How to Move Effortlessly Through Life

by SharonHartnett | Sep 28, 2024 | craniosacral, Craniosacral Therapy, grounding, healing, mind body & spirit, mindfulness, move effortlessly

Grounding: Move Effortlessly with Grace

Move Effortlessly. It’s easy to escape the moment. To not be fully present. The mind easily wanders into the past with regrets and guilt. Undoubtably it moves forward with worry and anticipation as well. This is to be human.

However, what if there is a way to engage with life more deeply and fully?

I was reading FB today and came across a beautiful post about grounding. I feel it’s so important to connect to the earth. She supports us and nourishes us continuously. We are made of the earth, and she lives within all that we are. So I am including this writing by “Lowen” to share here. Let go of your burdens my friends… Discover Your Human Body.

Lowen is credited with coining the word “grounding” in the physiological and psychological sense and emphasizing it’s importance in human development. I believe it has now become a term widely understood (if not precisely understood) in the broader pop culture.

“Once he is grounded, a person no longer holds himself up but allows the ground to support him. By coming down to earth, he finds that his blood pressure also drops. But effecting that kind of change requires a commitment to the body and to a way of life that respects the body and it’s needs.

Unfortunately, our culture is moving away from the body as the source of feeling and spirituality. Our fitness programs are not designed to enhance the sensitivity of the body but to hone it as if it were a machine. In so doing, they produce people who are fit only to run the race of life. I suppose that if reaching the top is one’s goal in life, our modern-day fitness programs may help. But if one’s goal is to experience the joy of being fully alive, the excitement of feeling part of this pulsating universe, and the deep satisfaction of being a person who is both graceful and gracious, one must turn elsewhere.

When I was a young man, being “earthy” was regarded as a virtue. I never hear anyone descibed that way anymore. Has the quality of having one’s feet on the ground lost its meaning? I believe it has. The modern individual is more properly described as “flying high and fast”. It is hard to slow down when the world is racing by. It is difficult to be grounded when the culture itself is ungrounded, when it denies reality and promotes an illusion that success represents a higher state of being and successful people live richer and more fulfilling lives. All the same, the real values of life are “earthy” values: health, gracefulness, connectedness, pleasure and love. But these values have meaning only if one’s feet are planted firmly on the ground.”

– Alexander Lowen from The Spirituality of the Body

To Move Effortlessly is freedom and Joy

Sharon Hartnett CST-D

703 509-1792

www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

Feel Young as You Get Older with the Cobra Pose

by SharonHartnett | Dec 15, 2013 | grounding, healing, Healthy Body, Massage, meditation, mind body & spirit, Spiritual Healing

Cobra Pose for those Shortened Soft Tissues-

As we get older, often we lose the natural curvature of our spine. Gravity pulls us downward and often we end up out of alignment anteriorly and posteriorly as well. Our doctors often recommend exercise which is a great beginning. Massage, Craniosacral Therapy, and other forms of Bodywork can be very helpful too. But there is something you can do to feel young that is easy to do right at home in just about 5-10 minutes a day that will help you quite a bit.

How about spending a little time with the Cobra Pose to self-correct your posture and open up your energy flow!

Begin Cobra by lying down on your stomach with the legs extended. Place your hands fairly close to your body parallel and slowly lift your body off the ground. Continue to lift higher, but only in comfort with a light stretch.Hold the stretch as long as you feel release for up to 30 seconds. If anything feels like it is too much, move back to the ground and relax and try again when you feel rested.

Stretching

Many of my clients come in with painful necks and lower backs.Those two areas especially seem to shorten in many people and end up being the weakest link in posture. Part of that can due to a shortened psoas muscle but usually include anterior fascia being too short from the feet to the top of the head.

If you take the time to do the Cobra Pose routinely, you will begin to see great change in how you stand and feel each day. This is accomplished by lengthening the front of your body with the stretch and relaxing all the above back muscles. This pose is counter to many of the activities we do each day which jet us forward. The Cobra Pose allows us to move into a backward curved space which restores better balance.

In Yoga, often the class leads us into pushing the stretch. I’d like to invite people who are in discomfort not to go all the way, but to simply go into the stretch gently, listen to your body to what feels good and stay there. I have found that when the body is not overtaxed, the defense mechanisms relax and more tissue will relax and spread throughout the whole body.

As with all physical activity, it is helpful to check with your physician what is good for you to do, especially while dealing with spinal issues.

As we age, we don’t have to limit our movements. We have a choice to move freely but we need to take advantage of our Cobra range of motion. Want to feel young? Then live young!

Sharon Hartnett CST-D

703 509-1792

www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

Find a Structural Integration Therapist in Columbus

by SharonHartnett | Mar 29, 2013 | craniosacral, Craniosacral Therapy, grounding, healthy, Massage, move effortlessly, Structural Integration

Looking to find a Massage Therapist for Structural Integration (SI) in Columbus, Ohio?

You have come to the right place. Sharon Hartnett LMT has over 17+ years doing Structural Integration Therapy. In the late 1990’s she found a local Rolfer in Mclean, Virginia who introduced her to the 10 series. She fell in love with the positive postural changes and increased movement in her body that she decided to study Structural Integration herself. She has been providing SI sessions with clients ever since.

Relieve Chronic Pain and Find Better Posture

Learn how Structural Integration Developed

Dr. Ida P. Rolf, a pioneering biochemist began to develop Rolfing in the 1930s after suffering from spinal arthritis. The direction of her work was focused on the role of fascia and unwinding tension patterns around muscles and joints in order to release pain and discomfort. While working in the 1960’s teaching her fascial work at the Esalen Institute in California, the term “Rolfing” was coined. Her original thinking and experience of manipulating the connective tissue brought students from around the world. She taught these practitioners how to support the body to function efficiently so that the force of gravity could flow through and support both the form and functioning. Soon later, the Rolf Institute was found. And as with most great work, different schools have branched out, extending the original work with same intention and yet with individualize perspectives.

Why Structural Integration Therapy?

Structural Integration is a system of bodywork that will encourage the body back into alignment and structural integrity. Clients walk away feeling more freedom in their movement, a sense of lightness, greater flexibility, relief from chronic pain and more energized. The Structural Integration model views the person as a whole that is self-regulation and self-organizing. Between sessions, clients are given exercises to help them continue their work out into the world. the body knows where it needs to go in order to find maximum motion. It just needs to be re-edcuated how to do that so it can relate more optimally in fluidity. After 10 sessions, clients take time to allow the work to continue and integrate with better posture.

Is Structural Integration Uncomfortable?

When you go to visit any type of bodyworker and therapist, it is a good idea to communicate your needs right from the start. The therapist has tools and experience working with clients, but ultimately the client benefits the most by expressing what his/her level of tolerance to pressure. Each person is unique in how they like to be touched. What Sharon does is ask, “If you can feel the sensations and feelings that arise during the session without having to tighten or react, than allow yourself to do that. However, if anything hurts or feels like it is too deep, please say “stop” or “lighten up”. The client’s wishes are always respected. With this said, often the fascia has historically tightened up in areas of the body around dysfunctional patterns. There are time when that tissue is lengthened it will be uncomfortable. Most clients though are so happy with the results and reconnection to their body’s that they return over and over with relief and commitment to themselves.

Is Structural Integration for Me?

Sharon offers free 15 minute telephone consults to answer your questions: 703 509-1792

Serving the Eastern side of Columbus, Ohio

www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

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