About Holistic Biomechanics
Holistic Biomechanics
Nervous system coach, alternative physical therapy, movement education and repatterning, and joint biomechanics are a few of the terms we use to describe what we do and offer.
​
We view the mind and body through the lens of the nervous system and aim to return the nervous system to efficient and optimal homeostatic function through the process of body mapping in the context of movement.
By recognizing the state of the autonomic nervous system, one is able to re-educate and modify motor patterning, thought processing, and behavioral-emotional patterns.
Long term stress, whether emotional, psychological or mechanical/physical, can create a sympathetic-dominant pattern of the nervous system that ultimately leads to pain, injury, movement issues, illness (both mental and physical), and structural changes in the body. By identifying these reflexes, we can rewrite them in a healthy, holistically sound manner and allow the nervous system to choose the operating system, sympathetic or parasympathetic, that is most appropriate for the moment. This culminates in adaptive changes in brain function, thought patterns, metabolic regulation, and joint and fascial functioning to bring the mind and body to a place of structural integrity and efficiency. This adaptability becomes habitual and unconscious.
Holistic Biomechanics is also a great tool for highly accomplished movers such as dancers and athletes, or for those looking for an effective movement experience without it being “hard.” Body mapping in the context of slow and simple movement allows for more coordination and efficiency in sophisticated and highly articulated movement as well as smooth transitions between simple and complex motor patterns. By refining our motor patterns, we can expand our movement range and interweave them into highly technical movement.
​
Movement is an integral part of the nervous system, and in itself, creates a lot of sensory input. More specifically, the autonomic nervous system, which is divided into the sympathetic and parasympathetic, is under the direction of the motor division. So, all of our physical movement, whether it is done for exercise purposes, speech, or general everyday movement, is completely different depending on whether we are presently in the sympathetic or parasympathetic mode. This means that if my reflexes are, for example, dominantly sympathetic when I lift my arm up, that my fight-or-flight nervous system will be triggered every time I raise my arm.
Body Mapping
Our brain has a “map” of the body. There is real estate in the brain dedicated to each part of the body. The quantity of real estate dedicated to each part of the body is considered plastic, or changeable. Through either lack of sensory input, trauma, pain or injury, for example, the brain’s map of the body may or may not be accurate, clear, or up-to-date. Body Mapping is the conscious act of gathering current information about various locations in the body. This focused attention to specific points increases cellular and neurological activity in the area, which gains the attention of the sensory-motor cortex of the brain. Once sensory information about location and patterning has reached the brain, the brain is then capable of changing the state of the autonomic nervous system and sending out new or modified motor patterns. In addition, the brain can adapt, update, change or clarify the map of the body for more in-the-moment accuracy. Body Mapping in the context of compression and/or movement allows for the potential to change patterns in various movement situations, ranges of motion, and environments.
