After the huge success the 2018 AMN Academy Mastermind retreat was, Rob quickly signed up for the next retreat, this time held in Ubud, Bali. Rob knew whatever was covered would be really helpful for functional neurology treatment sessions at Movementality, and it was also a fantastic opportunity to hang out and work with some of the best practitioners in the world. This group of practitioners are always helping people with all sorts of ailments that would otherwise be left in the ‘too-hard’ basket by most health practitioners - insomnia, scoliosis, autoimmune conditions, chronic pain etc… So what an opportunity to pick the brains of these incredible minds in hopes of better utilising the AMN system for helping our clients move better, and reduce strain on their delicate physiological systems.

2020 - what more needs to be said… Having seen Australia battle some of the worst bush fires in history at the start of the year, to then quickly change gear in to a global pandemic has certainly left many feeling unsettled to say the least. And this pandemic has certainly been an eye opening experience, in many ways. In particular, it’s been an interesting social experiment in seeing what happens as a society when we operate from a place of fear. And by fear, we can mean a number of things - fear of death, fear of illness, fear for our loved ones, fear for our rights in society, and fear for our health at an individual, community, and society level. And this fear has bought out the worst in some people - though to hording resources, through to physical disagreements and intellectual abuse, by which we mean manipulation of the mind whether it be by individuals, or at the other end of the spectrum sits media and government.

At the beginning of 2019, Ash decided she wanted actively progress her studies in movement therapy, undertaking a course called Advanced Clinical Training in Somatics and Dance Movement Therapy. Now, in 2020, on behalf of Movementality, Ash is pleased to now offer Somatic Movement Therapy (“SMT”) as a service. But what exactly is SMT? This is a question I hear frequently, so I’d like to take the time to break down the term SMT, what it means, and how my journey brought me into this incredible practice for embodied healing.

It seems as though every corner of Melbourne has got a health or fitness studio popping up, offering some form of hyped-up fitness phenomenon. And the pictures all look ‘amazing’ right?! Sweaty bodies, tight active wear, perfect physiques and the golden smile. It’s all part of their pristine marketing campaign to facilitate huge numbers of willing and ambitious people in to their small but busy studios. Why? Perhaps in hopes of achieving the media influenced, socially-accepted ideal body that’s continually pushed down our throats by mainstream marketing. It’s enough to make you reconsider even starting to exercise, and unfortunately Pilates (particularly reformer Pilates) is right in the mix with the best of them…

However, they aren’t all like that. Some of them actually even know what they’re talking about!

At Movementality, we believe a healthy lifestyle revolves around finding a healthy balance between a strong and nourish body, a sharp and clear mind, and strong but kind spirit. This is not an easy balance to maintain with the many different stressors and lifestyle factors that work against us. But having a positive mindset, and fostering productive habits around clean food, adequate sleep, consistent exercise, plenty of social time and regular meditation can all help with keeping the balance. And when you feel more balanced, you are more likely to feel like you can take control of your own happiness. Creating and paying attention to this mind-body-spirit balance will allow you to feel when things start to go awry, and better prepare you for the myriad of unpredictable daily stressors we all regularly face.

Learning is most effective when you are able to discover the learning through your own senses, rather than be told what to do. This type of learning is called implicit learning and although it can be harder to grasp initially, it’s usually the type of learning that ends with the “A-ha!” moment. The A-ha moment is one of the greatest moments for both the teacher and the student in their journey. It is the moment where all the information comes together and finally makes sense. It cannot be taught - the A-ha moment has to be experienced!

Have you noticed that often when you wake up in the morning your body feels stiffer and tighter?  Every night when we sleep, we spend approximately 7-8 hours barely moving and during this time the tissue in between our muscles adheres or gets a bit ‘stuck’ in different areas, contributing to that stiff feeling. Movement helps us break down those adhesions in order to improve our range of motion and the quality of our movement. 

There’s been a lot of questions in our studio over the last few months about what exactly the reforms to private health insurance will mean for our clients. It’s something which has definitely been a concern for almost 12 months, but mainly due to its ambiguity. Now that push has come to shove, and all the information is available, we can safely say that business will carry on as per usual.

Late last year I attended a two day BreatheAbility breathing course with physiotherapist and Breathing Educator Tess Graham. Tess Graham trained with Ukrainian doctor Konstantin Buteyko in the early 1990’s. Buteyko is renowned for his work on breathing retraining for asthmatics and founding the Buteyko Institute.  Tess herself has over 6500 hours of clinical experience as a breathing specialist and believes she cured two of her children of their asthma. Naturally, being curious and a Pilates instructor, I was eager to learn about her techniques for breathing retaining which, until now, I hadn’t heard of.

A healthy lifestyle - what the heck is it?! 
Well Sam and I gave you some ideas last year, but it really changes depending on who you ask. Which also makes it a very confusing topic to delve in to for anyone interested in 'cleaning up' their health. And seeing as how we are running a business which is designed to help you with getting a better understanding of how your body works, I thought it might be helpful to share some information around the reasonably well recognized, but lesser known things you can be doing to help yourself.

Now this advice is certainly not aimed to be medical based advice and obviously speak to your medical practitioner before you start making any drastic life changes, and equally I'm really happy to discuss aspects of this information to help you better understand it. 

It's no secret in our business that I have a range of weird and wonderful tricks up my sleeve that Rob deploys at various stages to help sneak in bonus range of movement, maybe some pain relief, or perhaps just some homework to help someone see better. These little tricks are all derived from the growing Functional Neurology sector in the health industry. At its core, Functional Neurology is designed to work from the perspective of training the brain for balancing and normalising excess electrical charge in our naturally electrical system. The particular stream Rob has decided to go down offers both the physical training ideas that balance our sensory system, as well as a therapeutic approach to calibrate points of elevated charge, most often associated with pain or dysfunction, and create space for the body to heal in its own time. The main company I've trained with recently put together a 'retreat' in Thailand so people from all over the world could meet, practice on each other and learn new skills while refining old ones. Safe to say I've come home with a few more tricks up my sleeve!

This is what my day sounds like sometimes: 'What do you think of my new running shoes?', 'That feels amazing, I've been wearing heels all day!', and 'Do you think there is any hope for my bunions?'

This is just the tip of the ice berg... Deep down we all know we need to be looking after our feet, but we don't always know how or what is best for them? Perhaps it is those $300 podiatrist prescribed runners or perhaps it is spending more time in bare-feet. The reality is everybody has different requirements, and I'm not interested in getting into the debate on what footwear is best (unless you ask, and I'll happily give you my point of view based off your current situation...). But what I am interested in is providing a fantastic Pilates experience for our clients, and a massive part of that is getting our feet as healthy as possible.