Connect 2017 in Ulm Germany
So
sad to leave Ulm today, it is always so welcoming.
As I travel home I am pondering on the last 4 days and the
things I have learnt and the people I have met.
As
usual the Fascia family never ceases to amaze me with their enthusiasm and
their passion and knowledge. I met old friends and made new, many more from the
USA than before.
When
I attended the conference in 2013 it was full of football physio's and was all
about how much pain could be inflicted and the cost of injured players. This
year the whole atmosphere was softer, more about the mind and the mindbody
connection. The field is maturing, there was less about what fascia is and it's
uniqueness and more about how it integrates with muscles and the nervous
system. Lectures looked at the importance of environment on the fascial system
and the cells within it, nutrition, hydration, movement as well as manual
therapies.
The pre and post conference workshops were more movement orientated
and I struggled to decide on the ones to take, in the end I missed the Melt
workshop and Marie-Jose's workshop and I decided on one by Christopher Gordon,
an old Fascia Friend. I met Christopher in Vancouver and we have been friends
since. Christopher is a remarkable man, clinician, researcher and teacher. I
really enjoyed learning about the Fascial-releaZer and will return to his
lecture again as it was full of detail and information; and yes I did buy one.
The afternoon session was sponsored by Merrithew who you may know from the
Stott school of Pilates. They have a new Fascia exercise offering that I
wanted to check out and compare with the Fascial Fitness principles I use and
teach. The workshop concentrated on the way the brain perceives movement, the
actual movements were interesting, using props for proprioception, again I will
revisit this topic. The most exciting part of the workshop was the quiz and I
won a Rollga. I had met its inventor earlier in the conference. Taggart Downare
is a really creative man and his latest invention is the Rollga. I will use it
and report back on my impressions. Getting it home however proved a challenge due
to it's size, however it's proved more portable and less controversial than the
Fascial-releaZer, which had the airport security sniggering when I explained in sign
language that it was a vibrating massage tool.
The
pre conference workshop was taught by Divo and was Fascial Fitness for the
lumber spine, again it showed that the work is maturing and I enjoyed the
sequencing. A small workshop given by Eric Franklin on his imagery concept,
again really enjoyable and useful, I think he has always worked with the fascia
system just never named it, now the word is in every other sentence.
The
main lectures were full of the importance of meditation, movement and
interdisciplinary approaches to keeping sportsmen and women in their peak
condition for longer.
The
attitude to pain and movement was explored, mindfulness and other meditative
practices were openly practiced and evaluated. Stress was addressed.
There
were many pieces of research on the popular roller fascial release, some saying
it worked, some saying it didn't.
Lots
of information from cellular level (which quite frankly was mostly beyond my
understanding) to the whole body. Less about manual workers more about
exercise. Rehab and returning to sport, optimal rehab protocols, resting
athletes and taking a longterm view. There was a lecture just about female
sportsmen and the effect of estrogen on the connective tissue, not great news for those of us whose estrogen levels have now dropped off the scale.
My
brain is exhausted and full to bursting, so much information in such a short
period of time. So many people to meet and bring together so that lasting
co-operation across the world can carry on beyond this conference.
At
one point I was in the same workshop as Eric Franklin (the Franklin method and
the man who pioneered the use of imagery in movement teaching), Sue Hitzman
(the Melt method), and Moira Merridew (Stott pilates), all these big hitters listening and
learning and sitting next to me!
Learnt about Variable heart rate resilience training, this I will bring
into the studio as the results are quite impressive.
I
met some lovely old friends, Wonderful Wilbour, Robert Schleip, Tom Findley,
Christopher and David . The Fascial Fitness trainers, Divo, Dani, Rochelle, and
Trixy.
I
even discovered the origins of my name from a lady called Tacye, apparently we are named for the Roman emperor Tacitus. many people
called Tacey went over with the pilgrim fathers and the name morphed into
Tracey, and I thought Tracey was a made up name used in the film High Society.
My
take away from the conference is that the role of fascia in our minds (not the
same as brain) how our emotions and feelings are being recognised by science as
important in the synthesis of collagen in our connective tissue. The feedback
from fascia to brain and visa versa is the next thing to be uncovered by
science.
Finally,
as the my plane is about to land, I now have lots of work still to do on the
information in this conference and work out how I can use it and share it- happy days.
p.s. If you go to the Melt facebook page
you will see Sue Hitzman interviewing the great and good at the conference, she
does such a good job.
March 2017
