August 18, 2024 • 43 mins
What if the key to unlocking your body's true potential wasn't just in traditional massage but in something deeper? Join us as Dan, our seasoned body worker, unveils the transformative world of body work therapy. Through his expert hands and insights, discover how realigning your body structurally can enhance your range of motion and alleviate muscular strains. Dan's personal stories and examples highlight the importance of therapeutic touch and the profound relationship between a practitioner and client in tailoring treatments to individual needs.
Explore fascinating practices like rolfing and craniosacral therapy that have helped writers overcome their writer's block. We emphasize the significance of personalized approaches to both yoga and body work. Each person's physical state is unique, and through functional yoga, traditional principles are integrated to cater to individual experiences and traumas.
Consistency in body work and relaxation techniques can be life-changing for pain management and overall well-being. We share experiences that demonstrate how daily practices lead to significant improvements in physical health and mental clarity. This episode is a call to action, urging you to combine external help with internal dedication to achieve true healing. Don't forget to connect with us on Instagram @becomeoneliving or via email at becomeoneliving@gmail.com for further engagement and support on your journey.
We would love to hear from you! Email us at becomeoneliving@gmail.com or reach out to us on Instagram at BecomeOne Living.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Greetings and welcome to Become One Living.
My name is JodiDahmerstadt-Boysitz.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
And I'm Dan Boysitz, jodi Dahmerstadt-Boysitz.
Hello, how are you, dan?
I'm Dan Boisets, jodiDahmerstadt Boisets.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Hello, how are you Dan?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
I'm doing well.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Awesome.
Thank you for joining us today.
Today we decided to discussbody work.
Dan is a body worker.
Dan is a body worker and, in myopinion, a healer.
In my experience, the way hishands listen to my body when
(00:56):
it's in pain and needsadjustment is amazing to me that
you have that capacity tolisten with your hands.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Let's talk about.
What is body work?
The approach of body work islooking at the body structurally
.
It's an educated touch.
The attack or the approach isabout reorganizing the body to
maximize potential for thathuman, and what I mean by that
(01:38):
is reorganizing the body inrelationship to itself within
that system.
So, for example, a goodalignment of the knees over the
ankles, a good alignment of theanterior superior iliac spine
over the hips, and so on.
So, in a nutshell, 90-degreeangles at all of the joints is a
(02:01):
basic guide.
Angles at all of the joints isa basic guide, and so range of
motions, repetitive motions andinjuries will take a body out of
that alignment, and soessentially, what we're seeking
to do is bring that alignmentback or reintroduce that
alignment back for ease at thejoints.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Wow.
Let's go back to the beginningand break some of that down for
our friends.
When you look at a body andwhen I look at a body, I'm not
as trained in body work as Danis I did yoga therapy, hands-on
training for 15 years with myteacher, who pretty much taught
(02:44):
me how to put a dislocated kneeback in place or shoulder.
And I've had to do that forclients that were in class and
things have happened.
And though I'm notprofessionally trained in that,
in a massage therapist, I wantto share that when we look at
(03:04):
the body, we are looking forangles you spoke on and possible
muscular strains.
Where's the strain pattern?
in the body and massage isdifferent, my friends.
I want to share this because Iwant to educate you when you go
(03:28):
to purchase a service.
Massage is a technique ofstrokes and kneading the body to
induce relaxation.
That is the definition of amassage.
It is done to induce relaxation.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Specifically for that .
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yes, and now in massage school which you went to
, they don't teach you how toread a body.
They don't really teach you how?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
No, no, no, no.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
No.
So that's important for you allto know.
If you're in physical pain andyou go for a massage and you say
go deep because you think deepis going to be better, right, go
deep.
And then a couple of days later, you're still in pain.
It's not the massagetherapist's fault.
They're not trained in that.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Right.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
In looking at how is the system off and how can I
create freedom where it's needed, not where they're in pain?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yeah, joe, you just touched on a gazillion things
and it's so loaded.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So what stands out to you that you would share about
body work, because you mentionedsomething that your goal is to
create space for their highestpotential to begin.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
To begin, I have to just say that we have to jump in
somewhere right um right.
The lowest common denominatoris that touch is therapy right.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Healthy, nurturing, educated touch is therapeutic
right, so um which numerousneurological and neuroscientific
studies have proven how lack oftouch help causes can increase
dementia depression yes, lack ofand and and, development will
(05:44):
be lacking, oh yes they speak onhow, when children aren't held
when they're young, they don'tthrive.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Yeah right, I want to share as much information as I
can with the audience, but Iwant the audience to know that I
am speaking as a practitioner,that I am speaking as a
practitioner, right today.
I'm not speaking as an educator, I'm not speaking as an
authority.
I'm speaking as a practitionerwho has devoted lots and lots I
(06:13):
mean my life, to this practice.
Right so, to distinguish a bodywork session from a massage
session, you know, massage isjust what Joe said.
It's the idea is more luxurythat it's not necessarily
supportive of growth anddevelopment or an educated touch
(06:36):
.
It's more about relaxing thesystem.
For lack of a better way to putit Now.
Body work is more informed.
For lack of a better way to putit Now, body work is more
informed.
It's a more educated touch.
It's got goals, like I shared,the goal to reorganize the body.
But before we get to there, wehave to start to develop a
relationship with any givenclient.
Right?
So there are.
(06:59):
You can start at day one with anewborn baby, right?
So some humans have congenitalor from birth developmental
concerns or issues from the jawand the mandible and the
maxillable all the way throughthe body to the feet, in and out
(07:21):
.
Right.
So all these things areconsidered when you're working
with somebody.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
So, when working with someone, you have to take into
consideration and we'll talkabout this in another episode
functional yoga, that's whywe've synthesized this.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Everything's like woven in together.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Because you don't know if someone, if the bone,
has altered or was altered frombirth, or if misalignment over
time has created that, and thenwe don't know if it's muscular.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Right.
So on that note, part of bodywork and developing a
relationship with a body workpractitioner is just that is
exploration and discovery, right?
So some people are born withextra bones in their body for
some reason.
Some people are born with, say,they call them quadriceps, but
(08:14):
sometimes they've opened upbodies and found five muscles
that do that work.
Many humans have psoas major,but not all have a psoas minor.
Development of a muscle.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
And some don't even have a piriformis.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Right.
So all of these things getsynthesized when I walk into the
room to work with somebody, andthis is just like the tip of
the iceberg as to what issynthesized in my mind when I
approach somebody in my mindwhen I approach somebody and
that is why also body work inthe medicinal definition says
(08:50):
the person that does body workhas multiple modalities that
they have studied over multipleyears.
Right, I would almost say thesummary of my training and my
interests almost fall all underthe category of sensitivity
(09:12):
training.
You know, fielding a personcoming in the room like it's an
ostrich egg and holding thatperson with that sensitivity of
touch.
And I don't mean just by thephysical contact touch, I mean
by the very first text message Iget for someone who's going to
come in.
So all of the work getssynthesized but there's so many
(09:36):
things in my head that I hope toshare.
But as a practitioner, all ofthese things are going on in my
mind to bring ease and maximizethe potential of any human that
comes into my room to be workedwith.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
And that sounds very trauma-informed.
And not that Dan.
I would say Dan is atrauma-informed practitioner.
I would say this was innate inDan, dan innately in my opinion
well, I'm going to leave out theword opinion because my
experience of Dan, because I'vehad multiple injuries, I've had
(10:15):
two breast surgeries, five boneamputations, brain surgery and I
have high-gradespondylolisthesis Right and
Dan's help is of his body work.
When I'm on the table it startsthe minute I say, hey, I'm in
(10:37):
pain, yeah, the way he lays medown the discussion.
You have this sensitivity thatwhen people come out of Dan's
room, men are crying.
70 year old men come out crying, yeah, pain, freefree.
Other women have said to meI've never felt so safe being
(11:00):
touched by a man.
And what I'm hearing from you,which I love, is the minute
someone reaches out, you'realready cultivating a
relationship with them and inneuroscience there's something
called the SCARF model,s-c-a-r-f.
(11:24):
Scarf and the R is relatabilityand studies have shown
neurologically, when you relateto someone and S is for status
and you honor their status, theywill feel safer with you
quicker and you do that innately, which is beautiful to me.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
There's a lot of powerful tools required to do
this work and at the top of thelist is the ability to listen.
And it's not just listen aboutto what people say.
When I make a contact withsomebody with my hands, it's
listening through my hands.
Text messages work in the room.
(12:12):
The listening is like theparamount, it's the top of the
room.
The listening is like theparamount, it's the top of the
heap.
It's really important forsomebody to be heard in order
for any expectation which is awhole other topic any
expectation to be met.
So I try to gather as muchinformation as I can from
somebody that's coming in forthe first time, because they're
(12:35):
also coming in with anexpectation.
So if I don't educate by way oflistening to what they're
sharing and what theirexpectation is, then it makes it
really difficult.
So that you know trust, safety,relatability are all requisite
(12:55):
for a person to actually receivea session, get off the table
and then have something I wantto use the word tangible, but
it's not necessarily tangible,but feeling-wise that they have
shifted or transformed a littlebit.
I think it's not something thatyou necessarily can learn in a
(13:20):
classroom.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
What you the gift you have.
No, that's not learned.
When I first met Dan, somethingthat drew me towards Dan was
his ability to allow me to feelas if no one else existed in the
world.
When I speak to this man and Isee him speak to other people,
(13:45):
he leans in and he listens.
He gets so quiet and he asksquestions.
That never happened in myfamily.
My family was talking over oneanother and I was the baby and
everybody ignored me.
Ah, shut up, you don't know.
Da, da, da pushed aside.
And here I meet this man almost15 years ago.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
He actually listened to what I said and that when he
did that, I wanted to do thatand I feel that's one of the the
fibers that you and Iintertwined on immediately is
because it's shravana.
I listen so intently thatoftentimes I'll be listening so
(14:32):
intently that I'll forget thethings that are going through my
mind that I want to bring up inrelationship to what somebody's
sharing, because I'm not having.
I don't need to tell anybodywhat I know.
I'm fielding the human you knowto make a breakthrough or at
(14:55):
least allow them simply to beheard.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
To be heard, witnessed and seen.
You're speaking yoga.
That's why what you do works sowell with what we offer, what I
offer, and when I share withpeople how body work is
intricate, it is key in growth.
In a lot of books that I readabout writing.
(15:22):
I love writing.
My friends, I'm not the bestwriter.
Dan helps edit and clean up mywriting.
I love writing and a lot ofwriters will go get rolfing or
cranial sacral when they havewriter's block or when they're
stuck.
They go get skillful body workto help create down regulation,
(15:45):
relaxation and space to comeback home, to connect to self,
and that is the goal of yoga toself, and that is the goal of
yoga.
The goal of yoga is may I learnabout my body by using it as a
(16:06):
tool and get in my body,communicate with my internal
signals and then learn how toco-create my life through my
intuitive knowing and to meet myfull potential.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
I mean so loaded in a great way, so rich in a great
way.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
So this is part one.
We would say that this isdefinitely have to be a part one
yeah, it's.
Can I go back?
to Shravana for a second toshare with my friends.
Shravana is an ancient learningtechnique from the Upanishads.
It's actually from a yogic text, and Shravana means to listen
(16:55):
to what is said with all of yoursenses and not to.
This is important listen, notto try to relate it to what you
think you know.
Because once I share somethingwith you and you go oh yeah,
well, ram das said that, orshmakalaka laka said that, or
said that you now think you knowwhat I'm saying and you
(17:17):
actually miss the opportunity toreceive and feel and open up to
a new possibility.
So, shravana, what Dan issaying is I know nothing and I'm
here because I trust you andI'm willing to hear something
different, without relating itto what I think I know.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
The thinking mind most often is the greatest
obstacle.
And if you went to a Westernmedicine person and said, you
know, craniosacral we're goingto do, or body work helps, helps
(18:03):
, it's way too organic andnatural to measure.
It was like if I put fivepeople in a line and said, okay,
let's figure out who's the mostspiritual here of five people
that claim to be spiritual.
Well, how would you measurethat?
You might, if you were toendeavor to answer that question
.
You may say, well, it's goingto take a lifetime.
It's going to take each ofthese people's lifetimes for us
(18:24):
to figure out who may beactually spiritual and who may
be more spiritual than another.
And it goes in waves and itcomes and goes and all these
things are so deep and rich thatyou can't really necessarily
measure it.
But we can start somewhere,right.
So we can start with the ideaof pain, and for me, pain is our
(18:52):
body's most specific way totell us that something is not in
the right place.
And each of these things I sayare so delicate because what I'm
saying is that, veryspecifically, I'm not saying I'm
saying your head on yourshoulders, correctly, I'm saying
(19:14):
your toes in alignment,correctly, and I'm saying all
that, but I'm saying that allthe way down to the cellular
level.
In other words, the right earhas cells in it and each of
those cells knows where the leftpinky toe should be in space
and time at any given point.
But if they're not in alignmentwithin this system, there's
going to be pain somewhere.
(19:36):
Pain enters our body two ways.
There's going to be painsomewhere.
Pain enters our body two waysrepetitive motions or patterns,
or repetitive positions becausea lot of people sit today or
impacts to the body.
That's it.
Aside from that, the asteriskwould be is that maybe somebody
was born with a challenge, andthat becomes a different part of
(19:57):
the conversation.
So so another thing to keep inmind when we have these
conversations is we're talking.
We have to start at a startingpoint of talking in ideals.
This is an ideal, but noteverybody is comes into to, to
to life in an ideal space, andthat there itself could be that
person's spiritual journey ifthey choose to go that way,
(20:19):
right.
So this is it's like which waydo you want to capture
information and share?
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Because it's so.
The breadth of it is so wideand deep.
Well, let me go back tosomething you said, because this
is also functional yoga.
This is why I synthesized thefunctional approach with
traditional yoga, becauseeveryone's there is an ideal.
There is an ideal and yetthere's no universal alignment
(20:49):
principles.
That's not what we're saying.
I hope you all hear that.
Listen again, especially if youteach yoga.
There is no one cue that worksfor everybody.
There's no such thing.
There is no universal alignmentprinciples and there is an
ideal and optimal way the humanbody was designed to function
(21:15):
without anything happening to it.
That's what we're talking about.
That's where we're starting andwe know that's unrealistic
because there's birth trauma,there's traumas.
We've learned that happen inutero.
And now you come out and Iswallowed a quarter when I was
five years old and I died.
(21:35):
It closed off my windpipe.
They brought me back.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
They had to pull the quarter out.
Held you upside down, pattedyou on the back.
My dad tried to.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
I tried to yank it out of me.
We're not saying there's aperfect way that the body should
be.
And when, dan, when you work onpeople, the goal is to
reorganize and make spaceaccording to the human's body in
that moment.
(22:04):
And what has happened to them?
Because with my jaw I broke myjaw in three, seven places, they
don't know.
And a couple years ago severepain came in.
Now Dan can't fix that jaw, hecan't fix the bones.
It's 25 years later.
(22:24):
But what Dan can do isreorganize the muscles, release
tissue around it so that there'sfreedom and space.
And now I'm out of pain.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Once the body has been compromised in some way,
whether it's a broken bone or asprained ankle.
So now I'm going deep into whatI've come to believe.
Right is that?
Or physical in any way?
Pain finds the weaker parts, thecompromised parts of the body
(23:04):
and most readily, most easily,right.
So just to know where you'reinjured and where you hold
strain is a great piece to workwith for yourself.
So self-body work, right?
So if you know those spots onyour body that are challenged,
you go there, you listen to thepain, you go to the pain and you
(23:27):
work with that pain.
You touch it, you compress it,you hold it, maybe rub it a
little bit, and that's thedoorway into bringing calm to
your nervous system.
And so what most people do Ijust want to share while we're
on that topic is that what mostpeople tend to do is avoid or
(23:48):
adapt their whole bodies aroundthat one thorn on the rosebush.
They'll adapt their whole lifeto accommodate that pain so they
don't feel that pain.
If they knew to work with thatpain, and if they work with it
enough, they will find that thatpain actually may bring them
(24:12):
ecstasy.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Oh wow, wow.
When you say our whole bodyorganizes around the pain, are
you saying our body, like littlesoldiers, gets around the pain
and says, hey guys, let's dothis and this and this because
we got to make up for it,because there's a weak place
here and so now more strainpatterns happen, pullings like a
(24:39):
limping or yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
So when me and Jodi go running I'll watch Jodi from.
She'll be in front of me andJodi has a lower back concern,
right, and the way that Jodigingerly sometimes runs and the
way she lifts her back with herupper body, she essentially has
(25:02):
changed her run to accommodateand adapt so that compromise
space.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Yeah, adapt to my back.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Yes and oh my gosh, you said something I wanted to
share, and then I just want totouch on what you said I wanted
to share and then I just want totouch on what you said.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
If you remember, please stop me.
Dan also said now you adapt andyou don't even know you're in
pain.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Right.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
And then the pain comes out somewhere else and
you're like, oh my God, I have amigraine.
Yes and the migraine isn't themigraine.
Yes, it's from you limping.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
An anecdote, an old school.
Example of that is old schoolhysterectomies.
From my understanding, thepelvic floor would be sliced
right through.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Like my mom.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Right through, yes, and so there's no spring at the
base of the spine, and sobasically, what happens is the
spine, over the year, shrinksdown and then you look like the
shoulders are swallowing thehead because there's no support.
So what you have to keep inmind Buckminster Fuller is a
name that I always go to becausehe was an architect, a
visionary, a Mensa Internationalmember, which is a really high
(26:12):
IQ club that you just don't getinto, but his, one of his
discoveries was calledtensegrity and and dr levin, I
believe, is his name added on tothat concept to make biological
tensional integrity, and thatis the idea that any system in
(26:34):
itself is, is, is, um, the wholesystem feels whatever happens
to it.
Wow, right, so you know, let'ssay, somebody has an ankle thing
and they're always sprainingtheir ankles.
That affects the whole system.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Oh, my God.
That's why this goes so greatwith yoga when we're moving our
own body and using tools.
It's an instrument tounderstand where these strains
are, where this openness is,where this freedom is, and use
the asana against our body theway it is now.
That's the functional approach.
(27:10):
Right, use the asana to helpJodi's back.
So my back.
We had to go.
I had to go to the doctor andget an MRI and they showed me my
spine and the nurse left inconcern and went and got the
doctor right away and I said tothe doctor I don't want to know.
I said I already know, I don'twant to know.
(27:32):
And he said he pulled out metalrods and screws and two
vertebrae and said this is whatwe need to do to fix your back.
And I said, doc, I'm okay.
He's like no, you're not.
I said no, I'm not in pain.
Well, me and Dan found out acouple years ago that I have
(27:54):
spondylolisthesis grade four,which means get surgery today.
And our friend, who's anamazing chiropractor, dr Noah.
He said this thing hasn't movedin 20 years.
The scar tissue around the boneholding it there allowed me not
(28:15):
to get surgery.
Well, I chose not to not to getsurgery.
Well, I chose not to and thenmy whole body, as you said,
adapted around that.
So now I use my yoga poses.
This is where I'm going, myfriend, so stay with me.
I don't not do yoga because Iwas told to stop doing yoga
because of my spinal fracture.
It's a fracture and I said no.
(28:37):
I now use the poses to help mefunction and do the things that
feel good.
That's the functional approach.
If I stop moving, what is goingto happen to my back?
So I stretch my hamstrings, Istretch my quads.
What I don't do is full wheel.
My friends, listen, not allposes are supportive for you.
(28:58):
Not all poses help Wheel isdetrimental to my body.
Don't need to do it.
And so the body work and whatyou're sharing and saying is
okay.
How this Jodi, who has allthese surgeries and scar tissue,
is in front of the room with mecoming into my office.
(29:19):
How can I meet her where she is, be with her and start to make
space in these areas so she hasmore energy?
Because how much energy is used, dan?
Speaker 2 (29:31):
for patterns.
My understanding is that 25% ofthe average person's energy.
So when you eat and you makeenergy in your body, 25% of that
energy is burned on theadaptations your body is
maintaining to keep you going.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
That's exhausting, so I wake up at 75% already.
Right?
So all that energy is going tokind of hold it together.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Physically, and then you got the emotional and
everything else.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Right.
One of the considerations with,I think, dr Levin's biological
tensional integrity which is acool thing to research and read
about is that there are a lot offorces at work in our body and
on our body.
(30:21):
So when we talk about bodies,the no-brainer one, the
no-brainer force is gravity.
Gravity acts on everythingright and pulls towards the
center of the earth, and so wewant to be in line, at ease in
gravity.
But when you just take onesystem as a whole, we have to
(30:42):
remember that there are other,actually a handful of other
forces at work in the body, orlittle nuclear forces that
happen within our own system.
Forget about what else is goingon in our solar system.
Just in your own system thereare nuclear forces that push
outward.
There's other forces at work inyour body that are actually
(31:05):
pushing outward, like if youtook a balloon and blew it up
with air, that air is pushingthe balloon outward.
Those forces are at work ineach and every one of our bodies
, right?
So we just think of gravity andokay, let me just take an
ibuprofen and kill the pain andget on with life.
But if you would take the time,or anyone would take the time
to investigate, explore and usethat exploration to discover how
(31:28):
their body is maintaining orholding pain and the system that
and the pattern that starts togrow from any injury or
repetitive motion.
You'll find that you can bringyourself ease by positioning
your body in different yogaposes or using you know, I lie
on rocks, I work out my feet bystanding on rocks and different
(31:50):
things, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
On very expensive crystals.
I walked in the other day and Isaid, what are you doing?
And he's like what I'm like.
You know how much that thingcosts he's like yeah, but it's
great for my foot he's standingon my heart chakra crystal that
was probably 300 bucks and heand he's like, oh, it's good for
my feet, can I bring it with me?
(32:15):
It's near the side of our bed,that's what he uses Any tools
and I want to share with youthat.
Once I went to this doctor acouple weeks ago, dan said we're
going to work on your belly.
Every day we're going to workand what Dan has been doing
every night is taking his handsand going above my pubic bone
(32:39):
and below the belly button areaand going in front of the body
to lift up the vertebrae andkind of put it back.
And what he's speaking on isthis you need to be committed to
this, just like yoga.
We're doing it every day forthree to five minutes.
It's repetition over time,neurologically, that creates
(33:03):
change.
It's not an hour once a year.
Please listen, listen, listen,listen.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Right, right, Just like anything that you're
looking to get yield out of, youhave to devote some time,
energy, some resources to that,and it goes both ways right.
So I've had instances wheresomebody's lying on the table
and I've worked on them and theyget up and they're like I've
(33:32):
never been that relaxed in myentire life and I never see them
again.
Right.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
And, at the same time , there are people who devote
time and energy to figuring itout because it is a process.
Your body is so sophisticated,complicated, advanced.
It's a technology.
The human body is an amazingmachine.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
That takes at least six months right.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Yeah, Some injuries.
If you have like bilateralsensation down your legs, for
example, it's like three to sixmonths of work, you know it's
like Please hear that again.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
My friends, Dan.
I suggest Dan, do packages withpeople so that they could
experience the results.
But people come for one timeand they don't get the potential
because maybe they just relaxedand they say well, I'm not here
for relaxation, I'm here to bepain free.
(34:36):
And I'm going to tell you thisHealing occurs in down
regulation.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Right, if you can't relax, you can't heal.
So, joe, so ordinarily, onaverage, the first goal is to
bring people deeper breath, ahuman body.
Deeper breath, because thatcalms the nervous system.
That alone can bring relief orreduce the pain.
From somebody walking in theoffice and saying where's your
pain level at it's at eight, andjust getting a deeper breath
(35:06):
can bring their pain downsignificantly.
They can leave and say, wow, Idon't really feel in pain.
So that note.
Yes, and it's a vicious cyclewhen we're stressed or anxious
or in pain.
It's a vicious cycle if wedon't learn the tools to
proactively reverse those.
Right, so I'm in pain, Iliterally, I literally.
So this is so.
(35:26):
This is again like.
I wish there was a book on this, but this is me synthesizing my
experience.
People come in, they definethemselves as being anxious and
I'm looking at a body that's inpain, right, so when a body is
not in good organization, itequals essentially pain.
The person's in pain.
(35:47):
Now, the patient, the client,doesn't realize that that's
deeply connected.
And if we can get the bodyorganized better and a more
ideal in relationship with theirsystem, in a better place,
they'll get deeper breath, feelmore at ease, feel more
confident, the pain willdiminish and not only that,
they'll start to have tools tobetter work on themselves when
(36:11):
they get home right.
So it's a vicious cycle andjust to reiterate that, it's
like I literally see people thatwill define themselves as
anxious, but really what they'redealing with is their body is
in pain.
So if we diminish that pain,they wouldn't define themselves
as anxious.
They would actually start todiminish that connection and
(36:32):
start to feel like they wouldn'teven remember that as who they
are.
But to me it's unfortunate thatpeople define themselves as
certain things when they coulddo something about it.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Well, remember pre-tumor if you're just
listening and new to us.
I had a brain tumor that sat inthe area which could trigger
anger and rage, and alsoexperienced trauma, numerous
trauma.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
So I had a little angry part, an executive
functioning.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Yeah, I had a little angry part and also I had no
idea I was in pain.
And when I started to learnsource point therapy and body
work and energy work andvisceral that means organs,
moving organs and I got a lot ofwork done I actually became
(37:20):
calmer and less reactive and ifyou would have told me that was
going to happen, I would neverbelieve you.
I kept going to therapy.
What's wrong with me?
Why am I angry?
And our friend and one of ourcolleagues looked at me and said
because your body is stuck inthis shape, you're in pain, but
(37:42):
I was numb.
I was using numbing at that time, different food and different
things, had no idea, overworking.
And when, all of a sudden, youand her created this space in my
spine, in my jaw, I met Jodi.
I had this potential of peace,potential of peace I never, ever
(38:08):
in my lifetime, would haveimagined that Jodi Domerstad
could be peaceful.
When I was the human that woulddo anything to get away from
myself, and all the yoga in theworld would never have done that
, because yoga is not a bluntobject.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
Do you understand that, my friends listening.
Well, honey, it's a feather.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
Yeah, the poses don't go in, so sometimes you need
help from another to get theirhands in there and to be with
you.
Another to get their hands inthere and to be with you.
The other day I worked on oneof our clients because the
clients go to Dan and me and Iworked on her and I held the
back of her knee, pressing onsome air and holding gentle for
(38:57):
40 minutes and she got up.
Her pelvis looked different noknee pain and her eyes were
bright.
It was the happiest I've seenher, because she's had multiple
health concerns in her mid-60sno knee pain, 40 minutes.
I sat there holding her kneeand she gets up.
(39:17):
What did you just do?
What just happened?
And what she doesn't realize isall the work she did with Dan
allowed that to happen, allowedher to relax so much that the
knee changed, the tissuereleased in that moment and I
don't think her knee will everpop out again.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Hmm, yeah, but it takes time.
That's wonderful, yeah, yeah,time yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
If you're in pain, please use your yoga, use your
tools and find someone that isskilled and educated.
Ask questions Like, examplecranial sacral therapy is not a
weekend training.
It's not a weekend trainingDan's giggling because he's in
(40:08):
year five.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
I can't, I don't even remember anymore.
Yeah, at least.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Year five.
And when he says to his teacher, hugh, when do I take the test?
He's like ah, just be here yeahjust keep coming.
He says just keep coming in andbe with me.
Do this?
Get educated.
If someone is a massagetherapist, that is not
considered body work.
It's not good or bad.
(40:34):
That's not what we're saying.
But if you need more than that,you have to ask questions.
Well, what else do you useinstead of technique to help me
relax?
That's all.
So just know that body work andmassage are different.
And how does this all relate toyoga?
(40:57):
The practitioner is doing yoga.
When they're working on you,you're in a yogic state.
Dan is present, he is with you.
His senses have to be trainedinward, they're not he.
I don't hear from my husbandfor eight hours a day and and we
(41:20):
work in the same office becausehe's not near his phone he's
not talking to anyone else buthis clients.
He is focused.
So how is this yogic?
It is yogic because you'reusing the body as an instrument
to help someone realize theirpotential.
You're letting them, helpingthem breathe and focus and learn
(41:43):
about the system that they livein.
And Dan also gives homework topeople, because one and done
isn't going to work.
Yoga is a practice.
Body work is a practice thatneeds to be done repeatedly over
time to entrain the system towork a different way, dan.
(42:07):
What would you, if there's?
How did body work change you?
As we wrap it up, like whatwould be something that you
could offer people that you'recalled to say about it, what you
witnessed, what you feel aboutit, what's one thing as we wrap
up this episode, I think foranyone's development and growth
(42:38):
personally, that having educatedhands touch a body all at once
simultaneously is explorationand discovery All at once.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
It helps individuals get to know themselves better.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
Yoga Relationship with others and self.
Get to know themselves better.
Yoga relationship with othersand self.
Thank you all for listening.
This is definitely part one,because we love body work,
cranial, sacral we didn't eventouch on that yet.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
Yeah, the difference between?
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:18):
Thank you so much for joining us at.
Become One Living.
You can follow us on us atBecome One Living.
You can follow us on Instagramat becomeoneliving, and if you
have any questions that youwould like us to share our
experience or insight on ouremail is becomeoneliving at
gmailcom.
Thank you all.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
Have a great day.
Greetings and welcome to Become One Living.
My name is JodiDahmerstadt-Boysitz.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
And I'm Dan Boysitz, jodi Dahmerstadt-Boysitz.
Hello, how are you, dan?
I'm Dan Boisets, jodiDahmerstadt Boisets.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Hello, how are you Dan?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
I'm doing well.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Awesome.
Thank you for joining us today.
Today we decided to discussbody work.
Dan is a body worker.
Dan is a body worker and, in myopinion, a healer.
In my experience, the way hishands listen to my body when
(00:56):
it's in pain and needsadjustment is amazing to me that
you have that capacity tolisten with your hands.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Let's talk about.
What is body work?
The approach of body work islooking at the body structurally
.
It's an educated touch.
The attack or the approach isabout reorganizing the body to
maximize potential for thathuman, and what I mean by that
(01:38):
is reorganizing the body inrelationship to itself within
that system.
So, for example, a goodalignment of the knees over the
ankles, a good alignment of theanterior superior iliac spine
over the hips, and so on.
So, in a nutshell, 90-degreeangles at all of the joints is a
(02:01):
basic guide.
Angles at all of the joints isa basic guide, and so range of
motions, repetitive motions andinjuries will take a body out of
that alignment, and soessentially, what we're seeking
to do is bring that alignmentback or reintroduce that
alignment back for ease at thejoints.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Wow.
Let's go back to the beginningand break some of that down for
our friends.
When you look at a body andwhen I look at a body, I'm not
as trained in body work as Danis I did yoga therapy, hands-on
training for 15 years with myteacher, who pretty much taught
(02:44):
me how to put a dislocated kneeback in place or shoulder.
And I've had to do that forclients that were in class and
things have happened.
And though I'm notprofessionally trained in that,
in a massage therapist, I wantto share that when we look at
(03:04):
the body, we are looking forangles you spoke on and possible
muscular strains.
Where's the strain pattern?
in the body and massage isdifferent, my friends.
I want to share this because Iwant to educate you when you go
(03:28):
to purchase a service.
Massage is a technique ofstrokes and kneading the body to
induce relaxation.
That is the definition of amassage.
It is done to induce relaxation.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Specifically for that .
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yes, and now in massage school which you went to
, they don't teach you how toread a body.
They don't really teach you how?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
No, no, no, no.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
No.
So that's important for you allto know.
If you're in physical pain andyou go for a massage and you say
go deep because you think deepis going to be better, right, go
deep.
And then a couple of days later, you're still in pain.
It's not the massagetherapist's fault.
They're not trained in that.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Right.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
In looking at how is the system off and how can I
create freedom where it's needed, not where they're in pain?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yeah, joe, you just touched on a gazillion things
and it's so loaded.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So what stands out to you that you would share about
body work, because you mentionedsomething that your goal is to
create space for their highestpotential to begin.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
To begin, I have to just say that we have to jump in
somewhere right um right.
The lowest common denominatoris that touch is therapy right.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Healthy, nurturing, educated touch is therapeutic
right, so um which numerousneurological and neuroscientific
studies have proven how lack oftouch help causes can increase
dementia depression yes, lack ofand and and, development will
(05:44):
be lacking, oh yes they speak onhow, when children aren't held
when they're young, they don'tthrive.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Yeah right, I want to share as much information as I
can with the audience, but Iwant the audience to know that I
am speaking as a practitioner,that I am speaking as a
practitioner, right today.
I'm not speaking as an educator, I'm not speaking as an
authority.
I'm speaking as a practitionerwho has devoted lots and lots I
(06:13):
mean my life, to this practice.
Right so, to distinguish a bodywork session from a massage
session, you know, massage isjust what Joe said.
It's the idea is more luxurythat it's not necessarily
supportive of growth anddevelopment or an educated touch
(06:36):
.
It's more about relaxing thesystem.
For lack of a better way to putit Now.
Body work is more informed.
For lack of a better way to putit Now, body work is more
informed.
It's a more educated touch.
It's got goals, like I shared,the goal to reorganize the body.
But before we get to there, wehave to start to develop a
relationship with any givenclient.
Right?
So there are.
(06:59):
You can start at day one with anewborn baby, right?
So some humans have congenitalor from birth developmental
concerns or issues from the jawand the mandible and the
maxillable all the way throughthe body to the feet, in and out
(07:21):
.
Right.
So all these things areconsidered when you're working
with somebody.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
So, when working with someone, you have to take into
consideration and we'll talkabout this in another episode
functional yoga, that's whywe've synthesized this.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Everything's like woven in together.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Because you don't know if someone, if the bone,
has altered or was altered frombirth, or if misalignment over
time has created that, and thenwe don't know if it's muscular.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Right.
So on that note, part of bodywork and developing a
relationship with a body workpractitioner is just that is
exploration and discovery, right?
So some people are born withextra bones in their body for
some reason.
Some people are born with, say,they call them quadriceps, but
(08:14):
sometimes they've opened upbodies and found five muscles
that do that work.
Many humans have psoas major,but not all have a psoas minor.
Development of a muscle.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
And some don't even have a piriformis.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Right.
So all of these things getsynthesized when I walk into the
room to work with somebody, andthis is just like the tip of
the iceberg as to what issynthesized in my mind when I
approach somebody in my mindwhen I approach somebody and
that is why also body work inthe medicinal definition says
(08:50):
the person that does body workhas multiple modalities that
they have studied over multipleyears.
Right, I would almost say thesummary of my training and my
interests almost fall all underthe category of sensitivity
(09:12):
training.
You know, fielding a personcoming in the room like it's an
ostrich egg and holding thatperson with that sensitivity of
touch.
And I don't mean just by thephysical contact touch, I mean
by the very first text message Iget for someone who's going to
come in.
So all of the work getssynthesized but there's so many
(09:36):
things in my head that I hope toshare.
But as a practitioner, all ofthese things are going on in my
mind to bring ease and maximizethe potential of any human that
comes into my room to be workedwith.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
And that sounds very trauma-informed.
And not that Dan.
I would say Dan is atrauma-informed practitioner.
I would say this was innate inDan, dan innately in my opinion
well, I'm going to leave out theword opinion because my
experience of Dan, because I'vehad multiple injuries, I've had
(10:15):
two breast surgeries, five boneamputations, brain surgery and I
have high-gradespondylolisthesis Right and
Dan's help is of his body work.
When I'm on the table it startsthe minute I say, hey, I'm in
(10:37):
pain, yeah, the way he lays medown the discussion.
You have this sensitivity thatwhen people come out of Dan's
room, men are crying.
70 year old men come out crying, yeah, pain, freefree.
Other women have said to meI've never felt so safe being
(11:00):
touched by a man.
And what I'm hearing from you,which I love, is the minute
someone reaches out, you'realready cultivating a
relationship with them and inneuroscience there's something
called the SCARF model,s-c-a-r-f.
(11:24):
Scarf and the R is relatabilityand studies have shown
neurologically, when you relateto someone and S is for status
and you honor their status, theywill feel safer with you
quicker and you do that innately, which is beautiful to me.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
There's a lot of powerful tools required to do
this work and at the top of thelist is the ability to listen.
And it's not just listen aboutto what people say.
When I make a contact withsomebody with my hands, it's
listening through my hands.
Text messages work in the room.
(12:12):
The listening is like theparamount, it's the top of the
room.
The listening is like theparamount, it's the top of the
heap.
It's really important forsomebody to be heard in order
for any expectation which is awhole other topic any
expectation to be met.
So I try to gather as muchinformation as I can from
somebody that's coming in forthe first time, because they're
(12:35):
also coming in with anexpectation.
So if I don't educate by way oflistening to what they're
sharing and what theirexpectation is, then it makes it
really difficult.
So that you know trust, safety,relatability are all requisite
(12:55):
for a person to actually receivea session, get off the table
and then have something I wantto use the word tangible, but
it's not necessarily tangible,but feeling-wise that they have
shifted or transformed a littlebit.
I think it's not something thatyou necessarily can learn in a
(13:20):
classroom.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
What you the gift you have.
No, that's not learned.
When I first met Dan, somethingthat drew me towards Dan was
his ability to allow me to feelas if no one else existed in the
world.
When I speak to this man and Isee him speak to other people,
(13:45):
he leans in and he listens.
He gets so quiet and he asksquestions.
That never happened in myfamily.
My family was talking over oneanother and I was the baby and
everybody ignored me.
Ah, shut up, you don't know.
Da, da, da pushed aside.
And here I meet this man almost15 years ago.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
He actually listened to what I said and that when he
did that, I wanted to do thatand I feel that's one of the the
fibers that you and Iintertwined on immediately is
because it's shravana.
I listen so intently thatoftentimes I'll be listening so
(14:32):
intently that I'll forget thethings that are going through my
mind that I want to bring up inrelationship to what somebody's
sharing, because I'm not having.
I don't need to tell anybodywhat I know.
I'm fielding the human you knowto make a breakthrough or at
(14:55):
least allow them simply to beheard.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
To be heard, witnessed and seen.
You're speaking yoga.
That's why what you do works sowell with what we offer, what I
offer, and when I share withpeople how body work is
intricate, it is key in growth.
In a lot of books that I readabout writing.
(15:22):
I love writing.
My friends, I'm not the bestwriter.
Dan helps edit and clean up mywriting.
I love writing and a lot ofwriters will go get rolfing or
cranial sacral when they havewriter's block or when they're
stuck.
They go get skillful body workto help create down regulation,
(15:45):
relaxation and space to comeback home, to connect to self,
and that is the goal of yoga toself, and that is the goal of
yoga.
The goal of yoga is may I learnabout my body by using it as a
(16:06):
tool and get in my body,communicate with my internal
signals and then learn how toco-create my life through my
intuitive knowing and to meet myfull potential.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
I mean so loaded in a great way, so rich in a great
way.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
So this is part one.
We would say that this isdefinitely have to be a part one
yeah, it's.
Can I go back?
to Shravana for a second toshare with my friends.
Shravana is an ancient learningtechnique from the Upanishads.
It's actually from a yogic text, and Shravana means to listen
(16:55):
to what is said with all of yoursenses and not to.
This is important listen, notto try to relate it to what you
think you know.
Because once I share somethingwith you and you go oh yeah,
well, ram das said that, orshmakalaka laka said that, or
said that you now think you knowwhat I'm saying and you
(17:17):
actually miss the opportunity toreceive and feel and open up to
a new possibility.
So, shravana, what Dan issaying is I know nothing and I'm
here because I trust you andI'm willing to hear something
different, without relating itto what I think I know.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
The thinking mind most often is the greatest
obstacle.
And if you went to a Westernmedicine person and said, you
know, craniosacral we're goingto do, or body work helps, helps
(18:03):
, it's way too organic andnatural to measure.
It was like if I put fivepeople in a line and said, okay,
let's figure out who's the mostspiritual here of five people
that claim to be spiritual.
Well, how would you measurethat?
You might, if you were toendeavor to answer that question
.
You may say, well, it's goingto take a lifetime.
It's going to take each ofthese people's lifetimes for us
(18:24):
to figure out who may beactually spiritual and who may
be more spiritual than another.
And it goes in waves and itcomes and goes and all these
things are so deep and rich thatyou can't really necessarily
measure it.
But we can start somewhere,right.
So we can start with the ideaof pain, and for me, pain is our
(18:52):
body's most specific way totell us that something is not in
the right place.
And each of these things I sayare so delicate because what I'm
saying is that, veryspecifically, I'm not saying I'm
saying your head on yourshoulders, correctly, I'm saying
(19:14):
your toes in alignment,correctly, and I'm saying all
that, but I'm saying that allthe way down to the cellular
level.
In other words, the right earhas cells in it and each of
those cells knows where the leftpinky toe should be in space
and time at any given point.
But if they're not in alignmentwithin this system, there's
going to be pain somewhere.
(19:36):
Pain enters our body two ways.
There's going to be painsomewhere.
Pain enters our body two waysrepetitive motions or patterns,
or repetitive positions becausea lot of people sit today or
impacts to the body.
That's it.
Aside from that, the asteriskwould be is that maybe somebody
was born with a challenge, andthat becomes a different part of
(19:57):
the conversation.
So so another thing to keep inmind when we have these
conversations is we're talking.
We have to start at a startingpoint of talking in ideals.
This is an ideal, but noteverybody is comes into to, to
to life in an ideal space, andthat there itself could be that
person's spiritual journey ifthey choose to go that way,
(20:19):
right.
So this is it's like which waydo you want to capture
information and share?
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Because it's so.
The breadth of it is so wideand deep.
Well, let me go back tosomething you said, because this
is also functional yoga.
This is why I synthesized thefunctional approach with
traditional yoga, becauseeveryone's there is an ideal.
There is an ideal and yetthere's no universal alignment
(20:49):
principles.
That's not what we're saying.
I hope you all hear that.
Listen again, especially if youteach yoga.
There is no one cue that worksfor everybody.
There's no such thing.
There is no universal alignmentprinciples and there is an
ideal and optimal way the humanbody was designed to function
(21:15):
without anything happening to it.
That's what we're talking about.
That's where we're starting andwe know that's unrealistic
because there's birth trauma,there's traumas.
We've learned that happen inutero.
And now you come out and Iswallowed a quarter when I was
five years old and I died.
(21:35):
It closed off my windpipe.
They brought me back.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
They had to pull the quarter out.
Held you upside down, pattedyou on the back.
My dad tried to.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
I tried to yank it out of me.
We're not saying there's aperfect way that the body should
be.
And when, dan, when you work onpeople, the goal is to
reorganize and make spaceaccording to the human's body in
that moment.
(22:04):
And what has happened to them?
Because with my jaw I broke myjaw in three, seven places, they
don't know.
And a couple years ago severepain came in.
Now Dan can't fix that jaw, hecan't fix the bones.
It's 25 years later.
(22:24):
But what Dan can do isreorganize the muscles, release
tissue around it so that there'sfreedom and space.
And now I'm out of pain.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Once the body has been compromised in some way,
whether it's a broken bone or asprained ankle.
So now I'm going deep into whatI've come to believe.
Right is that?
Or physical in any way?
Pain finds the weaker parts, thecompromised parts of the body
(23:04):
and most readily, most easily,right.
So just to know where you'reinjured and where you hold
strain is a great piece to workwith for yourself.
So self-body work, right?
So if you know those spots onyour body that are challenged,
you go there, you listen to thepain, you go to the pain and you
(23:27):
work with that pain.
You touch it, you compress it,you hold it, maybe rub it a
little bit, and that's thedoorway into bringing calm to
your nervous system.
And so what most people do Ijust want to share while we're
on that topic is that what mostpeople tend to do is avoid or
(23:48):
adapt their whole bodies aroundthat one thorn on the rosebush.
They'll adapt their whole lifeto accommodate that pain so they
don't feel that pain.
If they knew to work with thatpain, and if they work with it
enough, they will find that thatpain actually may bring them
(24:12):
ecstasy.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Oh wow, wow.
When you say our whole bodyorganizes around the pain, are
you saying our body, like littlesoldiers, gets around the pain
and says, hey guys, let's dothis and this and this because
we got to make up for it,because there's a weak place
here and so now more strainpatterns happen, pullings like a
(24:39):
limping or yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
So when me and Jodi go running I'll watch Jodi from.
She'll be in front of me andJodi has a lower back concern,
right, and the way that Jodigingerly sometimes runs and the
way she lifts her back with herupper body, she essentially has
(25:02):
changed her run to accommodateand adapt so that compromise
space.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Yeah, adapt to my back.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Yes and oh my gosh, you said something I wanted to
share, and then I just want totouch on what you said I wanted
to share and then I just want totouch on what you said.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
If you remember, please stop me.
Dan also said now you adapt andyou don't even know you're in
pain.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Right.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
And then the pain comes out somewhere else and
you're like, oh my God, I have amigraine.
Yes and the migraine isn't themigraine.
Yes, it's from you limping.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
An anecdote, an old school.
Example of that is old schoolhysterectomies.
From my understanding, thepelvic floor would be sliced
right through.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Like my mom.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Right through, yes, and so there's no spring at the
base of the spine, and sobasically, what happens is the
spine, over the year, shrinksdown and then you look like the
shoulders are swallowing thehead because there's no support.
So what you have to keep inmind Buckminster Fuller is a
name that I always go to becausehe was an architect, a
visionary, a Mensa Internationalmember, which is a really high
(26:12):
IQ club that you just don't getinto, but his, one of his
discoveries was calledtensegrity and and dr levin, I
believe, is his name added on tothat concept to make biological
tensional integrity, and thatis the idea that any system in
(26:34):
itself is, is, is, um, the wholesystem feels whatever happens
to it.
Wow, right, so you know, let'ssay, somebody has an ankle thing
and they're always sprainingtheir ankles.
That affects the whole system.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Oh, my God.
That's why this goes so greatwith yoga when we're moving our
own body and using tools.
It's an instrument tounderstand where these strains
are, where this openness is,where this freedom is, and use
the asana against our body theway it is now.
That's the functional approach.
(27:10):
Right, use the asana to helpJodi's back.
So my back.
We had to go.
I had to go to the doctor andget an MRI and they showed me my
spine and the nurse left inconcern and went and got the
doctor right away and I said tothe doctor I don't want to know.
I said I already know, I don'twant to know.
(27:32):
And he said he pulled out metalrods and screws and two
vertebrae and said this is whatwe need to do to fix your back.
And I said, doc, I'm okay.
He's like no, you're not.
I said no, I'm not in pain.
Well, me and Dan found out acouple years ago that I have
(27:54):
spondylolisthesis grade four,which means get surgery today.
And our friend, who's anamazing chiropractor, dr Noah.
He said this thing hasn't movedin 20 years.
The scar tissue around the boneholding it there allowed me not
(28:15):
to get surgery.
Well, I chose not to not to getsurgery.
Well, I chose not to and thenmy whole body, as you said,
adapted around that.
So now I use my yoga poses.
This is where I'm going, myfriend, so stay with me.
I don't not do yoga because Iwas told to stop doing yoga
because of my spinal fracture.
It's a fracture and I said no.
(28:37):
I now use the poses to help mefunction and do the things that
feel good.
That's the functional approach.
If I stop moving, what is goingto happen to my back?
So I stretch my hamstrings, Istretch my quads.
What I don't do is full wheel.
My friends, listen, not allposes are supportive for you.
(28:58):
Not all poses help Wheel isdetrimental to my body.
Don't need to do it.
And so the body work and whatyou're sharing and saying is
okay.
How this Jodi, who has allthese surgeries and scar tissue,
is in front of the room with mecoming into my office.
(29:19):
How can I meet her where she is, be with her and start to make
space in these areas so she hasmore energy?
Because how much energy is used, dan?
Speaker 2 (29:31):
for patterns.
My understanding is that 25% ofthe average person's energy.
So when you eat and you makeenergy in your body, 25% of that
energy is burned on theadaptations your body is
maintaining to keep you going.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
That's exhausting, so I wake up at 75% already.
Right?
So all that energy is going tokind of hold it together.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Physically, and then you got the emotional and
everything else.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Right.
One of the considerations with,I think, dr Levin's biological
tensional integrity which is acool thing to research and read
about is that there are a lot offorces at work in our body and
on our body.
(30:21):
So when we talk about bodies,the no-brainer one, the
no-brainer force is gravity.
Gravity acts on everythingright and pulls towards the
center of the earth, and so wewant to be in line, at ease in
gravity.
But when you just take onesystem as a whole, we have to
(30:42):
remember that there are other,actually a handful of other
forces at work in the body, orlittle nuclear forces that
happen within our own system.
Forget about what else is goingon in our solar system.
Just in your own system thereare nuclear forces that push
outward.
There's other forces at work inyour body that are actually
(31:05):
pushing outward, like if youtook a balloon and blew it up
with air, that air is pushingthe balloon outward.
Those forces are at work ineach and every one of our bodies
, right?
So we just think of gravity andokay, let me just take an
ibuprofen and kill the pain andget on with life.
But if you would take the time,or anyone would take the time
to investigate, explore and usethat exploration to discover how
(31:28):
their body is maintaining orholding pain and the system that
and the pattern that starts togrow from any injury or
repetitive motion.
You'll find that you can bringyourself ease by positioning
your body in different yogaposes or using you know, I lie
on rocks, I work out my feet bystanding on rocks and different
(31:50):
things, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
On very expensive crystals.
I walked in the other day and Isaid, what are you doing?
And he's like what I'm like.
You know how much that thingcosts he's like yeah, but it's
great for my foot he's standingon my heart chakra crystal that
was probably 300 bucks and heand he's like, oh, it's good for
my feet, can I bring it with me?
(32:15):
It's near the side of our bed,that's what he uses Any tools
and I want to share with youthat.
Once I went to this doctor acouple weeks ago, dan said we're
going to work on your belly.
Every day we're going to workand what Dan has been doing
every night is taking his handsand going above my pubic bone
(32:39):
and below the belly button areaand going in front of the body
to lift up the vertebrae andkind of put it back.
And what he's speaking on isthis you need to be committed to
this, just like yoga.
We're doing it every day forthree to five minutes.
It's repetition over time,neurologically, that creates
(33:03):
change.
It's not an hour once a year.
Please listen, listen, listen,listen.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Right, right, Just like anything that you're
looking to get yield out of, youhave to devote some time,
energy, some resources to that,and it goes both ways right.
So I've had instances wheresomebody's lying on the table
and I've worked on them and theyget up and they're like I've
(33:32):
never been that relaxed in myentire life and I never see them
again.
Right.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
And, at the same time , there are people who devote
time and energy to figuring itout because it is a process.
Your body is so sophisticated,complicated, advanced.
It's a technology.
The human body is an amazingmachine.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
That takes at least six months right.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Yeah, Some injuries.
If you have like bilateralsensation down your legs, for
example, it's like three to sixmonths of work, you know it's
like Please hear that again.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
My friends, Dan.
I suggest Dan, do packages withpeople so that they could
experience the results.
But people come for one timeand they don't get the potential
because maybe they just relaxedand they say well, I'm not here
for relaxation, I'm here to bepain free.
(34:36):
And I'm going to tell you thisHealing occurs in down
regulation.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Right, if you can't relax, you can't heal.
So, joe, so ordinarily, onaverage, the first goal is to
bring people deeper breath, ahuman body.
Deeper breath, because thatcalms the nervous system.
That alone can bring relief orreduce the pain.
From somebody walking in theoffice and saying where's your
pain level at it's at eight, andjust getting a deeper breath
(35:06):
can bring their pain downsignificantly.
They can leave and say, wow, Idon't really feel in pain.
So that note.
Yes, and it's a vicious cyclewhen we're stressed or anxious
or in pain.
It's a vicious cycle if wedon't learn the tools to
proactively reverse those.
Right, so I'm in pain, Iliterally, I literally.
So this is so.
(35:26):
This is again like.
I wish there was a book on this, but this is me synthesizing my
experience.
People come in, they definethemselves as being anxious and
I'm looking at a body that's inpain, right, so when a body is
not in good organization, itequals essentially pain.
The person's in pain.
(35:47):
Now, the patient, the client,doesn't realize that that's
deeply connected.
And if we can get the bodyorganized better and a more
ideal in relationship with theirsystem, in a better place,
they'll get deeper breath, feelmore at ease, feel more
confident, the pain willdiminish and not only that,
they'll start to have tools tobetter work on themselves when
(36:11):
they get home right.
So it's a vicious cycle andjust to reiterate that, it's
like I literally see people thatwill define themselves as
anxious, but really what they'redealing with is their body is
in pain.
So if we diminish that pain,they wouldn't define themselves
as anxious.
They would actually start todiminish that connection and
(36:32):
start to feel like they wouldn'teven remember that as who they
are.
But to me it's unfortunate thatpeople define themselves as
certain things when they coulddo something about it.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Well, remember pre-tumor if you're just
listening and new to us.
I had a brain tumor that sat inthe area which could trigger
anger and rage, and alsoexperienced trauma, numerous
trauma.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
So I had a little angry part, an executive
functioning.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Yeah, I had a little angry part and also I had no
idea I was in pain.
And when I started to learnsource point therapy and body
work and energy work andvisceral that means organs,
moving organs and I got a lot ofwork done I actually became
(37:20):
calmer and less reactive and ifyou would have told me that was
going to happen, I would neverbelieve you.
I kept going to therapy.
What's wrong with me?
Why am I angry?
And our friend and one of ourcolleagues looked at me and said
because your body is stuck inthis shape, you're in pain, but
(37:42):
I was numb.
I was using numbing at that time, different food and different
things, had no idea, overworking.
And when, all of a sudden, youand her created this space in my
spine, in my jaw, I met Jodi.
I had this potential of peace,potential of peace I never, ever
(38:08):
in my lifetime, would haveimagined that Jodi Domerstad
could be peaceful.
When I was the human that woulddo anything to get away from
myself, and all the yoga in theworld would never have done that
, because yoga is not a bluntobject.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
Do you understand that, my friends listening.
Well, honey, it's a feather.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
Yeah, the poses don't go in, so sometimes you need
help from another to get theirhands in there and to be with
you.
Another to get their hands inthere and to be with you.
The other day I worked on oneof our clients because the
clients go to Dan and me and Iworked on her and I held the
back of her knee, pressing onsome air and holding gentle for
(38:57):
40 minutes and she got up.
Her pelvis looked different noknee pain and her eyes were
bright.
It was the happiest I've seenher, because she's had multiple
health concerns in her mid-60sno knee pain, 40 minutes.
I sat there holding her kneeand she gets up.
(39:17):
What did you just do?
What just happened?
And what she doesn't realize isall the work she did with Dan
allowed that to happen, allowedher to relax so much that the
knee changed, the tissuereleased in that moment and I
don't think her knee will everpop out again.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Hmm, yeah, but it takes time.
That's wonderful, yeah, yeah,time yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
If you're in pain, please use your yoga, use your
tools and find someone that isskilled and educated.
Ask questions Like, examplecranial sacral therapy is not a
weekend training.
It's not a weekend trainingDan's giggling because he's in
(40:08):
year five.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
I can't, I don't even remember anymore.
Yeah, at least.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Year five.
And when he says to his teacher, hugh, when do I take the test?
He's like ah, just be here yeahjust keep coming.
He says just keep coming in andbe with me.
Do this?
Get educated.
If someone is a massagetherapist, that is not
considered body work.
It's not good or bad.
(40:34):
That's not what we're saying.
But if you need more than that,you have to ask questions.
Well, what else do you useinstead of technique to help me
relax?
That's all.
So just know that body work andmassage are different.
And how does this all relate toyoga?
(40:57):
The practitioner is doing yoga.
When they're working on you,you're in a yogic state.
Dan is present, he is with you.
His senses have to be trainedinward, they're not he.
I don't hear from my husbandfor eight hours a day and and we
(41:20):
work in the same office becausehe's not near his phone he's
not talking to anyone else buthis clients.
He is focused.
So how is this yogic?
It is yogic because you'reusing the body as an instrument
to help someone realize theirpotential.
You're letting them, helpingthem breathe and focus and learn
(41:43):
about the system that they livein.
And Dan also gives homework topeople, because one and done
isn't going to work.
Yoga is a practice.
Body work is a practice thatneeds to be done repeatedly over
time to entrain the system towork a different way, dan.
(42:07):
What would you, if there's?
How did body work change you?
As we wrap it up, like whatwould be something that you
could offer people that you'recalled to say about it, what you
witnessed, what you feel aboutit, what's one thing as we wrap
up this episode, I think foranyone's development and growth
(42:38):
personally, that having educatedhands touch a body all at once
simultaneously is explorationand discovery All at once.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
It helps individuals get to know themselves better.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
Yoga Relationship with others and self.
Get to know themselves better.
Yoga relationship with othersand self.
Thank you all for listening.
This is definitely part one,because we love body work,
cranial, sacral we didn't eventouch on that yet.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
Yeah, the difference between?
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:18):
Thank you so much for joining us at.
Become One Living.
You can follow us on us atBecome One Living.
You can follow us on Instagramat becomeoneliving, and if you
have any questions that youwould like us to share our
experience or insight on ouremail is becomeoneliving at
gmailcom.
Thank you all.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
Have a great day.
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