This workshop was a first for Jen Platt and I. Opening the workshop with discussion on corollary consequence, correspondence and compensation allowed us to “look” at the top-down influences of PRI Corollary Movement in each of the 12 secondary and tertiary techniques that Jen chose for us to cover. She did a great job in organizing these techniques, laying them out and selecting techniques that offered the attendee a wide perspective of application. Normally, we do not list testimonials after a course.  (You can find testimonials by courses by going to the ‘Programs and Courses’ site on our website).  However, after reading the feedback that Hannah compiled, I felt it would be helpful for those who may be interested in taking this course in the future, as well as to read what the ‘first-time’ attendees had to say about it.

 “I have already listened to at least 60% of the course material. I cannot tell you how much it helps to have the content available to go over again. This course put so many things together in regard to patterning. There were so many lightbulb moments into why things may fall apart for the patient at home with their exercise program because of the brain influence in regard to patterning. The word sense is so different than finding and feeling. Sensing something different in the body especially when sensing one thing can help the patient sense another area is HUGE in regard to making a program successful. Walking away from this course has had one of the most dramatic effects on putting the whole picture together, especially with the ability to go back and review it again. I hope that you can continue to offer the courses on zoom. I also wonder if any of the other recorded courses that were offered through zoom could ever be available as a take home course. It is nice to have that available as an option. Also wondering if Ron was ever going to put all the 33 corollary exercises together now that we understand the corollaries. I know that the other exercises are from other courses but we never had the corollaries with them. Thank you again for everything you all do!!!!”

“This course will allow me to progress all of my clients over the coming months and was a fantastic guide in sensory integration that I felt was a missing puzzle piece.”

“I have learned it in neuroanatomy but only in an abstract manner - now it becomes more meaningful for my work. Thanks!”

“I've always known the importance of multi sensory "sense", but this took my understanding a step further for sure”

“It feels like this course was a missing puzzle piece in my application. This made it much more straightforward to progress and cue clients”

“1. Greater confidence with technique selection 2. Deeper understanding & appreciation re: critiquing and cueing for a clients understanding of both positional and integrative sense”

“This course material will likely allow me help clients move to a higher level of motor learning much more efficiently and with less cognitive load (corollaries > references) especially in a fitness setting, but obviously also with rehab clients.”

“This is one of the MOST relevant courses offered by PRI to my area of practice in my opinion, moving away from more "attention intensive" movement practices towards integrated sense of corollaries will allow all of my clients, from pro athlete to rehab, to experience and sense the task at hand rather than trying to juggle a more cueing intensive task.”

“Thank you again for supporting the growth of PRI nation. We love you and this course was fantastic. When entering a black hole, one needs a guide named Ron Hruska. I can feel the effort, the labor of love, the hard work that has been put into this course (and all other courses). Thank you PRI team for continuing to lead the way. You inspire me to be better. Much love from Alpine PT in Seattle.”

I could not give this course, the way it was presented, without the direct input, production, and guidance that Jen provide both me and the audience. So grateful for her many roles she plays in this Institute, but now, because we know each other so well and the overall intent so well, the delivery and message is seamless, sincere and solid. This truly was the Institute’s first multisensory movement workshop that reflected the strength of the corollary movement sense needed for natural cognitive processing built around vestibular-ocular reflexive correlations. We also could not have made this workshop the ‘virtual reality’ workshop it was without the live presence of Amy Morris, PT, Phil DeNigris, CSCS, Rua Gilna, CPT, SFG1, PN1, and Dave Drummer, DPT, PRC. Their patience with my Socratic style of teaching and their willingness to objectively communicate what they felt, sensed, experienced and struggled with made multi-dimensional processing understandable and appreciable.

Thank you again for coming to Lincoln and participate in the manner in which each and every one of you did.  

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.

We all know someone who experience difficulties with simple movements and at the same time can move or carry out, what appears to be more complex movements easily. This phenomenon of ‘Kinesia Paradoxa’ is one that is often seen with individuals who have been diagnosed with a basal ganglia disease called Parkinson’s Disease. However, by studying basal ganglia diseases we can learn so much about the precursors and the stages of this disease and its developmental patterns and symptomology. I believe, I have been on a journey of researching coupling and identifying similarities in people who have oscillator conflict at the caudate nucleus and putamen or dorsal striatum, at the subthalamic nucleus, at the globus pallidus, and at the substantial nigra pars reticulata, and didn’t really know it. For this is where the majority of our paradoxical function really begins, is initiated and looped. For these are the areas that make up the basal ganglia. Ganglia that reflect the parts of the brain that are not often even thought about, when sequencing steps in a “exercise”, or movement technique.

I always enjoy the amount of time, energy, thought and ideas that go into these PRI Symposiums. Ideas, that flow far in advance of the actual delivery of material and madness. I love every moment of these preparatory mental madness moments. Because that is what is exactly going on in our basal ganglia. Frenzied, chaotic, pandemonium mayhem, that can lead to periods of deranged decisions or a flow of indiscreet ideas. It’s the latter that we would never experience if we were controlled by frequencies of neuro-synapses that didn’t loop with other unfamiliar neuroreceptors, once in a while; like every 10 milliseconds.

Click HERE to view the full photo album.

There is a fine line between sanity and conflict. I personally need both in my life, and I am fairly certain you do too. Jennifer Smart DPT, PRC, Neal Hallinan CSCS, LMT, PRT and myself put a manual together, delivered content, and digressed into areas that reflect ideology of some of our most important ganglia we have. We enjoyed the time together in this presentation of ideas, in the preparation of ideas, and in the exchange of ideas that will hopefully strengthen the balance of movement associated with asymmetrical sanity and movement associated with symmetrical conflict. We, the speakers, learned so much from each other and the science that actually does support our zaniness and Zen-like ideas, all because of our respect for life’s paradoxes.

Here are a few of the comments we received from the class participants/attendees:

“Yes the material outlined "bigger picture" neurological influences on all humans that manifest as pathology in some. All people will benefit from this mindset of looking at human neurological function.”

“Love that these symposiums build on prior knowledge and become useful not as cookbook ways of treating patients but as ways to understand human behavior and provide frameworks to improve outcomes for all humans.”

“It brought the new perspective in how I look at Parkinsons and how big Inhibition is!”

“Just one fun thing. I was talking to my almost 91 year old mother who now uses a Rollator and she was asking about a stand up walker the night the course ended. Her next statement was funny (no knowledge of the course) and she said that the main thing she missed in her walking was "swinging her arms". I went down and worked with her with swinging hiking sticks in her hands (except I was using 2 reachers) and progressed her to using a trowel and hand clippers and she walked about 60 feet 4 times (back and forth in her driveway) unassisted and non stop. Cannot express how much fun it was to give her some freedom (she still loves to garden). Thank you all for a fantastic event as always. It is great to be able to go back an implement changes in my patients.”

“It felt balanced between the three presenters. I felt that Jennifer utilized her time the best, she did a good job of communicating her work, her experience, research, and I am grateful for her efforts. All presenters did an excellent job. Ron helped me to appreciate the basal ganglia, I really had never thought about this part of the brain in my day to day life and now it is imprinted. Neal was very engaging and enthusiastic, His passion moved me to appreciate dance and rhythm in a whole new way.”

“This Symposium was over flowing with important information about a new way of thinking for working with all our patients or clients, not just those with Parkinson's disease.”

“This was a great course to expand my knowledge of Basal Ganglia disease and treatment options. I have been certified in the LSVT BIG program for years but would also like to branch out and have other options for my patients. This course gave me lots of ideas”

The last comment above summarizes our basal ganglia’s ability to keep us resonating with bombardment of relaying information that allow us to flow with “lots of ideas” that are recognized and required for satisfactory frontal cortex creativity. And if we don’t occasionally fulfill our dopaminergic ideas, that we create, generate and plan, we may just be laying down the framework for future unplanned kinesia paradoxa, that we want to avoid.