Community News

Flying from sea level North Carolina to mile high Colorado was indeed a great way to experience pressure changes. It gave me an opportunity to discuss, firsthand, what our craniums should constantly be doing to resolve these changes, which are cyclically occurring (perhaps to a smaller extent) inside of our heads (and bodies) every moment of every day. And I could not have had a better group of people to discuss this with than those that attended last weekend’s “Cranial Resolution” course held at ProActive PT in Fort Collins, Colorado.

The Cranial course indeed has a lot of didactic material, but right from the start clinical application of this material was being discussed. And I can’t tell you how thrilled I was to get, early on on day one, questions that reflected how people who had never previously taken this course (which was the majority of people that were in attendance) were clearly conceptualizing this complex information in a clinical manner. Like when Tracy asked, “Well then wouldn’t it be helpful to block the right nostril when doing some of the PRI techniques?” What was so cool about these sorts of questions is that they showed people were starting to understand WHY we might want to do things . . . before ever being algorithmically introduced to a ball of cotton or a funny hat.

To me, understanding why PRI works is at the root of the Cranial Course. It brings concepts and people back down to basics, literally down . . . as in sitting on the floor down, to take their either “too loose” (disassociated) or “too tight” (overly regulated) legs out of the equation so they can feel how their cranium and thorax SHOULD integrate (alternate and diverge).  The two avatars that volunteered to illustrate these two different ANS integration responses could not have been more perfect, or more appreciated. Addison not only visibly gained nearly 40 deg of SLR, but also admitted that at the end of his demonstration he was, “for the first time,” able to comfortably tolerate long sitting. And Karen was finally able to find and feel her hamstrings (even if it was “only a 25% sense,” she now at least had something to start ergotropically PUSHING the floor with). And we were able to get Craig, our well balanced, “neutral” model, to quickly illustrate the role that lateralized multisensory input plays in influencing our ANS responses. Sorry Craig.   

This trip to Fort Collins was my first venture into Colorado, so of course I had to make the most of it. Jennifer, a wellness coach who has become a staunch PRI ambassador, was going to be attending so the two of us arranged to fly out several days early to be able to do some hiking. We loved the trails along the Poudre Valley (Hewlett Gulch and Grey Rock) and went up the well-traveled Horsetooth trail to the falls just outside of town. All spectacular, especially since the sun was out, the temps were perfect, and the Aspen’s were at their peak yellow. I’m starting to like this traveling to teach gig!  

Most importantly though, I want to extend a deep, heartfelt thanks to both the institute and the incredible hosts at ProActive (Brian, Tracy, Craig, and Addison), along with all of those that traveled (Jennifer, Chris, Karen, Lisa, Derya, Rachel and David) to be a part of this weekend of learning. Absolutely everyone brought something to the mix (even quiet Chris, learning about how you have worked with an ENT and Nutritional Flow was thought provoking). It was all such a great experience. I can’t wait until the next time I get to teach this material, which will be on a live stream from Nebraska.

"October 14th and the skies were gray, a rainy day in Reading, PA that was perfect to perturb some paradigms around the power of a pattern. We mined the pattern’s positional influence setting the stage for the task at hand and ending our day with a repositioning plan.

Day two dawned appropriately repositioned, the sun shining down elevating our condition. An earnest query session kicked off the day and made this instructor excited by the interplay.  

Focused and engaged, we delved into the test designed to guide our retraining the best. With the Hruska Adduction Lift Test leading the way, we endeavored to find and to feel the myo-ingredients that would progress the scores so we can all own our floors."

A big thank you to everyone who joined me this past weekend and did such an impressive job of focusing and working to apply and experience the material, and most importantly, asking questions that facilitated a clearer and deeper appreciation of the content. I would encourage all of you to embrace the uncertainty and discomfort that invariably accompanies new paradigm’s and know that this is a sure sign of growth.  

A big thank you to Frank Mallon, DPT, PRC for driving up from Philly both days to assist in lab and adding to our discussions, his presence was such a boon to our group!
Thank you to Alliance Fitness Center and Collin McGee for hosting and making sure we had what was needed for the success of our weekend.

It was a wonderful two days teaching Pelvis Restoration from "home." at the Postural Restoration Institute. Thank you, RJ, for your amazing tech skills and assisting with setting up. Hayley you were a fabulous lab assistant, and I appreciated your insight and clinical experience and tips you shared with the class.

The course attendees were fabulous. I loved their eagerness to learn and think outside the box with the science of PRI. Fifty percent of the class were attending their first course. I remember attending my first PRI class and how overwhelming it was to learn about patterns, asymmetry, and the power of respiration. Once I started seeing the results in the clinic and seeing the patterns, I didn’t look back only forward in the PRI journey. I hope this is the same for all of you.

Learning about the pelvic inlet and pelvic outlet with four quadrants each is a lot to learn for position, muscle facilitation or inhibition. I assure you the clinic will be your best lab as you gain insight and knowledge as this information will resonate as you see it with your patients.

Thank you for spending two days with PRI. I was so grateful and humbled to spend it with such amazing clinicians.

Fort Collins, CO: The wide expanses of meadows and trails, fresh mountain air, and the Rocky Mountains – merely a stone’s throw away – provide an irresistible playground for movement. Did you know that movement starts at the thorax? The thorax is the first and foremost body region to assess and treat in our patients-clients, regardless of symptoms. The most recent rendition of Postural Respiration, hosted by Rebound Sports and Physical Therapy, explored why this is true. The group included a large cohort of physical therapists joined by two PT students, an athletic trainer, PTA, occupational therapist, chiropractor, and pulmonologist.

Postural Respiration includes in-depth discussions on the form and function of the left and right hemi-diaphragm, reflected in:
-    inefficient breathing strategies, such as belly and neck breathing and breath holding.
-    inefficient walking patterns, such as lack of arm swing, leaning to one side, early heel rise, and waddling.
-    forward head posture, straight spines, and rib flares.

Like the other two primary courses, Postural Respiration offers an algorithm to guide the clinician and provide the when, how, and why of treatment progression.  We spent significant lab time performing and interpreting tests and practicing non-manual and manual techniques to achieve a level of competence come Monday morning, with its real-world patients. Comments from the class after the techniques: “I feel more grounded.” “My movement is more fluid.” “My neck tension is gone.”

Thank you to those who elevated the learning experience for all by willing to be models for assessments and treatments: Sarah Awe, PTA; Tyler Fosdick, DPT; Daryl Hobbs, DC; Ambrey Holliday, MSPT; Annyce Mayer, MD; Michele Munsil, DPT; Alexandra Nachtman, DPT; Tara Rorvig, ATC; and Marisa Vargas, DPT.

Thank you to the staff at Rebound Sports and Physical Therapy, for all of the work you put in to host this course: Sarah Awe; Emily Clark, MSPT; Tyler Fosdick; Jason Grissom, DPT; Ambrey Holliday; Crissy Ott, MSPT; Brad Ott, MSPT; Elyse Prescott, DPT; Kevin Rhodes, OTR, CHT; Amber Schwarting, DPT; and Karen Stillahn, DPT, PRC. Karen, your insights and expertise during lab was invaluable and so appreciated!   

Finally, thank you to Craig, Abby, and Daisy Depperschmidt for your warm hospitality. I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with the three of you and sharing stories over breakfast and dinner.  You made me feel so welcome!

What a great weekend we had last weekend in Tualatin. 26 clinicians from around the region and country came together to experience a class on relationships and shifting.

The Portland and Tualatin area has a special place in my heart as it landed near the end destination when I biked across the country in 2006. The summer of 2006 was a summer of relationships and shifting life experiences, so I was really looking forward to returning to the area for fall of 2023. Ever since being assigned this course in Tualatin I have been excited for the weekend.

Well, the group that attended in Tualatin did not disappoint and really lived up to and exceeded my expectations!

I was able to rekindle my relationship with fellow 2012 PRC grad Emily Iverson who is well known in the PRI community. It was such a treat to have Emily’s knowledge, experience, kindness, and overall passion for PRI felt throughout the weekend. Her assistance and presence was greatly appreciated!

Micah was a superb host at Active Edge Physical Therapy. It was a bonus for us that his relationship with his anterior hip capsule and iliolumbar ligament was still intact, providing an excellent example of a non-pathological compensatory left AIC patient.

Sarah was a gift for us as a perfect Avatar for a pathological compensatory left AIC patient. She appreciated the importance of shifting into her left hip with appropriate ligamentous muscle. Malcolm, Sarah’s partner in life and business, was gracious in being the narrator for the course. Their relationship was felt as they shifted their mindset to PRI lenses in order to enhance relationships with their patients in their community.

Melissa and Mike celebrated their one year anniversary of marriage on day 2 of the class, learning the importance of shifting for a level 5 while "shifting" off plantar flexors. Their relationship will grow with their PRI journey!

Myokinematics is the study of muscle as it relates to movement. It is a class on relationships and shifting. Relationships of muscles, relationships of your left and right halves of your body, relationships between swing and stance phase of gait, and perhaps most importantly, relationships between people. It is a class on shifting perspectives and shifting well to the left and to the right.

I truly felt I connected with and started a relationship with everyone in the class. The weekend was such a fun experience that lived up to my 12 month anticipation of being there. Thanks to all of you that attended for making it such a great experience! I look forward to crossing paths once again in the future and relating our shifting life experiences.

Just north of the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles is the town of Valencia and is the location of the Henry Mayo Fitness Center. This is a world class facility with a combination of fitness training available to the public and rehabilitation provided by physical therapists as well. Postural Respiration was hosted there last weekend to a sold out group of physical therapists, chiropractors, athletic trainers, strength and conditioning personal, yoga and pilates instructors and a massage therapy student who has also been a personal trainer for years and has been adding PRI to his toolbelt.

From a faculty member’s perspective, this was an ideal environment and an ideal group of individuals that came together with interest and energy. More than half of the students were new to PRI and many more new to Postural Respiration. For several students, Postural Respiration was their third and final primary course and was an integration that connected PRI "dots" starting with the diaphragm and delivery of air pressure sense into a thorax. This critical component of exploring asymmetries with air pressure differences into the thorax, driving spinal position and ultimately posture as a result of dynamic respiration made for exciting discoveries of understanding form and function of the thoracic diaphragm and entire skeletal system.

One of the most important learning objectives is how to apply what seems to be an overwhelming amount of information into assessment and treatment of patients and clients. This past weekend there were a couple examples of students who were subjects of PRI exam and treatment. One was straight forward and became "neutral" almost immediately. The other student, or patient example, was more complex and required focused attention on the page 50 guidelines with some tests remaining positive even with the best efforts of the instructor and excellent lab assistants. This individual had a history of ballet and lots of aerobic exercise over the years as well as recent lasik eye surgery. She was also a Superior T-4 patient and a great example of patho-mechanical respiration. One patient example in class was relatively easy, the other required more persistence and follow up care. This is the beauty of having an example of complexity and that PRI has pathways to take a patient further into discovery as this individual will have follow-up care with a PRI practitioner. The good news is this person slept better than they have in some time following PRI manual and non-manual techniques and is thrilled to continue their journey into learning more about themselves and applying PRI to their practice.

Many thanks to Rie Takakura, P.T., PRC for coming out from Hawaii to be one of our lab assistants. Her energy and knowledge was so much appreciated. My friend Locatelli Rao, P.T., PRC made my job easier as well as he provided his expert clinical knowledge of PRI and clinical application of PRI to this weekend. His ability to describe and "coach" technique is a gift to all in attendance. And last and most importantly, thank you Thomas "TJ" Di Prima, P.T., DPT, OCS, ATC for arranging and promoting PRI in this facility. His goal is to introduce PRI into his community at the Henry Mayo Fitness Center and we are all grateful for his support and look forward to returning in 2024. Thank you all, students, lab assistants and the staff at the "Center" for the privilege of presenting Postural Respiration.

I had the great pleasure of teaching Myokinematic Restoration this past weekend in Jupiter, Florida. It was such a gift to be able to travel to Florida and spend time with this fantastic group of clinicians, coaches, massage therapists, Yoga and Pilates instructors, and even an engineer (shout out to Hugh!)

The class participants were so fun and engaging that it truly felt like I was on vacation hanging out with 33 of my best friends. The quality food and evening beach walks also helped with that feeling. Except for Amy Brown, PRC and rock star lab assistant, this was everyone’s first Myokinematic Restoration class. I learned from everyone in class and really had a great time getting to know them.

Ashley helped us think critically on how we can integrate PRI thinking within the gym and strength world. Megan was a gift from above and our main "Avatar" for the weekend, being a perfect example of a patho-compensatory L AIC individual that we can all learn from. Ed and Ingrid brightened both days by sitting front and center with their beautiful smiling faces and excellent questions.

Greg reminded us that everyone wins with a PRI lens, even when we are in a competitive market in the therapy world. Jarrod will be applying his PRI knowledge to the military world (and has a sweet truck!).

Heather brought in an Equestrian bias and dropped horse knowledge on us revealing that 90% of equestrian riders bias their horse one way thanks to the rider’s inherent asymmetries. Her friend, Darren brought his majestic deep voice to narrate non-manual techniques as well as reading positional and compensatory influences of the left AIC pattern on muscle of the lumbo-pelvic-femoral region.

Frank and Kenneth helped us understand a tight posterior capsule and how it may limit the Hruska Adduction lift scores, while Leroy and Logan helped us appreciate how important a posterior capsule is for shoulder function with the Chicago Cubs.

Barbara was a gift from the "pelvic floor" specialist world. Barbara – you are much too young to consider retirement, our profession needs you! Her colleagues Laura and Chelsea helped us understand the single blinded randomized controlled trial in the back of the manual. Chelsea plans to do a presentation on Myokinematic Restoration while implementing page 46 for her company’s case care algorithm standard of practice. Stephanie’s bright, smiling face joined Chelsea and Laura up front to help us realize the importance of a Myokinematic Restoration program during and after pregnancy (congrats, Stephanie!).

Jennah (with an "h"!) was a joy to have in class with her brilliant questions and insights. Get after those hamstrings, Jennah! Her friend Messiah was a pro at the techniques, as long as he shut off those "northern glutes"! Seth was our PT student representative. Love having DPT students in class, they provide such fresh insight and questions!

Jen and Mickey represented Arise well with fantastic questions from the back. They helped us understand the danger of compensation and how if we don’t always test in a predictable way, that still gives us valuable data.

Kristina helped us appreciate hyper-mobile individuals and how important it is that we get them on a PRI program so as not to over stress ligaments – in the pelvic, hip, or knee. Brad helped us realize the importance of our hips in our movement patterns, whether they are original or enhanced hips.

Dwight, Jennifer, and Dawn were the Dream Team in the middle of the room. Dwight, thanks for the tuna and restaurant recommendations. He was a good reminder that PTs can make good restaurant owners! Dawn helped us understand a bilateral AIC pattern, potentially influenced by a famous body building background. Jennifer was kind enough to spend her birthday with us on Sunday. Hope I didn’t make it too boring for you, Jennifer!

Robert, former professor and lecturer, helped us understand an over-active right adductor and provided thought provoking and critical questions for the class. Darrell brought excellent insight and questions from a manual therapist point of view.

Matthew and Andres proved to be enjoyable company for lunch. Matthew, fantastic questions, good luck on the potential move to COLORAD! Andres, thanks for being such a great non-manual technique demonstrator and making the drive across the state. Let me know when you are in Colorado again and we’ll get up a 14er!

Big thanks to Amy for assisting in lab and providing valuable clinical insights. Special thanks to David for being an excellent host. Perfect amount of coffee, snacks, and La Croix! All-in-all, I felt like I gained 33 new friends from this past weekend. It was such a pleasure and joy to be with you all. 

It is always nice to have a home game. Over the last two years I have had the good fortune to teach Myokinematic Restoration on both coasts and multiple points in between. This past weekend I was able to welcome a group of movement specialists to my little mountain town, Missoula, MT.

Revo Training Center hosted the course, and we had a great group consisting of Missoulians, Montanans, as well as representatives from WA, ID, AZ, NM, and TX. We opened the weekend with a discussion of a quote from Mr. Hemingway that is found on page 1 in the manual, “Never confuse movement with action”. We endeavored to appreciate how patterns of human asymmetry dictate the position of the body and ultimately whether the movement elicited by a muscle contraction supports the action we are striving for.

We focused on action around an acetabulum on a femur, on action that is preceded by appropriate position, and on action that requires inhibition of our dominant L AIC patterning. The group had great questions and insights throughout which fostered a running discussion that was not only enjoyable, but added to the depth and applicability of the course.

Thank you to Revo Training Center for hosting and thank you to all the attendees who spent a beautiful September weekend in Missoula. While we may not have been adventuring in the great outdoors, we hopefully all had a chance to expand our view of the human body in Big Sky Country!

I had the great fortune to present Cervical Revolution to an in-person and virtual group, hailing from 10 countries.  This course takes the concept of humans’ neurological proclivity for right stance at the pelvis and thorax and carries it up to the neck, teeth, and cranium.
As we know from previous courses, right stance dominance creates complex neuromuscular patterned positions and movements and is heavily influenced by gravity, respiration, and overactive chains of muscles.  We introduced a new chain, the temporo-mandibular cervical chain (the TMCC), which, you guessed it, is over-referenced on the right.

The course was greatly enhanced by:
-    Our in-person attendees, who were instrumental in demonstration of objective tests and treatment techniques:  Lisa Bartels, DPT, PRC; Andrew Consbruck, DPT, PRC; Nate Dickes, PT; Eric Pinkall, PT, PRC; and Kurt Van Kulken, ATC.
-    Kelli Reilly, MSPT; Timothy McVaney, DDS; Nancy Wehner, BSDH, COM for sharing clinical observations and expertise.
-    Our virtual attendees, for thought-provoking questions and insights, most notably Evan Condry, PT; Alex de la Paz, PT; Christopher Lamb, NASM CPT; Peien Lu, PT; Donne Ordile, PT; Locatelli Rao, DPT, PRC; Laura Regan, DPT; and Alek Skorupa, LMT.  To those of you watching in the wee hours of the morning or late at night, thank you for hanging in there and participating in lab.
-    Jen Platt, DPT, PRC, for orchestrating everything this weekend – virtual views, answering questions, providing nourishment, and more.

Attendees gained an appreciation for the brain’s need to sense a new floor – at the occiput on atlas (OA) articulation.  This articulation, when in its proper position, allows the head to remain in equilibrium with the spine below.  Imbalanced left to right sensory processing and motor output occurs when the OA articulation is better sensed and over-referenced on the right side. The very health of the brain may be in peril when we over-reference our right sides too much and for too long.  For example, a “twist” results in the neck, compromising a vital opening for brain: the foramen magnum, which houses the brainstem and “cisterns” for cerebral spinal fluid, bathing and protecting our nervous tissue.

The OA compression-decompression (known as OA flexion and OA extension, respectively) reverberates into the cranium at the junction where the occiput meets the sphenoid.  This critical junction enables vector forces through the cranium to be distributed to the remaining paired bones of the cranium.  When over-referenced on the right, two commonly seen conditions develop at the sphenoid-occipital junction, or synchondrosis: left side-bending and its pathological cousin, right torsion.  

These cranial positions, maintained by the Right TMCC, place the paired temporal bones in a patterned position.  The temporal bones mirror the ilia of the pelvis and should exhibit alternating internal and external rotation, depending on the leg you’re standing on.  The other half of temporal-mandibular joint (TMJ), the mandible, too, is directed and held in patterned state.  Without temporal alternating activity, structures within the temporal bones (think mid-brain and vestibular) are deprived of their necessary compression-decompression cycles that are so vital for nerve function.  Our mandibles may lose their ability to move side to side, a prerequisite for upright left to right shifting when, say, walking.  In addition, alignment of our upper and lower teeth becomes skewed over time and may lead to mal-occlusions, such as cross-bites and open bites, and TMJ disc derangements.  One can now appreciate the need for dental collaboration and intra-oral splints to assist the process of restoring alternating tri-planar movement of the cervical spine (30-30-30) and temporal bones and a sense of alternating floors at the OA articulation.  Doing so promotes nervous system health, resolution of symptoms, and efficient functional movement.

I capped off my weekend in Lincoln with Jen Platt and her family with an awesome experience at the U. of Nebraska Women’s volleyball game. You know you’re in for a treat if 92,000+ fans pack the stadium, as they did the previous week.  Put this on your to-do list the next time you’re in Lincoln on game day.  Hopefully you can snag a ticket!

The Cantrell Center is Hiring!

The Cantrell Center for Physical Therapy & Wellness, has an immediate job opening for:

LICENSED PHYSICAL THERAPIST (PT)
***NEW GRADS, UPCOMING GRADS, & EXPERIENCED CLINICIANS MAY APPLY***

The Cantrell Center for Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine is a physical therapist-owned private practice and has been serving Middle Georgia for over 30 years. We’re proud to employee clinicians who have a passion for the science and value our one-on-one approach to patient care. We are currently looking to hire a licensed Physical Therapist for our booming practice!

We are proud to currently have 2 Postural Restoration Certified Therapists (PRC’s) in the clinic which makes us highly sought after by our referring physicians, our patients, and wellness members.  We often have patients who travel out of town and even out of state to come to the Cantrell Center as we are the only Postural Restoration Certified Facility in the state of Georgia.  

Located in Warner Robins, Georgia, the Cantrell Center is located in the Middle of the state! Just a quick drive to Atlanta or the beach, Warner Robins offers convenience to any interest without the crime rate and elevated costs of a larger city. If you love fresh air and lush green trees, this is the city for you! Visit the website of Robins Regional Chamber for more information about the city of Warner Robins.

What makes The Cantrell Center a great place to work?

• We are a collaborative environment, where patient care is paramount and each team member’s gifts and experiences blend to create an atmosphere of integrity and encouragement. As part of our team, you will work side-by-side with like-minded and dedicated colleagues, while enjoying the opportunity to build your own career.
• Join our team and you’ll quickly discover why our staff of 30+ calls the Cantrell Center “home”— many staff members have been with for more than 10 and even 20 years! We take care of each other.
• We believe every patient has unique needs and concerns and those are best addressed by the physical therapist, one-on-one. NO COOKIE-CUTTER treatments.

WE OFFER:

• Sign On Bonus
• Unique and competitive salary and generous benefits package
• Work/Life Balance
• Commitment to clinical excellence
• Team atmosphere
• Constant training and learning
• An excellent mentoring program for new hires – especially for new grads

To learn more about The Cantrell Center for Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine…
•    Visit our website
•    Find us on LinkedIn
•    Find us on Facebook
•    Find us on Instagram
•    Learn about our Annual Cantrell Center 5K & 1 Mile

If you like what you see, please send your resume to pr@cantrellcenter.com.

The Impingement & Instability course has been a clinician’s course for a long time. And that is even more the case now than ever before. I&I has evolved into an excellent precursor for the PRI Cervical, Cranial, Voice Box, and Forward Locomotion courses. This was very evident in the most recent presentation of I&I, which just happened to be the final delivery of this course for 2023.  

Since it is a Secondary Course, the course has the opportunity to go into several different directions, depending on who is in attendance and the questions the attendees ask. This is one of the primary reasons that each I&I course is different every time it’s presented.  

We were able to touch upon content from a multitude of courses, but our focus remained on the value and necessity of both Impingement and Instability as great concepts, which lead us into the value of alternating compression and decompression to increase our ability to become less functionally cortically dominant. Being able to properly manage a system below C7 allows management of issues above C7 to become easier. As a result, we start drawing the connection between the scapula and calcaneus from very, very early on Day One.  

My thanks to Torin Berge, PT, PRC, for his help digest and break down the 4 unique non-manual techniques that are in this course. We were able to have an in-depth discussion about the value of these techniques, which was a treat. My thanks to Nancy Hammond, PT, PRC and Hayley Kava, PT, PRC for their questions and presence. And none of the live-stream would have been possible without RJ Hruska and his direction and production of this course.  It is not lost on us that the live-stream has expanded PRI Nation, and I am eternally grateful for all of those in attendance who live in other parts of the world.

If you haven’t had an opportunity to attend the I&I course, I would encourage you to do so as every course is different, depending on the movement specialists present. My thanks to all of the movement specialists who were in attendance, and I look forward to teaching this course in 2024.

Last weekend I had the honor of presenting Cranial Resolution in Chapel Hill, NC. Although most in attendance had previously taken this course, a few multiple times, several were dipping their toes into this material for the first time.  I was proud, gratified, and extremely relieved that, by the end of the weekend, everyone was expressing an energized and clinically relevant understanding of the functional relationship between the ANS and CNS – and the role that our lateralized cortical and subcortical biases and nasal passages play in influencing what we so often ‘orthopedically’ address. I had the privilege of witnessing the occurrence of serial eureka moments. These were illustrated through the cognitively insightful questions and enlightening discussions that, as one attendee put it . . . were “cathartic.”

The PRI giants at Advance PT, Susan Henning, Jean Masse and Lisa Mangino, who hosted the course, could not have been more welcoming. Their hospitality went above and beyond. I also owe a huge thanks to the incredible avatars who could not have demonstrated the autonomic concepts any better. Jean, for allowing us to use her beautifully neutral system to illustrate how the interruption of nasal flow can immediately and predictably alter one’s sense of ground and gravity (and so dramatically change a SLR test)! Kaisa for demonstrating how someone progresses through the treatment algorithm, including when and how to address an apparent dysfunctional autonomic limitation by effectively using one of the thoracic cranial resolution techniques. And a special thanks to Joe, who let me positionally challenge him to illustrate how, when, and why modifications may need to be made, and what significant gains can be achieved by addressing the autonomic nervous system.

I finished Sunday more excited than ever to be teaching this material. I cannot express how grateful I am to the institute for having the confidence in me to translate and present this aspect of Ron’s monumental work. To me, the ANS is where PRI begins. I honestly feel that gaining a basic grasp of how the ANS integrates with the CNS makes all the other courses so much easier to comprehend. It explains why things are happening and illuminates (and fortifies) the importance of the positioning, referencing, and sequencing of each and every one of the steps that are so methodically spelled out in all of the non-manual techniques.  

This was my first time teaching this course solo and I will be eternally grateful to everyone who attended for making it such a successful and meaningful experience. The dynamic of this group was incredible.