Day 1:

I meet Helen, the heavy-set donor cadeavor whose tag informs us that she was 84 years old and that she died of cervical cancer. She has been preserved in formaldehyde for about 9 months and is now reborn as a cadeavor at the Institute for Anatomical Enlightenment in Denver, Colorado. She lies completely untouched and we have a lot of work to do over the next 5 days. It takes me and my team of 6 New Yorkers about 8 hours to reflect the skin from the adipose layer all over the entire body save the face and vagina. The high fat content of her body is just dripping with formaldehyde and it’s a messy job. This is my first dissection and I was unsure of the emotional response of this experience - but surprisingly once I get started- I can’t stop. When the day is done and I close my eyes, all I can do is reflect the skin in my head as I pass out on the couch.

Day 2:

If I thought yesterday was messy, today brings way more oozing and a strong smell of formaldehyde. Every part of me reeks of this sweet toxic smell and I can even taste it in my mouth. Luckily the fumes are heavier then air and settle down so I don’t get the headache I’m anticipating. Read the rest of this entry »

This is a great link to a clear and vivid understanding of how fascial adhesions can restrict proper organ function. This is from the Clear Passage Therapies website that has developed manual techniques, called the Wurn Technique, that helps infertility. I’m not sure what this technique entails, but i can attest to the successes of Visceral Manipulation in many areas of the human body. They have locations in California, Florida and Iowa.

Did you know there is a floating island of plastic products in an area of the Pacific ocean known as the North Pacific gyre that is roughly double the size of the state of Texas? From the website mindfully.org: “Atmospheric winds and sluggish currents naturally collect this flotsam, earning it the unfortunate nickname of the “Eastern Garbage Patch”.” Did you know it can take up to a 1000 years for that plastic bag you used to carry home your drinks from the bodega to degrade? The US creates 100 billion plastic bags a year at a cost of 12 billion barrels of oil for about 15 minutes of use. It’s estimated 100,000 marine animals are killed from plastic garbage. That’s just not right. It’s time to get on the new wave of reusable, recyclable bags. Cheap enough to justify, green enough to feel like you are making a difference, and stylish enough to get looks. Globototes is a great new site offering great deals on reusable bags.

Being inspired by Robert Schleip’s work, I would like to see a more detailed “homunculus” representation of the body but mapped using mechanoreceptors instead of sensory nerves.

There are 4 main types of mechanoreceptors embedded in fascia. The Golgi tendon organs that live in the myotendonus junctions; the Pacini and Paciniform receptors that live in myotendionus junctions, deep capsular layers, and spinal ligaments; the Ruffini receptors that live in ligaments of peripheral joints and the dura matter; and the most abundant are the Interstitial receptors found everywhere but with the highest density in the periosteum of the bones.

For instance, the Ruffini mechanoreceptors respond to lateral stretching of fascia and tangential, deep, slow work that when Rolfed appropriately will smooth and elongate dense edges in tissue. Specifically at the knee, Ruffini receptors are in abundance both anterior and posterior and trigger a relaxing response to the sympathetic response (parasympathetic increase) and an overall relaxing effect systemically. On the medial and lateral lines of the knee there are more Pacini and Paciniform receptors, which like a more high velocity or vibratory manipulation to relax. The Interstitial receptors, which are everywhere, like sustained pressure but can also respond to rapid fluxuations. To illicit change in the Golgi Tendon Organs it’s important to understand that movement cues must be used as GTO’s are stimulated by muscular tonus increase if they are to respond to deep manipulation. Passive stretching of the joint only stretches the relaxed muscle tissue and does not activate GTO’s so will not change these myofascial tissues.

It is going to be important to the field of Structural Integration to map the body and choose appropriate techniques mated to anatomical places to illicit permanent change efficiently. Or we could keep just doing everything! I for one am too busy for inefficiency.

All of this info is available in Robert Schleip’s 2003 paper, “Fascial Mechanoreceptors and their potential role in deep tissue manipulation” - Mechanoreceptors

Sleeping in complete darkness will help boost the most powerful antioxidant your body can utilize, melatonin. This hormone is released into the blood by the pineal gland based on light-dark cycles. It is also produced in the retina, lens and gastrointestinal tract.

Reduced Melatonin has been linked to increased cancer rates in night-time workers, alzheimers, migraine and cluster headaches, and immune system suppression. The importance of melatonin is not completely understood or fully researched but it’s obvious that we need to do whatever it takes to support its production.

Modern times have illuminated our evenings and allowed us more freedom to work, play, and stay up late. Though this is great for squeezing more out of your day, it is messing up with our circadian rhythm. Here is a test for you: If you are laying in bed going to sleep and you can see the fingers of your outstretched hand once all the lights are turned off - then you could be suppressing your melatonin production as you sleep. Melatonin production peaks about halfway through your sleep cycle before waning off as you wake (and probably as sunlight filters through your blinds). Your room should be dark enough that you can’t see your outstretched hand.

Some might recommend supplements but this seems unnecessary, considering how many pills we already pop. And synthetic drugs seem less superior than natural production. The safe, easy, effective way to increase melatonin is the natural way - sleep in darkness! If you don’t have blackout blinds then use an eye mask. It’s simple, cheap and effective and you can take it off if you need to get up to go to the bathroom or need a late-night snack. But don’t turn on the light! Use a small nightlight in the bathroom or else you might disrupt your melatonin production for that night’s rest.

This is a link for a mac-daddy $25 eye pillow. Or try amazon for a $5 version.

For all you fish connoisseurs out there, here is the Ocean’s Alive eco/health report. Above and beyond the toxins in the fish, I find it difficult to justify farmed fishing with all its inherent ecological impact and ethical ramifications, but the idea of over-fishing is just as appalling. What can a vegaquarian do? Here is the ecological impact report.