It was such a pleasure presenting this course material to a European audience! These attendees, with their strong interest in PRI and numerous questions across all four days, made the Postural Respiration and Cervical Revolution courses as interactive as ever! Questions mainly concerned the clinical application of course concepts related to the human species’s asymmetrical body and the impact on nervous system processing to produce desirable (and undesirable) movement. Attendees shared their clinical perspectives, providing a collaborative vibe and ancillary information that deepened our understanding of course concepts. And what a diverse set of perspectives we had, from osteopaths, physicians, chiropractors, physiotherapists, to a hand specialist, speech and language pathologist, pelvic floor specialist, yoga and massage therapists, sport scientists, personal trainers, … and Simon Holmlund, who is leaving the field of IT to pursue a degree in physiotherapy.
Postural Respiration was presented the first weekend. We guided our “patients” to a left diaphragm ZOA, via non-manual and manual techniques, to direct air flow into regions previously closed off in the thorax. Doing so enables our center of mass to alternate from the left side of our body to the right and back again during upright movements. Considerable time was spent discussing the meaning behind the objective tests, guiding clinical decision-making using our treatment algorithm, and learning how to coach the techniques.
In the interim week, my husband, Bruce, and I took in the sights of Munich, including a basketball game at the German National Championships, and decompressed with runs through the English Garden, hikes in the Bavarian Alps, and quite a few pints of German lagers.
Next up was Cervical Revolution, which introduces a chain of muscles, the TMCC. This chain on the right side teams up with the familiar chains, the L AIC, PEC, and R BC, to hold us in the right hemisphere. We thread concepts of Myokinematics, Pelvis Restoration, and Postural Respiration into the discussion of the neck (on the left and right) and cranial positions (the left and right spheno-basilar synchondrosis and articulations between the spheno-temporal, spheno-maxillary, and occipital-temporal bones). We discover additional “floors” – beyond what’s under our heels – that have a profound impact on movement: namely the left and right OA articulation and the left and right occlusion. The
language of the brain, frequencies, are produced by the alternating compression of these floors.
Thank you to all who stepped up to act as patient models for tests and techniques: In Postural Respiration: Courtney Fearon, Victor Grunack, Kelly Hudson, Justin Lam, Lucas Peter, Andi Roessler, Roman Steinweg, and Sean Yau. In Cervical Revolution: Julia Felber, Andi Roessler, Seana Ryle, Pauline Staneker, and Max Wolter.
A huge thank you to Timas Peteraitis, Physiotherapist and PRC, who was an enormous help during lab and who added to class discussions. Timas, you are a natural educator. I wish you well on your path to teaching at the University level. Finally, thank you to our hosts at the beautiful Lindebergs Academy: Regina Frank, Lorenz, and Daniel Mueller. The PRI faculty have enjoyed your hospitality through the years, and we look forward to the continuing collaboration to spread the science of PRI!
– Louise Kelley
