eCHOLOCATION and the resonance of Bone

ECHOLOCATIONAND THE

RESONANCE OF BONE

KårenElisa Broyles, AOBTA®-CP, Dipl. ABT NCCAOM

When we touch bone in a living person, we are touching living,

responsive tissue. While the bone in our classroom skeleton

may have felt rigid and unyielding, living bone is

flexible and resilient. It's this resilience that supports

bone's piezoelectric properties. It is also this resilience that gives bone its strength. Our

ability to hear is in part due to the flexibility of bone and its

ability to resonate.

Bone is also fluid, containing between five to ten

percent water. This has interesting ramifications for bodywork. When we send a small impulse of movement

through a long bone, it is possible to feel that movement

travel through the bone, encounter an obstruction, and

return. This is a little like water sloshing in a bathtub — there is the initial movement, and there

is the rebound. Sensing this level of movement requires

tuning the palpation to a very fine level, but in our work as

Asian Bodywork Therapists, we tune our palpation to the level

of Ki. So this is a minor adjustment.

The flexibility of bone means also that it can subtly twist, a bit like a branch of living wood.

Because muscles attach to bone, we can change a muscle's tone simply by shifting the position of the bone

to which it is attached.

The fluidity of bone, not to mention the fluidity of the rest of the body, gives us the opportunity to practice a kind of

echolocation as we assess and treat the body, sending out small movement impulses through the body and noting the

speed and trajectory of their return.

TENETS OF OSTEOPATHY

1. UNITY OF FUNCTION2. THE BODY HEALS ITSELF

3. STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION ARE RECIPROCAL

4. THE RULE OF THE ARTERY IS SUPREME

Some Basic Principles of Ortho-Bionomy®:

Non-judgmental Presence

Rhythm and Timing

Exaggerate the Pattern

LESS IS MORE

Non-attachment to Results

CONCEPTS:

ACTION EVOKES OPPOSITE AND EQUAL

REACTION.

FOLLOW-ON: RESPONSE AND TIMING

AWAY FROM TENSION, TOWARD EASE

THE THOUGHT IS THE BEGINNING OF THE MOTION.

SOMETIMES THAT IS THE “LESS” OF “LESS IS MORE.”

PAIN AND FORCE CREATE DEFENSIVE

POSTURES

EASE OF MOTION, NOT RANGE OF

MOTION

PREFERRED POSTURE, AWAY

FROM PAIN

FIND NEUTRAL

YOU ARE REMINDING PEOPLE

OF WHAT THEY ALREADY KNOW

(A BASIC TENET OF OSTEOPATHY)

Application

Exercises

Not force, but precision. Like putting English on a billiard shot, it is the light touch, just the right touch, responding to the pattern in front of you.

You can feel a footfall on the other side of the bridge . . .

Gentle traction on the tablecloth can inform us of the location of the objects resting on the cloth . . .

OBSERVE WITHOUT JUDGMENT. IF YOU HAVE AN IDEA OF WHAT IT SHOULD

DO, YOU WILL MISS WHAT IT IS

ACTUALLY DOING.

Recommended Reading:

Arthur Lincoln Pauls, D.O. The Philosophy and History of Ortho-Bionomy®, Revised Second Edition

Luann Overmyer. Ortho-Bionomy®: A Path to Self-Care

Kathy Kain. Ortho-Bionomy®: A Practical Manual

Further Resources:

https://www.ortho-bionomy.org/aws/SOBI/pt/sp/news

https://www.ortho-bionomy.org/aws/SOBI/pt/sp/home_page

Contact Information: KårenElisa [email protected]

BONUS:

Chapman’s Neurolymphatics, Large Intestine Reflex

Charles Owens, D.O., An Endocrine Interpretation of

Chapman’s Reflexes, www.academyofosteopathy.org