In 2007 I had to let go of my left ovary and a few fibroids that were inside me. Following that surgery I started to develop things that I have now come to understand are pelvic floor issues. Some of My symptoms have been a lot of SI joint instability and abdominal bloating.
I found an online program called Restore Your Core® developed by Lauren Ohayon after seeing a video online demonstrating her core strategy that looked exactly like mine. I’ve come to understand that strategy as ‘oblique dominance’.
I was basically such a earnest and compliant movement student that I worked almost too hard and exacerbated my pelvic floor tension without addressing my mobility and gait issues that had arisen from my scar tissue and trauma. My abdominal core and SI joint were talking to me. I was experiencing a lot of bloating, digestive issues and low back pain.
The good news is that I was consistent. I did the work. Some days more than others. I’m still doing the work because caring for ourselves really never ends.
What I’ve learned is the change is possible at every stage of trauma illness and injury.
Good news is I have taken my lived experience and educated myself. All the work I’ve been doing with Yoga Tune Up®, the scar tissue work, the massage work, the breath work, it was all leading me toward this path.
Now Im finalizing my requirements movement training called Restore Your Core®. It’s a movement practice that combines yoga, pilates, breathing, gait and movement pattering as a fitness modality.
It is also a restorative program that is designed to address some prevalent issues in our bodies that affect our health and well being like:
Pelvic Floor tension
Si joint pain
Diastasis recti
Prolapse, rectocele, cystocele
Low back pain
If you are already working with me don’t worry ! I’m not changing, only getting more clear, intentional and holistic.
Quick Low Back Relief with Therapy Ball
Low Back Pain - Self Massage - Living with and Healing Diastesis Recti
Hi there, I have recently figured out that my diastesis recti has slowly started to reemerge in my body again. Its resulted in me having a lot of low back pain and discomfort when I eat. What I am working on is helping my diaphragm and obliques relax and release as they tend to get very tense and accentuate the separation in my abdominal wall. Its a process and something I have to continually work on to control the tension in my belly. Massage coupled with corrective exercise, breathing and mindset is how I manage this in my body.
Ribs and Breathing
Hi!
I shared this breathing exercise with a client who needed an easy way to prepare their breath and mobility in a parking lot before a Spartan race. This exercise is part of a longer series of movements that awaken the entire torso for breathing. If your location permits, you can do this lying down on the floor.
The goal here is to place the ball under the armpit in order to help awaken the side-body and mobilize the top 3 or 4 ribs in the rib basket. The ball and your hand provide excellent sensory feedback for the brain in order to fine-tune or retrain our breathing patterns for optimal function.
Our breathing patterns often mirror what is going on in our body on a deep level both physically and emotionally. Disease, trauma, thoughts, and emotions can all affect how we are able to access and move the breathing structures in the body. Let your breath exercise be free and easy way to reset and recharge your body anywhere, anytime.
Click here to view the exercise!
xo Diana
Low Back 3D pain relief
In this Video I explain how to relieve low back discomfort with Yoga Tune Up therapy balls and your breath.
My suggestions for following this video are to give yourself a moment to breathe fully, smoothly and completely. Find a place to do this where you can introvert your attention to what you are feeling. Even if you are in a noisy gym, simply close your eyes and teach yourself that you can learn to be calm even in the most challenging places.
It's helpful also to think of your body as your feeling/sensation brain that is just as smart as your thinking brain and speak directly to that part of you where you hurt. Literally take a moment and ask it what it needs. You will be very surprised at the answers.
xoxo
Diana
Share the Load
The goals of this movement exercise are simple. We want to feel better in our bodies. We want to allow more of our body to move. We want better brain and body communication to increase blood flow, lymph, electricity - all of the things we need in order to feel better and move better.
Do this exercise at the wall first to learn how to define the skill in your own body.
The skill is in ISOLATING the movement of your shoulder joint by asking your shoulder blades to move on your back in very specific ways.
Reduce pain by increasing body awareness
Reduce pain by increasing strength in underused tissues.
Reduce pain by moving with control into and out of the movement
Reduce pain by taking the time to authoritatively take control of your own health through simple easy to implement movement.
Massage video for this area coming next.
xoxo Diana
Improve your breath & feel better
Breathe
better to reduce pain
Hello! Today I asked my friends on Facebook what part of their body they would like to address for tension relief. The answers were basically The Whole Body + Mind. That is s A-OK with me because this simple exercise is one you can easily incorporate into your life, day or night. You can do this before or after exercise and even when you are feeling under the weather.
As I state in my video our primary breathing muscle is our respiratory diaphragm. This exercise helps us to encourage better movement and a better relationship with the diaphragm and heart, the abdominal viscera, the ribcage and the muscles that move our spine.
When we improve our breathing, we can improve the health and well being of our entire body.
Breath is LIFE. Live well and breathe well my friends!
xoxo
Diana
Source: https://vimeo.com/263972365
Flow - you're a river
I chose this image to represent my upcoming workshop, Move your Detox & FLOW at MelMarie's self-care Shala because in esoteric bodywork terms (ie the unicorn side of me) I relate to the body like a river. I am a manual therapist and movement educator and so much of my work is devoted to the study and practice of natural ways to maintain health and well being in the body and mind.
I recently attended a lecture, "What the Fuzz" offered by Gil Hedley (a highly respected bodyworker and bodywork educator).
What I learned from Gil was massive. The biggest takeaway for me was how to relate what I felt with my hands during a massage to what is happening beneath the skin. Basically, Gil’s slides confirmed for me what I felt intuitively, that beneath the surface of our skin is a subtle but consistent flow of fluids moving through us and within us with every breath, vibration, movement and eye flutter we make.
We are a living breathing human aquarium and our muscles, facia, bones and all the other bits are swimming and floating in fluids enveloped by our skin.
What is exciting about the practices that I will be sharing in the workshop is that students can learn ways to facilitate their own health and well being with simple exercises and techniques that move these fluids, especially the lymph. The lymphatic system is a network of tissues and organs in the body that facilitate healing by ridding the body of waste material and toxins.
These easy and practical methods I share will help us tap into our own physiology to facilitate better movement not only with the body, but WITHIN the body.
It's my belief that every human intuitively sets the rhythm and pace of their own healing journey. This class is designed to facilitate the beginning of that experience.
All levels welcome.
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Dry Brushing your skin for whole body health →
Hi there, I have been treating and teaching a lot of people these last few weeks who are sick, tired, sluggish and not feeling 100% their best. It doesn't help that as we move into cold and flu season we are also experiencing record levels of cedar allergies in the south Texas region.
One easy way I personally take care of myself all year round but especially in the winter months is with dry skin brushing specifically for lymphatic stimulation. I hope you find this video helpful.
The idea behind a dry skin brushing routine is simply to help stimulate the movement of lymph fluid through your body so that cellular waste can be eliminated and allow for the transport of white blood cells to help your body fight off infections.
The body contains approximately 15 liters of lymph at any one time and with adequate hydration , can reproduce about 3 fresh liters per day. When our lymph system is not functioning optimally, or we are in pain, have swelling, or lack energy your lymphatic system is likely sluggish.
The best way to dry brush your skin is to use some simple principles:
1. Light rhythmic pressure - just enough to move the skin under the dry brush or your fingers.
2. Brush or massage toward the heart The rule of thumb is starting close in toward your midline and work your way out toward your hands and feet.
3. Brushing or massage direction should be to begin distally and work your way medially, in other words work .high to low (ie jaw to collarbone) / out to in (ie shoulder to heart).
4. Couple your brushing with dIaphragmatic breathing where the lower abdomen and the ribs expand your trunk with each inhale and deflates your trunk with each exhale.
For the routine in this video you will brush in this order:
1. below the collarbones 2. the sternum, 3. above the collarbones and neck.
There are many other ways to help your body move lymph through your system, this is only one small method in one small region of the body. The easiest way to move lymph is through normal human movement. Breathing is our most basic human movement. Walking, yoga movement that emphasizes joint mobilization and massage including self-massage are great ways to assist in lymphatic drainage. Click here to see the video!
Enchanted Breath
“Why are you so enchanted by this world when a mine of gold lies within you ?” Rumi
Yes that’s a piece of tape on my mouth. Why you ask? Because I’m exploring how much of a mouth breather I am and how I can work to enhance my body (life) with something I do 22 thousand times per day .... breathe.
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It’s been 3 full years since I broke up with my traditional yoga practice and began going down different rabbit holes of knowledge and education. One of the most significant and best investments I made in myself was to study with Jill Miller and her outstanding team of educators at Tune Up Fitness. Everything I thought I knew about bodywork, movement and healing has shifted and expanded. Hence this is why I am here today with a piece of tape stuck to the outer corner of my mouth. I am super curious and constantly need to know the why behind so many things that occur in the body.
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I’m currently reading Patrick McKeown’s book “The Oxygen Advantage“. The primary premise of this book is to cultivate a habit of mostly nasal breathing for better health, metabolism and cardiovascular endurance. The book actually brings me full circle back to classical Yoga in that the yogic traditions have traditionally educated practitioners on ways to overcome mouth breathing. WIth the tape I am trying to discern for myself how much I rely on mouth breathing via sighing, yawning, and gulping air when I talk and eat and go about my day. I’m new to this level of awareness only just in the last month so I am still exploring the methods.
I can share today in my practice that driving in my car triggers me to mouth-breathe more than anything else. While I can't cite any studies I know from my own movement practice that the pelvic floor and the diaphragm need optimal positioning for a full excursion of all the breathing mechanics to work properly. With my pelvis tucked in my car seat that natural postural set up is inhibited.
The book's author cites plenty of scientific studies to support his views. I am most excited to just experience the practices and see for myself how these make me feel and live in my own skin. I promise I don’t wear the tape out in public ❤️ and I I have not worn it to sleep yet but I plan on it soon!
xx DD
Your arm bone is connected to your hip bone
As a manual therapist and movement educator I see and feel the effects that our daily habits, exercise programs and movement practices can have on the body. I am most interested in how the parts of us, mind, body and spirit, can work as a happy whole and not how ripped or shredded one muscle may be developing. I believe it is through integration of all our parts and pieces that we can develop the skills to live and feel great in our bodies for our lifetime. One of my best teachers is my own body. I've moved around a lot in this body, I've been injured and I've abused and misused many parts of me. Here I am trying to educate my shoulder at the end range of flexion in external rotation in preparation for a backbend. This movement is called 1/4 urdhva dhanurasana or 1/4 wheel pose. I learned this from my teacher, Jill Miller creator of Yoga Tune Up. This is a challenging position for me given that most of my time is spent with my arms forward and internally rotated ... massaging and computering (ha) !
This is one small way that I work to integrate my bodywork through movement and awareness. Why might I need to use this movement in real life? Lifting a box up off the ground, putting objects from the floor up high on a shelf, picking up a child, cooking, changing a tire on a car. We never know where we are going to need our strength or worse when it may not be there for us. I've been that person who bent down to pick up a pencil only to have my back go out of me. I was only 30 years old! Whole body integration is a simple yet profound way to take care of ourselves on a regular basis. Check out my instagram post at the link below to see an easy way to strengthen your shoulder, ribs and pelvis relationship.