“Its Monday Morning, I’ve just taken my first PRI course and now what do I do and where do I start?”
If you have just taken your first PRI course and you feel a bit overloaded with information, don’t feel alone. The first time I went to a PRI course, can I tell you I was intrigued, stunned and just a bit intimidated all at the same time? I didn’t know what the heck I was doing so on Monday morning I had a bunch of people blowing up balloons! (Take the Postural Respiration course and you will know what I mean!)
In fact, the entire body of knowledge of PRI can feel like one big elephant you are trying to digest. And you know the old question, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!
The first thing to do is what you learn in every course and that is to breathe and relax. There is a lot information here that needs to sink in over time and you won’t get it all the first time. No one that has taken one of these courses has gotten it all the first time but if a door is opened to your curiosity and caring to learn more you are definitely on the right track!
What helped me in my overwhelm was to create a picture in my mind of some of the basics. For instance, we aren’t symmetrical and never will be but the point is to manage asymmetries and get neutral. Then, have a simple picture anatomically of the basic asymmetries left and right side and how they affect position and posture thru polyarticular chains. Remember how the diaphragm is the key player and you have a simple way to describe what you are doing to yourself, patients or clients. They will be impressed by just a short, and I mean short, description of their anatomy and how it affects them.
On Monday morning, pick one person you feel comfortable with to experiment on. If you have a colleague that has gone to a course practice with them. Tell your patient that you just got out of a course and you want to try some powerful tools with them. If you took a Myokinematics course, practice an abduction drop test and show them one basic exercise. It is best that you practice that exercise yourself and continue to practice PRI tests and exercises yourself, so you know what it feels like and what to feel when you are in position for facilitation and inhibition. PRI works best when we are managing our own asymmetries!
Immediately you have knowledge and application of assessment and corrective positioning that is really sophisticated and you have just scratched the surface. You can build on this by learning a new assessment or two with a new corrective position every day.
Have your manual close. Refer to it, study it and get a more detailed picture in your mind of how the human body works and how you can be more effective. This is called building a body of knowledge and it doesn’t happen overnight but you can get results and get excited with just the basics and build on top of them.
If you went to a live seminar, order the home study course and review it a few times. If you got a home course, go to a live course to interact with the instructor and fellow students. Pack a bunch of questions in your bag when you go! If you get a little frustrated with all the information and it doesn’t make sense all at once, then you are a normal human being! Hang in there. The good news is that becoming more skilled and competent is satisfying and meaningful and that building a body of knowledge and expanding what you know is just plain fun!
