Connie Brown
05-23-2004, 08:21 PM
Just got back from Albuquerque where I attended a positively electrifying seminar by Coach Sonnon at Dr. Kathleen DesMaisons' Radiant Recovery Ranch.
("Ranch" is Dr. DesMaisons' annual conference about the biochemistry of addictive nutrition as described in Potatoes not Prozac, her groundbreaking book. )
A little background on why Coach Sonnon's CST is at DesMaisons' conference:
Coach Sonnon is the first physical culture educator invited to speak at Ranch. His CST system is amazingly synergistic with the nutrition program outlined by Dr. Kathleen, and she says "[Coach Sonnon] has designed an extraordinary system of physical training and healing. I have seen nothing better in 50 years of looking."
So anyway, the initial estimate of 25 attendees at this last-minute presentation turned into a full house crowd of 60. There was not enough room for all the people and all the movement(!) but everyone wanted to see this after Dr. Kathleen described her enthusiasm with her first experiences with CST. The crowd was aged about 30-65, a few fit people but many more sedentary.
Presenting were Coach Sonnon, Jodie Sonnon, and Michael Gannon with yours truly circulating through the crowd also.
Coach Sonnon opened the session with a short synopsis of this system, and his history and background. Then he talked about how stored tension works - the tension and release cycles in animals - and how in modern life we get the tension but not the release.
I wish you could have seen his impression of the frozen deer and the vibration/shaking release of tension - and how obvious it is why we don't move that way in polite society. And his version of the "MIT shuffle" (my phrase not his) when you shuffle looking downward humping books in college and keep it up afterward... and his version of "the Latin guys" and how easily they do hip circles...
BTW I was the one tugging at Scott and Kathleen's respective sleeves and saying, umm, you guys have the same message only one is with food and the other with movement.
So I was pleased as punch to see how delighted this crowd was with Coach Sonnon's presentation. If you have not seen him and his crew in person it is a treat. All are personable, smart, funny, and have the crowd eating out of their hand.
So he explains about lost range of motion through trauma or tension and how it impacts our fitness in everything else. And how if you train on top of trauma and tension it just reinforces it - so the goal is to release that stuff and recover full motion. And how we start where we are and build in baby steps.
Coach Sonnon had everyone perform some Arm Screws from Body-Flow, then thoracic and hip circles. And some Performance Breathing. He told us we would experience some amazing releases and Jodie reminded everyone to drink water when releasing such things. good thinking.
Then he showed some weighted DROM with 5# clubbells and everyone took turns with the clubbells as they felt comfortable.
Finally we had a Q&A session. One gentleman said he felt like he had had massage or body work. A lady asked if she would be sore the next morning; Coach Sonnon said, you tell me. Next morning she announced with the biggest grin at breakfast that her shoulder had NO crepitus for the first time in ages and after rotator cuff injury too. I had person after person tell me how different this kind of movement felt. And surprise that such sophisticated movement was within their grasp, however beginner-ish.
So many people spoke to me and were blown away at the idea of movement as chipping away marble to get the work of art underneath, as opposed to "working out" to build muscle or whatever. Even our fit people were curious about elements of CST that are complementary with Feldenkrais, Pilates, and yoga, just for the circular movements and their unique advantages.
Coach Sonnon kindly met with individuals afterward on their specific issues. I tried to eavesdrop on as many of these as I could. It was really fun to see him do this: he would take a person with stored tension, palpate a tense region, and ask for a pain number, say 7 on a scale of 1 to 10. Then he would have the person do just a few reps of Warrior Wellness moves at the source of the tension (not the site!) and then repeat the palpation. You'd see the person's face light up and report a 3 or something! Over and over.
We were all sorry when the allotted time was up and this seminar was a resounding success judging from the energy level which lasted all night by the way. There was a party after dinner and a certain person who shall remain unnamed was so energized and loosened up by the CST session that hip movements not seen in polite society were done in public while wearing a kilt. hmmm.
If you have not seen the brief thumbnail of some of the synergies between CST and PnP (Potatoes not Prozac food programs):
Kathleen: how you eat defines how you feel
Scott: how you move defines how you feel
Kathleen: baby steps and you get better and better over time
Scott: incremental progression and increasing sophistication
Kathleen: healing happens when you connect to community
Scott: we are alone in this together, in our tribe
Kathleen: I am a warrior for my tribe
Scott: I am passionate about circular strength training for our tribe
Kathleen: your birthright is already there, just obscured by
whites/sugars
Scott: your birthright is already there, just obscured by
tension/learned stiffness
Kathleen: nothing is lost, you can reframe
Scott: nothing is lost, you can reset your Central Nervous System
I am excited about exploring the impact of this wonderful movement system for people who are sugar sensitive (and thus get addicted easily)
Respectfully submitted,
("Ranch" is Dr. DesMaisons' annual conference about the biochemistry of addictive nutrition as described in Potatoes not Prozac, her groundbreaking book. )
A little background on why Coach Sonnon's CST is at DesMaisons' conference:
Coach Sonnon is the first physical culture educator invited to speak at Ranch. His CST system is amazingly synergistic with the nutrition program outlined by Dr. Kathleen, and she says "[Coach Sonnon] has designed an extraordinary system of physical training and healing. I have seen nothing better in 50 years of looking."
So anyway, the initial estimate of 25 attendees at this last-minute presentation turned into a full house crowd of 60. There was not enough room for all the people and all the movement(!) but everyone wanted to see this after Dr. Kathleen described her enthusiasm with her first experiences with CST. The crowd was aged about 30-65, a few fit people but many more sedentary.
Presenting were Coach Sonnon, Jodie Sonnon, and Michael Gannon with yours truly circulating through the crowd also.
Coach Sonnon opened the session with a short synopsis of this system, and his history and background. Then he talked about how stored tension works - the tension and release cycles in animals - and how in modern life we get the tension but not the release.
I wish you could have seen his impression of the frozen deer and the vibration/shaking release of tension - and how obvious it is why we don't move that way in polite society. And his version of the "MIT shuffle" (my phrase not his) when you shuffle looking downward humping books in college and keep it up afterward... and his version of "the Latin guys" and how easily they do hip circles...
BTW I was the one tugging at Scott and Kathleen's respective sleeves and saying, umm, you guys have the same message only one is with food and the other with movement.
So I was pleased as punch to see how delighted this crowd was with Coach Sonnon's presentation. If you have not seen him and his crew in person it is a treat. All are personable, smart, funny, and have the crowd eating out of their hand.
So he explains about lost range of motion through trauma or tension and how it impacts our fitness in everything else. And how if you train on top of trauma and tension it just reinforces it - so the goal is to release that stuff and recover full motion. And how we start where we are and build in baby steps.
Coach Sonnon had everyone perform some Arm Screws from Body-Flow, then thoracic and hip circles. And some Performance Breathing. He told us we would experience some amazing releases and Jodie reminded everyone to drink water when releasing such things. good thinking.
Then he showed some weighted DROM with 5# clubbells and everyone took turns with the clubbells as they felt comfortable.
Finally we had a Q&A session. One gentleman said he felt like he had had massage or body work. A lady asked if she would be sore the next morning; Coach Sonnon said, you tell me. Next morning she announced with the biggest grin at breakfast that her shoulder had NO crepitus for the first time in ages and after rotator cuff injury too. I had person after person tell me how different this kind of movement felt. And surprise that such sophisticated movement was within their grasp, however beginner-ish.
So many people spoke to me and were blown away at the idea of movement as chipping away marble to get the work of art underneath, as opposed to "working out" to build muscle or whatever. Even our fit people were curious about elements of CST that are complementary with Feldenkrais, Pilates, and yoga, just for the circular movements and their unique advantages.
Coach Sonnon kindly met with individuals afterward on their specific issues. I tried to eavesdrop on as many of these as I could. It was really fun to see him do this: he would take a person with stored tension, palpate a tense region, and ask for a pain number, say 7 on a scale of 1 to 10. Then he would have the person do just a few reps of Warrior Wellness moves at the source of the tension (not the site!) and then repeat the palpation. You'd see the person's face light up and report a 3 or something! Over and over.
We were all sorry when the allotted time was up and this seminar was a resounding success judging from the energy level which lasted all night by the way. There was a party after dinner and a certain person who shall remain unnamed was so energized and loosened up by the CST session that hip movements not seen in polite society were done in public while wearing a kilt. hmmm.
If you have not seen the brief thumbnail of some of the synergies between CST and PnP (Potatoes not Prozac food programs):
Kathleen: how you eat defines how you feel
Scott: how you move defines how you feel
Kathleen: baby steps and you get better and better over time
Scott: incremental progression and increasing sophistication
Kathleen: healing happens when you connect to community
Scott: we are alone in this together, in our tribe
Kathleen: I am a warrior for my tribe
Scott: I am passionate about circular strength training for our tribe
Kathleen: your birthright is already there, just obscured by
whites/sugars
Scott: your birthright is already there, just obscured by
tension/learned stiffness
Kathleen: nothing is lost, you can reframe
Scott: nothing is lost, you can reset your Central Nervous System
I am excited about exploring the impact of this wonderful movement system for people who are sugar sensitive (and thus get addicted easily)
Respectfully submitted,