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Base-Line Healing

Learn to use your body better.
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this page is a work in progress ....

I believe recovery from fibromyalgia is possible - but learning to use my body correctly, releasing the restrictions and regaining movement, has taken a lot of TIME and FOCUS. Things that ONLY YOU can provide for yourself.

My Healing Experiences

After my physical 'rock bottom' I knew the range of drugs I had been prescribed (morphine, codeine, paracetamol, naproxen, gabapentin, diazepam) would a) not magically fix me & b) mess me right up, but I knew I had to do something to improve my situation.

rock bottom

"Use your core" was the only consistant advice I got, but I didn't 'get it'. I had no physical connection with my 'core muscles', I was lost trying to use the 'right' muscles.

"core muscles"

But I had to do something so, afraid of returning to the level of pain I'd experienced, I started going to Pilates classes. I took it very gently - a lot of lying on the floor working with my breathing and very little movement at first. A few basic exercises, at the easiest level, felt OK to do. Constantly aware of my pain levels I begain to feel more accurately where was sore and when.

Over a few weeks I began to notice what muscles were activating as I attempted to move and of how I braced myself to do anything, of how much movement I lacked. I was starting to realise how wrecked my body was - tense, restricted, twisted and compressed.

I also tried to swim every day, being active in water with as much time as I could in the steam room, sauna and jacuzzi - things I enjoy and tend to seek out given the chance. (The swimming morphed into time in the pool, moving as felt natural, using various floats as aids to balance and doing to odd length in between.)

I was developing a constant awareness of my posture and pain levels.  Within a few weeks I could feel new muscles working and was becoming aware of how bady I used my body.

Why the roll-down became my 'go-to' move.

I was "rolling down" at every opportunity   A simple exercise that felt good.

I could feel 'releases' in my back allowing my to roll-down a little further each time, gaining a little more movement.

Then, about three months after rock bottom, the blanket of depression lifted as I stood up from a roll-down.

It was amazing.  Everything felt different.  Better.

It wasn't the end of my emotional issues, but from that day on I knew my years of pain (both physical and mental) stemmed from a physical problem. I that recovery was possible.

It was only after many months of work, when I had developed a strong connection to my Base-Line, that I realised how twisted and mis-aligned I truly was.

Focusing on my main muscles of movement and working towards body alignment.

Feeling how to heal guided by my sense of conscious proprioception

Every time I focused on activating my Base-Line muscles I was gaining a little more freedom to move, regaining my natural range of movement

I could feel when my Base-Line was as 'strong and long' as I could make it, areas that had been compensating for the lack of support could relax. release the pain I had been carrying around for decades.

Now I feel better than I ever have before.

Patterns were developing as I practiced the roll-down.   A little routine of various movements.  Movements that felt right, good, natural - guided by my developing sense of conscious proprioception.

Swinging my arms, bending my legs, altering my foot positions, moving my head from side to side...

Healing from my Base-Line outwards

I had no idea how far I could come. How flexible I am now, and how much movement I was missing before. How easy movement is when the body is balanced.

Plucking strings. (hamstrings) electric shocks. These were scary at first. Never forced but as my confidence grew and trust in the process. Every so often a full leg twang that made me swear.

♦    ♦     ♦     ♦     ♦

It took a lot of time and focus to train myself to engage my main muscles of movement correctly.  Layer upon layer of pain and restrictions that I had to work through,

What helped me to focus on my Base-Line muscles.

Thinking of my Base-Line as a chain of lights to be activated in turn.

As I engage my pelvic floor Base, I think "red".

Then "orange, yellow, green, blue" up my rectus abdominis Line.

I don't think the exact description matters. Find something that works for you - whatever helps you to focus on the right muscles working to build the connection.

My technique developed as I progressed and my sense of conscious proprioception developed.

I have tried to describe my evolving connection to my Base-Line, but it is something to learn about by experiencing, not reading.

I have come to believe that using your Base-Line muscles fully is the basis of the chakra system and that many traditional exercise forms are trying to teach the correct usage of the main muscles of movement.

I am not the first to feel the power of my Base-Line, but no-one else has put it in these anatomical terms as far as I can find.

The Base-Line muscles are key to a full range of pain-free movement and better health.

For every position the body can achieve (an almost infinite number in our 'body bubble') there is a unique multi-branched 'thread' that runs through the body.   Thread theory

The branches of each thread connect via the Base-Line at specific areas.  The relevant section of the rectus abdominis muscles needs to be active to support each individual thread, and the pathway of the branches free of restriction for the branches to extend fully.

My dysfunction was absolute, every thread of my body was affected which I why, I believe, my recovery illustrated what the problem really was.

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 OPTIMISING THE USE OF YOUR MUSCLES = BETTER HEALTH.

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