was born .... to show you how you can safely move through pregnancy, or any issue that affects the area in or around the pelvis, spine and hips. Join us at the next masterclass at the Mind Body Heart studio in Wembley, Perth.  While working from home has suited an extroverted introvert like myself quite well, the past few months have highlighted how much I do love the in-person interaction of teaching at the studio in (pictured above).
However, for some, the newfound convenience of online training will over-ride the pull to return to in-person group classes – and why we at the Perth Mind Body Heart Studio are excited to have a beautiful facility from which to serve both interest groups. Personally I’m super excited to be back teaching face-to-face . Over my 10 years of teaching movement in different settings, it is the generally increased participation and interaction of the group environment that really light me up. In-person Pilates, Yoga other movement classes are also highly beneficial for many participants who appreciate hands-on cuing to gently guide their bodies into more functional movement patterns. We know the power of touch - as confirmed for us by science in study of teams in the NBA, which found that the amount of on-court touching by players (via chest bumps, high fives, back slaps) predicted performance across the season, in all teams. The study suggested that in humans, "touch strengthens relationships and is a marker of closeness”. But not everyone thrives in an in-person environment. Our behaviour is mostly determined by our genes – everything from whether you rebel or toe the line; are driven by competition or prefer to achieve tasks thoroughly and at your own pace; and whether you thrive learning or exercising online in the privacy of your own space, or you are more motivated and inspired in training with others in a group setting. How ‘touch’ is translated by our bodies, is subjective to the person receiving it. So, how does the power of touch “evidence” not apply if you prefer to be guided through postural alignment from the comfort of your living room? Well, aside from the obvious – convenience for busy people or those who shy away from leaving the house in the dark or rain – it comes down to your genes. Specifically, what kind of social (or solitary) environment will best enable your brain and body to function most efficiently and with the least stress on your system. I have friends who love to train with a buddy, those who won’t get off the couch unless ‘the group’ is also training, and those who like the freedom of running solo and tracking their progress independent of the influence of other’s fitness or lack-there-of. Our genes determine our preference of what drives us – interaction or solo, quieter pursuits – based on the hormones our body produces in response to our social environment, affecting our chemistry and hence the function of our entire system. Knowing your health type can help you confirm just how much you are likely to benefit by returning to a group class environment. Register to take the free Ph360 Health Type test. Whatever your type, if postural balance and improved performance with less pain is what you need – select the movement classes that suit you best, from either our Live Stream or Perth local Yoga, Pilates & Breathwork & Meditation selections. We promise that venturing from your home and into our delightful studio will not leave you disappointed that you did, especially after trialing as many of our classes as like on our special 7 days for $7 Sacred 7 Intro Offer. For the love of breath & movement, Annelise x  Breathing comes naturally, but breathing efficiently takes practice. Once you’ve developed a basic level of competency, everything gets easier – from high performance sports to being creative to resting, and everything in between.
Efficient breathing is also a core basis for reaching profound places in your breathwork sessions. Your attention will less be drawn to trying to breathe so that your breath can more easily be the gateway to letting go of your mind and breaking through fear – not an easy feat with respiratory restriction constantly pulling your attention back to the ‘physical’. Not many people spend much time thinking about, let alone practicing their breathing. However, a few drills practiced regularly combined with the awareness of your breathing during your movement practice will yield benefits for a lifetime. So allow me to take you through an exercise for diaphragmatic breathing, which is fundamental to breath control and efficiency. Place one hand on your chest, the other on your abdomen, just below your sternum, on the solar plexus, or diaphragm area. Use your hands to feel & observe into which parts of your lungs you are breathing. Where is the movement taking place? In the chest? Abdomen? Back? Sides? Everywhere? Where do you feel it the most? Let’s learn to control where the breathing takes place at a mechanical level. You want to be able to use your diaphragm only (abdomen area) and not your chest (the opposite is easy for everyone), which can be challenging at first. Start by taking an easy breath in through the nose. Now breathe OUT through the mouth, contracting your abdominal muscles. As you do, the diaphragm relaxes as your belly pulls IN. Breathe all the way out, until you cannot pull in your belly any further. Time to breathe in. The common reflex is to inflate your chest and make it big. Resist this. Instead, avoid any voluntary movement from your chest and upper respiratory muscles. Of course, chest breathing is very useful in movement when intensity demands it, but your ultimate goal should be to learn how to dissociate and select various ways of breathing, at will. Here, focus on your diaphragm and abdomen area. Now that we have made room for new air, it is time to breathe in! The breathing in we want is that the diaphragm contracts (descends), letting your belly inflate as you inhale fully. It won’t show your six packs abs, but it is essential to learn to breathe in a relaxed manner. When you breathe in and you’re just sitting or standing, you don’t need the superficial layer of your abdominal muscles to contract. If there is a slight motion in your chest, it is the sole result of your deep inhale, not the result of a voluntary use of other muscles besides the key respiratory muscles. Once you have a sense of the lowering (inhale) and raising (exhale) of your diaphragm, and on different days or situations, start to try some progressions and variations to explore in your breathing practice: >> Practice rhythm, for instance breathing in and out increasingly fast, or alternate fast inhale and slow exhale, slow inhale and fast exhale etc…without losing your pattern and getting confused, or bringing the chest into your breathing practice. >> Practice integrating your breathing practice into the daily movement practice or while exercising or simply walking, at varied levels of intensity, until you feel that it becomes an integral part of your movement. For example, with walking, at first it may be controlling the timing of your diaphragmatic breathing – 3 steps INhale, 6 steps EXhale. Or, find the timing which enables you to keep breathing diaphragmatically in the most relaxed way possible. After a while, you might realise this starts to become less controlled and simply the way you now naturally breathe! Just keep practicing! Where breathing dis-function is preventing you from developing an fruitful relationship with your breath, personalised attention from an experienced breathwork practitioner can do wonders. Please get in touch OR book into a Perth workshop to experience the gateways that breathwork can provide in your life..  My previous blog post mentioned “so much more” in reference to how I avoided back surgery and went on to live a relatively pain free life. I thought it would be remiss of me not to share the powerful but understated technique to which this elusive comment refers!
I failed to mention the pivotal few days that led to my decision to not go under the knife – to elect not to have the discectomy (part of one of my very necessary vertebral discs removed) that I had been prescribed. What I didn’t realise at the time, was just how fortunate I was to have also been prescribed ear surgery to patch up an ear drum I had ruptured wake boarding some months earlier. What was fortunate about this situation was that I was forced to lye in bed for 2 days while the affects of the drugs and anaesthetic wore off. During this time while nothing to do and nowhere to be, I found myself intuitively focusing on my breathing. I wasn't trying to control or change it, but I simply used the time to observe the breath until it started to become a wholebody experience. I could literally feel every cell in my body breathe along with every inhale and exhale that passed my lips. When you’re focused on something (in this case the breath), it’s very difficult to focus on anything else (i.e. ‘think’). These gaps in my usual thinking created space in my mind. With this spaciousness came ease in my cells, in my being and the inflammation that had caused me debilitating pain over the past month, settled. After these 2 days I could walk again with ease. I managed to avoid having the prescribed surgery and nurtured my new state of health with positive lifestyle choices. 2 days of conscious awareness of my breath compared to a big scar, massive down down time from my work and months of rehabilitation from surgery? I would take this option any day! The beauty of this experience for me is the simplicity of the technique relative to the powerful physical transformation that took place. So, why are doctors not prescribing such techniques to their patients? Well, there are many reasons and I’ll save sharing my opinions to a later blog, but what I can say is that this method of healing is FREE and I believe there is no better way to experience your immense personal power by healing your body via the breath. If you're experiencing a restriction or dis-ease within your body, you don't have to wait like I did for a crisis to allow yourself the time to "do nothing" so that you can start the healing process. These powerful techniques are available to you today so book in for a free phone consult to chat about how to fast track your physical and emotional healing. These days I practice a variety of different types of breathwork and am continuously amazed by what comes up both physically and emotionally - stuff that would have held me back from experiencing life to its fullest for years, had I not taken the opportunity to realise it was there, work through it and let it go. I can honestly say I experience new insight into, and a greater connection to, both myself and the world around me with every breathwork session I take, and my sense of personal freedom and power as a woman continues to grow exponentially. Whether you're new to breathwork or have had a practice for years, you may like to experience the combined power of breathwork and movement at one of our Perth workshops. Breath Heals. You are the Master of your body. Inquire within.  I have always been a mover - whether it be gymnastics, athletics, boxing, dancing, or adventures in nature. If it meant being active (and competitive!) I was there.
What I didn’t realise, is that at some point, or points, throughout my movement history, which involved various stacks, crashes and goal-oriented training, my body started to develop faulty movement patterns, or 'compensation patterns'. When we injure ourselves, affected muscles and joints can stop doing their job, forcing other muscles or joints (not intended for that movement) to take up the slack. This is fine temporarily, but when correct function is not reinstated, we may forever move sub-optimally. This can result in pain, restriction, poor posture and movement inefficiency - basically not maximising your body’s potential! Want to know how movement coaching can optimise your body’s potential? Then one day when I was at university, I took a bus into the city to meet up with a study group and as I stepped off the bus I felt a sharp pain shooting down my leg. All of a sudden I couldn’t walk....at the ripe young age of 20! At the time I did the “smart” thing and took the advice of a neurosurgeon (who’s job it is to cut open battered bodies), which was to ‘immobilise’ and take 6 months of uni. This meant me lying on my back in my Mum’s lounge room watching far too many episodes of Days of Our Lives….and it seemed even Dr Phil couldn’t help! Oh the wisdom of hindsight – spines (and discs) NEED movement. Needless to say, 6 months later I was wheeled into the operating room to have part of one of my vertebral discs removed. My back healed (or at least the incision did) and movement again become a big part of my life. In fact I had even stumbled into teaching movement after Pilates had proven useful to rehabilitate myself from various snow boarding injuries. Unfortunately however, I was still experiencing lower back pain in the same area as before the surgery 10 years earlier. It took me a few more years to figure out why. The thing is, the surgery hadn’t addressed the faulty movement patterns that had caused my discs to be inflamed all those years earlier, and therefore the same issue was rearing its ugly head. After all, it's difficult to address something you don't realise is an issue. I had received treatment for back pain from various manual therapists, and whilst some offered corrective exercises, none suggested that the way I walked, played sport, slept, sat, stood, etc. could be the cause of the pain and restriction I was experiencing! In fact, I wasn't even aware that movement (re-)training was a thing. Pilates was great for keeping me physically fit, but without being aware of my faulty movement patterns, my condition only got worse! Identifying these patterns required firstly for someone to point them out (thanks JP from Body Logic), and then that I ‘tune in’ to my body on a deeper level than I had before. I needed to step back from big explosive movements to listen to the subtleties. And what I heard was unexpected. Whilst my entire focus around my physical body had been on physique and fitness, I started to hear that my physical body was simply responding to how I was moving through life - rushed, short of breath and, well...wonky! This was my slap-in-the-face insight into the mind-body connection. Then a few years ago, the penny well untruly dropped. I was in Bali and again I couldn’t walk. By now I theoretically understood that we have the ability to harness the power of our minds, but when pain and pressure were affecting my livelihood, sadly surgery seemed like my only option. This time though, I knew better. So, I decided to embody it. This was no easy decision, as many well-meaning friends and family just wanted to see me out of pain in the quickest possible way. But knowing a quick fix is just that, I decided to take the risk and elected not to have the surgery. I did extensive study and moved in ways that resonated with my body. I learnt about fascia mostly via Slings Myofascial Training©, which is not only a physical training, but considers the body holistically via the fascial network. This network has physical qualities that we can enhance with movement, with massage, but it is also highly innervated, meaning sometimes we can make the biggest changes with the most subtle inputs. So I started working with the subtleties via a line of inquiry: > How could I use the breath to create expansiveness in certain areas of the body while switching off “held” muscles around the injury and soften tension in tissues? > How could I use what I knew about fascia being a highly sensory organ to bring about change in the way I sensed my body, including the pain I was experiencing? > How could I sequence moves to access the parasympathetic nervous system and hence healthy fascial tone, in my case, by way of letting go. > How could I regulate the intrinsic tone of my muscles when even walking hurt? Insight gained was from many sources. I learnt from Gary Ward how our joints are meant to move through their ranges in walking (gait biomechanics, which underpins all movement) and how to ‘find centre’. Bruce Lipton inspired me with the science of epigenetics that confirms the lifestyle (environment) we chose influences our gene expression (our physical function and appearance) and I refined how to put this into action with the wisdom of the likes of Ph360 and Joe Dispenza. Ido Portal affirmed that movement is art, is inspired from within and enhanced with continual play, challenge and expression. Through Jon Kabat-Ziin’s work I embodied mindfulness, and was informed by Kelly McGonical of how our perception of stress affects the physical body. And so much more. As my knowledge evolved, my lifestyle changed. I found ways to move, breathe, eat and think to nourish my joints, ward off muscle atrophy, wake up sleepy muscles (still asleep from previous injuries), improve fascial health and most of all, reduce inflammation and bring ease to my being. I could hardly believe that I had evaded surgery by tuning in to have pain-free movement freedom return. I felt a sense of empowerment like never before. 6 months after that time in Bali, I competed in a multi-event adventure race and I am currently in training for my next race today. By no way am I going to pretend that I my body is 100% where I want it to be. One thing about having a heightened awareness of your body is you are also highly aware of what’s possible, so there are still aspects that I’m working on to bring even more balance back into my body. And I’m quite content in knowing that I have the resources to make this happen. If you feel like some feedback from a trained movement professional could help you to tune in, get in touch or check how we can help. |
AuthorAnnelise is a Holistic Lifestyle Coach specialised in helping her clients gain movement freedom in their bodies and vitality in their life. Archives
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