Tag Archive for: Muscle Activation Techniques Aurora

Calming the Storm in Your Brain: Migraines

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If you suspect you suffer from migraine headaches and you’re looking for an alternative drug-free solution to best manage your symptoms, this article is for you. Migraines occur in 10-15% of kids and adults and only half of people know they are having one. In this blog, you’ll learn about what causes migraine headaches, the criteria that doctors use for diagnosing migraines and easy tips to help you relax even though you’re suffering. My hope is you’ll get more clarity on migraines as well as on next steps to help you better manage migraine headaches with a safe and holistic approach.

What is a migraine headache?  

Doctors tell us it is an electrical storm in the brain. The brain cells or neurons are firing too much or too little creating temporary changes in the brain. This electrical imbalance in the brain causes head pain.

Doctors reassure us that head pain isn’t damaging the brain tissue and that 95% of headaches are safe.

Check out this educational video about migraines.

If you are a migraine sufferer, you’re not alone. Migraines account for more difficulty doing regular activity than any other neurological problem.

Unsure if Your Headaches are Migraines?

According to the International classification or headache disorders, the current agreed upon criteria for migraine diagnosis:

  1. At least 5 attacks, 1 fulfilling criteria B-D
  2. Migraine lasting 4-72 hours untreated or unsuccessfully treated
  3. Headache has at least 2 or the following characteristics:
  4. Unilateral location
  5. Pulsating quality
  6. Moderate or severe pain intensity
  7. Aggravation by or causing avoidance of routine physical activity
  8. During headache at least one of the following:
  9. Nausea and/or vomiting
  10. Photophobia and phonophobia

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, photophobia is the intolerance to light especially painful sensitiveness to strong light. Phonophobia is an intolerance of or hypersensitivity to sound.

If you’re reading this and you suspect you suffer from migraines, I suggest you make an appointment with your family doctor as he/she will perform a physical exam to confirm this diagnosis.

So, it is a Migraine…Now What?

Since here is no cure for migraines, once you have been diagnosed, there are many suggestions as to how best manage your symptoms.

Headache doctors and neurologist recommend:

  • Drinking water
  • Getting regular sleep
  • Relaxation techniques

At Apana Bodywork we specialize in not only relaxation but resetting the nervous system, often mitigating symptoms of migraines before they start.

Trame Vibrational Therapy has a great track record for helping migraine sufferers. During my initial training I had 9 volunteers receive one Trame session every 3 weeks for a total of 4 sessions each. In exchange they made observations about the effects they felt from the sessions mentally, physically, emotionally and energetically.

There were 4 of 9 case study participants that suffered regular (at least once a month) migraines and the intensity reported was debilitating enough to affect their daily activities. Of the migraine sufferers, none of them experienced a migraine during the 4 months study, that’s 100% effectiveness for this small sample group.

Screaming in Pain

It’s really tempting to get angry at the pain. We’re missing out on work, family and play. We might be hiding out in a dark room waiting for the pain to pass. When we’re suffering for hours or even days it can be very frustrating to wonder when you will feel better. If you’re tempted to scream out in pain let me reinforce what the doctors say; it only makes the situation worse.  Your brain is trying to find balance and adding more volatility in the form of anger only gives the body more work to do to calm the storm in your brain.

Solution: Laugh at the pain.

This may seem like a ridiculous suggestion but when you laugh at the pain or think of the pain less seriously, you diffuse it and take away it’s power over you. Is it difficult to do? Yes. Will it help immediately? No. But, over time you will get better at detaching yourself from the pain making it less debilitating.

Relaxation Tips for Migraines:

  1. Feel another part of your body that doesn’t hurt

When we pay attention to another part of our body that does not hurt, our reality shifts away from the pain and we experience less stress mentally and emotionally helping ease the pain we’re experiencing.

  1. Wiggle your toes until you fall asleep

When you’re lying in bed and the pain is stopping you from falling asleep, try slowly and gently wiggling your toes. Start with your left foot and feel your toes wiggle gently and then wiggle the toes of your right foot. Keep alternating from side to side making it your job to only you’re your toes and commit to keep doing it while staying easy about the exercise. You will eventually drift off to sleep just keep at it no matter how long it takes. Surrender to this movement and you will distract yourself from the pain and sleep more soundly.

  1. Using another sensation

Using another sensation such as light physical touch or temperature interrupts the pain signal. Simply stroking your forehead, light massage or placing an ice pack on your head.

Migraines can be a real pain and necessitate days off work, missed family time and opportunities.   Finding ways to prevent them, in my opinion, is a smart way to go. In the absence of that, finding the strategies that best help you to manage the pain and minimize the length and intensity of your migraines is the second priority because you have places to be and things to do!

If you’d like to come in and talk more about what you’re going through as well as solutions we offer, don’t hesitate to reach out and contact Apana Bodywork at 647-801-2424 or find us on Instagram @apana.bodywork.

Check out our Youtube video talking more about migraines or watch below:

 

Are You Showing Up as Your Truest Self?

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How Trame Vibrational Therapy Can Help You Heal Your Mind and Body

Vulnerability has been researched extensively by one of my favourite experts on all taboo topics – Brene Brown. Leading by example during her TED talk that became the Top 10 most viewed in the world, she put herself out there confessing that she didn’t agree with her research findings. She has studied vulnerability for the past twelve years and has empirically proven that vulnerability at its core requires courage and simply can’t exist otherwise.

I don’t know about you but for me vulnerability didn’t come easy and still takes a few deep breaths to conjure the strength to put myself “out there” in moments when I’d rather put a wall up or pretend otherwise.

We are all Imperfectly Perfect

The reason I believe this topic is so important is that we live in a culture where we are starved for real connections. We are all-tech-all-the-time and little face to face time. We are going a million miles a minute and crave human contact, but we can’t really connect if we’re faking it or holding back our true selves. It is important to get comfortable in our own imperfect skin so that we can show up more as who we are, in order to reap the social rewards.

We all have people in our lives that being completely ourselves comes naturally and then we have the relationships where we feel we have to put our best foot forward and strive toward perfection.

So how do we show up as our true selves when we are in front of people who expect us to be flawless? How do we shed all the layers of false beliefs that tell us we are not good enough and really show up as who we really are?

It’s entirely possible.

One Step at a Time

With a focus on personal development and the right tools, you’d be surprised at how quickly your internal world changes for the better.

I’ve seen clients in my practice that come in with laundry lists of issues like physical pain, depression/anxiety, difficulty communicating or relating to their kids or spouses, stress, difficulty getting motivated in their businesses, and so on.

Sounds like a lot to “fix” right?

It’s a lot simpler than drudging through all the issues and dissecting them at length. In my practice, it’s about recalibrating the individual so that their own innate intelligence takes care of the healing.

So how do we get this done? Trame Vibrational Technique.

Trame Vibrational Therapy

Trame is vibrational medicine. Just like a musical instrument that requires periodic tuning, so do you! We are very complex instruments that can play off key at times and this only means we need a tune up.

Signs you may need a vibrational tune up:

  • Lack of mental clarity
  • Re-living the past
  • Anxiety/depression
  • Lack of energy
  • Difficulty focusing
  • Issues with Sleep
  • Inability to settle
  • Pain in the body

And the list goes on!

As Albert Einstein once said, “the future of medicine will be the medicine of frequencies.” Trame Vibrational therapy is just that – a big step toward balance, harmony and re-setting the nervous system so that the body can heal itself.

Feeling empowered enough to be vulnerable no matter where you are or who you’re with is something that I’ve witnessed in my practice even when clients weren’t looking for it. They show up confidently with their children as well as at work, they become more resilient to very stressful situations, and they learn about themselves. But most importantly they are happier and feel more like themselves. Personal growth is why I do what I do. I know the pain of not showing up as myself fully and I want to share that gift with others.

Let’s Connect

If you’re looking to shed some layers that are holding you back from fully expressing who you are in the world, book your complimentary 30-minute consultation and learn how this is easier than you think.

I invite you to share your experience or ask questions in the comments. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram and join our newsletter for health inspirations and tips. My YouTube Channel is also an amazing place to connect and learn.

To our health & wellbeing,

Madeleine

Do You Know Your Value as an Energy Medicine Practitioner?

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When you’re in business for yourself as a healer or energy medicine practitioner it’s so easy to lose sight of your value.

Here are a couple reasons why:

1. Culture has not kept up with the evolution of medicine

We, as alternative health practitioners, are not recognized as falling within the medical field; meaning we are considered alternative instead of mainstream medicine.

  • How many people have you helped with your brand of healing?
  • How many people have returned to work without the same emotional or physical pain they once felt?
  • And how many people are feeling lighter because of the shifts you helped them make?

That’s you! Even though our society hasn’t quite caught up with the rapid evolution of energy medicine doesn’t mean that there isn’t tremendous value in it.

2. You get used to your gifts

Because you wake up each day as yourself, you can easily forget that you are unique. Whether you’re an energy healer or an alternative health practitioner, you may forget that the skills you have are incredible.

You are out there delivering a specific brand of healing to many people in need and please don’t forget its transformative power! It’s so easy to doubt oneself in our skills but one thing I’ve learnt (the hard way) is that the more you doubt, the more you cut yourself off from the flow that provides those gifts in the first place. Trust in yourself and your gifts and appreciate the difference you are making in the lives that you touch every single day.

 3. There is no roadmap for conscious growth

As healers or alternative medicine practitioners we ourselves are constantly evolving energetically.  We are always working on ourselves.  We might be learning how to love ourselves more, how to tune into our intuition more deeply or how to be of greater service to others.

And we are trying to do all this while still working on clients and sometimes we don’t know how to be in our ‘new skin’. All of a sudden something shifts and we have to adapt to our new reality once again. In light of all the changes and the need to adapt to them, sometimes we forget the awareness, the clearing and the relief that you provide to your clients. What a gift!

I hope this gives you a glimpse into how the rest of the world sees you.  You are an extremely special part of the whole and are valued beyond words.

If you have some positive words to share for fellow healers, I invite you to share them in the comments below.  You can find us on Facebook and join our newsletter for health inspirations and tips.

To our health & wellbeing,

Madeleine

Do You Think Personal Training Will Look Like This?

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personal trainingIf so, you are sadly mistaken my friend!

Most people don’t have the strength to do a straight leg push up let alone be stepped on during one!

If you’re a trainer and you have clients who have injuries, limitations in movement or issues with strength of certain joints, check out Muscle Activation Techniques and read up on a new technique that is all the rage right now called Muscle Activation Techniques. All the pros are using it, so why not offer this to your clients as an add-on and help them heal from those chronic injuries that keep them from working out at the intensity they need to be!

Check out an article in Men’s Fitness: 5 THINGS MUSCLE ACTIVATION TECHNIQUE (MAT) TRAINING CAN DO FOR YOUR BODY

Are You a Personal Trainer Who Is:

1. Tired of working around body pain with your clients?

2. Frustrated because your clients are constantly injured?

3. Are you trying to find exercises that won’t hurt your clients?

 

I started out as a trainer and I have been there! I was given every injured client. It’s exhausting if you don’t have the right tools.

 

Here’s Why I was Frustrated While Training Injured Clients:

I’m Training my client at the gym and no matter how many times I would say “don’t let your knee dive in” during a squat, it didn’t make a difference!  This is bad form that cannot be corrected with proper cueing. No matter how hard my client tried she could not stop her knee from dropping in. I became curious as to why this was happening.

 

Here is the Solution I Found Worked Quickly:

In the first day of the Muscle Activation Techniques (MAT) internship they explained how the body compensates or works around a (neurological) weakness as a form of protection from injury or instability. The body avoids positions of weakness and favors positions of strength as a safeguard and it does this AUTOMATICALLY! That made so much sense!  That’s why no matter how hard my clients tried to correct their form, they couldn’t.

The body’s goal is to protect, conserve and heal and if it can’t heal, it will continue to protect in as many ways as possible for as long as possible. When a person squats and their knee dives in, there must be a muscular weakness/inhibition that they are avoiding, and as a result, the body is favoring a position of strength and taking a “detour” around the position(s) of weakness.

The sooner we realize that the nervous system is the boss of how we move, the sooner we stop fighting with the body and start working with the body to get it to do the things we want!

Get your mechanics checked out today and make sure you aren’t the next injured client!

Note to Trainers who are interested in MAT

If you’re a trainer and you’re interested in Muscle Activation Techniques there is an economical and straight forward training that MAT provides in Toronto where you can become Jumpstart Certified in Muscle Activation Techniques. This is a great way to help your clients heal from their injuries and help you gain the trust of your clients.

– Madeleine

Apana Bodywork

Muscular Compensation: How Your Body Works Around Weak Links

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muscular compensation - muscle activation techniques aurora - Apana BodyworkI’m Training my client at the gym and no matter how many times I would say “don’t let your knee dive in” during a squat, it didn’t make a difference!  This is bad form that cannot be corrected with proper cueing. No matter how hard my client tried she could not stop her knee from dropping in. I became curious as to why this was happening.  In the first day of the Muscle Activation Techniques (MAT) internship they explained how the body compensates or works around a (neurological) weakness as a form of protection from injury or instability. The body avoids positions of weakness and favors positions of strength as a safeguard. That made so much sense!

The Body’s Goal is to Protect, Conserve and Heal

And if it can’t heal, it will continue to protect in as many ways as possible for as long as possible. When a person squats and their knee dives in, there must be a muscular weakness/inhibition that they are avoiding, and as a result, the body is favoring a position of strength and taking a “detour” around the position(s) of weakness.

Why Do Muscles Become Weak?

Before we can talk about muscular compensation we need to quickly address why muscles become neurologically weak or inhibited in the first place. How do muscles become neurologically weak in the first place?  Stress, trauma and overuse shut down the connection between the brain and muscle rendering muscle contraction less efficient and effective or completely absent.  This connection is necessary for proper muscle function.  Net effect: your muscles won’t contract when you need them to or may not contract at all.  This makes you vulnerable to injury because you are more unstable.  This may not seem like a big deal but wait until one weakness stacks on to another and the entire functioning of your body is affected because your body is compensating around weak muscles.

The Nervous System Finds Ways to Work Around the Weaknesses

Most people are shocked to find out that not all their muscles are contracting perfectly.  The objections I hear are: “But I work out!” Or “I feel fine!”  How can we function if this is the case?  The reason we get around so well is that our nervous systems find ways to work around the weaknesses. Like a road closure that makes you take the long way around, the ‘detour’ your body takes to avoid the weakness isn’t as efficient. It may look odd and could even be causing imbalances at your joints but it gets the job done.  Over time, joints can easily get worn out when muscles aren’t doing their job.  It can even render simple activities painful.  Compensation is a work-around that is necessary until we activate those weak links and get back to our proper biomechanical functioning.

Returning Functionality Back to Those Muscles with MAT

Once we get muscle function back, your joints are more balanced taking the stress off of them and for most, decreasing pain and stiffness and increasing motion.  Post treatment mostly everyone reports feeling different when they walk. They have also observed feeling looser, more agile and the complaint they came in with typically changes in quality and severity and this progresses over subsequent treatments. The way your body feels improves gradually over the course of treatments and you begin to feel relief.

Many clients haven’t returned because the problem they came in with is gone.  For others, they drive their bodies like race cars and as a result need more maintenance.  They come in to maintain their alignment, strength and overall sense of well-being while pushing the boundaries of what their bodies can handle.  Wouldn’t you love to be stronger now than you were when you were 20?  That’s a great feeling.

MAT specializes in your muscular system in a way that is going to speed healing from injury, surgery, patellar-femoral syndrome, arthritis, scoliosis, degenerative joint disease, (DJD), bursitis, even ‘sleeping funny’ can be alleviated by re-connecting your muscles. The impact of the muscular system is huge. It is the largest organ in your body and its proper function has cascading effects over your entire system.

In a nutshell when you get a MAT session the specialist will find out what you can’t do. We then restore proper muscle function and reinforce those habits and motions that will speed healing. There is no treatment out there that assesses and treats the muscular system with such focus.  If you’re struggling with an injury or want to try to avoid surgery or if you just have a bad shoulder, neck, ankle MAT is right for you, contact Apana Bodywork and find out how we can pave the road to health.

 

Madeleine Dasilva
Certified Muscle Activation Specialist & Reiki Master and Teacher

www.apanabodywork.com
md@apanabodywork.com
647-801-2424

The Effect of Stress on Muscle Contraction

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Have you ever been so stressed that you just switch to survival mode? You do what you must do, or what is being asked of you, but you are acting almost subconsciously or even robotically and feeling less and less like yourself…

Stress Can Be a Debilitating Feeling

While some people may suggest that they work better in a stressful environment, stress gets old very quickly no matter the circumstances. Your body gets tired, your digestion may suffer, your sleep becomes interrupted, and you simply do not feel like taking on the day ahead.

This Stress Affects Your Muscles

You can actually feel the effect of stress on muscle contraction. Muscle function can also become strained or non-existent during stressful periods. Stress from any source, whether physical, emotional, or chemical, can shut down your muscles. This stress can result from the lack of sleep, too many deadlines at work, or an accident or personal injury. Regardless of the stimulus, stress has the effect of throwing our bodies “out of whack”.

Muscles do not function on their own; the brain and spinal cord are in charge. If the brain is not receiving the proper information, the muscle simply does not contract or it contracts sluggishly. This creates a problem when you want to play sports, pick up heavy loads, twist, bend or climb stairs. When muscles are not doing their job, the body must compensate around them and that creates problems like tightness, instability, pain, discomfort, and lack of motion.

MAT Removes Stress by Helping Your Muscles

When muscles are working properly, they help you feel lighter and more agile. They also help to stabilize your body and keep you moving fluidly. MAT removes stress from the body by helping your muscles do their job properly.

At Apana Bodywork, we can help. We can determine just the right combination of treatments to help you release or let go of your stress and allow your body to become balanced and strong again.

Everyone struggles with challenges at one time or another. Whether it is a health issue, a family issue or career/job stress, we can help lessen the burden. Our skilled specialist will listen and help you to pave the road back to feeling well again.

Call Apana Bodywork today at 647-801-2424 for your free, no obligation health consultation and make feeling better a priority.

~ Madeleine