Something has happened that is incredibly important! The Quantum Shift that
I have been talking about has occurred and will have a massive impact on you
and healthcare that will be so vast it will be beyond your wildest
imagination.
First, allow me to step back so any therapist or physician that has yet to
take my Myofascial Release seminars or any patient that may be considering
Myofascial Release can better understand our Myofascial Release perspective.
Myofascial Release is Therapeutic Artistry. In school, I was told that
therapy was a combination of science and art. Then all that was talked about
was the scientific aspect, but no art.
Newtonian physics, the paradigm of traditional therapy, claimed things have
energy. Unfortunately, traditional therapy ignored the discoveries by
Einstein that things are energy! This is the paradigm that Myofascial
Release utilizes so successfully.
Traditional science views people as objects. The fundamental premise of the
"old" science is objectivity. A rudimentary understanding of Quantum Physics
clearly demonstrates that there is NO OBJECTIVITY. Yet, researchers continue
to look for an objective cause for an objective disease or dysfunction.
Therefore you and I as therapists were trained to do the impossible. The
foundation of science was built on quicksand. This is also why traditional
therapy only produces limited and temporary results. My serious back injury
and resultant struggle to regain my strength and health opened my eyes to
the limitations of traditional therapy. My Myofascial Release philosophy,
principles and techniques were developed years ago through my experiences,
trial and error, intuitive guidance and feedback from my patients, despite
the fact that it didn't jive with what science said I should be thinking or
doing. Traditional scientist's obsolete view of the human as a bag of
chemicals has eroded healthcare into the biochemistry of disease.
My confusion in the early part of my development of my Myofascial Release
Approach was compounded by all the research on the fascial system did not
match my experience with my patients and myself. I eventually realized that
all of the scientific research on the fascial system was done on cadavers
(dead people). This led traditional scientists to a very erroneous view of
the fascial system and its importance in the physiological functioning of
all of the systems of our body in life.
How could science omit something so important? This error probably occurred
due to the fact that Myofascial restrictions do not show up in any of the
standard tests such as x-rays, MRI's, myelograms, CAT scans,
electromyography, etc. This was compounded by the flawed view of the
traditional paradigm which was logical, but terribly incomplete.
The medical paradigm fragmented the human over 300 years ago and taught us
that we are mindless machines. In other words, consciousness does not
matter and was not important or to be included in healthcare. However, this
refutes our moment-by-moment experience. My personal experience was that
consciousness was the most important aspect of life and healing. I found
that my patient's fascial system was full of life, memories, emotions and
consciousness!
Albert Einstein has said that most scientists are mere technicians, since
all they do is memorize facts written by someone else. He believed a true
scientist was one that utilized his or her creative genius coupled with the
rational mind. He said that all of his incredible ideas came in an intuitive
visual flash. He "saw" the total picture and then used the logical/linear
side of the brain to write down the concepts that described his
intuitive/visual experience.
Some interesting thoughts from Arthur Koestler's book "The Ghost in the
Machine" may be relevant here. He states that science is based on monumental
superstitions and argues that the pillars of science are cracked and
revealing themselves as hollow. And that science considers terms like
consciousness, mind, imagination and purpose to be unscientific, treated as
dirty words, and banned from the vocabulary. Koestler goes on to state that
at first the intention was to exclude consciousness as objects of study, but
later on this came to imply that the excluded phenomenon did not exist.
It is a paradox for conscious humans to deny consciousness. Yet generations
of scientists influenced by behaviorism claim to study human nature while
doing so. They claim to study perception without consciousness, attention
without consciousness, learning, brain physiology, animal behavior, sleep,
language, and healing without consciousness, the whole list goes on, all the
while explicitly evading the common sense of 26 centuries of written human
thought. Naturally, they were unable to deal with subconscious events
either; you can't have a subconscious without consciousness. Yet they've
experienced every waking moment consciously.
Albert Einstein has speculated that rational science reveals only the
external appearances of some deeper reality. I believe that Myofascial
Release allows us now to deal with that deeper reality. Traditional therapy
missed a key component for effectiveness, the treatment of the Myofascial
system, the conduit of consciousness.
Myofascial restrictions occur from trauma, surgery, and inflammatory
processes. Trauma and inflammatory responses create myofascial restrictions
that can produce pressures of approximately 2,000 pounds per square inch on
pain sensitive structures that do not show up in any of the standard tests
(x-rays, MRI's, myelograms, CAT scans, electromyography, etc.). This
enormous pressure acts like a "straightjacket" on muscles, nerves, blood
vessels and osseous structures producing the symptoms of pain, headaches,
and restriction of motion, and disease.
There is No Such Things as a Disease!
A massive amount of research is emerging that validates the principles of my
Myofascial Release approach. I am going to paraphrase some important
information from a new book "Energy Medicine in Therapeutics and Human
Performance" written by James L. Oschman, Ph.D.
"A dramatic discovery reveals that there is actually no such thing as a
disease. Medicine's disease model has simply run its course. Like horseshoes
and the bustle, it is a paradigm soon to be replaced."
Traditional medicine looks at symptoms, gives it a label and only treats
symptoms. Symptoms are only the tip of the iceberg! The medical approach is
to drug patients so they temporarily are free from pain, but it does nothing
about the "straightjacket" of pressure that is causing the pain. Traditional
physical, occupational, and massage therapy, acupuncture, chiropractic and
other forms of therapy only treat the symptoms caused by the
"straightjacket" of pressure that causes and perpetuates the symptoms. This
is why so many patients have only temporary results never seeming to get
better with traditional therapy.
Science has now discovered what I have been teaching for over 30 years,
i.e., symptoms, diagnostic labels, and diseases are a blockage of our
bio-energy caused by a prolonged inflammatory response. Trauma and the
resultant inflammation response create Myofascial restrictions that
ultimately create the symptoms of pain and disease processes.
"The results of inflammatory responses that have outlived their usefulness
are labeled: chronic pain, headaches, restriction of motion, fibromyalgia,
chronic fatigue syndrome, heart disease, arthritis, asthma, bowel and
menstrual disorders, cancer and the list goes on and on. There is no such
thing as disease!"
Myofascial Release allows the chronic inflammatory response to resolve and
eradicates the enormous pressure exerted on pain sensitive structures by
myofascial restrictions to alleviate symptoms and to allow the body's
natural healing capacity to function properly.
Myofascial Release views symptoms as only the "tip of the iceberg" In other
words, symptoms are effects of a much deeper cause. Traditional physicians
and therapists only treat effects. The Myofascial therapist treats the
entire cause and effect relationship.
Are You Ready to Move Out of the Dark Ages of Healthcare?
Traditional science considers the fascia and the proteins of the body to be
an insulator that is incapable of conducting energy, information and
consciousness. When a traditional biologist wants to study tissue, they
crush it, pulp it, and put it into a centrifuge. The tissue is then spun at
high velocity to separate the solid from the fluid. The solid material is
then thrown away and the fluid is studied. However back in 1941 Professor
Szent-Gyorgyi said this was an erroneous way of doing research on living
tissue. He proved that by dehydrating the proteins that the removal of
water converted the proteins from conductors of energy into insulators.
Water is essential for life! Dr. Szent-Gyorgyi then stated that by taking
away the water, you are studying non-life! Keep the proteins hydrated, and
they are semiconductors of energy. He went on to demonstrate that all
substances are semiconductors. He states our communication system of the
body relies on water. A 10% change in water content can trigger a million
fold change in charge transportation along a protein. Of course, the
scientists of the time then ignored this important discovery because it did
not fit the model of reality that they had memorized. This is bias! It is
considered to be unscientific to be biased. I believe it goes beyond this;
the scientific community has become entangled into what is intellectual
dishonesty!
This false and obsolete information (that the soft tissue of our body is an
insulator), is still being taught in all medical, dental and therapeutic
schools in the country. For more detailed information please read pages
72-74 in Dr. James Oshmann's new book "Energy Medicine in Therapeutics and
Human Performance".
Remember that trauma and inflammatory processes dehydrate the fluid
component of the fascial system. These fascial restrictions then exert
enormous pressure on pain sensitive structures and inhibit the vital
communication that flows through the liquidity of the fascial system and
every cell of our body that ultimately produces symptoms of pain, headaches,
restriction of motion and disease.
The following information is paraphrased from Dr. Ervin Laszlo's new book
"Science and the Akashic Field". Dr. Laszlo is considered to be one of the
most profound thinkers alive today. In "Science and the Akashic Field"
philosopher and systems theorist Irvin Laszlo shows how the discovery in
physics of the zero point energy field (zpe) which the Myofascial
perspective experiences as being centered or channel 3, is also the
discovery of the universal "information" field that is the source for all of
physical reality. The following is some scattered observations from his
book. Dr Laszlo considers the impoverished discourse of science has had a
negative impact on society and that the worldview most consider scientific
is an antiquated and obsolete view.
"For years scientists and philosophers have stated that the physical brain
is the source of consciousness, yet there is no evidence of this!"
Dr. Laszlo believes that the primary reality is the quantum field or zero
point energy field or what he calls the akashic field. The akashic field,
which underlies physical reality, is a vast sea of energy and information
that flows through us and the universe as a hologram. We were taught that
nothing travels faster than the speed of light, however; Russian physicists
have discovered "torsion waves" that travel as energy and information at the
speed at the order of 10 to the 9th power that means one billion times the
speed of light!
Remember being centered is the timeless, spaceless dimension accessed
through the subconscious via our intuition that allows us to access the
holographic field that is the memory of the universe i.e. the akashic field
or universal wisdom.
In discussing how the akashic field or zero point energy field performs in
the living organism, Dr. Laszlo states that the living organism is not a
mere biomechanical machine, the traditional paradigm. A living organism is
dynamic and fluid with all components in instant and continuous
communication. This kind of instant, system wide communication cannot be
produced by the traditional view of solely physical and chemical
interactions among molecules, genes, cells and organs. The speed with which
activating processes spread throughout the body makes reliance on
biochemistry alone insufficient.
"The conduction of signals through the nervous system cannot proceed faster
than about 20 meters per second and cannot carry a large number of diverse
signals at the same time. Yet there is evidence that the entire organism
acts as one". This instantaneous communication flows through the fluid of
the body in and around the microtubules of the fascial system. "It has been
found that this instantaneous communication is at 20,000 times the speed of
light, relativity theory's supposedly unbreakable speed barrier". To
summarize the fluid within and around the microtubules of the fascial system
(the container of our mind) carries almost instantaneous energy and
information throughout so we can function as a coordinated, balanced whole.
The fascial system is the primary communication system with the much slower
neural system, a secondary system of conduction. Our innate intelligence
flows through the fascial matrix carrying vast amounts of information,
instantly capable of storing far more information than the brain.
Traditional science still clings to the erroneous view that the connective
tissue is just an insulator even though it was proven wrong back in 1941;
instead the fascial system is a structural 3 dimensional web that holds and
conducts liquid, energy, and information. Wet connective tissue is a liquid
crystal acting as a semiconductor that is capable of potentially giving our
patients and ourselves access to the wisdom of the universe!
Fear, anger, hate, anxiety, alienation and hopelessness are not just
feelings. Neither are love, serenity and optimism. All are physiological
states that profoundly affect our health. However, as our experience has
shown us, trauma, inflammation, or unresolved emotional holding patterns,
dehydrates and tightens the fascial system. This loss of fluid and the
resultant solidification of the ground substance of the fascial system block
this important communication that eventually produces the symptoms of pain,
headaches, anxiety, restriction of motion and dis-ease.
I would like to quote from the book "The Field" by Lynne McTaggart, which
states that "In the near future the idea of using drugs or surgery to cure
anybody will seem barbaric. It has been discovered that humans emit highly
coherent photons (the tiniest particles of light.) Our DNA uses wave
frequencies of this light to drive all of the physiological processes of the
mind/body. New evidence shows the brains conversation with the body are
waves and frequencies rather than with chemical or electrical impulses
alone. Our brains are simply the retrieval and readout mechanism, of the
ultimate storage medium, the force field that surrounds us and infuses with
every cell of our body."
"In healthy individuals, the quantum light is highly organized. In people
that are ill, cancer patients for instance, have lost the organization of
this internal energy so the subatomic communication between the various
parts of the body has broken down. In effect, their light is going out. It
may be that all illness is a kind of scrambling of the frequency of this
energy."
Myofascial Release structurally and energetically opens and re-hydrates the
human fascial system of liquid light for the coherent flow of frequency,
vibration, information and organization necessary for the health and quality
of life. I'll ask you again, are you ready to move out of the dark ages of
healthcare?
Myofascial Release is a logical expansion of the very roots of the health
professions. It incorporates quantum theory and systems theory into
practice, but is does not necessitate the dismantling of traditional
healthcare. Rather, Myofascial Release represents a powerfully effective
addition of a series of concepts and techniques that enhance and mesh with
our traditional medical, dental, and therapeutic training. Myofascial
Release is not traditional therapy, nor is it alternative therapy.
Myofascial Release is authentic therapy due to the important, substantial
and tangible results it provides on all levels of human existence.
This exciting period of transition poses an important opportunity for us to
grow, as human beings while providing the quality of care our patients
deserve, allowing us all to move into authentic living and healing.
John F. Barnes, PT
About The Author:
John F. Barnes, PT, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania as a
Physical Therapist in 1960 and he holds physical therapy licenses in
Pennsylvania, Arizona, New Jersey, Delaware, Colorado, and Hawaii. John is
on the Counsel of Advisors of the American Back Society; is an Editorial
Advisor of the Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies; and is a member
of the American Physical Therapy Association.
John lectures internationally presenting the "John F. Barnes Myofascial
Release Approach" seminar series and "Advances in Spinal Diagnosis and
Treatment for the 21st Century," for the American Back Society.
He wrote the definitive book "Myofascial Release: the Search for Excellence"
in 1990. He has also been a columnist for the Physical Therapy Forum's,
"Therapeutic Insight" column; he has contributed to Physical Therapy Today
writing articles for his "Mind & Body" column; and has written several
articles for the Advance for Physical Therapists publication. John also
wrote a second book, "Healing Ancient Wounds: the Renegades Wisdom", which
was published in 2000.
John F. Barnes, PT, was named one of the most influential persons in the
therapeutic professions in the last century, in the national Massage
Magazine's featured article "Stars of the Century." John was also the
featured speaker presenting his "Myofascial Release Approach" at the
American Back Society's meeting whose theme that year was, the most
important advances in healthcare in the last century!
