Ortho-Bionomy® for your spring tune-up 
Written by Judith Miller 

Every spring, we take our cars in for a tune-up, change the oil, check the spark plugs, verify alignment and ready them for another season. Tune-ups can reduce fuel costs, provide early warning for repairs and extend the car’s life. Car Care Canada stresses the continued importance of ongoing maintenance. They state: “Neglected maintenance … costs lives, wastes fuel and contaminates the air.” 

Do you take the same care with yourself as you take with your car?   

Regular tune-ups can help to prevent and correct the loss of flexibility, ease and well being that we see as normal restrictions of aging. Perhaps you slipped on the ice this winter and turned your ankle or jarred your knee. You may view it as simply a question of time before your body is good as new, but we all know that areas once injured can be more vulnerable and that the impact is greater than the initial injury. Following an injury, your body may splint itself to protect the area and may develop compensatory patterns that use the injured part less. Muscles may tighten up your leg and into your hip, and you may begin to walk with an uneven gait. Your feet and ankles that serve as shock absorbers for your body may work less well and the imbalance can become hip or back pain. This in turn will likely lessen your degree of exercise and reduce your heart and lung health.  

While we have a marvelous capacity to heal and self regulate, a spring tune up and regular maintenance can support your well being and recovery from the imbalances and body traumas that inevitably arise. Ortho-Bionomy is a powerful approach to give you or your clients a spring tune up and to help the body remember and regain the ease it once had.

Ortho-Bionomy, is a non-invasive therapy that works with the self-correcting reflexes of the body. Created by Dr. Arthur Lincoln Pauls, a Canadian born osteopath and judo master, Ortho-Bionomy stimulates structural balance. Healing occurs as the client moves away from pain and toward ease. While gentle enough to be used even with post-operative patients or with those with chronic debilitating conditions, the work is both effective and deep.

In Ortho-Bionomy, positioning to exaggerate patterns of comfort both physically and energetically can relieve joint and muscle pain, reduce stress, reset the part of the nervous system responsible for our awareness in time and space and enhance a sense of well being and awareness.   

During an Ortho-Bionomy session, a practitioner guides and supports the client into positions and movements of comfort and uses a variety of techniques to stimulate the body’s capacity to rebalance. Techniques include: positioning, gentle compression/traction, isometrics, postural work, visceral or cranial attention, and use of particular points for release and integrative movement. Work on a particular tender part is integrated with the whole body as the Ortho-Bionomist tracks the body’s individual responses. Typically self-care exercises are used to further the seeds planted in the session. The client remains fully clothed and leaves with new understanding and tools for self care. 

Ortho-Bionomy integrates well with other health modalities. Without causing pain to practitioner or client, the practice of Ortho-Bionomy can: 

·    Improve quality and range of motion 

·    Help restore structural alignment and balance  

·    Help repair and speed up recovery from injuries  

·    Ease pain, both chronic and acute 

·    Reduce tension and stress 

·    Promote well being and ease  

Let’s treat ourselves as well as we do our cars! 

For more information on Ortho-Bionomy or to find a practitioner near you, visit www.ortho-bionomy.org or www.ortho-bionomy.ca. Ortho-Bionomy is a registered trademark and is used with permission.

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About the Author
 

Judith Miller is a Registered Advanced Practitioner and Instructor of Ortho-Bionomy in Ottawa. With over 13 years experience of Ortho-Bionomy, a degree in medical sciences, and teaching experience in yoga, tai chi, qi gong and university level physiology, Judith brings passion for Ortho-Bionomy, a good sense of humor and a blend of scientific and intuitive perspectives to her practice and teaching. When appropriate, she offers Qigong, acupressure or Bowen Technique. 

Contact: Judith Miller
Email: ob@magma.ca
Website: www.ortho-bionomy.org