Muscle Unwinding--new Advanced Melting Muscles course

Holistic Massage Training Institute in Baltimore

HMTI was the first massage school in the Nation to host Melting Muscles classes. Seven years after the technique was (re)discovered, it is appropriate that HMTI host the unveiling of this advanced Melting Muscles course and workbook.

Muscle Unwinding—Advanced Melting Muscles, HMTI Baltimore

May 17, 2008 (Saturday 9 a.m.-5 p.m.)

Prerequisite: Must read supplied Unwinding Muscles workbook in advance.

7 Continuing Education hours =$125 ($135 after April 17) taught by Patrick Moore, www.meltingmuscles.com

The cerebellum never sleeps. Night and day, this hindbrain or "reptilian" brain monitors proprioceptors for safety. To maintain awareness of where the body is in space, the cerebellum slowly splits its percentage of contraction to agonist muscle groups, then antagonist groups, causing subtle movement impulses. You can't feel your own body moving, but you can feel someone else's. Each joint naturally moves away from neutral in one direction, then coasts back through neutral the other direction, like a swing in slow motion. The cerebellum also holds ancient memories, like a crusty jailer. While feeling threatened, it commands muscles in a particular area to contract more than their share. A trained therapist senses this guarding because the muscular impulses pull a joint away from neutral position and stay there. We don't force the joint back toward neutral—that would trigger the brain to feel more endangered. We want the brain to feel safe, to trust us. So we assist the joint away from neutral, and hold it there until it feels safe.

So far, we are just doing Unwinding.

Now, if we add in muscle work to the one poor muscle pulling more than its share, the hindbrain may begin releasing immediately. With practice, we find the puppet muscle and begin melting it even before the joint has reached its shortest position. The movement of imbalance slows and returns in one graceful arc, freeing the hindbrain of an old dead weight.

I have been experimenting with this course for years. Three people attended a prototype Unwinding course as part of their Melting Muscles Teacher Training in Baltimore three years ago. My hands have been unwinding muscles for about five years, and my brain is finally ready to divulge the methods into a new booklet.