Manual Therapies

At Seasons In Our Life, we provide manual therapies, body work, body therapy, sports pain management, and a variety of other therapeutic services are available.

Dr. Durana has practiced several forms of body therapy or bodywork over the past 35 years. A few of these manual therapy services include cranio – sacral therapy, structural acupressure, tuina, structural, and energy medicine methods. He has also develop and integrated structural and energetic approach of body work that he uses in the treatment of pain, injuries, chronic problems, postural issues, exercise and sports related issues, body-mind integration, and self-development.

Manual Therapies or Bodywork

The term bodywork has been used in complementary medicine to describe therapeutic or personal development approaches that involve working with the body using manual therapies, breath work, movement, and energy medicine, to name a few. Bodywork approaches provided by Dr. Durana include, but are not limited to, yoga, acupressure, sensory awareness, Qigong, Tai Chi, martial arts, structural bodywork, dance and movement, postural alignment, and energy balancing. Energy balancing is a bodywork/body-mind technique and is the idea that by working through the body, we can affect our health and have freer and more flexible and balanced lives.

Bodymind or Mindbody

The term bodymind is based on the recognition of the holistic and integrated relationship between the body and the mind. Bodymind is the practice of seeing the body as solid, but ideas are points of view that are fluid, integrated, and experienced from the body within.

The holistic and integrative view of mindbody sees all the parts in relationship and communication, and forming a unified whole which is larger than anyone part. For example, if the neck is impacted in an accident, and its postural alignment is displaced, then other parts such as the spine or the pelvis will compensate for that displacement; this change in relationship may also have ramifications in our emotions, and/or attitudes as well.

The communication between different aspects of our body, or between our mind and our body can be seen as information flow. Self-healing or our capacity for self-regulation can be viewed as a mindbody process that improves the flow of information. When our body and mind work in cooperation with each other, we have access to more internal resources and better information flow. Similarly, body work and other mindbody approaches, along with exercise and healthy life style choices can be used to access internal resources and to stimulate the flow of information, and self-healing or self-regulation capacity.

Bodywork exercises shows us that as a result of life experiences, and physical, mental and emotional stresses of daily living, the muscular and fascial tissues of our body tighten and/or weaken causing emotional and physical inflexibility, loss of vitality and quality of life.

Mindful body work helps the client’s tissue assume a more healthy and balanced position within itself and in relationship to the flow of information/energy, and pull of gravity.

Bodymind awareness plays a vital role in how information/energy is processed, and how self-regulation is optimized.

Engaging the client’s mindful awareness while manipulating myofascial tissues, helps open and restructure the body from within, and it helps release tensions in a more permanent way.

Complementary Sports Medicine

At Seasons In Our Life, Dr. Durana also provides complementary sports medicine therapeutic services. The sports pain management services are designed to be a holistic approach to strengthen weak muscles, correct muscle imbalances, improve flexibility, and improve patterns of movement. Sports and exercise medicine deal with physical fitness and the prevention and treatment of musculoskeletal injuries related to exercise and sports.

Complementary sports medicine complements traditional sports and exercise medicine by offering a holistic approach that focuses not only on symptoms, but also on other factors that contribute to overall health and fitness, as well as the improvement of performance, and the avoidance of injuries. The holistic approach to sports medicine and sports pain management is educational and functional, and it also emphasizes life style, and mental/emotional functioning. Sports medicine practitioners often make use of manual therapies along with other methods. For example, a cyclist with a history of acute and chronic low back problems which may have resulted from long standing postural problems may be treated with body work. In addition, as it was with one of my clients, the postural imbalance that contributed to his chronic low back problem was also a result of a long standing mind body lack of integration. This man repeatedly pushed himself beyond his limits to compensate for an inferiority emotional stance.

Cranio-Sacral Therapy

Cranio-Sacral Therapy is a form of bodywork. It is performed on a person fully clothed and is a gentle, hands-on method of evaluating and enhancing the functioning of a physiological body system to help protect the brain and spinal cord. Using a light touch – generally no more than the weight of a nickel the practitioner monitors the rhythm of the cranio-sacral system to detect potential restrictions and imbalances. The therapist then uses delicate manual techniques to release those problems areas and relieve undue pressure on the brain and spinal cord. A Cranio-Sacral Therapy session can last for about 15 minutes to more than an hour, and the initial evaluation alone is often enough to correct the problem. The result of this type of therapeutic service is the central nervous system that’s able to return to its greatest levels of performance. Cranio-Sacral Therapy strengthens your body’s ability to take better care of you. It helps alleviate a range of illness, pain and dysfunction, including the following:

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Migraines & Headaches

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Chronic Neck & Back Pain

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Stress & Tension Related Problems

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Traumatic Brain & Spinal Cord Injuries

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Infantile Disorders

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Motor-Coordination Impairments

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Nervous System Disorders

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Scoliosis Central

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Chronic Fatigue

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Learning Disabilities

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Temporomandibular Joint Syndrome (TMJ)

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Emotional Difficulties

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Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

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Orthopedic Problems

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And Many Other Conditions

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While the validity of the cardiovascular and respiratory rhythms is undisputed today, the very existence of these symptoms sparked debates in medical communities around the globe. Now, for nearly 25 years, osteopathic physician and researcher John E. Upledger, D.O., O.M.M., has been a proponent of using the rhythm of another body system – craniosacral system – to enhance body functioning and help to alleviate pain and discomfort. The cranio-sacral system consists of the membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord. It extends from the bones of skull, face and mouth, which make up the cranium, down to the sacrum, or tailbone area.

Since this vital system influences the development and performance of the brain and spinal cord, an imbalance of restriction in it could potentially cause any number of sensory, motor or neurological disabilities. These problems could include chronic pain, eye difficulties, scoliosis, motor-coordination impairments, learning disabilities, and their health challenges.

Cranio-SacralTherapy is a gentle method of detection and correction that encourages your own natural healing through these mechanisms to dissipate these negative effects of stress on your central nervous system. You also benefit from better overall health and resistance to disease. This description of cranio-sacraltherapy was adapted from information provided by the Upledger Institute.

Body-Centered Coaching

Dr. Durana has been providing body-centered coaching for decades, and body-centered coaching is a specific type of body mind exercise focusing on health, fitness, and mindfulness in the body. Body coaching has a long history, and a sound theoretical framework which takes into account the complex interactions of body and mind. As in other forms of coaching, within body coaching there are many different approaches. There is also a wide variety of techniques involving movement, bodywork, mindfulness, etc.

Through compassionate self-observation of your body tensions, obstructions and disconnections, you can learn a great deal about yourself: your core beliefs, needs, how you function and organize your experience, your posture, breathing patterns, voice, movement, how important decisions were made, and your habits.

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From this perspective, body structure is seen as a function of events in personal history, cultural forms, self-image, beliefs, needs, attitudes towards our body, personal relations, intentions, and gravitational field. As such, any aspect of the body reflects an aspect of oneself. Mind and body are reflections of each other, and Dr. Durana can assist clients in understanding the connection using bodymind therapy and body-centered coaching. Instead of holding a hierarchical position between mind and body, from the bodymind point of view there is recognition of the continuity and connection of bodymind processes that contribute to the function and organization of the person.

About Seasons in Our Life

Dr. Durana has provided practical, integrative, holistic services since 1980 in acupuncture, body therapy, Chinese herbal medicine, life/wellness coaching, and counseling.

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