COLM DREW


Godai

Godai translates from Japanese to the ‘Big Five’ and it focuses on the interaction of the five major body systems. These are





  • Physical – structure, bones, muscles, ligaments, organs
  • Mental – thought processes, emotions, beliefs and values
  • Electrical – nervous system, energy systems and levels
  • Chemical – hormones, digestive system and the food you eat, the air you breath
  • Environmental – where, when, what you do, and how you do it.


The principle of the Godai is that none of these systems work in isolation, they are all interconnected, Therefore, aligning the physical body effect the other elements. For example...



It is now well documented that our emotions and the physical body are interconnected. We are all familiar with the likelihood of stress or mental anxiety leading to physical tension in a part of the body such as the neck and shoulders or the anxiety in the stomach. Similarly, our energy levels (and/or digestive system) can be affected by physical pain in our joints or muscles, this occurs from the postural choices that we make, (how we position ourselves during our activities, from how we walk, to using your phone, and also at rest), overtime this can lead to tension and pain in the body. Sometimes an injury appears to occur from a simple movement, but this is usually the result of poor positioning over a long period. ​ Because everything is connected in the body, it makes sense to treat the body as a whole rather than just individual symptoms. By treating the whole body, all of the elements will be able to function synergistically. This helps to restore function and balance to effected areas and improve overall health. In today’s modern world where many of us live with consistently high levels of stress, it is vital for this to be taken into account within any treatment that you may receive.



Gairon,

This is the foundation of Amatsu Therapy





It is pronounced Guy-ron which loosely translates to mean 'The bigger picture, consider everything, discount nothing, use the best available and find that which is not obvious.' Therefore as an Amatsu practitioner we are trained to consider the bigger picture of any problem or symptom. For example; a bad knee could be because of a direct injury on the knee. However, it is also likely that the posture (total body position) and the natural walking and standing pattern of the client has led to the progressive damage and degeneration of the knee, therefore creating a vulnerable area.


Amatsu Therapy is different because it considers not only the localised condition within the knee, but also the bigger picture of the other stresses, strains and torsions that are placed on the knee by the whole body from above and below.



"It’s all in your walk, you must find it in nature, It must come from your heart, if you don’t understand Gairon, then you can’t continue”.



(Dr Hatsumi.PHD)



Proprioception





Is derived from the words, "Proprio" which is latin for "ones own" and "ception", shortened from "perception".


​This refers to the body’s ability to sense movement, how all the senses (ie, joint position, visual stimuli) feed back to the brain, enabling us to know where our limbs are in space without having to consciously look. This system is subconscious, which means that we don’t have to think about making the movements. The brain, namely the thalmus, feeds back and regulates position to keep us upright . ​


Proprioception is important in all of our everyday movements and in particular during complicated movements where precise co-ordination is essential; such as those in sporting activities or when undertaking a complicated manoeuvre such as parallel parking your car. Sometimes the reactions take place so fast they are termed reflexive.


​ It is important to talk about proprioception in relation to Amatsu because every balance (treatment) aims to support its restoration to your injury sites and in turn to your whole body.



Biotensegrity





A modern scientific viewpoint of how the body functions by Dr, Stephen Levin ​


The word biotensegrity is a combination of the words tension and integrity, Tensegrities are closed systems in that they are structurally independent of outside forces.


The concept in brief is that the human body is a living, tensegrous structure that is self supporting. Within the body the soft tissues provide the tension whilst the bones provide the compression. The biotensegrity is the wholeness based on a balance between tension and compression.


In the modern world, we believe that the science of biotensegrity offers the best description of some of the fundamentals of Amatsu Therapy. It explains how our body structures work together and therefore affect each other when damaged. Amatsu practitioners are taught to understand how an injury or illness within one part of the body will always have a global impact elsewhere within the body. ​



In the mid 1970s Dr. Levin lived outside of Washington, DC, and he went to study the dinosaurs at the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum in his search for answers. He just could not accept the standard Borellian model but he could not find another suitable model. Sitting on the mall in front of the museum, he looked across and remembered the Needle Tower, A Kenneth Snelson sculpture right across the mall at the Hirshhorn Museum and so began the rest of the story of the evolution of biotensegrity.


The natural biotensegrity of a person can be compromised by injury, illness and many lifestyle related factors which, in turn, impacts on balance within the body. For example, we can compare the body’s structure to a bicycle wheel. If one of the wheel’s spokes becomes distorted or bent by running into a kerb, the entire wheel structure changes and its natural tensegrity is lost. Therefore the specific damage to the wheel’s spoke not only has an effect at that place, but has also impacted the entire wheel’s function. Based on these principles every injury will not only have a local and specific impact within the body, but also a global impact. For example,



if a person simply twists their ankle by turning it over onto the outside then they may stretch (or possibly tear) the ligaments in the ankle. This inherent change in the shape of these ligaments will affect the shape of the whole leg, which will then also have an effect on the position of their pelvis and spine and then their entire body structure. This adaptation of the pelvis will then also change the walking posture of the person, the shape of the ribcage and the balance of the shoulders amongst many other things. Therefore, a simple ankle sprain can irritate or affect an existing vulnerability or old injury elsewhere in the body, or create a new condition, which may not be obviously directly related to a sprained ankle. ​ The whole body alignment treatment is carried out with a tensegrous approach helping the body to regain its natural balance and movement by identifying and releasing injuries or distortions, allowing biotensegrity to be re-established within the body.


Call: 087 2368114
Email: colm@bodyalignment.ie

Wharton House, No. 8 Catherine St. Waterford City





© 2023 Colm Drew
The Body Alignment Clinic
Waterford