by Carol Montgomery | Nov 20, 2020 | General, Physical Therapy
You have both involuntary and voluntary nervous systems. You do not control your autonomous nervous system, which works of its accord. This system includes all the inner working parts of your body that help regulate your digestion, heart rate, and breathing rate,...
by Carol Montgomery | Oct 15, 2020 | Holistic Wellness, Somatics
When it comes to chronic foot pain, a common assumption is that only your feet muscles are the problem. Many physicians and patients treat the ailing foot as both the cause and effect. We might feel the pain only in our foot, but every part of our body is connected to...
by Carol Montgomery | Sep 15, 2020 | General
I’ve previously written on some causes of chronic neck pain. Since your body works synergistically, an imbalance in the neck can cause and reinforce back pain. A sedentary lifestyle can lead to poor body alignment, reducing your range of motion and causing a stiff...
by Carol Montgomery | Aug 15, 2020 | General
As a physical therapist, I want my patients to know about all the tools they have at their disposal to reduce pain and find balance. Total Motion Release physical therapy is an innovative, comprehensive approach to pain relief and motion that I offer. For many...
by Carol Montgomery | Jul 15, 2020 | General, Holistic Wellness, Somatics
In last month’s blog, I wrote about what causes pain when we sit too much, a common problem for all of the people working from home these days. When we sit for long periods, if our bodies are not functioning with ease and balance, we can pinch the nerves around the...
by Carol Montgomery | Jun 15, 2020 | General
If you feel pain when sitting for an extended period, your body is signaling to you that something is wrong. Here are some tips to help you find relief. At Montgomery Somatics, I want to provide more than just information. I want to help others learn something that...
by Carol Montgomery | May 29, 2020 | Integral Human Gait, Mind Body Spirit, Physical Therapy, Somatics
How many of your clients want to keep up with their grandchildren but can’t because of mobility issues? The pain that these clients feel is not only physical but also emotional and spiritual. Part of the joy of grandparenting is playing with the little ones, and when...
by Carol Montgomery | Apr 20, 2020 | General, Somatics
With everything that has been going on, it’s time for some good news. At the beginning of May, I will be participating once again in the Feldenkrais summit, which features 35 experts in movement and wellbeing on various topics. This year’s conference is titled “Move...
by Carol Montgomery | Mar 24, 2020 | General
Try these three Feldenkrais exercises to improve your balance. The older you get, the more likely you are to fall and hurt yourself. Statistically speaking, it’s just a fact. And falling while turning is much more likely to lead to a hip fracture than falling when...
by Carol Montgomery | Feb 15, 2020 | General, Holistic Wellness, Mind Body Spirit, Research
Madeleine L’Engle, author of acclaimed children’s book A Wrinkle in Time, once wrote, “When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up, we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability… To be alive is to be...
by Carol Montgomery | Jan 17, 2020 | Holistic Wellness, Mind Body Spirit
Awareness is a state of being that requires practice every day. True awareness takes in everything—the most insignificant interaction with someone you don’t know and the most important choice that you have to make in a given day are equally understood when you...
by Carol Montgomery | Dec 13, 2019 | General, Mind Body Spirit, Somatics
Do you have the stress relief techniques you need to reduce and recover from the impact of busyness and stress? Moshe Feldenkrais once said, “Know what you are doing so that you can do what you want.” When it comes to stress, that means knowing what your body is doing...
by Carol Montgomery | Nov 11, 2019 | General, Holistic Wellness, Mind Body Spirit, Research
What is body language, and why does it matter? Body language, or non-verbal communication, is essentially how we carry ourselves, how we move, our facial expressions, our gestures. It is an essential part of how we interact with one another. It affects how we perceive...
by Carol Montgomery | Oct 22, 2019 | Holistic Wellness, Mind Body Spirit, Physical Therapy, Somatics
I want to share with you a story of a woman I have been working with that illustrates relief from chronic physical and emotional suffering is just literally an “Awareness” away. Now, I am sure if you are anything like my client, when you hear that statement, you say...
by Carol Montgomery | Sep 13, 2019 | Physical Therapy, Somatics
Every single one of us performs a role. In society, we all contribute something of value. Some teach future generations. Some lead. Others provide nourishment, joy, healing, or encouragement. What each of us provides to society makes everyone stronger. Yet each person...
by Carol Montgomery | Aug 21, 2019 | General, Mind Body Spirit, Somatics
For every action, there is a reaction. This statement is true in both physics and in life. When it comes to movement, how you express yourself is a physical demonstration of your lived experience in your environment. When you embody healthy, functional movement, what...
by Carol Montgomery | Jul 8, 2019 | General, Mind Body Spirit, Somatics
In physics, potential energy refers to the stored energy in an object because of its position relative to other objects or its state. An example might be a ping-pong ball rolling toward the edge of the ping-pong table. While the ball has kinetic energy by virtue of...
by Carol Montgomery | Jun 11, 2019 | General, Holistic Wellness, Mind Body Spirit, Physical Therapy, Somatics
What is emotional maturity? Is it the ability to understand and control your emotions? If that is true, then what, if anything, does emotional maturity have to do with the choices that we make in our daily, habitual movements? Every person has a different emotional...
by Carol Montgomery | Apr 15, 2019 | General, Holistic Wellness, Mind Body Spirit
Our bodies and brains have a reciprocal relationship. Dysfunction in the body often leads to dysfunction in the brain and vice versa. Let’s say you’re feeling sad. Take a moment to become aware of your posture. Are your shoulders slumped forward? Is your trunk...
by Carol Montgomery | Mar 28, 2019 | General, Somatics
The way we support ourselves in our posture and movement says a lot about what is going on in our nervous systems. Many of our habits form on a subconscious level, which can make it difficult to change them. Some of those habits take away our ability to fully utilize...
by Carol Montgomery | Feb 26, 2019 | Holistic Wellness, Mind Body Spirit, Somatics
Whether you think about it consciously or not, your nervous system creates a mental “image” or idea of how your body moves. Walking, standing, sitting, and other everyday movements and postures are pressed into the totality of your body’s essence, forming a complete...
by Carol Montgomery | Jan 15, 2019 | General, Somatics
Want to move more efficiently? You need to learn about levers. In the third century BCE, the Greek mathematician, physicist, and engineer Archimedes is said to have uttered the phrase, “Give me a place to stand, and I shall move the earth.” No, he was not claiming to...
by Carol Montgomery | Dec 11, 2018 | General
The ideas of self-image and self-esteem are largely considered within the realm of mental application. In other words, how we view ourselves — positively, negatively, or somewhere else on this conceptual continuum of self awareness — has an impact on our mental...
by Carol Montgomery | Nov 26, 2018 | Research, Somatics
Peripheral neuropathy changes your skin. Nerves that carry sensory information are supposed to look like a fist-full of uncooked spaghetti—a long cord with hundreds of small cords inside. At the ends of the small cords are sensors or receptors with different jobs:...
by Carol Montgomery | Nov 26, 2018 | General
We overexert ourselves. We strain and we ignore the messages our bodies send to us to the detriment of our health. Moshe Feldenkrais understood this. We live in a culture that prizes the ability to grin through the pain. Our heroes are those who can put mind over...
by Carol Montgomery | Jul 30, 2018 | General, Holistic Wellness, Mind Body Spirit
By Andrew Heimann Spirituality is not the absence of conflict; it is the ability to flourish because of it. To avoid conflict and chaos in life detracts from the human experience, which is what ultimately helps our spirit and spirituality blossom. We become our...
by Carol Montgomery | Jun 12, 2018 | Integral Human Gait, Somatics
Moshe Feldenkrais once said, “If you don’t know what you are doing, you can’t do what you want.” Perhaps no other phrase so captures the challenges that the Feldenkrais Method and Somatic Education, such as Integral Human Gait™, help students overcome. Phrased...
by Carol Montgomery | May 1, 2018 | General, Holistic Wellness, Mind Body Spirit, Somatics
We see every day that technology can be used for ill both unconsciously and consciously. But technology can also be used for good. This is definitely the latter. The Feldenkrais Awareness Summit: Resiliency, Freedom, and Evolution—sponsored by Future Life Now OnLine...
by Carol Montgomery | Apr 26, 2018 | General
For many people, pain is part and parcel of day-to-day existence. The way they experience life, comfort is the exception, not the rule as it should be. But what many of those people don’t realize is that drugs—like those causing the opioid epidemic—and invasive...
by Carol Montgomery | Mar 5, 2018 | General
This is the fourth part of a four part blog post on the standing forward fold yoga therapy pose. If you haven’t yet, please go back and read parts one, two, and three. Standing Forward Fold Yoga Therapy Pose Cue 4: Arms Move at the Same Level as the Head If starting...
