Neuromindfulness

www.affinitywellnesseducation.com

www.affinitywellnesseducation.com

www.affinitywellnesseducation.com

First day of 2019-2020 course.⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ #pcab⠀ #pcabkauai⠀ #massageschool https://www.instagram.com/p/B3IrPeohEiE/?igshid=1udd8f3e5a0iq

I'm so proud of the 2019 graduating class of the Pacific Center for Awareness and Bodywork, learning such cutting edge knowledge and masterful skills in the realms of bodywork, somatic psych, neuroscience, trauma, and pain, and I'm amazed and curious about how they will grow it from here...⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ #pcabkauai #pcab #mindfulness #massage #kauai #massagetherapy #resilience #curiosity #presence #bodywork #massagetherapist #lovingkindness #unwinding #manualtherapy #heartcentered #kilauea #embodiment #interoception #beingpresent #princeville #traumainformed #massageschool #bodyworker #somatics #structuralintegration #aquatictherapy #poweroftouch #massagetraining #kauaimassageschool #graduation https://www.instagram.com/p/BzSVlqCBJfq/?igshid=h28l35pvrmzm

We are what they grow beyond. That is the true burden of all masters. ~Yoda, The Last Jedi⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ #pcabkauai #pcab #mindfulness #massage #kauai #massagetherapy #resilience #curiosity #presence #bodywork #massagetherapist #lovingkindness #unwinding #manualtherapy #heartcentered #kilauea #embodiment #interoception #beingpresent #princeville #traumainformed #massageschool #bodyworker #somatics #structuralintegration #aquatictherapy #poweroftouch #massagetraining #kauaimassageschool #starwars https://www.instagram.com/p/BzSNMwKhuX8/?igshid=1vvtwk0ra701a

We form community* in direct proportion to our collective vulnerability and acceptance of one another. This appears to be true regardless of whether an intention to form community exists or not. It's a mammalian thing...we just have to let go of whatever is in the way of being vulnerable and accepting others. ⠀ ⠀ As a veterinarian told me today, "once a dog accepts you, you're in....it's not complicated in the way humans allow their insecurities and egos to block vulnerability and acceptance....they sniff each others butts and after that they're fine with one another."⠀ ⠀ *In this context, community is defined relationally. Clearly a formal community with land and economic functionality requires intention to develop and maintain itself, but relational communities form automatically and SOMATICALLY as individual relationships develop through reciprocal displays of vulnerability, acceptance, and care in paired or group interactions. ⠀ ⠀ Pictured here: PCAB class of 2017⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ #pcabkauai #pcab #mindfulness #massage #kauai #massagetherapy #resilience #curiosity #presence #bodywork #massagetherapist #lovingkindness #unwinding #manualtherapy #heartcentered #kilauea #embodiment #interoception #beingpresent #traumainformed #massageschool #bodyworker #somatics #structuralintegration #aquatictherapy #poweroftouch #massagetraining #kauaimassageschool #TherapyThursday #tbt https://www.instagram.com/p/BzOW_n-hTik/?igshid=1r3keizfmg6l2

In the end, just three things matter: How well we have lived. How well we have loved. How well we have learned to let go. ~Jack Kornfield⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ #pcabkauai #pcab #mindfulness #massage #kauai #massagetherapy #resilience #curiosity #presence #bodywork #massagetherapist #lovingkindness #unwinding #manualtherapy #heartcentered #kilauea #embodiment #interoception #beingpresent #princeville #traumainformed #massageschool #bodyworker #somatics #structuralintegration #aquatictherapy #poweroftouch #massagetraining #kauaimassageschool #WisdomWednesday https://www.instagram.com/p/BzM6i3ZB5PY/?igshid=q9h3u73ep7zd

The epic beauty of Kauai. ⠀ ⠀ One of the many advantages of attending the western-most massage school on the planet.⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ #pcabkauai #pcab #mindfulness #massage #kauai #massagetherapy #resilience #curiosity #presence #bodywork #massagetherapist #lovingkindness #unwinding #manualtherapy #heartcentered #kilauea #embodiment #interoception #beingpresent #princeville #traumainformed #massageschool #bodyworker #somatics #structuralintegration #aquatictherapy #poweroftouch #massagetraining #TransformationTuesday https://www.instagram.com/p/BzJ5ELNh8IY/?igshid=1lyun4plkf0qp

Pain is in your brain. It's not in your head. ⠀ ⠀ Let's talk about Cartesian dualism and how it's the basis for why individuals with chronic pain have such a difficult time receiving effective care... Western culture has been swimming in Cartesian dualism for centuries, and its citizens with chronic pain have been drowning in it because it creates a false framework within which it's impossible to effectively conceptualize pain. ⠀ ⠀ It goes something like this in the minds of most westerners: Reality is composed of that which is material (e.g. tissues) and that which is not (e.g. mind). We know from years of experience with booboos and owwies that pain usually occurs when we injure tissue, so pain gets a reputation as a phenomenon that signals tissue injury. Applying this idea to chronic pain leads to a long, frustrating, and expensive wild-goose chase to find the thing that's wrong with the tissue. But once the long series of tests come back negative (accurately reflecting that there's nothing wrong with the tissue), the practitioner may conclude that since the tissue is fine, then the pain isn't real (i.e. it's in your head). ⠀ ⠀ But once a person understands that pain is NOT a sign of tissue injury (i.e. that hurt does not equal harm) and a nonCartesian neuroscience perspective is adopted (i.e. pain is in the brain), then it becomes clear how utterly absurd (and dismissive) it is to suggest that pain is in the head. ⠀ ⠀ Given how embedded dualism is, however, saying 'pain is in your brain' to a client will often be heard as 'pain is in your head'. ⠀ ⠀ Patients with chronic pain come to us frequently for pain relief, so massage therapists should be properly educated in how pain actually works... and should ditch the dualism while they're at it.⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ #pcabkauai #pcab #mindfulness #massage #kauai #massagetherapy #resilience #curiosity #presence #bodywork #massagetherapist #lovingkindness #unwinding #manualtherapy #heartcentered #embodiment #interoception #beingpresent #traumainformed #massageschool #bodyworker #somatics #structuralintegration #aquatictherapy #poweroftouch #massagetraining #kauaimassageschool #ditchdualism #painscience https://www.instagram.com/p/BzGchKaB6y4/?igshid=189fcre28gz5d

Massage therapy is, perhaps first and foremost, a relational practice, whether one realizes it or not. The centrality of its relationality is a secret hiding in plain view, because while it may appear that bodywork is about soft tissue manipulation, clients are far more particular about WHO their therapist is (e.g. the sense of safety and attunement that they have with their therapist) than they are about HOW the soft tissue is engaged. To say it another way, what we are doing is far less important than how we are being. ⠀ ⠀ Given this centrality of relationality, focusing on the relational skills of the practitioner becomes paramount. We work WITH the client rather than ON the client. Learning how to listen (to the whole client) becomes the most important and most sophisticated technique a bodyworker can develop. ⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ #pcabkauai #pcab #mindfulness #massage #kauai #massagetherapy #resilience #curiosity #presence #bodywork #massagetherapist #lovingkindness #unwinding #manualtherapy #heartcentered #kilauea #embodiment #interoception #beingpresent #princeville #traumainformed #massageschool #bodyworker #somatics #structuralintegration #aquatictherapy #poweroftouch #massagetraining @phasebodywork @lissforrest @smokingscorpion @hulablue @tree_star__ https://www.instagram.com/p/BzCIMF8BW5O/?igshid=1xol8ggq9itnm

As bodyworkers, we do not reform [soft tissues]. We inform [nervous systems].⠀ ⠀ Most of the bodywork field operates on the false assumption that what we are mechanically changing muscle or fascia through one massage or stretching technique or another. It's understandable that this model first emerged since it's much easier to think in the same mechanical terms that we use to engage with the rest of the world, but now that we have a better understanding of anatomy, it's time to put that idea on the shelf of bodywork history and move forward with the understanding that everything we do, from talking to touching, has its impact on the client via the neuro-endocrine-immune system. And while we cannot reform tissues mechanically, we can inform the nervous system effectively enough to create change. ⠀ ⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ #pcabkauai #pcab #mindfulness #massage #kauai #massagetherapy #resilience #curiosity #presence #bodywork #massagetherapist #lovingkindness #unwinding #manualtherapy #heartcentered #kilauea #embodiment #interoception #beingpresent #princeville #traumainformed #massageschool #bodyworker #somatics #structuralintegration #aquatictherapy #poweroftouch #massagetraining #kauaimassageschool https://www.instagram.com/p/By-79AehFuC/?igshid=r9wd3cyt7cvq

Hanging out after a Structural Integration demo session, 2017.⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ #pcabkauai #pcab #mindfulness #massage #kauai #massagetherapy #resilience #curiosity #presence #bodywork #massagetherapist #lovingkindness #unwinding #manualtherapy #heartcentered #kilauea #embodiment #interoception #beingpresent #princeville #traumainformed #massageschool #bodyworker #somatics #structuralintegration #poweroftouch #massagetraining #kauaimassageschool #TherapyThursday #tbt https://www.instagram.com/p/By8Mju1h3OP/?igshid=rr0bq13nsibg

To be truly free, you cannot change your cage. You have to change yourself. ~The Matrix, original script.⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ #pcabkauai #pcab #mindfulness #massage #kauai #massagetherapy #resilience #curiosity #presence #bodywork #massagetherapist #lovingkindness #unwinding #manualtherapy #heartcentered #kilauea #embodiment #interoception #beingpresent #princeville #traumainformed #massageschool #bodyworker #somatics #structuralintegration #aquatictherapy #poweroftouch #massagetraining #kauaimassageschool #WisdomWednesday https://www.instagram.com/p/By7JjQcBxpk/?igshid=145hutzm5pqdk

Aquatic stillness, 2019⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ #pcabkauai #pcab #mindfulness #massage #kauai #massagetherapy #resilience #curiosity #presence #bodywork #massagetherapist #lovingkindness #unwinding #manualtherapy #heartcentered #kilauea #embodiment #interoception #beingpresent #princeville #traumainformed #massageschool #bodyworker #somatics #structuralintegration #aquatictherapy #poweroftouch #massagetraining #kauaimassageschool @phasebodywork @mitchie.dean https://www.instagram.com/p/By2-gFzhDEp/?igshid=y5zt5mou9obb

I wish that life should not be cheap, but sacred. I wish the days to be as centuries, loaded, fragrant. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ #pcabkauai #pcab #mindfulness #massage #kauai #massagetherapy #resilience #curiosity #presence #bodywork #massagetherapist #lovingkindness #manualtherapy #heartcentered #kilauea #embodiment #interoception #beingpresent #princeville #traumainformed #massageschool #bodyworker #somatics #structuralintegration #aquatictherapy #poweroftouch #massagetraining #kauaimassageschool #MassageMonday #MindfulnessMonday https://www.instagram.com/p/By1H1MdBd0n/?igshid=lboa1vaa7fqu

Somatic unwinding⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ *⠀ #pcabkauai #pcab #mindfulness #massage #kauai #massagetherapy #resilience #curiosity #presence #bodywork #massagetherapist #lovingkindness #unwinding #manualtherapy #heartcentered #kilauea #embodiment #interoception #beingpresent #princeville #traumainformed #massageschool #bodyworker #somatics #structuralintegration #aquatictherapy #poweroftouch #massagetraining #kauaimassageschool @lumeriatemple @chejorgito1111 @imheretoheal https://www.instagram.com/p/ByyrukYhulJ/?igshid=1agy3z0msh2ax