Saturday, May 15, 2010

1) What is Movement Therapy?

Definition
Movement therapy refers to a broad range of Eastern and Western movement approaches used to promote physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

Movement therapy uses body movement to affect physiological functioning. It includes muscle and tissue manipulation, education and awareness, breathing and emotional expression, and specific movement patterns. Movement therapy is used to enhance an individual's mind/body awareness and promote a healthier lifestyle.

Basic Principles behind Movement therapies
Movement therapies work on the premise that by repatterning muscle relationships, one can overcome discomfort and experience a heightened sense of the body and its relationship to the environment. Most therapies were developed by individuals who sought relief from chronic pain or saw others who needed therapeutic relief. Neuromuscular reeducation is integral to the process of movement therapy. Some therapies involve deep muscle massage which acts as a firststep in releasing tension. The field of movement therapy can be broken down into specific theories and techniques.


The term movement therapy is often associated with dance therapy. Some dance therapists work privately with people who are interested in personal growth. Others work in mental health settings with autistic, brain injured and learning disabled children, the elderly, and disabled adults.


Origins
Movement is fundamental to human life. In fact movement is life. Contemporary physics tells us that the universe and everything in it is in constant motion. We can move our body and at the most basic level our body is movement. According to the somatic educator Thomas Hanna, "The living body is a moving body—indeed, it is a constantly moving body." The poet and philosopher Alan Watts eloquently states a similar view, "A living body is not a fixed thing but a flowing event, like a flame or a whirlpool." Centuries earlier, the great Western philosopher Socrates understood what modern physics has proven, "The universe is motion and nothing else."

Since the beginning of time, indigenous societies around the world have used movement and dance for individual and community healing. Movement and song were used for personal healing, to create community, to ensure successful crops, and to promote fertility. Movement is still an essential part of many healing traditions and practices throughout the world.

Western movement therapies generally developed out of the realm of dance. Many of these movement approaches were created by former dancers or choreographers who were searching for a way to prevent injury, attempting to recover from an injury, or who were curious about the effects of new ways of moving. Some movement therapies arose out of the fields of physical therapy, psychology, and bodywork. Other movement therapies were developed as way to treat an incurable disease or condition.

Eastern movement therapies, such as yoga, qigong, and t'ai chi began as a spiritual or self-defense practices and evolved into healing therapies. In China, for example, Taoist monks learned to use specific breathing and movement patterns in order to promote mental clarity, physical strength, and support their practice of meditation. These practices, later known as qigong and t'ai chi eventually became recognized as ways to increase health and prolong life

Some Popular Movement Therapies

Aston patterning is a deep muscle manipulation technique used in conjunction with neuromuscular reeducation. It is particularly beneficial for individuals with chronic pain such as tennis elbow and for people with postural problems. It differs from other techniques in that the patient receives long term relief. Reeducation is essential to the technique, for one must consciously change the movement patterns that caused the pain.

The Alexander technique was developed by F. Mathias Alexander, an Australian actor who suffered severe vocal difficulties and studied his own habits of movement to determine what might be causing them. He discovered a habit of tensing his neck muscles with the intake of each breath that resulted in distortion of the head-neck-spine relationship. He named this head-neck-spine relationship the "primary control" and promoted a system of movement reeducation to bring increased awareness of these anatomical relationships. This technique results in a sense of kinesthetic lightness where thinking becomes clearer, sensations livelier, and movement more pleasurable.

The Feldenkrais method deals with structural integration of the mind and the body using movement training, gentle touch, and verbal dialogue. Moshe Feldenkrais was a physicist who suffered a sports related injury which drove him toexplore his own movement patterns. He succeeded in overcoming his handicap,and in the process he developed sequences of movements designed to replace old negative habits with new structurally integrated ones. He developed two approaches: awareness through movement, which uses group sessions, and functional integration, which specializes in individualized gentle touch. Results include improved posture, better flexibility, coordination, and less pain and tension.

Hellerwork combines deep tissue massage, guided verbal dialogue, and movement education. The purpose is to structurally realign the body, release tension,and enhance mind/body awareness. The technique involves deep massage along with dialogue on how to move properly and how to change habits and lifestyle in order to reduce tension. Results are improved posture, relief of common aches and pains, and increased awareness of emotional problems contributing to physical disabilities.

The Pilates method is a system of physical conditioning and rehabilitation. Pilates works from the inside out, beginning with pelvic stabilization, intense concentration, patience, body alignment, breathing, and intelligence. Joseph Pilates was a gymnast and bodybuilder born in 1880. During World War I, he devised a series of exercises to aid rehabilitation of wounded soldiers using springs attached to a hospital bed. He moved to New York City in 1923 and began to use the wooden bed, now called the universal reformer, to recondition dancers and athletes. Pilates later added other apparatus to his system, such as the chair, the trapeze table, and the barrel, as well as an extensive series of mat exercises. Deep breathing and abdominal support are important ingredients in the technique. Results are strength, control, lengthening through the spine, and correction of imbalance and faulty neuromuscular patterning.

Trager work is a method of gentle, rhythmical touch combined with movement reeducation. As the individual lies on a table, a certified practitioner uses gentle, non-intrusive touch to loosen muscles and joints. These gentle movements trigger sensory motor feedback between the mind and body, which in turn produces psychophysical integration. After the manipulation session, the patient is introduced to a series of movements to maintain a sense of lightness and awareness called mentastics. Trager work is beneficial for severe neuromuscular disturbances and produces increased body awareness.

Continuum movement has also been shown to be effective in treating neurological disorders including spinal chord injury. Developed by Emilie Conrad and Susan Harper, continuum movement is an inquiry into the creative flux of our body and all of life. Sound, breath, subtle and dynamic movements are explored that stimulate the brain and increase resonance with the fluid world of movement. The emphasis is upon unpredictable, spontaneous or spiral movements rather than a linear movement pattern. According to Conrad, "Awareness changes how we physically move. As we become more fluid and resilient so do the mental, emotional, and spiritual movements of our lives."

Ideokinesis is another movement approach emphasizing neuromuscular reeducation. Lulu Sweigart based her work on the pioneering approach of her teacher Mabel Elsworth Todd. Ideokinesis uses imagery to train the nervous system to stimulate the right muscles for the intended movement. If one continues to give the nervous system a clear mental picture of the movement intended, it will automatically select the best way to perform the movement. For example, to enhance balance in standing, Sweigart taught people to visualize "lines of movement" traveling through their bodies. Sweigart did not train teachers in ideokinesis but some individuals use ideokinetic imagery in the process of teaching movement.

Note : These are just some popular movement therapies and there are still a lot more of them and we will be seeing each one of them in the coming days .