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SciAm 3: Glial Consciousness

Friday, November 27th, 2009

Reading the Nov ‘09 issue of Scientific American in post-Thanksgiving tryptophane torpor yields these developments in Spatial Medicine:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=new-culprits-in-chronic-pain

Now, this is a very exciting finding for my concept of ‘Spatial Medicine’; it is a further development from the original research reported in Sci Am in ‘The Other Half of the Brain’, referenced in Ch 1 of Anatomy Trains. It is a fact that there are nine times as many connective tissue cells in the central nervous system as there are neurons. All the research has concentrated on the electrical neurons, and almost none on the glia (meaning ‘glue’, the general name for these mesodermally-derived connective tissue cell types such as astrocytes, monocytes, oligodendrocytes, Schwann cells, microglia, melanocytes, etc.

Even this article championing glia fails to mention their now well-established role in brain structuring in embryological development (also referenced in Ch 1 of Anatomy Trains) - the glia build the neurons into a working brain. They also form the fatty myelin that insulates the nerves, and they certainly perform their traditionally assigned role of helping to supply the neurons with glucose and oxygen faster than the poor stressed-out, stretched-out, action-potentiating axons can do it themselves.

But:

Their role in consciousness has been completely ignored until recently, when their role in feeling was sketched in in the article referenced above. Now, in this article, that sketch is filled in some more (at least in my understanding) by detailing their role in chronic pain. You can read the article for the neurological loop that can sustain chronic pain long after the injury is healed; my interest here is in how the glia and neurons work together to produce the chemistry of consciousness.

As my students know, I believe consciousness is a distributed phenomenon, not localized solely in the brain. Even if we admit the brain is important (of course it is), there are thousands of miles of capillaries in the brain, and 9 times as many connective tissue cells as neurons, so all three holistic communicating systems of the body (see Anatomy trains, Ch 1) can be involved in the brain’s production of awareness. And every time they fill in the ‘how’, they seem to confirm my theories.

We have long seen the nervous system as a string of electrical wires that create the ‘computer’ of the body. Of course we know it is ‘wetware’, and that the computer model is both too durable and inadequate at the same time. For one simple thing, the ‘wires’ are not connected up, and require this seemingly inefficient chemical squirting of neurotransmitters between one axonal end plate and the next neuron’s dendrites.

‘Inefficient’ for an electrical engineer interested in speed and accuracy of transmission, but not for a biological organism with other constraints. As Candace Pert has documented in Molecules of Emotion, neuropeptides pour through these synaptic clefts, altering their ‘tone’ and setting the ‘feeling’ state for the whole set of wires, or just a local set of wires. More than 200 of these ‘messenger molecules’ have been discovered, and receptor sites for many of them have been found on all the cells of the body, not just the dendritic receptors.

So now what we see in this new research is that the glial cells, particularly astrocytes and microglia, gather around the synaptic gap, sopping up extra neurotransmitter, sometimes dispensing it out again to augment signaling. They also release growth factors to neurons that are injured, and also release signaling cytokines to bring in the immune system to fight infection or begin healing. It is when these mechanisms go wrong that a positive feedback loop can be established that implicate the glia in some persistent chronic neuropathic pain. Drugs are being developed.

Beyond the drugs, however, we see the interaction between the connective tissue network in the brain combining with the neurons to produce consciousness. I predict further findings detailing an increasingly recognized role for the glia in awareness. Less established would be some kind of communication (via the pia mater? the microvacuolar collagenic dynamic absorbing system of Guimberteau?) between the glia of the brain and the rest of the extracellular matrix that we deal with every day. But stay tuned, for such connections will be forthcoming if it is indeed that three whole networks - in other words, our whole body - that is aware.

Posted by Tom Myers in Body, Fall, Marine, Miscellany, Summer, Travel | No Comments »

SciAm 2: Energy

Friday, November 27th, 2009

Reading the Nov ‘09 issue of Scientific American in post-Thanksgiving tryptophane torpor yields these developments in Spatial Medicine:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=powering-a-green-planet

We could, with the all-important element of political will added, produce enough power simply from ‘income energy’ - wind, solar, geothermal, and hydro - by 2030 to power the entire planet without touching oil, natural gas, or uranium further after that. And we’re talking plenty of power, not a drastic change in lifestyle. It would require a WWII-like dedication - the one that brought out Rosie the riveter and a retooling of the factories that now produce gas-guzzlers to produce wind-turbines and electric cars, or the Eisenhower-Nixon initiative to build our interstate highway system, but it is well within our reach.

All our glaciers - polar and alpine - are disappearing at ever accelerating rates. We burn oil at 4% efficiency, taking the rest as waste heat and pollution. Natural gas is better, and uranium better still in efficiency, but they carry their own not insignificant problems. Our stewardship of the planet, o ye of the right wing, cannot be making our Biblical Jehovah happy. It can be done - read it here - it can be done.

Posted by Tom Myers in Fall, Miscellany | No Comments »

SciAm 1: Hobbit

Friday, November 27th, 2009

Reading the Nov ‘09 issue of Scientific American in post-Thanksgiving tryptophane torpor yields these developments in Spatial Medicine:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=rethinking-the-hobbits-in-indonesia

Remember the Homo floriensis find? A small island of Flores in the Indonesian archipelago yielded up fossils of a very small (and small-brained) human who lived there a mere 17,000 years ago (by reliable dating) but who bears a remarkable similarity to Lucy, the famous australopithecus afaensis.

Now, there are really only two explanations for this finding, which under current human derivation theories is about as likely as ‘bird shit in a cuckoo clock’, to quote a famous scientist:

1) There were far earlier immigrations out of our common ancestry in Africa before homo erectus made his pretty-well confirmed diaspora through the Middle East, moving down the coat to India and Asia, with a group doubling back to Europe. The supposition that 1 meter-tall proto humans with brains 1/3 the size of ours managed to emigrate from Africa to Indonesia (the work of many generations), develop tools, and live with us up until the most recent Ice Age is a lot to swallow and sets the now-common theories of hominid development right on its head. Others prefer to say:

2) These hobbits were homo erectus who were simply isolated long enough to go miniature (which has been documented in other mammals, but never in man - the Pygmies are just a very early breakaway group). But the insular dwarfism theory doesn’t stand up to an analysis of the bones and bony relationships, so the second theory is that these fossils are showing the effects of a disease on a group of ‘us’ modern humans.

This second theory is a kind of cop-out - what disease would produce characteristics of an earlier form of human like homo habilis? (Several are offered actually, my favorite being ‘microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism’ - a genetic disorder that would produce small bodies and small brains but normal intelligence.) But in order to defeat this disease hypothesis, we need to find other hobbit skeletons and particularly a skull that would show that these humans were widespread and normal, not this specific, possibly diseased, specimen, LB1 as it is known.

If the first theory is right, then it shows how little we know about our family tree between apes and us, and the question of what makes humans unique and what accounts for our strange characteristics is as yet unanswered. I of course prefer this route, as a proponent of the aquatic ape theory (or at least giving Elaine Morgan a good listen), I would love to have the apple cart upset to see a more checkered past, not the linear progression current science prefers.The idea that other kinds of humans co-existed with us until very recently, like the Neanderthals, is very appealing.

On the other hand, if the second theory proves true, it only goes to show on what slender evidence - the one or two fossils available - we hang these complex theories of evolution. I am sure we will be finding detection methods in the next decade that will allow many more hominid fossils to be found, and then the picture might be clearer and more reliable. Until then, I love the available fantasies of multiple kinds of humans roaming the earth together - now there’s grist for a story mill!

Posted by Tom Myers in Body, Fall, Miscellany, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Dr James Oschman, Researcher

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

In my desire to be succinct in the summary of the second Fascial Research Conference (two posts ago), I slighted my old friend and mentor Jim Oschman (http://www.energyresearch.bizland.com), so let me hurry to correct and apologize:

When I said that Jim was not a researcher, I was dead wrong: he has done all the research listed in his CV reprinted below, much of the original research done in conjunction with the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts. As you can see, that research was prolific, as has been his writing output in our own field of alternative healing.

And of course his very extensive literature search of others’ research is in itself an act of research, one that has been both rewarding and enlightening for those of us who have followed his peregrinations through energy medicine summarized in his two books.

What I meant was that unlike many of the researchers there at the second FRC, Jim has not been stretching the lumbodorsal fascia of a pig under Ringer’s solution, or (fascinating study with a repellent method) the righting reactions of a decerebrate cat after a crural fasciotomy, but is rather being honored for his vision - well-deserved.

Compared to the mainstream researchers, Jim’s later output has indeed been in ‘left field’ (I’ll stand by that), but he has played left field so well, and hit so many balls out of the park when he was at bat that mainstream researchers like Helene Langevin are compelled to acknowledge it in public before a large crowd. I think that’s great, and it’s a long way, Jim, from when we first sat together with Ida Rolf in Bob Toporek’s living room on 1978, a mere 30 years ago.

A single career, a human lifetime, is so short to contribute to the long line of human culture, and no matter how good your work, neither its nor your immortality is assured. Much has been lost in the ascent of humans, and much continues to be lost even as we alternative therapists gain a foothold. We owe a lot to Jim Oschman for making our work acceptable to a wider range of the scientific world.

CURRICULUM VITAE

James L. Oschman, Ph.D.

Nature’s Own Research Association, PO Box 1935, Dover, NH 03821-1935, USA
Phone: (603) 742 3789; Fax: (603) 742 4695; Email: joschman@aol.com

EDUCATION:

1965 Ph.D. Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh

1961 B.S. Biophysics, University of Pittsburgh

CITIZENSHIP: USA

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

2005-Present Scientific Advisory Board for Neuro Resource Group, Dallas, TX
2003-Present Consultant for EarthFX Corporation
2002-Present Scientific Advisory Board, Natiional Foundation for Alternative Medicine
Washington, DC
2000-Present Education Consultant, Institute for New Medicine, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington DC
1992-Present President, Nature’s Own Research Association
1990 Acting President and Chairman of the Board of Directors at the New England School of Acupuncture, Watertown, Massachusetts
1986-1990 Director of Research, Dolphin Research Project
1982-1992 Faculty and Board of Directors, New England School of Acupuncture, Watertown, Massachusetts
1986 Citation Classic from the Institute of Scientific Information, Washington, DC
1975-present scientific consulting for a wide variety of organizations and inventors
1975-1979 Staff Scientist, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
1970-1974 Visiting Scientist, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
1970-1974 Summer research at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
1970-1974 Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences and Director of the Electron Microscope Laboratory at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, taught physiology, cell physiology, and electron microscopy.
1970 Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute for Medical Physiology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
1969 NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, Developmental Biology Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
1967-1969 Postdoctoral Fellow, Developmental Biology Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
1997 Visiting Scientist, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
1965-1966 Postdoctoral Fellow, Neurobiological Laboratory, VA Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1965-1966 Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

MAIN RESEARCH INTEREST:

Academic research involved the structure and function of cells and tissues, with particular reference to fluid and ion transport and the role of calcium in control of cell functions. Subsequent research explores the scientific basis for complementary and alternative medicines.

PROFESSIONAL AWARDS AND DISTINCTIONS:

Distinguished Service Award from the Rolf Institute
Founder’s Award, National Foundation for Alternative Medicine

“For your work in Biophysics and Biology and your distinction as an international authority on energy and complementary medicine; for your numerous articles and books on complementary medicine including Energy Medicine-The Scientific Basis that uses science to demystify this emerging form of healing; for initiating a scholarly discussion on complementary therapies and their potential to contribute to patient care; and for your service on the Scientific Advisory Committee of NFAM.”

Publications in major peer-reviewed scientific journals: Science, The Journal of Cell Biology, The Journal of Cell Science, The Journal of Morphology, Tissue and Cell, American Journal of Physiology, Journal of Experimental Biology, etc. Publication of several books, editor of several books, chapters in major books (see list below).

National Institutes of Health Research Grants: NIH Postdoctoral Fellow; NIH Research Grants AM-19189, FR-7028 and AM-14993.

MEMBERSHIPS IN PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS:

The Somatics Society
The Scientific and Medical Network (UK)
ISIS (Institute for Science in Society, UK)
Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine

EDITORIAL BOARDS:

Journal of Membrane Biochemistry
Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies
Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
Clinical Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine International Journal

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD:
Scientific Advisory Board for the National Foundation for Alternative Medicine, Washington, DC; National Advisory Committee for the Center for Frontier Medicine in Biofield Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona; National Advisory Committee for the Center for Exploratory Center for Frontier Medicine at the University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut, advisory board of the Neuro Resource Group, Plano, Texas..

UNITED STATES PATENTS:

Method and apparatus for temporarily debilitating tuna and other fish to facilitate capture. United States Patent 5,778,591, issued July 14, 1998.

Apparatus for assisting a heart. United States Patent 6,695,761, issued February 24, 2004.

LECTURES AND WORKSHOPS:
Stichting Opleiding Manuele Therapie, Amersfoort, The Netherlands; Concord Hospital, Concord, New Hampshire; Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, Dover, New Hampshire; Portsmouth Regional Hospital, Portsmouth, New Hampshire; York Hospital, York, Maine; St. Francis Hospital, Hartford, Connecticut; Rolf institute and Guild for Structural Integration, Boulder, Colorado; Upledger Institute United Kingdom; Nordley’s Massage School, Silkeborg, Denmark; Ergoterapeut-og Fysioterapeutiskolen, Holsteboro, Denmark; Massage Therapy Research Agenda Workgroup, American Massage Therapy Foundation; several presentations at Grand Rounds in Rehabilitation Medicine, The Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland; Harvard Medical School, Osher Group, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Center for Frontier Sciences, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; First International Conference on the Science of Whole Person Healing. Bethesda, Maryland; International Conference: Exploring the Physiological Causes of Stress. A new model for understanding the autonomic nervous system: The polyvagal nervous system. Copenhagen, Denmark; 15th Annual Green Nation’s Gathering, at Iroquois Springs, Rock Hill, NY.; a series of workshops at the Stanley Rosenberg Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark; a series of workshops at the Polarity Therapie Zentrum Schweiz, Zurich, Switzerland; a series of workshops at the Colorado Cranial Institute, Zurich, Switzerland; two lectures at international symposia on Frequency Specific Microcurrent in Portland, Oregon and Anaheim, California; a series of workshops on the therapeutic application of low level lasers; Norwegian Cancer Society Complementary Cancer Therapy Conference, Oslo, Norway; several presentations at ISSSEEM , the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine; a series of presentations at the DGEIM (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Energetische und InformationsMedizin) in Stuttgart, Heidelberg, and Kaiserslautern , Germany; Presentation of Spanish edition of Energy Medicine and a keynote lecture at the Ninth Argentinean Reiki Congress 9th Argentinean Reiki Congress, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Seminars on Philosophies of Healing. Sponsored by Videns- og Forskningscenter for Alternativ Behandling. Aarhus and Copenhagen, Denmark; presentation at Paradigm Shift at the National College of Naturopathic Medicine, Portland, Oregon; presentation on energy medicine at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Medicine CME conference; 3 presentations to the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture; presentation on The Intelligent Body at the Sutherland Cranial College, London and at the British School of Osteopathy; Keynote at the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology, Baltimore, MD; Annual Conference of the North American Association for Laser Therapy. Presentation to the Maine Osteopathic Association in Rockport, ME; presentation on energy medicine at the Thomas Jefferson Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA; Grand Rounds Presentations at the Third annual Teton Wellness Festival at Jackson Hole, WY; presentation on energy medicine at the Windber Medical Center in Windber, PA.; Keynote at the Massage Therapy Foundation meeting on research at Albuquerque, NM; Keynote at the American Polarity Therapy Association National Conference, Potomac, MD; keynote at the International Association of Structural Integrators in Seattle, WA; keynote presentation for Morter HealthSystems, Rogers, AK; keynote at the American Academy of Osteopathy, keynote at the annual conference of energy kinesiologists and applied kinesiologists, master class in energy medicine for GEOS/FEMMO in Mulhouse, France.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

1 Oschman, J.L. and P. Gray, 1965. A study of the fine structure of Convoluta roscoffensis and its endosymbiotic algae. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society 84:368-375.

2 Oschman, J.L., 1966. Development of the symbiosis of Convoluta roscoffensis and Platymonas sp. Journal of Phycology 2:105-111.

3 Oschman, J.L., 1967. Microtubules in the subepidermal glands of Convoluta roscoffensis, Acoela, Turbellaria. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society 86:159-162.

4 Oschman, J.L., 1967. Structure and reproduction of the algal symbionts of Hydra viridis. Journal of Phycology 3:221-228.

5 Oschman, J.L., 1969. Endonuclear virus-like bodies in Convoluta roscoffensis (Turbellaria, Acoela). Journal of Invertebrate Pathology 13:147-148.

6 Oschman, J.L. and B.J. Wall, 1969. The structure of the rectal pads of Periplaneta americana L. with regard to fluid transport. Journal of Morphology 127:475-510.

7 Berridge, M.J. and J.L. Oschman, 1969. A structural basis for fluid secretion by Malpighian tubules. Tissue & Cell 1:247-272.

8 Wall, B.J. and J.L. Oschman, 1970. Water and solute uptake by the rectal pads of Periplaneta americana. American Journal of Physiology 218:208-1215.

9 Oschman, J.L. and M.J. Berridge, 1970. Structural and functional aspects of salivary fluid secretion in Calliphora. Tissue & Cell 2:281-310.

10 Wall, B.J., J.L. Oschman, and B. Schmidt-Nielsen, 1970. Fluid transport: Concentration of the intercellular compartment. Science 167:1497-1498.

11 Oschman, J.L. and M.J. Berridge, 1971. The structural basis of fluid secretion. Federation Proceedings 30:49-56.

12 Oschman, J.L. and B.J. Wall, 1972. Calcium binding to intestinal membranes. Journal of Cell Biology 55:58-73.

13 Berridge, M.J. and J.L. Oschman, 1972. Transporting Epithelia, New York, Academic Press.

14 Wall, B.J. and J.L. Oschman, 1973. Structure and function of rectal pads in Blattella and Blaberus with respect to the mechanism of water uptake. Journal of Morphology 140:105-118.
15 Oschman, J.L. and B.J. Wall, 1973. Binding of calcium to membranes. In: H.H. Ussing, Ed., Alfred Benzon Symposium V., Academic Press, New York, p. 237-247.

16 Oschman, J.L., T.A. Hall, P. Peters, and B.J. Wall, 1974. Binding of calcium to membranes of squid giant axon. Ultrastructure and microprobe analysis. Journal of Cell Biology 61:156-165.

17 Oschman, J.L., B.J. Wall, and B.L. Gupta, 1974. Cellular basis of water transport. In: Transport at the Cellular Level, M.A. Sleigh, Ed., Soc. Exp. Biol. Symp. 28:305-350.

18 Wall, B.J., J.L. Oschman, and B.A. Schmidt, 1975. Morphology and function of Malpighian tubules and associated structures in the cockroach, Periplaneta americana. Journal of Morphology 146:265-306.

19 Wall, B.J. and J.L. Oschman, 1975. Structure and function of the rectum in insects. In: Excretion, A. Wessing, Ed., Fortschritte der Zoologie 23:193-222, Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart.

20 Berridge, M.J., J.L. Oschman, and B.J. Wall, 1975. Intracellular calcium reservoirs in Calliphora salivary glands. In Calcium Transport in Contraction and Secretion, E. Carafoli, F. Clementi, W. Drabikowski, and A. Margreth, Eds., North Holland, Amsterdam, p. 131-138.

21 Berridge, M.J., B.L. Gupta, J.L. Oschman, and B.J. Wall, 1976. Development of the salivary glands of Calliphora erythrocephala. Journal of Morphology 149:459-482.

22 Gupta, B.L., R.B. Moreton, J.L. Oschman, and B.J. Wall, Eds., 1977. Transport of Ions and Water in Animals, London, Academic, 817 pps.

23 Wall, B.J. and J.L. Oschman, 1977. Osmoregulation in insects. In: Comparative Physiology of Osmoregulation in Animals, G.M.O. Maloiy, Ed., London, Academic Press.

24 Oschman, J.L., 1977. Structural correlates of transport. In: Transport Across Biological Membranes, Volume III: Transport Across Multi-membrane systems, G. Giebisch, D.C. Tosteson, and H.H. Ussing, Eds., Springer Verlag, Berlin, p. 55-93.

25 Gupta, B.L., B.J. Wall, J.L. Oschman, and T.A. Hall, 1980. Direct microprobe evidence of local concentration gradients and recycling of electrolytes during fluid absorption in the rectal papillae of Calliphora. Journal of Experimental Biology 88:21-47.

26 Oschman, J.L., 1980. Water transport, cell junctions, and “structured water.” Chapter IV, Volume II, of Membrane Structure and Function, edited by E. Edward Bittar, John Wiley and Sons, N.Y.,l p. 141-170.

27 Oschman, J.L., 1981. The Connective Tissue and Myofascial Systems. N.O.R.A. Press, Dover, NH.

28 Oschman, J.L., 1983. Structure and properties of ground substances. American. Zoologist 24(1):199-215.

29 Oschman, J.L., 1986. The Natural Science of Healing. A biology of whole systems. N.O.R.A. Press, Dover, NH.

30 Oschman, J.L., 1989, 1990. How does the body maintain its shape? A series of 3 articles that appeared in Rolf Lines, the news magazine for Rolf Institute members, ending with Vol. 18(1):24-25.

31 Oschman, J.L., 1990. Bioelectromagnetic communications. BEMI Currents, the Newsletter of the Bio-Electro-Magnetics Institute 2(2):11-14.

32 Oschman, J.L., 1993. A biophysical basis for acupuncture. Proceedings of the First Symposium of the Society for Acupuncture Research held in Rockville, MD on January 23-24, 1993.

33 Oschman, J.L., and Nora H. Oschman, 1993. How healing energy works. Convergence, a magazine for personal and spiritual growth and holistic health. Summer issue, pages 24-30.

34 Oschman, J.L., and Nora H. Oschman, 1993. Matter, energy, and the living matrix. October, 1993 issue of Rolf Lines, the news magazine for the Rolf Institute, Boulder, Colorado, 21(3):55-64.

35 Oschman, J.L., 1993. Sensing solitons in soft tissues. Guild News, the news magazine for members of the Guild for Structural Integration, Boulder, Colorado, Vol. 3, Number 2, pages 22-25.

36 Oschman, J.L., and Nora H. Oschman, 1994. New evidence on the nature of healing energy. Part I. Communication in the living matrix. N.O.R.A. Press, Dover, NH.

37 Oschman, J.L., and Nora H. Oschman, 1994. New evidence on the nature of healing energy. Part II. Coherence and healing energy. N.O.R.A. Press, Dover, NH.

38 Oschman, J.L., and Nora H. Oschman, 1994. Somatic recall. Part I. Soft tissue memory. Massage Therapy Journal, American Massage Therapy Association, Lake Worth, FL, 34(3): 36-45; 111-116.

39 Oschman, J.L., and Nora H. Oschman, 1994. Somatic recall. Part II. Soft tissue holography. Massage Therapy Journal, American Massage Therapy Association, Lake Worth, FL, 34(4): 66-7; 106-116.

40 Oschman, J.L., and Nora H. Oschman, 1994. Biophysics of energy medicine. Guild News, the news magazine for members of the Guild for Structural Integration, Boulder, Colorado, 4(1): 17-26.

41 Oschman, J.L., and Nora H. Oschman, 1995. Physiological and emotional effects of acupuncture needle insertion. Proceedings of the Second Symposium of the Society for Acupuncture Research, held in Washington, D.C. on September 17-18, 1994.

42 Oschman, J.L. and Nora H. Oschman, 1994. Book review and commentary: Biological coherence and response to external stimuli, Edited by Herbert Fröhlich, Published by Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1988. N.O.R.A. Press, Dover, NH.

43 Oschman, J.L. and Nora H. Oschman, 1995. Approaching the toes (theories of everything). Guild News, the news magazine for members of the Guild for Structural Integration, Boulder, Colorado, 5(1): 13-16.

44 Oschman, J.L. and Nora H. Oschman, 1995. Continuum in natural systems. Guild News, the news magazine for members of the Guild for Structural Integration, Boulder, Colorado, 5(2): 30-44.

45 Oschman, J.L., 1996. Whats in a handshake? A commentary on human energetics. Guild News, the news magazine for members of the Guild for Structural Integration, Boulder, Colorado, 6(2): 18-26. Reprinted in Rolf Lines the news magazine for Rolf Institute members, Boulder, Colorado , 25(2): 12-19, Spring, 1997.

46 Oschman, J.L., 1996. The nuclear, cytoskeletal, and extracellular matrixes: A continuous communication network. In: The Cytoskeleton: Mechanical, Physical and Biological Interactions, November 15-17, 1996, sponsored by The Center for Advanced Studies in the Space Life Sciences, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

47-52 Oschman, J.L., 1996-1998. A series of 6 articles entitled What is healing energy in Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, Harcourt Brace and Co. Ltd., Edinburgh, U.K.

53 Oschman, J.L., 1997. Interview with Jim Oschman for The Rainbow Body by Komala Lyra.

54 Oschman, J.L., 1997. Connective tissue energetics. Introduction to a presentation for the Stichting Opleiding Manuele Therapie, Amersfoort, The Netherlands, June 14, 1997. 11 pps. N.O.R.A. Press, Dover, NH.

55 Oschman, J.L. and N.H. Oschman, 1997. Readings on the scientific basis of bodywork, energetic, and movement therapies. A collection of 21 articles. N.O.R.A. Press, Dover, New Hampshire, 480 pps.

56 Oschman, J.L. and N.H. Oschman, 1998. Gravity, Lift, and Inertia. Part I. What do we know about gravity? Rolf Lines, the news magazine for Rolf Institute members, Boulder, Colorado, Winter issue, 26(2)10-19.

57 Oschman, J.L. and N.H. Oschman, 1998. Gravity, Lift, and Inertia. Part II. Lift and Inertia. Rolf Lines, the news magazine for Rolf Institute members, Boulder, Colorado, April issue, 26(2)10-19.

58 Oschman, J.L., N.H. Oschman, and K.E. Sommer, 1998. Method and apparatus for temporarily debilitating tuna and other fish to facilitate capture. United States Patent 5,778,591, issued July 14, 1998.

59 Oschman, J.L. and N.H. Oschman, 1998. Absolute certainty of the human energy field. Energy. The Newsletter of the American Polarity Therapy Association. Volume 13(3):1,6,7 (Summer issue).

60 Oschman, J.L., 2000. Energy medicine–The new paradigm. Introductory chapter for Complementary Therapies for Physical Therapists. Robert A. Charman, Editor. Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford.

61 Oschman, J.L., 2000. The electromagnetic environment: Implications for bodywork. Part 1. Environmental energies. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies 4(1):56-67.

62 Oschman, J.L., 2000. The electromagnetic environment: Implications for bodywork. Part 2. Biological effects. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies 4(2):137-150.

63 Oschman, J.L., 2000. Energy Medicine: The scientific basis. Churchill Livingstone/Harcourt Brace, Edinburgh.

64 Oschman, J.L., 2001. Exploring the biology of phototherapy. Journal of Optometric Phototherapy, April Issue, p. 1-9.

65 Oschman, J.L., 2001. Book summary and commentary on A New Physics and other publications of William Day. For Foundation for New Directions, Cambridge, MA.

66 Oschman, J.L., 2002. Clinical aspects of biological fields: an introduction for health care professionals. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies 6(2):117-125.

67 Oschman, J.L., 2002. An overview of subtle energies research. In: Proceedings: Bridging Worlds and Filling Gaps in the Science of Healing. A symposium organized by Wayne B. Jonas, Marilyn Schlitz, and Mitchell W. Krucoff and edited by Ronald A. Chez, The Samueli Institute for Information Biology, pp. 88-96.

68 Oschman, J.L., 2002. Science and the human energy field. An interview with William Lee Rand. Reiki News Magazine 1(3), Winter issue.

69 Oschman, J.L., 2004. Recent developments in bioelectromagnetic medicine. Chapter 6 in Bioelectromagnetic Medicine, Rosch, P.J. and Markov, M.S., eds., Marcel Dekker, New York, pp. 77-92.

70 Oschman, J.L., 2003. Energy Medicine: state of the art; state of the science. In: Science of Whole Person Healing: Proceedings of the First Interdisciplinary International Conference, edited by Rustum Roy, iUniverse, Incorporated, Lincoln, NE.

71 Oschman, J.L., 2003. Energy Medicine in Therapeutics and Human Performance. Butterworth-Heinemann/Elsevier, Oxford.

72 Oschman, J.L. and N.H. Oschman, 2004. Electromagnetic communication and olfaction in insects: Commemorating the research of Phillip S. Callahan, Ph.D. Frontier Perspectives 13(1):8-15.

73 Oschman, J.L., 2004. Breakthrough in energy medicine and subtle energies. Bridges, Quarterly Magazine of the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine 14(4):, Winter 2003 issue.

74 Oschman, J.L., 2004. Guest editorial: Our place in nature: Reconnecting with the earth for better sleep. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 10(5):735-736.

75 Oschman, J.L. and J. Spencer, with David Minkoff, 2004. Best cases in biological medicine. Explore! 13(6).

76 Oschman, JL, 2004. Science and the human energy field. Interview with William Lee Rand. Reiki News Magazine, Vol. One, Issue Three, Winter 2002.

77 Oschman, J.L., 2005. Energy and the healing response. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies 9(1):3-15.

78 Oschman, J.L., 2005. The intelligent body. In: Bridges, the Quarterly Magazine of the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine 16(1).

79 Oschman, J.L., 2006. Trauma energetics. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies 10(1):21-34.

80 Chevalier, G., Mori, K., and Oschman, J., 2006. The effect of earthing (grounding) on human physiology. European Biology and Bioelectromagnetics 31(2):600-621.

81 Oschman, J.L., 2006. Quantum and Energy Biology: A retrospective on the contributions of Albert Szent-Györgyi. In: Proceedings of the 1st Metatheory Conference, Budapest, Hungary, 15-18 November, 2006, edited by Amoroso, R.L., Diens, I., & Varga, C., Oakland, The Noetic Press, in press.

82 Oschman, J.L., 2007. Matrix energetics and regeneration. Chapter 37 in Anti-Aging Therapeutics, Volume IX, Edited by Klatz, R. and Goldman, R., American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, Chicago IL, pp. 247-253.

83 Oschman, J.L. and Kosovich, J, 2007. Energy Medicine and Longevity: Biofeedback Combined with Frequency Specific Healing. In Anti-Aging Medical News, Winter, 2007, American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, Chicago, IL, 29-31. 65.

84 Oschman, J.L., 2007. Can Electrons Act as Antioxidants? A Review and Commentary. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 13(9):955-967.

85 Oschman, J.L., 2008. Perspective: Assume a spherical cow: The role of free or mobile electrons in bodywork, energetic and movement therapies. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 12(1):40-57.

86 Oschman, J.L., 2008. The science supporting the use of pulsing electromagnetic field therapy and ONDAMED® Part 1. Townsend Letter Issue #299, June, 2008.

87 Oschman, J.L., 2008. Charge transfer in the living matrix. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, in press.

88 Oschman, J.L. and Kosovich, J., 2008. Energy Medicine and Matrix Regeneration. Chapter 26 in Anti-Aging Therapeutics, Volume X, Edited by Klatz, R. and Goldman, R., American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, Chicago IL, pp. 203-210.

89 Oschman, J.L., 2008. Energy Medicine and Longevity. Chapter 27 in Anti-Aging Therapeutics, Volume X, Edited by Klatz, R. and Goldman, R., American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, Chicago IL, pp. 211-218.

90 Oschman, J.L., 2008. Mitochondria and cellular aging. Anti-Aging Therapeutics Volume XI, in press.

91 Oschman, J.L., 2008. Matrix communication. In: Proceedings of the 2nd metatheory conference, Budapest, Hungary, 16-19 May, edited by Amoroso, R.L., Diens, I., & Varga, C., Oakland: The Noetic Press, pp. 91; 95-110.

92 Oschman, J.L. and Kessler, W-D., 2008. Energy medicine and anti-aging. From fundamentals to new breakthroughs. Anti-Aging Medical News, Winter issue,pp. 166-171.

93 Kessler, W-D., and Oschman, J.L., 2009. Conteracting aging with basic physics. Chapter 23 in Anti-Aging Therapeutics Volume XI, Edited by Klatz, R. and Goldman, R., American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, Chicago IL pp. 185-194.

94 Oschman, J.L., 2009. Mitochondria and cellular aging. Chapter 33 in Anti-Aging Therapeutics Volume XI, Edited by Klatz, R. and Goldman, R., American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, Chicago IL pp. 185-194.

Posted by Tom Myers in Miscellany, Summer, Uncategorized | No Comments »

FRC Final: Op-Ed

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

In the aftermath… (uh, sorry, afterglow) of the FRC, here are a few thoughts on the context of the event and the development for the future:

The most publicly heartfelt moment was when Jim Oschman, fascial prophet and energy medicine guru (http://www.energyresearch.bizland.com/index.html), was honored by Tom Findlay and Helene Langevin at the end of the first day. You could feel their bubble and squeaky joy in giving him an honor, and his bark and woof of joy in receiving it. A somewhat odd choice, in that Jim has done no research, and his literature search has sometimes been out in the left field of unsupported speculation. But he has been so right on concerning several major points, and he held the lamp up for research for many, many years when no one else could seem to coalesce around its value - so I am glad my old friend got the honor.

This conference was not as electric as the first conference in 2007, and in some ways not as ‘good’. But it was very much in the directly unfolding line of this fascinating process of investigating fascial properties. It will take a number of conferences over a decade, I should think, to get the balance right, and even then it should be dynamically changing over time.

In the last conference, the gulf between the clinicians and the researchers was mountainous, and though it was clear that we were climbing the same mountain by the end of the conference, it was also clear that it would take some time to meet at the top. Perhaps the most important part of the 2007 conference was simply getting the scientists, many of whom were working on fascia from many different fields and thus did not know of each other, together to see each others’ work.

By this conference, major issues emerged:

• The architecture of fascia: particularly what is made to stick and what is made to slide, and how and why does that happen, and how does one switch to the other in pathology?

• Epi- and intra-muscular fascial force transmission is another big area of exploration that will have practical consequences to assessment and treatment.

• In terms of machinery, ultrasound imaging and computer modeling of fascial forces and remodeling shows great promise.

• The exact role of inflammation in fascial repair - when is it doing good, when does it go too far and over-correct - looks a good avenue for further study.

• And I personally am over the moon about van der Wal’s concept of the ‘dynament’, though I am not sure I can get many of my colleagues to jump so high in its favor - but I plan to champion it in an article or two.

A few suggestions for the next time:

1) One symptom of ’second conference-itis’ was too much of too little. While clearly every effort was being made to be inclusive of the many professional as well as scientific approaches, the review committee could perhaps be seen this time as being just a little too inclusive, It would be good next time if the short presentations could be a bit fewer but of higher quality research.

2) I suppose it is too much to ask that good scientists also be good presenters, and how would you screen for this anyway? but when we can read the slides that they are bent into the mike repeating word for word in a monotone of heavily accented English, perhaps these folks (and certainly the attendees) are better served by appearing as a poster presentation.

A word to the researchers: You have been given a short time to present your work. We know it’s short; you know in advance it is short. Practice. Leave out those 40 supporting slides, and get us to the conclusion before the last 15 seconds! The number of presenters arriving at this congress, for which we have all paid substantial money, who were confused about Power Point, and who allowed minute descriptions of their lab methods to overtake the presentation of their findings was disappointing.

3) We need discussion. So far the emphasis has been on ‘discussion’ between the scientists and clinicians, so that we find out about what each other do. This discussion is fairly fruitless, with a few exceptions, because of the gulf I mentioned above. There are three areas for discussion that I think would be more fruitful:

• A time at the end of the conference for digestion and synthesis of the conference’s main themes, but in terms of the science and the implications. I imagine questions along the line of: “If I put these findings over here up against that line of research there, does this mean…?”

• I would love to hear a discussion among the scientists as to what constitutes good research and where the holes are. Unarmed with the experienced inner skeptic of a Solomonow, I have instead an ‘inner gull’. Everything presented seems very sound and well-done when I hear it, and I am inclined to believe it, even though I know by now that I cannot take what happens to pig fascia in a petri dish and immediately apply it to my practice.

My common experience in this conference, however, was that in the break following a presentation, I could run across someone who had an equally convincing story of why the research I had just heard was weak, flawed, or simply not what shows up in the experienced practitioner’s common results.

Therefore I could use some critical review of what we have heard - not to ad hominem attacks, but asking the senior scientists to have the courage to correct the younger, and the courage of the younger to be willing to be wrong.

• Finally, it would be good to have some education for the clinicians. If the scientists need to talk to each other, then the clinicians need to learn to listen with a more practiced ear. This is not the time, my dear friends and fellow practitioners, to grandstand for your method. This is not a political movement manning the barricades of the resistance to our arts in the health care system, or a professional convention where touting your wares is more par for the course. This is certainly not the time to hog the bully pulpit. Mr Dommerholt, in the service of your small contribution to the whole, no matter how important you think you are to the healing of the world.

The fundamental ticket to enter this hall - be you researcher of clinician or both - is the willingness to fall, willingness to be wrong in the search for reliable truth. Evidence-based research, even good evidence-based research, even established findings - they all get overturned in the course of time, so the researchers, though understandably wedded to the results they obtained with so much perspiration, must come in open to a better method, turning toward the unexpected by being shown a salient factor they missed, or given an alternative explanation that fits more facts.

My experience was that the scientists are more imbued in that attitude, while (some) clinicians arrived in a more stuck place. Clinicians - be they rolfers, acupuncturists, myofascial release therapists or Bowenites - sometimes present more strongly held views on the rightness of their cause than they have any cause to. The scientists indulged the clinicians touching but naive faith in the ability of their particular method to invariably sort out intractable problems, based on no more than their unavoidably self-interested results in a self-selecting practice and a large body of healing lore’ that we all carry around with us in place of the science we do not yet have.

I am not willing to be so generous with my own group: Practitioners: shut up, sit down, listen, and if you don’t like what you hear, then put up some money or do the sweat work to get some answering research done. Don’t kvetch, and please don’t embarrass us further by kvetching from the place of such extreme ignorance of the special method of sharing that science is.

So I say to my fellow clinicians: Come humbly to the temple of science. No one is questioning that you do good in the world, that your work is worthwhile, that you are part of the solution not the problem. But likewise, however much you know it works, you (we, all of us) know so little about how it works. So these conferences become searches for clues, clues which may lead to established facts that fly in the face of some of our dearly-held beliefs, but will ultimately, I am sure, confirm the healing power of the structured touch we are so enthusiastic about. Coming in with a political agenda, an ego drive, or an unshakable conviction based solely on anecdote only slows the process of discovery, for you and everyone else. A little of the dispassion the Buddha showed would drape well over some of these angry and self-interested shoulders.

“Can you show me why I failed with this patient?” is a much more interesting question than “Can you confirm my prejudice about why I am succeeding with these patients?”

So some guided discussion among the clinicians would result in more precise questions for the researchers, to take some of some of the discrepancies I heard in the corridors and elevators, over a coffee or an outside break. The importance of these moments was mentioned in the last hour by the organizer Peter Huijing, but I believe much more use could be made of this process by bringing it inside toward the end of the conference, and organizing it into more incisive questions for what research would actually serve to answer clinicians’ questions and disputes.

The next conference will be early in 2012 in Vancouver. I plan to be there. There is enough discovery in these events, enough ‘being confused at a higher level’, to make the visit worthwhile, despite the frustrations I feel from both sides.

Posted by Tom Myers in Body, Fall, In My Life (Pro), Miscellany, Travel | 3 Comments »

FRC: The Court Jester

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

Moshe Solomonow (http://www.uchsc.edu/ortho/bioeng/faculty.html) stands out as perhaps the most interesting personality among the top scientists at the FRC. Look at the number of published research papers this guy has: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=search&db=pubmed&term=Solomonow%20M[au]&dispmax=50

I cannot speak to his science, having read little and understood less - though he has a pioneering reputation and a fierce dedication to good science and he is the world’s expert on ligamentous creep and hysteresis (that doesn’t sound good, does it?). A large and imposing man whose light brown suits cover a good 20 stone with a high balding dome and a deeply-carved face of a Levantine merchant that can go from haughty to twinkle and back again without warning.

In the first conference Moshe played the heirophant to the point of being papist - ‘just read my research, it’s all there’ . I didn’t feel he was entering the field of inquiry with the right attitude, and he quite put me off with his sniffiness and lordly manner. How different was my reaction this time! How different was he this time, marching to the microphone at the end of someone’s presentation, and how the presenters must have braced themselves when they saw him coming.

Some people’s backs were still put up by his attacks, sometimes quite forceful and occasionally bordering on belligerent, against the weakness in the science he saw presented in some of the sessions - and even at that he seemed to be restraining himself.

Seeing his large body slope toward the microphone, coattails flapping, would bring us all awake and bring the speaker to an autonomic sweat. Though the tone of the questioning could be a little badgering, the questions were always salient and often brilliant, looking around corners to the next steps in related research, finding the holes in the way the data was collected that no one else could see, or suggesting a new approach to the problem the research was meant to address.

Last time Solomonow was a brooding presence, who struck me as self-important and not open to new ideas. This time, he seems increasingly like a godsend, our Socrates of the Fascial Research Congresses; I hope he will stay in his position as the Court Jester, in its original sense of the only one who can bring the king down to account. Moshe Solomonow may seem a bit abrasive to some or even cut the figure of the Fool to others, but to me this man seemed key: showing the willingness to engage constructively with other scientists, to risk critical feedback in hopes of improving our knowledge and making more straight the zig-zagging course of scientific progress in our field.

Moshe is a sailor, I found out when I sat with him for a bit, who had a boat in New Orleans until Katrina blew it away. So, to honor his honesty and edginess and his hand on the tiller, my next post will attempt to speak to my group of practitioners in the same way.

Moshe has so totally earned his right to grandstand; the same does not apply to the clinicians.

Posted by Tom Myers in Body, Fall, In My Life (Pro), Miscellany, Spring, Travel | No Comments »

FRC Day 4

Friday, October 30th, 2009

The 4th day of the Fascial Research Conference was just a half day, so there was much thrusting of cards into hands, exchanges of papers and emails, deferred conversations now hurried. The presentations were interesting, especially that of Can Yucesoy from Turkey, who modeled a complex interaction of elastic and contractile muscle and various fascial properties to get a good model of Epimuscular Force Transmission (EFT) another of those three-letter acronyms you’re likely to be reading about.

One note though - I have long noticed the obliquely crossing fibers in the crural fascia (making every cadaver look like they are wearing argyle socks under their fat), as ell circumferential fibers. Why these oblique lines? Richard Nichols shows how they (might - always might, in science, but it looks pretty logical, like most lies) contribute to coronal (medio-lateral ) stability.

One other interesting bit: The GTO’s (Golgi Tendon Organs) are known for their inhibitory effect on their related muscle firing - in other words, stimulate the GTO’s to get the muscle to relax. This reflex action tends to go from down-to-up in the leg while climbing a hill, and switch to from up-to-down when descending a hill. In downhill walking, the ‘propelling’ muscles are inhibited, enhancing your brakes.

After lunch, Tom Findlay and Robert kindly invited me up onstage to be on the panel to help close out the conference. I continued my defense of the hand over machine, and hoped for some more ‘loose chaotic networking’ as Robert joked.

In the end, it was very much worth it for me. It did not have quite the same spirit as the first congress - second attempts often suffer for being just that. The science was not as good, some of the breakout sessions were just bad - badly presented, or bad science. The clinicians presenting their stuff to scientists were often worse - sometimes bum-scrunchingly so - self-aggrandising and reporting only their successes, and claiming far more than they actually could. Discipline of mind does not come easily to the therapist, it seems, and discipline of heart comes hard to some of the scientists.

But this is all part of the developing rapport among scientists in differing fields, part due to letting in more trades - surgeons and engineers as well as fascial researchers - and in part due to the confused but exploratory fingers of the therapists wiggling their way into the world of defined research. It’s a long journey, but so far a fun and rewarding one.

Posted by in Fall, In My Life (Pro), Miscellany, Travel, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Body Control Pilates Conference

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

Back in the Sates now from the Body Control Pilates Conference in London - actually it was held at the prestigious Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons at the edge of Regent’s Park (although it was the weekend, and no surgeons seemed to be about as the conference had taken over the whole building).

Lynne Robinson and her husband Leigh have developed a very strong and influential organization - the exercises on my flight home, the British Airways in-flight TV stretches etc. to save you from going stiff and swollen on the long haul flights had been developed by - you guessed it - Body Control Pilates.

The conference was large and fun. I got to meet Elizabeth Larkham who has been using the Anatomy Trains in Pilates, and saw Wendy Arbuckle, who did part of our KMI training to help her grasp of Pilates. With 7 workshops in three days, some with over 100 people, I am knackered, though everyone was very helpful. Thanks especially to Misty, Charlotte, Tim, and Jacqui.

Posted by Tom Myers in Body, In My Life (Pro), Miscellany, Summer, Travel | No Comments »

Fresh round

Monday, September 7th, 2009

Freshly ’round from the fresh and round faces of Mancunian physiotherapists with their fresh, round northern accents and their fresh, round-eyed unspoiled children, I dive into the jaded atmosphere of London to pick up my daughter and wing off to France.

In the midst of America’s discussion on health care, it was jarring to hear how discouraged these physios were / are with British National Health System. I have said ‘Bring it on’ when nay-sayers bring up the specter of ’socialized’ medicine as if this were an automatic disqualification - and I do think we need something similar to cover the poor and replace our ridiculously expensive and profit-driven system. But these people were complaining about exactly the bureaucratic inefficiency and niggling pettiness in the NHS that the town-hallers are warning us against.

Posted by Tom Myers in In My Life (Pro), Miscellany, Summer, Travel | 1 Comment »

SI Faculty Meeting

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009

Just coming home from a weekend of discussion with colleagues who teach at eight of the eighteen other SI schools. While progress in developing our profession is slow – and further slowed by recessionary forces – I feel hopeful.

Now I know hope is out of fashion just now, as we watch the Obama momentum seemingly fade, but I do - I feel hopeful on two counts. First, even though the meeting was of course self-selecting for those who want to promote community over isolation, I was impressed with everyone’s willingness to bring even difficult issues out on the table and consider the value of alternate ways of getting results. The sense from each of wanting to improve and clear a higher bar was palpable.

But most of all, I loved the collective ability to maintain a sense of humor in this arena where we all have epic investment, an unavoidable need to compete in the marketplace, and yet this distinct hunger to develop the profession and thrive together. I truly enjoy this fraternity / sorority with poised, observant, and adaptable people, whose passion is leavened with the ability to laugh at their foibles, even as they persist in the quixotic quest to pass on the gift of this extraordinary work. It is a relief to me that I still like hanging out with these my people.

Though the document to come out of this meeting may not shake the walls of Jericho, it was heartening to see the easy and assured agreement on the ‘70%’ of the shared core curriculum across the subject areas and across the various schools, as well as the spirited defense for those other 30% of unique emphasis.

Even setting aside any history receding in the rear view mirror (“Objects are closer than they appear …”), the biggest schools obviously have the most to lose in opening up to a larger umbrella organization. This leads to a reticence and a lingering conflict of interest between loyalty to the structure built up within each school versus the thinner ice of IASI’s as yet fluid organization and association with smaller, less fully-formed schools.

I am firmly convinced that, regardless of the philosophy or politics involved, the best strategic advantage for all – large and small - lies in the original meaning of fascia – ‘fasces’ or bundle. This comes from Aesop’s fable where the father, preparing to leave his farm to his three contentious sons, showed them how individual sticks could be easily broken, but a bundle of sticks tied together is much stronger. This is true for the bundled fascia in our bodies, and it is true of the profession. We either hang together or we will hang separately.

The strategic argument runs this way: There is far more to gain and little to lose from banding together, and little to gain and much to lose via going it alone.

First, what is left to be lost? The ten-series is common knowledge and some version is already taught in a substantial number of massage schools, and the telling phrase “I practice a little rolfing, too…” is too frequently heard. Deep Tissue, Myofascial Release, and other similar ‘structural bodywork’ forms are widely practiced within massage and physical therapy, while the word ‘core’ has been successfully appropriated by Pilates and personal training. And most SI practitioners are compelled to practice under a massage license, even if they regard it as a ‘flag of convenience’.

After all these years, are there really techniques or concepts that need to be kept secret? Write a book, own it, and move on is my advice – time is running out and we need to keep moving as knowledge and professional applications are rapidly progressing all around us. Staying holed up within our own castle moats leaves us standing still while the caravan moves on without us.

As for market advantage, all smaller schools of my acquaintance are perfectly content to concede the service mark and the term ‘Rolfing’, in favor of our preference for ‘Structural Integration’ as an unimpeded general term in which Rolfing, Hellerwork, Soma, KMI, etc. compete as brands in a friendly and respectful (but again spirited) way for students who want to share with us the exhilarating / sobering art / craft / science of Structural integration.

With little professional or academic status to lose, our tiny profession still has much to gain through cooperation. In the legislative and professional arena, even the small amount of cooperation we have been able to engender in the last few years has produced impressive results in regards to licensing or exemption in a few states, with the promise of more to come. While our very small total number precludes effective legislative action on a grand scale, these smaller victories prepare us for bigger opportunities when they arise.

But it is in the area of public education and marketing that we all have the most to gain from banding together. In a competitive market, one can succeed in two ways: by capturing more of a finite student pool from your competitors, or by expanding the market.

Since the primary motivation that brings students into our field is having a significant experience with the work itself that inspires the candidate to come aboard, the vast majority of those will simply seek the school from which their practitioner arose. I hear from a very limited number of potential students who are analyzing the various schools to find a good ‘fit’ among them. Even though this may be the best way of choosing a school, most students end up going with the inspiration of their ‘first contact’ school.

This method of market share distribution guarantees a steady growth for all schools, proportional to the number of graduates they have out there inspiring their clients to become practitioners, perhaps multiplied by a ‘Shazam’ factor of how inspiring the training or the individual practitioner may be. Really bad schools will slowly fade, while really inspiring ones might grow a little faster than the rest. But only a little.

The really big opportunity lies in expanding the available market, in which (how I hate to quote Reagan) a rising tide would lift all boats. Public and even professional awareness about SI is pitifully small and misinformed. The interest in the concepts and practices is actually very high, but the link between that interest – in a holistic approach, in fascia, in our ways of seeing and strategizing, a systemic approach to posture and movement, dealing effectively with chronic, distributed injuries, and effective shape-shifting technique – and our availability has yet to be forged.

While no one school can mount that effort successfully (and the Rolf Institute has been trying to do so for 30 years or more), the bundle can. By creating general and specific allied-professional awareness, we can create a larger student pool, which will come to all the various schools, largely proportionate to their size, though perhaps individual marketing efforts will also make some difference.

The point is that at the moment, the total combined graduates numbers runs only to the low hundreds each year. Public awareness efforts could easily double that number at a minimum. My own informal researches as a public speaker and CPD workshop presenter for several professions outside of SI (physiotherapists, personal trainers, Pilates teachers, yoga teachers, osteopaths, and massage therapists) would lead me to a much more optimistic estimate:

If we stopped turning our professional back on the rest of the world, and added the SI story, skillfully presented, to our already-in-hand advantage of excellent personal relations between our individual practitioners and their communities, we could have a pool of students five times that large - enough to satisfy all the schools’ needs – indeed, enough to put a strain on faculty development :-) - and provide the engine for further development into all the areas where SI can be valued – in sports, surgical and injury rehab units, in physical education, psych wards, in complementary and integrative clinics, and in change agencies worldwide, as well as the private practices that largely sustain us now.

This is both the promise and the danger of our current situation: left idle we will surely lose the opportunity to establish our field as a distinct and valuable entity and continue being subsumed and marginalized. Seized, we can emerge from this lean period in a very healthy position to honor the legacy of Ida Rolf and all the work that so many have put into this inquiry.

In short, use this opportunity to declare ourselves to the world and build alliances – we need allies – and we will be repaid many fold.

Posted by Tom Myers in In My Life (Pro), Miscellany, Summer | No Comments »

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