|
I had chronic muscle spasms in my neck, shoulder, back and rotator cuff muscles, which caused bad headaches and prevented me from working (I had to go on medical disability leave of absence). This problem also prevented me from doing many things in my home life such as driving, cooking, cleaning, food shopping and playing with my kids. I sought cures for this problem including muscle relaxants and various medications, trigger point injections, chiropractic, massage, acupuncture and physical therapy. None provided any long term relief.
Purely by chance, via searching the internet using the phrase “muscle spasm”, I found Martha’s website describing Hanna Somatics. Her description matched my problem so exactly that I decided to check it out immediately, being driven from my home in New York. I had trouble doing some of the Somatics exercises properly in the beginning without straining my neck. However, after 4 visits to Martha and daily practice of the Somatic exercises every morning and evening, I felt dramatically better. I continued to visit Martha for a few more weeks to make further progress. I gradually came to realize that although I felt pain in my neck and right shoulder, this was due to tightness in my entire body, including my hips, lower back and waist. Once I loosened up these muscles, the pain in my neck and shoulder dissipated gradually. Martha is an excellent and very patient Somatics practitioner. I enjoyed visiting her each week. I have since gone back to work! I will continue to do the Somatics exercises to prevent any problems in the future.
I suffered for 10 years from constant pain due to a shoulder injury and over the years I have tried chiropractors, acupuncture, neuromuscular massage, nerve stimulation and microwave therapy. Nothing worked for long. I am finally completely pain free after one visit to Martha. I sleep better and have more energy than ever, plus she is saving me a lot of money I used to spend on all the previous therapies. I can now exercise again - pain free!
The difference is unbelievable, I recommend her to anyone with chronic pain.
Thank you, Martha!
Somatics has revolutionized the way I move. I feel so much more freedom in my neck, shoulders, and waist. There’s a “fluidity” to my joints. I am beginning to be able to sense my body, to understand it, to move with it, to “get out of its way”! It’s a wonderful, self-corrective, empowering thing.
I cannot begin to describe what a difference that first Somatics session and the exercises you gave me have made. I felt a immediate improvement the next day and every day I continue to improve. Even my yoga practice has been positively affected. I cannot thank you enough.
Hanna Somatics is both transformative and restorative. In a very short period of time, Somatics has dramatically improved the quality of my life. It has given me improved flexibility and range of motion, which has had a number of benefits: a higher quality of life and sense of well being (I am pain-free after struggling for years with bad posture and related stiffness in my back, neck and shoulders from desk work), improved athletic performance and shorter recovery time after strenuous exercise (I barely need to stretch anymore if I do my somatic exercises regularly - truly amazing!), and lastly, a rapid and complete recovery from hernia surgery. Imagine starting and ending each day feeling like you’ve just had a fantastic massage. 20 minutes of somatic exercises a day can do this for you. Suffice it to say that I’m telling everyone I know about Martha and how she can help them improve the quality of their life. She is a gifted practitioner and teacher who can help people understand how to alleviate chronically contracted muscles that cause them pain. It’s as simple as that.
Somatics fast-forwarded my yoga practice! The lightbulb finally went off regarding the use of the breath to create change. Martha Peterson communicates the essence of Thomas Hanna’s Somatics approach with patience, humor and professionalism. She makes the complex seem simple. Do yourself a favor.....see her!
I’m a hiker. A month ago my left hip began to ache and I found myself hobbling, while experiencing excruciating pain. I tried everything from chiropractic to getting the hip X-rayed. The orthopedist said I had arthritis, and concluded with “at your age there’s been a lot of wear and tear...” - the usual. In desperation I went to Martha, who had helped a friend of mine. She had me move my muscles certain ways to increase my awareness of how I was tightening my muscles unconsciously. She used gentle pressure to increase my awareness and taught me how to release the muscles in my hip that were causing me pain. After two sessions and a regimen of easy exercises twice a day, I am now comfortably climbing again. Martha, you are a miracle worker. Thanks!
At Vassar College two months ago I ran my first Division III Cross Country race, coming in second in a respectable 3-mile time of 19:17. This was an incredible experience, considering the fact that it was my first race in a year and a half due to a running injury that had sidelined me from competition and training with my team, New York University. There had been a time not long ago when I thought I would never run again. Here’s my success story of how I came back to competition thanks to Hanna Somatic Education:
Since middle school I have always been involved in sports, mainly basketball and running. It was not until my first year on New York University’s Cross Country and Track team that I suffered my first sports injury. After becoming the first NYU runner to receive All-American honors in Cross Country, I went onto indoor track season and attended my next National Championships after qualifying to compete in the 5000m with a sub-18 minute time. Immediately after this I found out that I had developed an overuse running injury and needed to stop running. After taking months of rest that, for someone addicted to running, feels like an eternity, I gave into my urge to run and race competitively again with my Cross Country team. Even though I knew I lacked the proper training, the rest that doctors had recommended wasn’t healing my injury. Running again led me to re-injury and overall dissatisfaction with my running. My original injury was somewhat less painful, but other discomforts had begun to travel throughout my body, making pain-free running impossible. The traditional stretching, rest and strengthening advice that my teammates and I were receiving from athletics trainers and other doctors and practitioners was not solving the problem.
I found Martha Bixler through a local professional Health and Wellness professionals group. Consulting with her gave me immediate answers. Our Somatics sessions taught me that being young did not mean that my body was free of imbalances that come with time, stress, and injury. I learned to “unlearn” the harmful positions my upper as well and lower body was holding itself in. Through the basics of Hanna Somatic Education Martha worked with me on regaining awareness and control in parts of my body that I had lost complete control neuromuscular control over due to the rigors of running. She helped me to see and feel how my body had molded itself to the tilted running position that came from running countless circles around the track This position had become so familiar to my muscles and brain. My imbalance, of which I was completely unaware, caused me to put stress on my injured muscle day after day, and prevented my complete recovery regardless of how much rest I took!
After consistently doing the Somatic exercises I learned in each session I participated in Martha’s group classes. I noticed yet more significant improvement in my running and have been able to come back full-time to the NYU Cross Country team. I now run daily with the team without having to miss practices or end my season early due to injuries. I continue to do the exercises multiple times a day and to benefit from the results. Being able to run consistently for me, as a team Captain and someone who intends to be a runner for life, is the most valuable benefit that I have received. With this regular Somatics training, I have been able to lead the team once again as our number one race finisher, and look forward to more improvement, competition and success in the future.
My teammates are also benefiting from what Somatics has to offer to athletes as a way of taking care of injuries that have lingered despite the treatments offered to us by doctors and others. As athletes who are aware of their bodies and dissatisfied with traditional treatments, we view Hanna Somatics as a great way to take care of our bodies for life and to heal chronic pains and injuries that would prevent us from doing the things we love!
I love Somatics. I’ve taken the series of classes and also have regular private sessions with Martha. She has taught me so much in the short time that we have worked together. Martha is dedicated and enthusiastic. It’s been a pleasure!
I want you to know that my dog and I are taking brisk mile walks twice a day and I am not experiencing any hip or leg pains, thanks to Somatics and the exercises I’m doing.
Every morning I do the Somatics “cat stretch” that provides my body with flexibility and clarity to have a great day! These exercises only take 10-20 minutes....and my body feels more flexible now than when I was younger and training to be a professional dancer. I have confidence that Somatics will be a part of my life for as long as I can move; it gives me greater awareness and more freedom of movement. I feel like I can do anything!
I’d been doing a lot of yoga stretching, and then walking in the mornings. One morning I did my yoga stretches and followed them with the Somatic “cat stretch” series and then went out to walk. WOW! What a difference the Somatics seemed to make! My walk, hips, EVERYTHING felt fluid. Could it be the Somatics, I wondered? I discovered it absolutely was. Whenever I did the Somatics, the difference in my walking “style” was amazing: everything felt looser and much more fluid. I now do my yoga stretches and Somatics every morning before work. I want to take it into my day!
I want to relate to you the experience I had this weekend after your workshop on “Releasing the Legs and Hip Joints”: As you know, my back has been in spasms after lifting a heavy table and then going jogging. Since I live mostly “in my head” I often ignore the signals my body gives me, so Somatics has been important for me to make the brain/body connection again.
At the end of the workshop, I got the impression that my spine was like a lot of teacups and saucers balanced one on top of another. As you can imagine, if you support the whole stack by holding the bottom saucer, the whole column readily sways back and forth and you have to think about keeping it all balanced.
Although I believe in what Somatics can do to reprogram the human “computer” I have never felt such a dramatic shift in consciousness from something as simple as the movements we did on the floor! The back spasms are greatly reduced, and with continued practice, I hope to get back into jogging soon! Thank you, Martha!
|
