The "Blob"

A couple of my clients just asked me about Kombucha mushroom. I guess I have earned a reputation for having a good bs detector by now, go figure. They wanted my take on it.

I haven't heard folks promoting it down here for quite a while, though I do see products on the shelves of Whole Foods with Kombucha in em. The liquid under that pink mass made me shiver the one time I tried it...and not in a good way.

Damned thing doubles its size in 8 days so you've got to create a co-dependent family of like minded folks who also jump on the bandwagon of "Isn't this a great home science project?!" to give your babies to or be constantly flushin your little gems down the lu. I have this vision of the Kombucha passin through the chemicals that treat the sewage at Hyperion, breeding and doubling all the while on into the sea, becoming a gigantic colony that then oozes up on to land and eats us all in the end. This stuff is soooo creepy. My clients have been up on their land in Washington for a few months and some locals up there are raving about it as though it's the new cure all.

It certainly ain't new, and it ain't a cure all. It ain't a 'shroom either. It's a colony of yeast and bacteria, might have mild anti-bacterial properties, but why take those if you don't have an active infection unless you're trying to build a resistance to antibiotics? Generally not considered a smart idea. It is not the fountain of youth as it is purported to be. It is not anti-aging, anti-fungal, anti-viral, anti-HIV etc. Nope, nyet. It is a colony that can also invite other colonies to join it, little white or black pimples growing within and around it some of which might be quite toxic for you. DO NOT GROW THIS STUFF! Period, end of story. Do not be fooled into buyin the hype.


Their sincere inquiry got me over to one of my favorite sites, Fungi Perfecti, to get Paul Stamets' take on it, since he's Mr. Mycologist personified. The above link gives you his whole take on it, but this'll do for starters:

"Another factor, beyond contamination, is that the extreme acidic nature of the broth has the potential to cause acidosis—a condition where the blood can not adjust its pH. This is one of the suspect causes being investigated with a woman in Iowa who died from drinking Kombucha (See Newsweek, April 25th, 1995, pg. 6). Ironically, the same acidic conditions that prevent bacterial contamination may give rise to its own toxic side-effects.
High acidity of the broth aside, I have seen several of my vessels spontaneously contaminate with molds. Of most concern are the species of Aspergillus I have found floating around with Kombucha. I fear that amateurs could think that by merely pulling out the Aspergillus colonies with a fork, that the culture would be de-contaminated, a dangerous, even deadly presupposition.
The water-soluble toxins of Aspergillus can be highly carcinogenic. Several species are known killers. Since the public can not be expected to distinguish a clean fermented culture from one which is not, I fear that the unreserved use of this tea will result, has resulted in illness, if not death. (See Newsweek, April 25th, 1995, pg. 6.)"

Here's Andrew Weil's view as well. Though I don't take all his recommendations to heart, he does know something about herbs and alternative meds, so, IMO he's is worth a quick read on the topic. Those two were all I needed to convince me to steer clear of that pink placenta looking gelatinous mass, since I'd already gotten my own shivering reaction long ago when I first tried the foul tasting stuff.

While re-visiting Fungi Perfecti I was reminded of why I like Paul Stamets and his work with mushrooms so much. Few years back when I was goin thru 'the change' as they politely call menopause, I got the flu from a client during peak season. I've always had a strong immune system, and, luckily never ever caught anything during flu season. It really bummed me out to have to take a very expensive unpaid vacation just to lay around miserable during the holidays till I knew I was no longer symptomatic or possibly contagious.

Next year I tried the flu shot. Yuk Felt lugie and groggie for 3 days after that shot and it turned out to be one of those years when the virus had mutated by the time it got here from the Asian strains used to create the vaccine. I got the flu again, only this time a bigger hit and it went bacterial, coughing greenish brown mucous, double YUK. I had to take a full round of antibiotics to knock those opportunistic little secondary invaders out. Darn and double darn.

That's when I discovered Paul's site and mushrooms. I use some version of tonic mushroom formula starting in the fall and thru my birthday in February every year now. Sometimes Reishi, sometimes a combination.

This year a client brought me some Turkey tail that some friends of his are selling to try, I'm on my second bottle. I change out what I'm taking so my body doesn't become adapted to one thing and get a less effective response. Sometimes, in a pinch if I've run out of Paul's product, I use one of Ron Teaguarden's reishi formulas, they're not cheap but he tries to get clean products and he's local.

My thinking on this that this way I'm building my immune system in a more comprehensive way to defend against a variety of possible invaders, rather than simply one strain of one virus that is far more adaptable than the vaccine produced can protect you from.

I haven't been sick in years, not because folks haven't offered me many subsequent opportunities, even though I ask folks not to come into my office sick. Placebo or effective substances, decide for yourself. I think they're a powerful natural immune building support and am quite grateful for the likes of Paul and his family for growing and selling these products.
Check out his TED presentation,"6 Ways That Mushrooms Can Save The World" and you'll see that his love of shrooms and what he knows they can do for the biosphere; the regeneration of old growth forests, processing of toxic waste, generation of energy, is pretty cosmic.

Heck he even figured out how to use them as a non toxic substance, not only to kill carpenter ants, fire ants and termites invading the wood in houses, but once innoculated, the carpenter ants and termites can't re-invade. Brilliant, inspiring presentation.

7th LBP World Congress , LA 11/11/10

There were many impressive discoveries and insights presented in yesterday's 7th Interdisciplinary Low Back and Pelvic pain Congress.

I'm starting with the 4th presentation because it was just so visually stunning. Reminded me of the Disneyland ride where your train car takes you down into the body and you experience yourself as a nano-chip traveling through the various systems...except this is the real thing, video using a very small endoscope.

The surgeon member of the team who made this film, Dr. Gumberteau made the presentation. There's another clip that's much more clear than my rendition below at the above link. Click on the English flag and it comes up. Mine, unfortunately, till I improve my understanding of how to edit/stream video to the web is kinda the equivalent of a xerox of a xerox of a xerox, a bit 'lossy' as they say in the graphics bus.

I just had to buy this video to be able to revisit it regularly. I'm rather proud of myself that I figured out how to edit out this short clip to share, (tho it's lost a lot of clarity in the doing) hope they don't mind. I consider it a teaser, with a link in case you want to buy it yourself and see the whole thing. It contains cool graphics of a muscle's actin myosin overlap action with the fascial web surrounding it, beautifully drawn.

The moist fractal fascial web is so clearly changing second by second in this video, gliding, self lubricating, making new fractals as loads change, wow are we constantly creative and we're not even aware that it's happening within us!

Soft tissue will never appear the same to me again, in my imagination, under my sculpting hands and hound dog thumbs, after seeing this film.

I could hardly sleep, I kept seeing this very clip repeating on my internal screen with the phrase "fascial fractal tensegrity in flux." runnin round my brain as sound track, try sayin that 10 times fast, I dare ya. Then try getting it out of your head so you can sleep once it's on a repeat loop. That presentation speaks for itself.

I missed the first presentation by Dr. Mense, for stupid reasons. I kept looking for the Hyatt Regency and the hotel I thought it was said Century Plaza. I was sure that was the Hyatt Regency, so I drove back and forth in Century City several times before asking the valet where it was. Yep I was right in the first place it's the Century Plaza Hyatt Regency, oyvay. I guess more names is better, eh? Hope someone else does a recap for us. They killed a bunch of ratties for that one.

I'm glad I didn't miss Robert Shliep's presentation. I'd read some of his studies on fascia from his great web site, knew he'd started as a Rolfer and I had a couple of questions brewing for him, if a chance arose. His presentation was more on nocioceptors in the fascia and it's role as an information feedback instrument. I kinda had hoped he'd talk about the discovery of smooth muscle cells in the thoraco-lumbar fascia a bit more, but there are papers on that on the website, so I guess he'd already presented that material.

One great metaphor he used while showing us the close up slides of the nocioceptors in there to explain why we might possibly need so much feedback info from outlying tissues, was dear to my heart. He said if you're sailing a vessel, would you put your wind change/velocity indicators on the luff of the sail, tip of the boom or would you want them on the mast. Ta Da. Got it!!

Poor guy, I kept cornering him with questions when he was rushing to the lu. He was quite gracious about it tho and generous with his insights in sharing his answers to me, once he'd come back out. I didn't want to take time from the many other folks with questions pertaining to his current lecture, cause there were more questions than he had time to answer and my questions were off topic a little. I'll talk about those in more detail some other time.

His Conclusions, as printed in the $60 book of presenter's papers:

"Fascial tissues serve important load-bearing functions. Severe tensional loading can induce temporary viscoelastic deformation and even microtearing. The innervation of fascia indicates a potential nocioceptive function (with cool slides). Microtearing and/or inflammation of fascia can be a direct source of musculoskeletal pain. In addition, fascia may be an indirect source of physical problems such as back pain due to sensitization of fascial nerve endings associated with inflammatory processes in other tissues within the same segment."

"Fascial force transmission is an important player in human biomechanics.
"...muscles, via their epimysia, also transmit a significant portion of their force to laterally positioned tissues such as to adjacrent synergistic muscles ans also-more surprisingly-to antagonistic muscles (Huijing 2009)...."

Fascial tissues are prone to deformation.
"...Load bearing tests reveal the existence of a gradual transition zone between reversible viscoelastic deformation and complete tissue tearing. Various degrees of microtearing of collagenous fibers and their interconnections have been documented to occur within this transition zone (Butler, et al 1978)"

The fascial network serves as a sensory organ
"Fascia is densely innervated by myelinated sensory nerve endings which are assumed to serve a proprioceptive function. These include Pacini (and paciniform) corpuscles, Golgi tendon organs and Ruffini endings (Stecco et al.2010). In addition they are innervated by free endings. When including periosteal, endomysial and perimysial tissues as part of a bodywide interconnected network, this fascial net can be seen as our largest sensory organ. It is definitely the richest sensory organ for the socalled sixth sense, the sense of proproiception (Schleip 2009)."

Fascia can be a source of nocioception.
"...a recent experimental study revealed that the epimysial fascia of the affected musculature plays a major role in the generation of DOMS related pain symptoms. (Gibson etal. 2009)"


The human lumbar fascia as potential generator of low back pain.
"Panjabi's new explanatory model of low back pain injuries suggests that a single trauma or cumulative microtrauma casues subfailure injuries of paraspinal connective tissues and their embedded mechanoreceptors, thereby leading to corrupted mechanoreceptor feedback and resulting in further connective tissue alterations and neural adaptations(Panjabi 2006). Our group subsequently proposed and extension of that model which includes the posterior layer of the lumbar fascia as a potential focus of such microtrauma and resulting muscle control dysfunction. Factors raised in support of that explanation include the long distance of this layer from the axis of spinal flexion as well as lesser stiffness compared with spinal ligaments (Sclleip et al 2007)"


I do wish ultrasound imagery was not so fuzzy, but the images of gliding planes of connective tissue in this next presentation were stellar anyway. Helene Langevin and her team in Vermont used ultrasound to monitor movement in the 3" area of the paraspinalis muscles lateral to lumbar L2-3 interspinous ligament. They then used a vibrator and watched the tissue move. Folks with pain had thicker tissue than those without, more disorganization, fatty infiltration, fibrosis and adhesions visibly impairing the normal gliding movement of the relative planes. The gliding of the layers in different directions was what was so remarkable in those moving pics. They chose that level because the fascia planes are the most parallel to the skin. Go a little lower and the fat pad confuses the issue.

Subjects with LBP had, on average, 25% greater perimuscular connective tissue thickness and ultrasound echogenicity in the lumbar region than did subjects without LBP.

"Langevin reports that the posterior layer of the lumbar fascia tends to be thicker in chronic low back pain patients. In addition, it expresses less shear motion during passive trunk flexion (Langevin et al 2009)."


Dr Shah, a clinician participating in a NIH study assessing the effectiveness of dry needling on trigger points also showed amazing ultrasound pics of the trigger points clearly visible in the tissues. So they demonstrated that ultrasound is feasible for imaging MTrPs and that they exhibit different echogenicity compared to surrounding muscle. The ultrasound revealed differences in microcirculation in and around the active MTrPs, compared to latent ones and normal tissue, as well.

What dya know, we weren't just making up those ischemic lima beans, kidney beans, lentils and quarters we were pretty sure we were palpating in a headache producing upper traps, after all, and Janet Travell didn't conjure them out of thin air either!! Ain't it great when science supports what we've been experiencing in the field?! There they were in living color, lookin a little like knots in a tree. Leon encouraged Dr. Shah and his team at NIH to include manual therapy interventions in the next study to compare effectiveness with dry needling.

Be great if they took his request to heart and ischemic compression shows up as equally effective for most of them, at least the ones we can reach, cause I'm sure most folks would prefer to be rubbed intelligently than poked a bunch of times with a needle, while having the tissue pinched. Didn't look fun.


(Leon, Langevin, Gumberteau)

Leon gave a recap of the various styles of soft tissue manipulation and what their intended goals are. It was really interesting to me because he described a couple of European methods I hadn't known originated there. Since I tend to weave methods together to get results for my clients, it was good for me to hear this description of the specific methods and their specific attributes.

I was please to find that someone besides John Barnes is utilizing and teaching myofascial release, though it was not clear if the method is similar to the non woo woo aspect of what Barnes teaches. Trouble with Barnes' stuff, IMO, is he conflates his work with Upledger's, asking folks to feel for a still point and teaches myofascial unwinding as a form of emotional release so that whole rooms full of true believers manifest ideomotor phenoms just because there's an expectation of significance to that. The question that pops into my mind regarding these two extremely popular teachers is which of these Icarian gurus will make it too close to the sun first?

If Barnes'd stick to the aspect of myofascial release that has a sound basis in science, this field, his students and their clients would all be a lot better off. Why waste time with that woo woo stuff you've pulled out of yur hat when you've got an effective method, proven to be so, right at your fingertips, rather under your gentle palms? Just sayin.

After seeing how many layers of fascia there are and how randomly it expresses it's fractal webbing, I was surprised to find myself thinking there's more of a place for that work in my practice than I'd been willing to let myself do. I just find that slow timing and light touch of that work challenge my limited ability to be patient. I hate holding an 8-15# head in space for forever, but considering this, I'm gonna have to reconnect with this work I think.

"Myofascial Induction is a simultaneous evaluation and treatment process using tri-dimensional movements of sustained pressures, applied to myofascial structures in order to release restrictions. The term Induction is preferred to 'release' because clinicians do not passively stretch the system, but only apply an initial tension or compression force and follow the facilitating movement. The aim of the process is the recovery of motion amplitude, force and coordination (Pilat 2009)

Leon listed and described:

Connective Tissue Manipulation CTM Bindegewebsmassage (skin rolling)
Fascial Manipulation FM Stecco workshop Sunday YUM
Muscle Energy Technique MET
Myofascial Release MFR
Scar tissue release
Strain Counterstrain SCS
Trigger Point deactivatin methods.

He also sited studies in support of these methods. Maybe he wants to represent his own presentation, so I'm gonna stop here. This is getting long.

There were also presentations in the afternoon, "Parallel Sessions" but these am ones were most really juicy part for me. I do get a bit weary with too many hours of mind only information goin in.

We learned from an Aussie, David MacDonald, PT, that training on unstable surfaces doesn't enhance training effect at all. He's no longer including it in his rehab pardigms. That's not news in the S & C community, but good to have the in the trenches knowledge validated once again, and especially for the rehab community to catch up in understanding that.

I wonder if Paul Chek still espoused it in his presentation on Wed. He was the maven of physio-ball exercises for quite a while, produced lots of videos and acolytes willing to sport a very erect C.H.E.K. proudly dangling from behind their names, even though I don't think he succeeded in conjuring it into an actual acronym. Lordie Lordie.
He used to stand on the ball and squat at the beginning of the ball exercise videos, for what purpose someone would want to risk the potential injury of a fall from said squat no one but Paul could comprehend. Maybe he was secretly using these videos as audition tapes, sending them to Barnum and Baily with a suggestion that he'd like to replace the ball walking dogs in their new circus acts.

We also learned from Duncan Critchley et al that strength training makes you stronger than Pilates. Strength training exercises that don't directly target the abs still make em stronger than Pilates exercises that do. So much for Joe Pilates description that his exercises make muscles stronger deep to the bone yet long and lithe, retaining their flexibility. Dancers bought that description in droves, but any biomechanics grad knows that the reason Pilates folks have long and lean looks is that Pilates is not a good choice for hypertrophy. It doesn't strengthen effectively.

Pilates is a nice alternative for yoga, improving ROM, oil and lubing the joints, a nice option for an active recovery day, but strengthening, unless a person's seriously de-trained, ummm, not so much. Some of us American couch potatoes are seriously de-trained, so in those cases it's certainly going to create improvement in strength. If all you do for exercise is walk and ride bike, for example, it will improve the strength of the back, rhomboid/mid. trap area, because for sure you've been leaving upper body out of your training plan.

There were more, but that's the highlights I have time to offer.

Pseudo-scientific stuff debunked

This started as a comment to Herb Levin regarding a contraption he wanted my thoughts on, but there's enough technical stuff in it regarding muscles and bodywork that I thought it also worth sharing in this context:

IMO these folks have made up hi-falutin descriptions for straw dog 'hypertonicity' problems that, as they've presented them, are not the source of most soft tissue pain, for the most part don't exist, as described on that site nor do the muscles function as these jerks describe they do....and for only $425 you, too, can be the proud owner of this newest pet rock. Don't forget to water your chia pet.

Went to the 3rd day of the 7th Interdisciplinary LBP Pain conference today, geeze the parking alone was $24, but many interesting presentations. The morning presenters talked largely on their research on fascia and how it is a major player in chronic pain. Much to think about, quite a bit of it good, but all in all a long day sitting listening to heady stuff, exhausting and very compelling, if you are interested in how soma functions, as I am.

Buy that biopulse contraption after you've purchased your much needed holographically enhanced energy field balancer......drum roll....."THE POWER BALANCE BAND!!!"

Worth noticing, the PB folks have a better marketing team with slick videos of Shakeil O'neil, all bought out, prancin for the camera and recruiting his friends and fellow athletes into hawkin this crap. As a result of seeing their superheroes wearin em, folks are sporting these things all over LA from the retired lawyer on my table weekly for his easy does it massage who only rides his bike once a week to the jiu jitsu competitors at the Pan Am games. Sporting them in all colors, fits your fashion needs too.

Herb, if anyone you know wants to buy one of those contraptions, send em over here I've got a bridge to nowhere in Alaska that's almost built for sale....cheap.

My broad sweep of an answer to Herb was a gross oversimplification of my understanding of 'the work'.

Certainly hypertonicity applies to trigger points, which can be found in muscle belly, tendon, periosteum...so in that regard I clearly misspoke and was too dismissive in the above comment, cause trps are a source of much soft tissue pain.

They are not, however, only deep in the muscles as the blurb on that website asserted (mistakenly, IMO) is where the hypertonicity lies. Trps and tender points can be ubiquitous. If that's what they think their contraption is an effective tool to eliminate, maybe one of the presenters yesterday, a clinician at NIH, Dr Shah, who is part of a study showing the positive effect of dry needling on trps, could include in his next study.


First, tho, as, I believe it was Leon who recommended it would be of interest to many of us to test manual methods like ischemic compression along with the dry needling for comparative effectiveness using those really cool ultrasound pics to show distinct changes in the hypertonic tp. IF funding could be found, that would be quite doable and useful to the bodywork community. We might even get validation that our methods work as well if not better than dry needling and are far more pleasant to experience. Who wouldn't rather be touched than needled? Just sayin.

A spasm is a kind of actual hypertonicity, several schools of bodywork might address the neurological aspect of that, strain/counter-strain, or as Leon is teaching it tomorrow "Positional Release" comes to mind, perhaps Mattes' AIS addresses that well in a stretching format.

What exactly is the density I feel in a heavily exercised muscle when the athlete is experiencing DOMS, could be in the deepest layers or more surface depending when I'm working on it in relation to the usually high volume, low load (long runs tri-athletes love doing) or eccentric emphasis (bodybuilding type st) work that invoked it. De-trained couch potatoes who are starting a strength regime will have more DOMS in the first few weeks than a well trained athlete or even weekend warrior. Why? What is DOMS, exactly?

It is commonly understood now in strength and conditioning communities, due to the research of some ex phys guys, that the lactic acid is outa the muscles fairly quickly after ex, so what is the mechanism/flotsom and jetsem of DOMS and what kind of densification is it that I'm feeling that seems to correspond with that state? I dunno, not a clue. I'm ok with that, as a good scientifically respectful clinician must be if he/she is gonna actually learn more about it from the researchers, rather than jump to some new agey conclusion due to analytic overlay appearing to be an inspired intuitive groking of the nature of it. I'd much rather be the clinician doing the work and wait for the researchers to explore their little 3 sq. " piece of muscle some day so they can tell me what I did that effected the muscle cells (or fascia) and why it was or was not as effective as I (and my clients) currently think it is.

IMO this is the kind of improved collaboration/dialogue between communities of clinicians and researchers the we need more of, we and the clients would all benefit. This too is why bodywork needs bulldogs, so folks who create contraptions can't just make up reasons later that are not physiologically sound, but instead qualify perfectly as pseudo-science and are actually after the fact explanations for why we should all buy their product. They're not looking for the truth of it, come what may, they're trying to justify a marketing tack. Bah HUMBUG!!!For shame.

I do know tho that If I use broad hand compressions working straight up and down like pistons with the intention of sucking a vacuum into those muscle bellies and supercharging the blood flow into that area, (it's not a form of kneading or fascial release or tp compression) possibly broadly compressing the detritis out, the muscle feels looser to me and the pain is less for the client. Would that be a repeatable thing to study in research, probably. Would we discover if it has a positive effect, probably. Why it has a positive effect and on what system it is acting, probably not. Ultra sound pics aren't clear enough, Those endoscopes can't penetrate muscle bellies yet and if they could it probably wouldn't feel good in there if the belly was being worked vigorously, sorta like when the acupuncturist leaves a needle in your calf and you go to stand up with it still in there, yeoow. A needle biopsy of tissue with DOMS before and after the compression work might give a researcher tissues to analyze for cell wastes, cytokines etc, who's gonna volunteer to be in that study? Hey, come on down and have holes punched in your thigh for the sake of scientific discovery. Yeah right.

Hypertonicity , according to Taber's:
1:Having a higher osmotic pressure than a compared solution...2: Being in a state of greater than normal tension (ischemic Trps?) or of incomplete relaxation (neurologically held spasm?) Said ...of muscle, opposite of hypotonic.

Hypotonic: 1: Pert. to defective muscular tone or tension.

See, that's different than hypotrophy or hypertrophy. To me hypotonic implies muscles that can't do their job, like post paralysis due to polio or nerves that are severed. Hypotrophy is another way of describing a de-trained muscle in need of a good conditioning program.

So if these contraption inventors can't even get their terms precisely chosen and don't even know that hypertonic can mean more than one thing and reside as trps in tissues other than in the sarcomeres (or is it in the sarcoplasm, a whole nother consideration) of striated muscle tissue then why in the world should we have confidence in the basis for their sales pitch singing the praises of the $425 device?!*
That thing kinda looks like an automated version of those little clickers that some chiros like to use, which, from my experience on the receiving of that kind of "adjustment", is utterly worthless and does nothing. Usually those same chiros practice AK. If a chiro uses either of those two methods they fall into the quack bin in my book and I have no interest in collaborating with them or receiving their work.

The creators of that contraption's discernment is clearly hypotonic.

Have Something Cook Something

Aileen came in the other day, having lifted in a competition recently in a lower weight class, without even trying, other than working out relentlessly, manifesting Bob's training program.
She got me thinkin when she described to me her very favorite salad that a friend of hers turned her on to.
Avocado, bacon, lemon squeezed over it.
I said,"On a bed of lettuce or baby spinach?"
"Nope. That's it. Perfection. YUM!"


(Couldn't find a pic w/o watercress, till I make one and take my own pic, this will have to do. Looks good this way to me, too.)



I REALLY need to drop some fatty insulation. I'm a carboholic. Gimme a big russet baked potato, butter, chives, bacon pieces and/or avocado, fresh ground pepper. Heaven. Or pasta, any kind of pasta with anything over it, except those heavy tomato sauces, too acid for me. Hand me a piece of LaBrea bakery olive sour dough bread, warm or toasted with butter. More heaven.

As a kid, I used to steal chocolate chip cookies while they were still warm. Why SHOULD I care if there were any left for others? I stole the dough too, scooped right out of the bowl. It was half gone before it became cookies in the oven, unless my mom policed the dough, which she learned she had to do. Don't talk to me about salmonella, what do I know about that, or care? Soooo good.

I've been toying with the idea of trying to eat more like my friend Mike Mahler. Get back to vegetarian lifestyle, not all the way to vegan, like he is, but, at least start by eating alot less chicken, fish...and bacon. Already, I can't eat red meat. Don't trust it.

I've seen those cows at Harris Ranch on Hwy 5, knee deep in their own piss and shit crying out in barren feed lots, screaming in the ammonia fumes that burn my eyes 1/4 mi. away as I go by. They stand without shade, not far from the always crowded Spanish style restaurant with all that very red beautifully presented steak for sale in the retail section. Nope. Can't do it. Didn't those droves of folks eating all that steak, see those cows or smell that wafting piss? Do they really want all those stress hormones in their food? That much adrenalin can't be good for ya.


My chickens (and their eggs) get to walk around and peck the ground. They eat purslane, plantain and other vegetarian non GMO, hormone free stuff that makes their yolks orange yellow, high in Omega 3 fatty acids. I pay big bucks so they can have a good life before it ends.

It says on my bacon package, too, organic, without antibacterials, nitrates, nitrites, handled humanely. Somehow I don't trust that they're telling me the truth, greed being what it is today.

Bluefin tuna are teetering on the brink of extinction as are those giant slow growing Chilean sea bass that taste so good prepared perfectly in one of my favorite Japanese restaurants. Love it, can't order it now that I know it's teetering fate. They, apparently shouldn't be buyin it either. It's hard to be a good steward of the other creatures on this planet these days, while still eating them! Even shoppin at the high end markets who pretend to care about these issues right along with you, for the right price, doesn't necessarily mean that your food animals will be treated as you want them to be.

Yeah, yeah I know, vegan lifestyle's not healthy, those skinny yoginis are catabolizing all the time, with no clue what that is, while doing so many reps of arm circles, it's a miracle the joints don't break like a paper clip bent again and again in the same spot.
Oh, yeah, I forgot, they're barely in their 20s. Give em time. If they keep that up, livin on kale juice, sumpin's gotta give. No wonder they're so limber, it's not just that they were born with ligament laxity and that's why they're good at wrapping their legs behind their heads and walking around on their hands. Those Gwenyth looking lithe fermies, braless and perky in their hemp tees got no real meat on them bones.

You really think most of the orange yogis who show up at the Ganges for the Kumbh Mela on Makar Sankranti every 12 years are healthy and balanced individuals?

Bathing in the Ganges?!! They cremate folks, float dead bodies in that holy river, not to mention the plethora of unknowable polluting factors that also land in there.
That gathering looks like the precursor to the "be ins" I used to attend in the Haight.
All manner of crazies crawl out from their hideaways and show up for the party, stoned outa their minds.

Some things improve when brought to America. These sadhus are the tribe from which the root teachers of the yoga craze that's taken off like wildfire here emerged as spiritual beacons. Most are not too inspiring a role model, yet some of the western yogis are combining their asanas with healthy nutrition, teaching a more balanced approach, and sustaining their strength and flexibility over the years. Personally, I think the principles of yoga and vegetarianism have gained something being applied by the inventive minds of some of our western teachers with a good education in critical thinking as part of what they bring to the plate. Good healthy muscle needs complete protein daily to remain so over the long haul. No way around it. Finding the right kind while eating no meat, requires refined choices good menu planning. Don't think all that soy and meat looking wheat jel you see in Whole Foods is actually healthy stuff either. GMO soy and gluten gluten, here I come! My internal kid is cravin cookies at even the thought of eating that stuff.

Mike's a tough act to follow, he eats like its a biology experiment. He's researched it. Optimizes hormones with meal timing and supplements, spends the big bucks for the best magnesium he can find.

He's DISCIPLINED and he sports some of the healthiest muscles I've ever worked on. I know it can be done well, and over the long haul. I think he's been a vegan for over 15 years, but he's the exception....in a number of ways.

Of all the 6 paramitas a junior bodhisattva is supposed to practice, avoiding bad karma on the road to realization, discipline (Sila(Wylie Tibetan,tshul-khrims)virtue, morality, discipline, proper conduct) is right down there for me with patience (Ksanti(bzod-pa)tolerance, forbearance, acceptance, endurance). I'm not good at those. I don't like em. They don't go with my aging hippie personality. I'm erratic, fueled by creative bursts. I like working that way, and I get alot done.

Opening my heart to the magnitude of suffering that's really going on out there in our world sometimes seems more than this girl can endure. It ain't hard to deal with the pain and suffering in Iraq, Congo, Afghanistan, Pakistan, starving hoards in Africa, animal cruelty, fishing out the seas, polluting them and killing the coral reefs, sea turtles with papilloma virus blinding them and choking off their throats, if you simply choose to ignore that it's happening. "Hey, I'm busy. I got my career to think about." Well, yeah,....and...we're at critical mass on some of these issues, folks. If we don't stop and smell the stinking roses the grandkids aren't gonna have a very pleasant life.

If we don't pay attention and get involved in the solutions, aren't we part of the problem? I think those really compassionate ones who take it on and try to do something about it in a big way, like Jesus did, like HH the Dalai Lama does every day, finding homes for pleading sobbing nuns escaped from his homeland after being raped and beaten, are our most courageous heroes. Far more so than macho men grabbing guns and shooting thru the streets of Baghdad.

I'm not enlightened and functioning from a clear view of the whole magilla, so for me it's hard not get a serious case of the blues sometimes. I forget it's all a big dream we're stuck in by the force of our own ignorance. I still feel compelled to do what I can, where I can in my little corner of this world. I've been listening a lot to John Prine lately.

I practice generosity,(Dana(sbyin-pa)giving of oneself) like it was the way to prosperity. Heck I give away the store, time, all the time, specially to unsponsored athletes on a budget. I'd never do well in sales. "Oh you like that, have it, it makes you happy." My mom used to help me with the end of year accounting and she'd freak out at how much money I gave to Buddhist causes and charities that I thought did important stuff in the world. "How're you gonna have a retirement saved? You don't make enough to give this much away."

I fired her.
In part, because one of my clients, a psychologist, informed me that she was voicing her concerns to everyone who came into my living room. Sharin all my personal stuff with my clients, trying to get them to convince me she was right. That was it for me. She's outa here. I can't tolerate betrayal like that. She used to do that to my dad too, I suddenly remembered, when I finished flushing red upon being informed of this shocking news. No wonder I ate all those cookies and sported a little insulation even as a kid. She was worth hiding from. Some folks shouldn't be licensed to procreate. My folks were two of those.

So Aileen's little salad got me thinking, maybe I could substitute flavor and well prepared recipes for carbs and that way my kid would stay on board with this lifestyle change project. She won't let me stay on a "diet" for more than a 30# loss. She pops out from my unconscious, downs a half pint of Ben and Jerry's, before "I" even know it. She's NOT into Cherry Garcia, either. Hates that flavor, no offense to the Dead. Those tuna shakes Staley jokes about as a low carb staple ain't gonna please her either. I musta lost the same 30#s and a few new ones 3 or 4 times now. She's stubborn, that one. I gotta find a way to work with her, not try and beat her into submission. That'll never work. She's also very creative...and sneaky.

I decided to try out this new plan today, by baking some stuffed Portobello mushrooms. Nothing says daylight savings time is gone like a good stuffed Portobello. Maybe if I find great low carb recipes to make, I'll be able to override the kid's stubborn resistance, by invoking another one of those paramitas: Virya(brtson-’grus): energy, diligence, vigor, effort. I can add a dash of Dhyana(bsam-gtan): one-pointed concentration, contemplation, which I'm pretty good at, and we might make this work finally.


I don't want to remain in this form. By the time I'm retirement age, I'd like to have my sailing, diving, yogi body back, or at least the older version of it. How'm I ever gonna complete my goal of actually standing up on that surfboard and flying off the lip, maybe not like Taj Burrows, but grabbin a little air, before I'm 90, if I'm not a bit more svelte?!

The kid in me (and the hippie) loves those activities, those long summers in San Blas, knee boarding the inside wave that no one else wanted. Matachen breaks just like inside Malibu, a moving gentle wall breaking for a full quarter mile, all the way into the bay. Long walk back out to the point, but what else was I there for?
Maybe this will work. Perhaps I'm now employing a little of that Prajna(shes-rab)wisdom, insight, I've been working on freein up, meditating these long many hours and years. I use it in behalf of others rather well, now it's time to use it in my own behalf in a way that actually works skillfully with the resistant stubborn components of my personality. As Phil, so aptly shoved in my face in a fb exchange recently, Earth bound reality ain't always behaving as though it is empty in nature.

My brother-in-law is a great cook. He's a Chinese tai chi master from Shanghai and loves to express himself creatively in the kitchen. He calls his cooking, "Hong style, have something, cook something." His somethings are always good and he's learned to do them with less oil in the cross pollination of living here. So here's the version of stuffed Portobellos I came up with tonight, replacing the breadcrumbs with egg.


"Have Something Cook Something" Stuffed Portobellos




2 large Portobellos, stems chopped fine
1 yellow onion, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pkg organic baby spinach
1.5 oz greek feta cheese, cubed 1/4" squares
2 oz sheep Mancheca w/rosemary skin, thinly sliced or grated
2 eggs
1/4C pesto
2T olive oil
2T butter
Saute onion in olive oil till clear, add Portobello stems, saute, add spinach stir briefly, turn off pan.

Beat eggs into pesto, add feta. Mix cooked ingredients into liquid, set aside.

Put 1/2 butter in pan, add mushroom caps rough side up, saute briefly, mostly to coat their backs with butter. Turn. Add rest of butter and let it absorb.

Spray glass baking pan with Olive oil spray. Add Portobello caps rough side up. Fill with pesto spinach filling, top with Mancheca

Bake 375° 30 min. or until done and cheese is lightly browned on top.

YUM! Spinach pesto stuffed Portobellos.
Have something, cook something style.
This could probably handle another egg just fine, for a little more protein, specially if the fridge didn't have pesto in it needing to be eaten.

Bodywork Needs Bulldogs

This started in a fb dialogue about Active Isolated Stretching, then digressed:

I don't think that a bodywork method must be proved by double blind/controlled studies to have potential as a viable working model. I do think, however, that too much stuff gets woven together in what's being taught, some of which is based on good anatomical understanding and sound physiology and some of which, like energy cysts actually existing in the muscles and storing emotions, for example, comes right outa left field, yet is being taught as truth. I see that as a big problem in our field.

If a person has a DO, Rpt, PhD, MD after his name and is selling fools gold with the gold, most folks accept blindly what they are learning without stopping to even notice the fools gold or try to ascertain how much of what they got is just that. Accredation from related fields somehow lends weight to these teachers' creds, as though they are not capable of perpetrating misinformation just as well as the rest of us.

If a method doesn't hold up under scientific scrutiny, like Iridology, for example, it is very common for the person selling it as a creed, with a cult following in place, to then write off the scientific studies as being unable to be subtle enough, (or similar balderdash) to properly assess the work. That way they can go on selling it, without regard for the fact that it has just been clearly proved to have absolutely no diagnostic reliability and no inter-tester reliability. IE, it ain't any more reliable than tossing a coin.

An ethical practitioner with no personal profit or ego agenda gummin up the works would then have to trash that idea and go back to the drawing board. That is what the scientific method demands. And it is not an unreasonable demand.

It is how we know as much as we do about the universe around and within us.

At one time most folks, encouraged by the Catholic church, were sure that the Earth was the center of the universe.


Galileo was jailed for using good science to discover otherwise.


We need to be more careful in our understanding of the foundations of the work we are doing and more Dick Tracy in sorting out that which is known to be true, like the existence of spindle cells and golgi tendon organs in striated muscle (but not in smooth muscle) and that which is merely a working model of how best to utilize their actions in the sarcomeres to the advantage of the client's improved performance.

If those who taught this stuff would simply teach the difference between what is their opinion and what is sound science, our field wouldn't be so full of well meaning quackery and incorrect assumptions. If we want to improve our effectiveness we must be open to admitting when our assumptions need tweaking to be true.


When someone teaches so many seconds for this, exhale for that, don't hold at the end because it might engage the spindle cells and reverse the increased ROM, I want to know that they have done their homework, know of which they speak, and are not just making it up as they go. I'm perfectly capable of whistlin Dixie off key, already, I don't need further instruction.

Tons of poppycock is being sold out there. Lots of folks are making big bucks selling it. Many of whom are charismatic nice guys with the best of intentions who are sure they're right. That, and a few impressive letters trailing their names, should not be enough to warrant having faith in everything they're teaching.

Something very bad happens to most egos when they get stroked by hoards of fawning acolytes. They, too, come to believe every fanciful conjuring is solid 24 karat. They, too, believe the press about themselves and fueled by raving minions, soar in ego grandiosity right up to Icarian heights.

The air's thin up there. It gets hot. Wings melt.
Erected egos go limp flamin out in a crashing flash.

Wouldn't it be kinder of us who are eager for knowledge, genuine knowledge, to spare them that distraction from their personal development by challenging their assumptions with hard direct questions instead of accepting everything they teach at face value?

As a result of thinking about all this, a few quotes from Thomas Huxley, Darwin's bulldog, as he liked to call himself, have been up for me lately:

Science commits suicide when it adopts a creed.

Science is organized common sense where many a beautiful theory was killed by an ugly fact.

Irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.

History warns us that it is the customary fate of new truths to begin as heresies and to end as superstitions.

Ugh Season in Bevery Hills

Sometimes business takes you
where you would not otherwise go.

It's Ugh season in Beverly Hills

Morning meeting's done, but not my lunch.

This place inspires my internal grump.


Nuthin says comfort like ughs, short shorts,
Egyptian cotton spaghetti strap tank
and a fine wool Burberry scarf.

Pink tie, periwinkle shirt with white cuffs,
collar & angel hair stripes.
So he's the one blowin smoke into my Venezuelan Arepa!
He appears to be talkin to himself, but no:
"Has ABC closed the door on that?"

Big haired frumpy matron in her black Mercedes sedan
pulls out the handicap permit
puts it on the mirror and off she sprints into Umberto.
I guess the meter was just too expensive for her.

Phil Spector look alike in new faded torn jeans
sports a luscious brunette on his arm.
How much does that Patek Phillipe replacement cost?

PC red wigged mullet, in buttery tassled loafers
wears that faux fir vest proudly.
In designer everything, her pants stop dowdy
too far above the ankle.

4 more in this parade,
purposely faded and frayed
but for Orange Hermes Birkin,
Chanel, Vuitton and Longchamp bags.
You won't see Coach here.

Even that maid in her baggy cotton tee
carries a Burberry bag.
I'm guessin that ain't a pop off either.

Red synthetic slinky tunic
cascades off her shoulder
rhythmically flouncing
to the tune she taps
with the wooden heels of her Tony Lamas.

Cream spandex tee stretched
transparently tight over perky breasts
padded and cooped up in Victoria's secret.
Pompom silk rose bouquets substitute for sleeves.

How did that limping Argentinian cowboy
in his big white Stetson,
polyester khakis and Nikes get here?

I'm done with my Reina Pepiada at the Coupa Cafe,
surprisingly reasonably priced.

Yum! I'm outa here!

This parking stub's gonna cost me more than lunch.
Hey, it's a write off.

Don't sweat the small stuff.

Blind Men on the Elephant, part 2

Recently a lively discussion was born on Leon Chaitow's fb page regarding an essay published by Eyal Lederman pretty much refuting the value of manual therapy altogether, except, of course, for his own 'harmonic' version of passive joint mobilization. It also challenged most assumptions about how postural variations might be contributing to back pain, by suggesting that they don't contribute much, if at all.

This got the muscle energy technique, structural integration practitioners and a few chiros knickers all in a twist. Refutations will be published in Leon's April JBMT journal.

Personally, I love when myths are scattered asunder replaced with a more sound scientific understanding. I've also invested many hours practicing meditation techniques based entirely on myths and unproven Asian world views proposing that Enlightenment can be reached in one lifetime. I guess if I'm a true believer in anything it's that here in duality, dichotomies reign.

One thing that bugs me in the bodyworking communities, and I say communities because some schools of practice seem to think their methods are far superior to the good old effleurage, kneading, compression, petrissage of 'Swedish' massage, and therein lies the rub. (Not only am I gonna squeeze all I can get outa these corny metaphors, but I'm gonna be blatant about it.) 'Different strokes for different folks' in this case should be appended to different strokes for different purposes.

The more tools a person has up her sleeves (albeit short ones while working) the better chance she has of pulling just the right one out when conditions call for it, maybe even a rabbit or two might appear. Some of this work does involve the ordinary magic of re-framing, in every sense, since it is the unconscious mind of the client that is doing all the healing, when that is the focus of the work.

It isn't always the focus of my work, thankfully. I'm interested in an ounce of prevention and in supporting the experience of open relaxed states of mind as having value in our all to busy world. I think those foci are valuable enough to stand up for, or lay down depending whether you are the active or receptive component of the mutual meditative experience a good massage can be. But that's a theme for another discussion.

I love learning from what my clients bring me and I also appreciate the serendipity that occurs in that play. Today an e-mail from one of them brought me a new link exploring this topic from a different POV. It emphasizes the importance of muscle endurance for back pain prevention. Discovering that an aspect of strength is a key factor introduces a whole new discussion of this issue, IMO, without necessarily obliterating all the belief systems of structurally oriented manual therapists, though it does poke a big hole in them. This article's studies appear to prove the importance of the specificity of the kind of back strength that prevents low back pain, which I think gets overlooked by many manual therapists. In this case, it appears that back muscle endurance is a key factor in predicting/preventing low back pain incidents.

Sometimes on Rolfing pages it seems to me that folks seem to think if they release the fascial adhesions, some of which are believed to be appearing in meridians in certain circles these days, that the structure will automatically correct and remain so. I've always thought that was a short sighted, or sided, view, if you prefer.

Some of the underlying reason for shortening/tightening of muscles or fascia around a joint or a forward drooping head is more probably a sequelae of weakness or instability in synergistic components of the structural biomechanics of that area. That's discussed well, I think, in the hammie aspect of this SIB link Ron sent me, which refutes, it seems to me, many assumptions of Rolfing/Structural Integration/Anatomy Trains/MET practitioners regarding the importance of, and their role in influencing the anterior/posterior alignment of the ilia.

The other aspect of this article I love is what the studies of ab exercises show regarding specificity as a law of adaptation. If you don't train in planes that target the obliques, they won't be firing....seems obvious, but nice to know that assumption is true. These ab studies also support Eyal Lederman's "Myth of Core Stability" essay (pdf link in green table under books on right) refuting the overemphasis and viral blossoming of myriad diverse 'core training' paradigms as essential for back health in training and bodywork belief systems these days.

In that light Paul Ingraham (who really likes Lederman's essays, not surprisingly) presents a well written expose of the over emphasis of structuralism in the fields of manual therapy. He does not, however, in this piece, propose a workable alternative view, although he espouses trigger point work as a valid manual therapy emphasis elsewhere on his site.

I'm still chewing on the cud of all this and enjoying the flavors that emerge from this mental exercise. I do think, however, that many folks with huge investments in structuralism as the basis of their work had better be prepared to amend their views a bit or be swept aside with those who once were sure the Earth is flat.

That's gonna be hard to do if you're raking in truckloads of coin teaching these methods and their underlying assumptions as CEU seminars to DCs, DOs, physical therapists and bodyworkers worldwide. The assertion that what you're teaching is worth addressing in therapy is not much more substantial than a straw dog argument in rhetorical play could feel like a bit of an earthquake. These essays are the equivalent of techtonic plates shifting. Some true believer acolytes and sychophants in the bodywork community who have invested lots of money, time and tethered their world views and careers to these assumptions are bound to get pissed off. Always happens when sacred cows get sacrificed to sound scientific discovery. Hey, those scientists who proposed the Earth is round and not the center of the universe were pretty unpopular in their communities and considered to be thinking way out on the fringe.

I'm not a big fan of encouraging the blind men to explore the elephant thinking that each has 'the' answer as to what this elephant really is. I'd prefer if we could have the humility to explore and dialogue acknowledging that we're still just feeling out mere parts of a much more interesting and mysterious whole.