Yesterday I visited the new location of Healus Center in Mill Valley during their Open House. I met Jocelyn “in person” for the first time, saw Karin (my co-conspirator in upgrading Jocelyn’s web sites and blog), and also saw another person I had met before, by an unexpected and pleasant coincidence.

I arrived pretty late in the day, and the event was hopping. Several visitors were receiving free massage or NeuroMuscularReprogramming sessions from experienced practitioners. Lots of interesting conversation with nice folks; fresh fruits, teas, and finger-food to die for … and … I received a NeuroMuscular Reprogamming session from Bob, with a few other folks observing.

This was very interesting – my first experience with NeuroMuscular Reprogramming. The session focused on some chronic distress I’ve been having in my lumbar-sacral spinal area. Bob examined my posture and gait, asked questions and offered suggestions while performing tests of muscle function in various areas associated with hip movement, examining the structure and mobility of the region, and working with my breathing. He applied pressure, movement, and percussion to certain areas. He discussed what he was doing and noticing with me and with the observers in the room. I was impressed by the fact that of this was based solidly in biomechanics and kinesiology. I recognized most of the musculoskeletal terminology he was using, from my own training in human anatomy.

After the session, I felt slightly light-headed for a minute or so, but walked about the room with no trouble. I felt pretty limber and free of symptoms. Sometime later, after driving north for about 15 minutes on the freeway, I parked and exited my car to get some espresso. At this point I became aware of feeling quite free of stiffness and binding in my lumbar-sacral region. Normally, after sitting for any length of time, I expect to have stiffness in that area, which generally motivates me to do certain stretching and movement exercises to gain some relief. On this occasion there was nothing other than the feeling of being a slightly aging guy who’s tried to stay in decent shape, and who wants a strong jolt of caffeine!

Again, today I’ve had relatively little in the way of trouble from that region. The feeling of more normality and less symptom in that region is a little unusual for me these days, and is similar to that of recently having had a chiropractic adjustment. My current understanding of how my body works, suggests that I may need to follow up with some more NeuroMuscular Reprogramming work, if I wish to maintain and extend the improvement – not in the same sense as with chiropractic or standard massage, which require repeat visits in order to regain a baseline of relief – but, hopefully, to achieve some lasting improvement.

Back to yesterday’s visit – it was a joy to meet and hang out with folks at the Center, and I did also especially appreciate Jocelyn taking some time from this busy event to sit and talk with me for a while. I enjoyed the “healing energy” or feng-shui of the place with its tasteful design and fabulous lookout on Shelter Bay.

Though resistant at first, this former bodywork pro and massage enthusiast got drawn into the pleasant, locally prevalent social convention of kindly grabbing the nearest shoulder, neck, or arm and applying some unconditional TLC.