In April, we were honored to have Neal Hallinan, CSCS, LMT, PRT present at our Interdisciplinary Integration Symposium, and one of his presentations was titled "Inhibiting Inhibitions: Rediscovering Your Innate Alternating Rhythms Through Dance". We had a great time learning how to find 'the beat', and overcome inhibitions that might hold us back from getting in touch with the natural rhythms of the body through dance. Much of what you do with your patients or clients' PRI program can also be integrated through dance, and there is no one close to this Institute that has experienced this more than Neal! His extensive background with Latin dance, combined with his personal and professional experience with PRI has enhanced his knowledge and understanding of both worlds, and how to integrate dance and PRI together. His presentation, and brief dance instruction was so much fun and enlightening, and enjoyed by those in attendance at the symposium, that we have invited Neal to partner with us and present a free online 3 week dance instructional series for PRINation this summer.

All are invited, including PRI providers (regardless of whether you attended the symposium in April), patients, clients, family members, etc. If you know someone who you think would enjoy this (or someone who NEEDS to get outside of their comfort zone and experience this), please invite them. Remember, there is nothing better for your patients, clients or athletes than to experience something new, something they are not familiar with, and something they are not comfortable with. The brain needs this type of activity. No dance experience is necessary, as Neal is excellent at working with beginners. So, whether you love to dance, or not so much, we invite you to join us for this wonderful opportunity to get in touch with the natural alternating rhythms of your body through dance! 

Week 1: Beat and Feet (Tuesday, June 15th)
In the first session, we will begin by listening to music and hearing why some songs are good for rhythmic alternation while others are not. The majority of the class will focus on learning fundamental patterns of dance footwork that can be utilized to enhance PRI program outcomes.

Week 2: Arms (Tuesday, June 22nd)
Learning feet and beat are the easiest part of dancing. Upper body movement, particularly arm and hand movements, are the hardest. This hour will be devoted to adding arm styling to the footwork you learned in the first class. You'll definitely want to know the footwork from Week 1 before taking this class.

Week 3: Styling (Tuesday, June 29th)
People may feel "stiff" and "awkward" while dancing because they never learned how to move their body in a fluid manner. While dancing and forward locomotion aren't exactly the same thing, forward locomotion mechanics are directly applicable to body styling that makes dancing look smooth and effortless. Latin Motion, a unique movement of the hips and ribcage found in Salsa and usable in many other forms of dance, will be demonstrated and taught, as will the mechanics of turning and spinning.

To join us for this free online dance instructional series, please CLICK HERE to register. Once you have registered, you will receive an email with the Zoom link that will be used for all 3 classes, taking place each Tuesday evening at 7pm CST from June 15th through June 29th. We will record each week as well, and will be posting the recording to the PRI YouTube page, so if you miss a week (or if you want to watch the class again), you will have the opportunity to do so. If you have any questions about this upcoming free event, please contact us at 888.691-4583 or email us.

The "flagship" course in PRI is Postural Respiration because how and where air enters our body facilitates how the rest of the body performs. This is a very dense course with a lot of research and neurology behind the musculoskeletal ramifications of faulty airflow patterns. The huge advantage this live-stream course provided is the ability of the course attendee to go back and listen to the course material again for two weeks. We were fortunate to have a few in-person attendees as well as many on-line live streaming attendees.

I've had the pleasure of teaching via live-stream several times since March of last year. However, this was the first course I've taught that had a lab component since November 2019. It was very rewarding and refreshing to have the opportunity to interact with in-person humans again during a PRI course. I have missed the human interaction while teaching PRI. I know that all of the PRI faculty feel the exact same way; Ron probably more than any of us. It was a very enjoyable experience.

We were able to dive deep into the neurological ramifications of human asymmetry, the potential role of dynamic respiration, and the potential negative affects of patterned respiration. Once we were able to fully delve into neurology of respiration, the AIC and BC patterns relative to respiration became a more fluid learning experience. The discussion around the left diaphragm's need for a team of muscles to assist in its endeavor to perform inhalation as well as the rib and sternal mechanics behind trunk rotation were topics of conversation that provided lively questions and conversation. These conversations permitted a deeper explanation into how and why Superior T4 Syndrome develops, as well as how to assess and manage it.  

The goal was to provide the attendee as much information as possible without overwhelming the new-to-PRI attendee. This opportunity is afforded to us by the live-stream event. With time to go back and listen to the information to help digest and understand topics that may be challenging or difficult, we are able to go a little deeper and a little faster into these concepts.

This course is different and has evolved over the last few years. If you haven't attended Postural Respiration in the past, or haven't attended in a while, I would recommend finding a way, sooner than later, doing so because of the many upgrades to this "flagship" course.