Walk in Power – Walk in Ease

Walking is the best exercise available — easily accessible, inexpensive, and all-around valuable. Yet given a choice, few choose to walk when offered other modes of mobility. Indeed, few walk for pleasure. Are you one of those that want to walk more but always seem to walk less? One for which walking is not enjoyable, maybe even uncomfortable or painful? Do you seek to improve, shift, or change your current level of wellness, activity, or overall function? If so, Walk in Power – Walk in Ease is your course!

In this class series, you become aware of how the pattern of movements between your head, torso, and limbs — your gait —shapes your physical comfort, security, and emotional well-being. These classes will show you how shifting and changing your movement patterns can mean the difference between walking with discomfort and walking with ease and joy.

Walking is a function of the nervous system’s ability to align and organize the significant components of the body: the head over the pelvis (the center of mass, COM) and the pelvis over the feet (the base of support, BOS). The Walk in Power – Walk in Ease class series will take you on a journey to understand how your brain’s power and neuroplasticity can improve your gait’s effectiveness and efficiency.

Each of the three modules will help you with the following:

  • Learn how your nervous system operates, directs, and determines how you walk.
  • Discover how to determine your competency in movement.
  • Engage in experiences that create awareness of your body’s movements.
  • Understand the unconscious way your nervous system organizes your head over your pelvis (center of mass) and your feet (base of support) to keep you balanced and keep you from falling.
  • Differentiate between the sensing—mind and the thinking—mind.
  • Discover why experiential learning or somatic movement exploration and experiences can benefit everyone, including Healthcare and Wellness professionals.
  • Experience how knowledge integrated through experiential somatic platforms of learning advances the participant beyond the traditional study of characteristics found in the stance and swing phases of gait.
  • Describe the difference between gait versus walking and the brain’s interpretation of efficiency versus effectiveness.
  • Recognize the difference between traditional gait and somatic gait cycle and the value each has in the function of walking.
  • Understand how to influence the nervous system’s Intrinsic Intelligence and the brain’s internal model: Head—Center of Mass—Base of Support, for a robust and responsive midstance phase during walking.
  • Describe the development, phases, and sequence of movements in the somatic gait cycle vs. the traditional gait cycle.
  • Experience improvement in the three cardinal planes of motion embedded within all joints, restoring the ‘stacking’ phenomena of Head—Center of Mass—Base of Support.
  • Experience a personal appreciation of how a vibrant gait contributes to well-being.

A module can be taken in any order as each is a stand-alone class that offers information and knowledge integrated through experiential somatic platforms such as the Feldenkrais Method, Bones for Life, and Functional Somatic Mobilization. Take one module, or for a better experience toward improving your pattern of walking, register for all three of these live online courses. This series will take you beyond the traditional way of learning and studying the mechanics of how we walk. It will transform your self-care, health, wellness, and rehabilitation.

Please look at the descriptions below for a detailed explanation of each module. Ready to  REGISTER? Click now!

Integral Human Gait™ Live Online Workshop 2024 Schedule

Walk in Power – Walk in Ease

Mondays, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. EST/New York

10 CEU hours for each Module

~

Module 1:   2024 Dates Coming Soon

Module 2:  2024 Dates Coming Soon

Module 3:   2024 Dates Coming Soon

Registration to be announced

Professional Learning Themes, Course Descriptions, and Learning Objectives for Walk in Power ~ Walk in Ease

Module 1: Unlock, Open, and Connect the Ankle—Knee—Hip Pathway (10 CEU hours)

Suppose your walking gait is layered on top of dysfunctional movement or pain. In that case, you may be magnifying rather than resolving your problems or advancing your health. In this module, you will discover how to unlock the ‘gates of mobility and stability’ within your gait and open a pathway from your foot to the pelvis. You will deepen your understanding of how an organized single-leg stance during movement successfully carries over into more challenging tasks that require a smaller base of support, like walking, turning, reaching, and climbing, as well as potentially improving your overall well-being.

 

This module teaches you how to restore alignment between the ankle, knee, and hip joints to invite better movement coordination and collaboration between the skeletal, muscular, and nervous systems. These shifts in awareness and movement can reconnect you to your natural capacity for feeling, thought, and action.  

  • Discover the ‘gates of stability’ within the foot and knee that offer a reliable and consistent platform of support needed to stand on one leg during walking.
  • Discover how the ‘gates of mobility’ within the ankle and hip provide a natural counter-rotation movement that organizes a vertical power line of the heel for the emotional and physical sensation of a confident, stable leg to stand on during the midstance phase of gait.
  • Explore and value the difference between a movement initiated from the center of the body, which radiates to the periphery, and a movement initiated from the body’s periphery and radiates up toward the center of the body.
  • Experience improvement in the three cardinal planes of motion embedded within all joints, restoring the ‘stacking’ phenomena of Head—Center of Mass—Base of Support.
  • Discover how the rear foot leaves the ground and sets the efficiency of the standing leg’s hip and pelvic rotation through all phases of gait.
  • Describe the development, phases, and sequence of movements in the somatic gait cycle.
  • Differentiate how the lumbar spine neutrality during the gait swing and stance phases unlocks the hip-to-foot pathway.
  • Understand the concept of Intrinsic Intelligence and learn how to influence the brain’s internal model for walking: Head—Center of Mass—Base of Support.
  • Discover the ‘gates of stability’ within the foot and knee that offer a platform of support, improving the ability to stand on one leg during walking powerfully.
  • Differentiate between the sensing—mind and the thinking—mind.
  • Discover how the ‘gates of mobility’ within the ankle and hip provide a natural counter-rotation movement that organizes a vertical power line of the heel, which is needed for the emotional and physical sensation of a confident, stable leg to stand on during the midstance phase of gait.
  • Understand how to influence the nervous system’s ‘Teeter-Totter’ principle that organizes the leg for a dynamic single-leg stance needed in activities requiring and narrow base of support, such as climbing, turning, and stepping over items.
  • Experience improvement in the three cardinal planes of motion embedded within all joints, restoring the ‘stacking’ phenomena of Head—Center of Mass—Base of Support.

Module 2: Heal and Restore a Powerful and Fluid Torso (10 CEU hours)

Some aspects of walking can only be discovered when you explore your spine, ribs, and breath. These fundamental components of our torso movements, encoded in our gait, allow us to restore lost function and reduce the risks of future musculoskeletal issues. Our most robust habits, behaviors, and dysfunctional movement patterns reside within the torso. We need to become aware of their presence. This change requires looking closely and carefully at ourselves to recognize which behaviors and movement patterns carry us forward and which hold us back.

In this module, you discover that the fundamental walking pattern exists within every layer of spinal movement. Spinal vertebrae vary in their form and functional contribution to walking. Whole-body integration allows the nervous system to choose healthy gait patterns freely. We will also compare your definition of your body’s midline to your brain’s interpretation. This process demonstrates that we can strongly influence the nervous system to choose efficient and effective torso movement patterns, supporting the availability and quality of spontaneous weight shifts and an organic change in our center of mass. These are foundational in walking.

Through immersion in experiential learning, you will realize how the breath, pelvic girdle, and shoulder girdle synergistically and biomechanically impact the torso and rib joints. Subjective partners of power and ease begin to arise within your walking gait.

  • Distinguish how rib mobility plays a key role during walking and the ability to stand easily on one leg.
  • Identify the perceived boundaries of your torso and contrast that with a new torso image that allows for a robust and responsive single leg to stand on during walking.
  • Discover the potency and power of the abdominal muscles’ capacity for uprightness.
  • Experience somatic movement using the gluteal and hip adductors muscles to re-orientate a midline trunk awareness.
  • Experience the three cardinal planes of motion embedded within the shoulder and pelvic girdles that restore the ‘stacking’ phenomena of Head—Center of Mass—Base of Support.
  • Compare your definition of your body’s midline to your brain’s interpretation of the midline. 
  • Unlock the mobility of the thoracic spine needed during the swing and stance phase of gait. 
  • Experience the optimal level within the torso where counter-rotation during the somatic gait cycle promotes uprightness in walking. 
  • Explore movement strategies within the torso that positively impacts weight-bearing through the lumbar vertebral body instead of the lumbar facets and restores optimal thoracic spine mobility.
  • Learn the difference between a movement that elicits counter-rotation vs. twisting and understand why counter-rotation is the preferred motion for facilitating health.
  • Discover how to connect the Vertical Power Line of the Heel (VPLH) and your brain’s interpretation of the midline to allow for decompression of the lumbar spine and knee. 

Module 3: Discover the Neurobiology of Connections: Arms, Neck, Jaw, and Eyes (10 CEU hours)

Your walking gait impacts everything you do, from bathing, styling your hair, and toileting to completing household tasks, playing sports, and enjoying recreational activities. When we recognize the difference between efficient versus effective walking, we reshape our growth mindset and assumptions.

In this module, we awaken the awareness of how our arms, neck, jaw, and eyes collaborate to strongly influence the nervous system’s basic operations to transform our walking gait.

We aren’t trying to change behavior by inserting a new behavior. Directed experiential movement experiences will engage our neurological system in a non-threatening, low-risk environment to influence efficient feedback loops. These feedback loops will produce positive adaptations in the musculoskeletal system. Consistent and novel repetition of these exercises will restore a more accurate path of neuroplasticity.

When we increase our self-awareness of the fundamental movement patterns in the neck-head complex, we understand how the nervous system quickly makes decisions based on safety, protection, and musculoskeletal efficiency. 

Throughout the three modules of Walk in Power – Walk in Ease, we increase our potential to better care for ourselves as we age and discover more possibilities throughout our lifespan. We begin to change what we thought we could never change. We begin to move in ways we thought we could never move again. We begin to feel the joy that arises within free, spontaneous movement. We begin to walk in power and ease.

  • Evaluate the kinetic chain for the most effective entry point to create change in skeletal joints that enhance freedom and ease of movement in walking.
  • Experience how our arms, neck, jaw, and eyes collaborate to strongly influence the nervous system’s basic operations to transform our walking gait, demonstrating the skillful and powerful ability to stand on one leg.
  • Learn how movement restrictions in the fingers and wrist influence the gates of mobility at the shoulder, thoracic, and upper cervical spine levels.  
  • Experience the three cardinal planes of motion embedded within eye movements, jaw, and the upper cervical spine that restore the ‘stacking’ phenomena of Head—Center of Mass—Base of Support.
  • Differentiate how the curves of the thoracic spine and ribs influence not only the shoulder girdle biomechanics but also head and arm placement. 
  • Discover the ‘sweet spot’ between the upper arm and the scapula that improves the rhythmic movements of the shoulder girdle during arm swing of gait. 
  • Explore the hidden role the tongue and jaw play during the somatic gait cycle.
  • Learn how to improve and cue common somatic blind spots of the arm, shoulder girdle, and thoracic spine.
  • Experience how to use different breathing strategies to restore rib and arm optimal movement patterns needed for the experience of skeletal ease during walking.
  • Discover how to connect the Vertical Power Line of the Heel (VPLH) and your brain’s interpretation of the midline that allows cervical spine and jaw decompression during the single-leg stance phase of the traditional gait cycle.

Continuing Education Units (CEUs): Every state has its governing body and process for CEU approval in all professions. However, there are mandatory documents that are consistent between states. We provide participants with these documents to manually enter and upload into your state’s online monitoring program. Or, if you are not required to upload, we suggest you download and print out the documents so that they are available in case you are audited by your state, as you will need all of the elements for proof of course participation. Please inquire about your specific organization and state before registration.

Instructors:
  • Carol A. Montgomery, PT, MSPT, GCFP, STMI
  • Cynthia M. Allen, GCFP, STMI

Carol Montgomery and Cynthia Allen are the authors of the Integral Human Gait Theory™. Read their bios.

Dynamic Balance – Powerful and Reliable Reflexes

Integral Human Gait™ Live Online Workshop 2024 Schedule Coming Soon

Dynamic Balance – Powerful and Reliable Reflexes

Mondays, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. EST/New York

10 CEU hours per Module

~

Module 1:  Dates Coming Soon

Module 2:  Dates Coming Soon

Module 3:   Dates Coming Soon

Registration to be announced

Vital and fundamental to life, your balance lies at the center of your ability to move safely and function independently. Optimal stability is usually associated with the ability to stand on one leg for a certain length of time or the involuntary and instantaneous ability to maintain a stable posture when challenged. The brain uses signals from our eyes, ears, ligaments, muscles, and spine to choreograph a set of balance reflexes to control our muscles, right down to our toes. Postural Reflexes are a specific form of unconscious coordinated muscle activity and are our first line of defense against an unexpected destabilizing misstep, turn, push, or trip.

But what if there is a glitch in the automatic signal-response loop and the balance reflexes fail? As a result, we fall. If we’re lucky, we might avoid fall-related injuries. Research indicates that most people are not so fortunate and sustain a sprain, fracture, or head trauma. And most will go on to fall again in the next six months.

Integral Human Gait™: Dynamic Balance ~ Powerful and Reliable Reflexes uses the sensory learning platforms of the Feldenkrais Method® and Bones for Life®, to help the professional and the layperson both discover the cause and effect relationship between poor or absence patterns of movement and reflex activation.

Professional Learning Themes and Objectives

These are the objectives for the live-online workshop.

Module 1: Balance Basics: understand how to influence the Nervous System vs. trying to control the nervous system (10 hours)

  • Demonstrate two functional balance assessment tests.
  • Explain the differences between a righting reflex and an equilibrium reaction.
  • Demonstrate three somatic movement explorations to improve spinal movement limitations that reduce the fear of falling.
  • Describe the signal-response loop embedded in all reflexes.
  • Recognize the difference between a protective reflex and a postural reflex.
  • Understand the relationship between the eyes, upper cervical spine, the center of mass, and surface area of the feet and their impact on reflex activation.
  • Perform three somatic movement explorations to improve the counter-rotation of the upper and lower cervical spine.
  • Identify which sensory system has the most impact on your current balance.
  • Explore movement lessons designed to restore or build new motor pathways that allow the nervous system to access and activate the best motor pathway needed for the situation.

Heal the dysfunctional triad that exists between the ankle—hip — torso

  • Understand the kinetic chain and the dysfunctional triad between loss of ankle and thoracic spine mobility and pelvic girdle mechanics.
  • Experience the 3-D motion of the pelvic girdle and foot that organizes the leg for a dynamic single-leg stance needed in activities involving balance and power.
  • Demonstrate two strategies the nervous system uses when the body’s equilibrium is threatened.
  • Experience a personal appreciation of how a vibrant gait contributes to a positive perception of general health, well-being, and safety.
  • Understand how somatic-based movements can positively influence different types of balance problems.
  • Differentiate what the brain thinks is midline vs. what the student believes is midline.
  • Demonstrate two somatic movement explorations to improve spinal movement function, which can reduce the fear of falling.
  • Understand the relationship between the eyes, upper cervical spine, the center of mass, and surface area of the feet, and the impact they have on the stimulus-response loop embedded in all reflexes. 

The Partnership of Rolling and Turning

  • Understand and experience how the neurodevelopment sequence of rolling impacts turning balance and postural reflexes.
  • Differentiate how the ankle, hip, thoracic spine, and head accept a position of counter-rotation during the stance phase of gait to avoid falling when looking over the shoulder during walking.
  • Distinguish the kinetic chain differences between rolling, turning, and rotation.
  • Comprehend the importance of optimal spinal and eye mobility needed with head-turning during walking and its possible influence on decreasing hip fracture risk.
  • Understand how somatic-based movements can positively influence balance problems that originate from an orthopedic joint restriction vs. nervous system disorder, such as head trauma, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson, brain tumor, bleeds, or post-surgical intervention impacting the brain or spinal cord.
  • Demonstrate three somatic movement explorations to improve spinal movement function, which can reduce the fear of falling.
  • Describe the current understanding as to why balance erodes over time.

Your Nervous System creates a Personal ‘Arc of Safety’ that limits how and where you will move

  • Appreciate how the qualitative experience of safety, comfort, and curiosity reduces the fear of falling.
  • Understand how balance quality relies on the interaction of physiological and emotional systems.
  • Discover how to unlock the mobility of the ribs and the thoracic spine, especially in the coronal plane (side-to-side) movement needed to improve the speed and timing of the hip and stepping strategies the brain uses to prevent a fall.
  • Discover the value and role that rhythm contributes to the stepping strategy of postural reflexes.
  • Understand how simultaneously improving the quality of walking improves postural reflexes.
  • Recognize how the alignment of Head—COM—BOS impacts the ability and quality of standing on one leg.
  • Learn how to regain the stability of the body under increasingly tricky circumstances using the hip and stepping strategies.
  • Differentiate how the brain assesses midline vs. how the participant interprets midline.
  • Understand how somatic-based movements can positively influence all people with different balance issues.
  • Demonstrate three somatic movement explorations to improve spinal movement function, which can reduce the fear of falling.

Movement Intelligence

Bones for Life

Bones for Life® is a comprehensive movement-based program for the health of the skeletal system.

Our Bones for Life® intensives are for those seeking an in-depth experience for their own health as well as for those wishing to teach public classes.

We offer the perfect teacher/student ratio. As class registration increases, we add instructors so you can benefit from different styles, knowledge, and application. In addition, instructors include various lectures and demonstrations on functional connections and problem-solving for typical and challenging issues students may present.

Movement Intelligence Workshops Schedule

Bones for Life Immersion/Certification
2024 Schedule Coming Soon
Online via Zoom
Sponsored by:
Future Life Now and Vitality Cincinnati
email: support@futurelifenow.com for more information

Taking the segments in a sequence is required except in unique circumstances. There are two basic levels of certification: Completion or Certified Teacher.

Learning Objectives:

      • Experience a better optimal postural alignment related to the rehabilitation demands needed with activity and function.
      • List four basic tenets of the Bones for Life® program and discuss how they directly relate to the services of those individuals, specifically in the areas of education, professional competence, and self-care.
      • Perform 1-2 Bones for Life® movement processes that alter and enhance the rib cage and thoracic spine organization.
      • Describe the significance that the feet provide to enhance the function of the spine and minimize muscular fatigue and strain.
      • List the limitations of the Bones for Life® work.
      • Discuss the impact creeping and crawling have on improving core strength for standing and clients.
      • Demonstrate 1-2 Bones for Life® movement processes needed to stabilize the hip joint to the pelvis.
      • Articulate the dynamic relationship between the three spinal curves and the extremities.
      • Learn five ways to restore flexibility and/or stability in key joints such as the hip, knee, ankle, and shoulder.
      • Gain a sense of optimal relationships between body parts and between self and environment.
      • Comprehend the value of using Bones for Life® processes to optimize and fine-tune the capacity for weight-bearing with the ideal alignment of the trunk and upper and lower extremities when exercising and completing activities of daily living (ADL).
      • Promote uprightness by cultivating a precise response to gravity along the entire kinetic chain.
      • Use vibratory “press and release” motions against everyday surfaces in multiple planes to enhance proprioception and joint alignment.
      • Understand the critical role of organized movement patterns in improving balance and reflexive responses.
      • Discover practical ways to enhance proprioception and its subsequent impact on balance and reflexive responses.
      • Teach others to get up and down from the floor, chair, and bed efficiently and easily.
      • Gain expertise in providing appropriate and progressive levels of challenge in a functional situation without overwhelming the system.
      • Realize the value of “trial and error” learning in expanding strength and function while decreasing pain and injury.
      • Optimize balanced neuromuscular action throughout the whole body by activating underused areas and allowing dominant groups to find a place of rest and ease.
      • Learn strategies for creating harmonious action between agonist and antagonist muscle groups.
      • Cultivate both stability and flexibility responses and experience the availability of both based on demands of the function or ADL.
      • Effectively coach the release of unnecessary neuromuscular holding patterns.
      • Understand the importance of defocusing from the problem area of pain or dysfunction.
      • Access the human evolutionary potential in all aspects of body, mind, and spirit through Bones for Life® processes, which promote core reorganization.
      • Promote a sense of health, well-being, and restoration of pleasure in movement and with ADLs.

Continuing Education Units (CEUs): Every state has its governing body and process for CEU approval in all professions. However, there are mandatory documents that are consistent between states. We provide participants with these documents to manually enter and upload into your state’s online monitoring program. Or, if you are not required to upload, we suggest you download and print out the documents so that they are available in case you are audited by your state, as you will need all of the elements for proof of course participation. Please inquire about your specific organization and state before registration.

Other Opportunities

We may host other continuing education programs at various times throughout the year. Check back frequently, or subscribe to our e-newsletter.