Dear Tucson Massage Therapists and Healers,
I’ve been a full-time therapist and bodywork trainer since 1994 when I graduated from the Brian Utting School of Massage in Seattle. Teaching has been my aim since I began tutoring high school math in 1979 and later taught college and middle school algebra. When I came to teach at Cortiva Institute last July, I fell in love with Tucson. By November, my wife, Traci, and I found the ideal house in northwest Tucson with a separate office for my classes and services, which I’d like to tell you about, in order of ascending individual attention:
NCBTMB CE Provider: for teachers, assistance with your application, including appeals.
Live Literary Magazine: Traci and I host monsoonvoices.wordpress.com open to the public where you will hear poetry, fiction, memoir, and original music with reverence for life. The site includes links to services we provide for writers including submission, editing, and coaching.
CE Classes are listed in the calendar above where you’ll see some of the 42(and growing) courses that I offer at Cortiva, A Rich Experience, and my home office. Students say my classes are fun and immediately applicable to their practices.
Group Trainings custom-designed in advance for a specific group including church groups, corporate, and nonprofits, then tailored again in the moment to meet the needs of each person participating.
Discovery Groups: Thursday evenings I present a two-hour workshop called “the Power of Asking,” described at meetup.com/Great-Questions-Discovery-Group . Open to all curious people, those in service professions will be able to apply great questions to assist their clients and students.
Advanced Certification: I certify Healers and Teachers in four major areas: Natural Energy, Muscle Therapy, Healing Relationship, and Brain/Cellular Healing. You’ll receive accelerated training, fresh handouts, process and content beyond what you can get from books and academic classes.
Tutoring: You may bring one of your clients over for a teaching appointment and I’ll demonstrate how the two of you can make more balanced progress in your sessions together.
Body/Brain Healing Sessions at my NW Tucson office match your therapeutic goals. I see my job as reacquainting parts of yourself with yourself. Parts of your brain and cells remember being fully functional and know the steps to resolve your symptoms once and for all.
Creativity and Service Coaching is for dedicated Artists, Educators, Healers and Service Professionals who aim to embrace the essence of their practice. A Natural Philosophy approach helps you discover bits of your big picture which inform your next practical steps.
I hope to learn more about you, as we discover more connections in Tucson.
Warmly,
Patrick
Showing posts with label CEU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CEU. Show all posts
Friday, June 12, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
After-Class Review: Touching The Brain
The Importance of Gradual Transitions
Last Sunday I presented Touching The Brain at Cortiva. This is the second time I have taught this class, the first was at Rich Experience a couple months ago.
I was hesitant to begin teaching this class. It is my version of what I imagine Dr. Bruno Chikly and Dr. John Upledger are teaching in their brain classes. Their classes require tons of prerequisites and mine has none. I wondered if students would really come away from a 5 hour course feeling they could really touch the brain, could really learn something useful for their practice. I asked this at the end of Sunday and every one of the 5 students said a confident, “Yes.” Feedback forms all put 5 out of 5 in every category, the only suggestions for improvement were to make the class longer. I am very excited to continue providing this class in Tucson! I won’t make the class longer but you may repeat as many times as you want for only $25 as a repeater (no certificate given for repeaters), space permitting.
We began the class gradually by touching the cerebellum while the person was prone in a face cradle. All the students felt this was non-threatening to give or receive and I think they were not challenged enough. So I speeded up the pace a bit with a circle exercise, where each person was working on the brain of the person seated in front of them, sending healing forward, while sensation went rearward. This definitely woke everyone up.
One thing I emphasized at both Saturday’s and Sunday’s class was that soon you therapists will have enough tools and skills that you can help a person move very fast, releasing lots of issues and becoming more of their true nature. You can move a person too fast for their lifestyle to accommodate. While a person is lying on a massage table feeling safe in your kindly presence, they may agree to move very quickly through a lot of stuff. The parts that open and shift and change are then scrutinized by other parts of themselves, and the culture they accept. If the “majority” of inner and outer influences “vote” that the new changes are too radical, there will be a reaction. A person experiencing this may feel worse the next day, even though you did really good work. Another evidence that the person is moving too fast is that they have an emotional reaction on your table. If you are moving at a comfortable pace for the person, you will sense emotions arising and moving on, perhaps cleansing breaths, and maybe a single tear. The person will feel calm and the change is not so much that when they go back into their normal world, they are shocked. Over a course of years or a lifetime, a person will make more progress with these more gradual shifts and have more fun and less suffering in life, than if they jerk forward and have reactions, three steps forward and two steps back. The jolting jarring effect tends to make people not want to progress any more and they give up.
People make more progress in the long run if their transitions are gentle. The peak of progess should be in the middle, then coasting the second half of the treatment, to give time for assimilating the experience. Steps should be well-defined (verbally explaining what to expect and checking-in to see where the person is in regard to the steps) and gradual.
During the third exercise we touched the Amygdala, for about five minutes with hands-on then gradually lifting the hands off the head a few inches. Some people preferred to do their treatments silently while I demonstrated keeping a running conversation (about what they were feeling) going with the people I worked on.
This third exercise was after I gave the little talk about gentle transition and making small changes, and wouldn’t you know, there was an emotional burst during this session. The giver did a great job providing support, safety, and grounding. I do not think the giver was moving the recipient too fast, just that this recipient was very ripe for the shift and just popped with little warning. We had enough time after the session for the giver and recipient to talk together and then for the group to provide a transition back to what is normal life. While the person who changed shared that it was very intense, the person had no regrets, in fact I thought looked lighter after the exercise. This person wrote on the feedback form that they gained intuition, skills, and balance.
A Note to All Therapists Regarding the Pace of a Session:
Most therapists who have worked on me in the last 17 years seem to save their most precious maneuvers (like reiki or craniosacral) for the end, as if they had to “talk me into” receiving the good stuff. So with five minutes to go, I feel, Wow, this is great! and suddenly its over and we’ve said goodbye. It was too confusing for me to accept these healing gifts.
I think a therapist should start with his best stuff, rising to a peak of change about halfway through, then sort of coast through the second half using more traditional maneuvers like Swedish Massage and Jostling.
Most massage therapists tend to create a silent, meditative space for the recipient. This is good. Still, checking-in verbally is very important in the first few minutes to see how the recipient is responding to “the good stuff.” Then about 30 minutes of silence in the middle is fine, if that’s what the person wants. With 15 minutes to go, the therapist should again ask a few questions because this causes the recipient to do some brain processing, perhaps open her eyes once or twice. You might think this would disturb their peace, but the interruption serves the recipient in several ways. You’ll get more feedback about what you could do differently, and guess what, there’s still time to give them some more treatment based on this feedback! Secondly, as they speak about what is happening, they begin to assimilate the changes with the other parts of self that were “out of it.” The inner negotiation and balancing begins here, while you are still around to help, rather than beginning once they step out into the street with no nice person to help. Your speaking begins to gradually shift their body back from delta and beyond to an alpha awake state in a nicer transition. Transitions that are too quick lead to reactions, “two steps back.”
By asking her a few “check in” questions with 15 minutes to go, she will be able to assimilate and keep more of what has just occurred than if she were comatose up to the last minute and then rushed out the door.
Last Sunday I presented Touching The Brain at Cortiva. This is the second time I have taught this class, the first was at Rich Experience a couple months ago.
I was hesitant to begin teaching this class. It is my version of what I imagine Dr. Bruno Chikly and Dr. John Upledger are teaching in their brain classes. Their classes require tons of prerequisites and mine has none. I wondered if students would really come away from a 5 hour course feeling they could really touch the brain, could really learn something useful for their practice. I asked this at the end of Sunday and every one of the 5 students said a confident, “Yes.” Feedback forms all put 5 out of 5 in every category, the only suggestions for improvement were to make the class longer. I am very excited to continue providing this class in Tucson! I won’t make the class longer but you may repeat as many times as you want for only $25 as a repeater (no certificate given for repeaters), space permitting.
We began the class gradually by touching the cerebellum while the person was prone in a face cradle. All the students felt this was non-threatening to give or receive and I think they were not challenged enough. So I speeded up the pace a bit with a circle exercise, where each person was working on the brain of the person seated in front of them, sending healing forward, while sensation went rearward. This definitely woke everyone up.
One thing I emphasized at both Saturday’s and Sunday’s class was that soon you therapists will have enough tools and skills that you can help a person move very fast, releasing lots of issues and becoming more of their true nature. You can move a person too fast for their lifestyle to accommodate. While a person is lying on a massage table feeling safe in your kindly presence, they may agree to move very quickly through a lot of stuff. The parts that open and shift and change are then scrutinized by other parts of themselves, and the culture they accept. If the “majority” of inner and outer influences “vote” that the new changes are too radical, there will be a reaction. A person experiencing this may feel worse the next day, even though you did really good work. Another evidence that the person is moving too fast is that they have an emotional reaction on your table. If you are moving at a comfortable pace for the person, you will sense emotions arising and moving on, perhaps cleansing breaths, and maybe a single tear. The person will feel calm and the change is not so much that when they go back into their normal world, they are shocked. Over a course of years or a lifetime, a person will make more progress with these more gradual shifts and have more fun and less suffering in life, than if they jerk forward and have reactions, three steps forward and two steps back. The jolting jarring effect tends to make people not want to progress any more and they give up.
People make more progress in the long run if their transitions are gentle. The peak of progess should be in the middle, then coasting the second half of the treatment, to give time for assimilating the experience. Steps should be well-defined (verbally explaining what to expect and checking-in to see where the person is in regard to the steps) and gradual.
During the third exercise we touched the Amygdala, for about five minutes with hands-on then gradually lifting the hands off the head a few inches. Some people preferred to do their treatments silently while I demonstrated keeping a running conversation (about what they were feeling) going with the people I worked on.
This third exercise was after I gave the little talk about gentle transition and making small changes, and wouldn’t you know, there was an emotional burst during this session. The giver did a great job providing support, safety, and grounding. I do not think the giver was moving the recipient too fast, just that this recipient was very ripe for the shift and just popped with little warning. We had enough time after the session for the giver and recipient to talk together and then for the group to provide a transition back to what is normal life. While the person who changed shared that it was very intense, the person had no regrets, in fact I thought looked lighter after the exercise. This person wrote on the feedback form that they gained intuition, skills, and balance.
A Note to All Therapists Regarding the Pace of a Session:
Most therapists who have worked on me in the last 17 years seem to save their most precious maneuvers (like reiki or craniosacral) for the end, as if they had to “talk me into” receiving the good stuff. So with five minutes to go, I feel, Wow, this is great! and suddenly its over and we’ve said goodbye. It was too confusing for me to accept these healing gifts.
I think a therapist should start with his best stuff, rising to a peak of change about halfway through, then sort of coast through the second half using more traditional maneuvers like Swedish Massage and Jostling.
Most massage therapists tend to create a silent, meditative space for the recipient. This is good. Still, checking-in verbally is very important in the first few minutes to see how the recipient is responding to “the good stuff.” Then about 30 minutes of silence in the middle is fine, if that’s what the person wants. With 15 minutes to go, the therapist should again ask a few questions because this causes the recipient to do some brain processing, perhaps open her eyes once or twice. You might think this would disturb their peace, but the interruption serves the recipient in several ways. You’ll get more feedback about what you could do differently, and guess what, there’s still time to give them some more treatment based on this feedback! Secondly, as they speak about what is happening, they begin to assimilate the changes with the other parts of self that were “out of it.” The inner negotiation and balancing begins here, while you are still around to help, rather than beginning once they step out into the street with no nice person to help. Your speaking begins to gradually shift their body back from delta and beyond to an alpha awake state in a nicer transition. Transitions that are too quick lead to reactions, “two steps back.”
By asking her a few “check in” questions with 15 minutes to go, she will be able to assimilate and keep more of what has just occurred than if she were comatose up to the last minute and then rushed out the door.
After-Class Review of Melting Atlas&Axis
Feedback Review of Melting the Atlas and Axis
The class was held at Cortiva on the East side of Tucson. The Cortiva people treat me well and prepare well before the event. The space was a nice large room with North facing windows, and not too noisy even though they had two other classes going on.
Nine people attended. Whenever there is an odd number, this means that I must join in the trades rather than wandering around tables to supervise. There are benefits either way—when I do not participate in trades, the students get more of my time watching them work and making comments on their hand positions and finesse. When I do participate, more people get to feel how the teacher does it and then when I lay down to receive, more people get to try it on the teacher to receive feedback.
Inspired by a picture that appeared in my mind two weeks before, I tried something I have not done before in this class: I introduced the AA joint and the OCI muscle with recipients face-down in the face cradles. Therapists used pens to circle the spinous process of C2 on recipients, then drawing where the Obliquus Capitis Inferior muscles would be, before palpating. This came easily to the students.(photo 1)
In the second hour, still prone, I described how C2 would be pulled to one side if the Obliquus Capitis Inferior muscle were spasming on one side. Students understood this concept quickly, especially since we saw a few people in the class whose necks actually showed this condition. When it is right there in front of your eyes on a real person, your brain can really “get it” so I am glad to have presented this.
Just before lunch, after seeing C2 off-center, I quizzed the students, “In this prone position, how would you shorten the Obliquus even more?” None of the students could really answer --and that is fine, unanswered questions switch students into “sponge mode.” I showed the first group of students how to roll the head a little in the face cradle so that one obliquus would be a little shorter, then students practiced massaging that one muscle. OOPS! I showed them the wrong way to rotate--they were actually lengthening that obliquus. Teaching them the wrong way sort of shocked me, so I spent more time correcting what I had said and making sure everyone knew and understood how rotating the head R shortens the R obliquus. Because I had showed it mistakenly the first time, students were more challenging now and I felt I had to defend or prove the shortening effect by drawing the obliquus vs other potential rotators on the white board, which took more time.
I could have skipped all that: Everyone “got it” when I showed on a prone person that rolling her head as if I could bring her earlobe to touch her spine, shortens the obliquus muscle. (photo 2)
I could have skipped all that: Everyone “got it” when I showed on a prone person that rolling her head as if I could bring her earlobe to touch her spine, shortens the obliquus muscle. (photo 2)What I learned about teaching Atlas and Axis:
Pacing
Several feedback forms showed that the most need for improvement in pacing One person said “could have learned material a lot faster,” so the pace was too slow. The new way I taught the introduction to the AA joint and OCI muscle prone, is simpler for students to understand, which means it needs to speed up: a) so they don’t get bored, b) so they don’t think the whole course will be this simple, and c) so we have plenty of time to spend on the parts that are challenging to grasp intellectually.
Several feedback forms showed that the most need for improvement in pacing One person said “could have learned material a lot faster,” so the pace was too slow. The new way I taught the introduction to the AA joint and OCI muscle prone, is simpler for students to understand, which means it needs to speed up: a) so they don’t get bored, b) so they don’t think the whole course will be this simple, and c) so we have plenty of time to spend on the parts that are challenging to grasp intellectually.
Written materials
Feedback forms rated the second greatest need in written materials. Several people did not receive the materials in advance (some registered only one day in advance). When I register people myself, I send them the written materials at the same time they register and ask them to read in advance. Most do not. It is clear to me who has read in advance because of the questions they ask. Most people who have received the materials several weeks in advance and have time to read them in advance, usually give the written materials high praise. Still, there is always room for improvement.
Feedback forms rated the second greatest need in written materials. Several people did not receive the materials in advance (some registered only one day in advance). When I register people myself, I send them the written materials at the same time they register and ask them to read in advance. Most do not. It is clear to me who has read in advance because of the questions they ask. Most people who have received the materials several weeks in advance and have time to read them in advance, usually give the written materials high praise. Still, there is always room for improvement.
Originally the AA portion of the textbook was about 10 pages and this week I began expanding it, its now at 67 pages and growing. I expect it will be about 100 pages when finished. At that time I may also write a condensed, speed version for people who absorb things very quickly. In the expanded version, I am providing more preparatory remarks and more gradual, well-defined steps to understanding this extremely valuable technique. I want to help the world relax its poor, overworked Obliquus Capitis Inferior muscles. This requires my teaching and writing on the subject to continue to refine so students will feel always more empowered at the end of the class, that they really understand and are ready to begin relaxing OCI muscles the next massage they give.
No Demonstrations
One person said she wanted “more of instructor coming around to my table to show me how to do it.” It is my teaching style to not demonstrate. Instead I explain to them how to do it and while they are experimenting, I acknowledge when they are doing it well, I give them subtle adjustments if they are struggling, and I encourage the recipient to give feedback to the giver. In these ways, the giver stumbles upon the discoveries as if they were her own, and often students come up with better ways than I would have shown them. When I come around to the tables to answer questions, the givers always take their hands off, expecting me to put my hands on the person and show them the right way. Instead I ask the giver to put her hands back on the person and then I put my hands on top of the giver’s hands. Rather than show, I feel the body using that person’s hands until they feel it too. I believe this teaching style is more empowering for the students to come away feeling competent.
One person said she wanted “more of instructor coming around to my table to show me how to do it.” It is my teaching style to not demonstrate. Instead I explain to them how to do it and while they are experimenting, I acknowledge when they are doing it well, I give them subtle adjustments if they are struggling, and I encourage the recipient to give feedback to the giver. In these ways, the giver stumbles upon the discoveries as if they were her own, and often students come up with better ways than I would have shown them. When I come around to the tables to answer questions, the givers always take their hands off, expecting me to put my hands on the person and show them the right way. Instead I ask the giver to put her hands back on the person and then I put my hands on top of the giver’s hands. Rather than show, I feel the body using that person’s hands until they feel it too. I believe this teaching style is more empowering for the students to come away feeling competent.
Overview
One person “wanted an overview exercise at the end to tie everything together.” I agree and normally provide this. If I had not spent too much time on the things mentioned above, these students would have received these things that I normally over-provided in all my classes. I am writing more pre-overview and post-overview into the written materials and these blog reviews are another way that I am now providing this for the students.
One person “wanted an overview exercise at the end to tie everything together.” I agree and normally provide this. If I had not spent too much time on the things mentioned above, these students would have received these things that I normally over-provided in all my classes. I am writing more pre-overview and post-overview into the written materials and these blog reviews are another way that I am now providing this for the students.
Don’t forget, I offer students the opportunity to repeat any class I teach, as often as they want, for $25 per day.
What I learned about teaching in general:
For my next classes I will give course-specific feedback forms at the end. This way just filling out the form will be a refresher of what we learned. Rather than rate the whole class pacing, for example, students will rate pacing on each named exercise. Rather than rate the teaching quality as a whole, they will rate how well they understood each of the most important named concepts.
Students need an overview at the beginning to peek at what we will learn that day, to know which parts are for their hands, for their eyes, and for their intellect to grasp, so that when these areas appear there is no surprise.
Students need an overview at the beginning to peek at what we will learn that day, to know which parts are for their hands, for their eyes, and for their intellect to grasp, so that when these areas appear there is no surprise.
Its kind of like giving students specific enzymes to eat before a big meal so that when the salad, veggies, meat, potatoes and butter arrive they will be able to digest it.
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