WHAT IS ORTHO-BIONOMY?

Ortho-Bionomy is a modality of bodywork which affirms the body’s own inherent wisdom as the primary path to healing. Literally translated as “correct life study”, Ortho-Bionomy was founded in the late 1970s by Arthur Lincoln Pauls, an osteopathic doctor. Osteopathy is a 100-year-old health care system in which doctors address the body as a whole, not one specific part. Like Ortho-Bionomy, osteopathy’s primary principles are prevention and helping the body heal itself.

Our bodies often have difficulty maintaining a balanced, healthy, and tension-free state of being. This imbalance can show up in a variety of ways. For example, chronic headaches, insomnia, digestive problems, back pain, insufficient energy, and joint pain are a few common ailments. The purpose of Ortho-Bionomy is not to rid the body of stress and imbalance, yet to promote a more continuous ebb and flow, connectedness, and resiliency within our bodies to respond to these stressors. Using a gentle and non-invasive approach, Ortho-Bionomy reminds the body where ease of movement, health, healing, and balance are found. When the body is reminded of this state of ease, a natural reflex occurs in the body. This reflex allows the body to let go of the unnecessary, painful patterns and return to a place of balance.

Ortho-Bionomy works directly with the body’s nervous system in order to re-educate the body on a cellular level. It is helpful in integrating the physical, mental, and emotional experiences of the body and allowing these experiences to all communicate and have a relationship with each other. Ortho-Bionomy promotes natural body alignment, eases stress, and encourages relaxation.Ortho-Bionomy is about listening on a deeper level to what is, not what potentially could be, or what should be.

Awareness of the body by the body is essential for the wellness work of Ortho-Bionomy to occur. This awareness enables a practitioner to support an individual’s own wisdom and healing from within.True change takes place when the whole body is considered and honored, when mindfulness is applied to all aspects of the way the body presents itself, both in comfort and in pain. Once it is understood that the body wants to be healed and our work is to allow it to return to a healed state, there is an attitudinal change that helps positive energy flow and heal.

WHAT IS A TYPICAL SESSION LIKE?

Ortho-Bionomy is done on a massage table, fully clothed. Typically sessions are one hour in length. Loose, comfortable clothing is recommended for full range of movement. There is NO PAIN executed in any part of Ortho-Bionomy. The practitioner works with the client to find a place of ease and comfort for the body.

In a typical Ortho-Bionomy session, practitioners work with the client to find a position of ease and comfort for the body. Some of the techniques used to facilitate these positions include: gentle movement or compression of the joints, energetic connection with the body, isometrics, movements to facilitate flow, and teaching self-care exercises.

Ortho-Bionomy gently exaggerates preferred positions of the body, which allows the body to notice where it is against where it needs to be. In other words, it recognizes its imbalance and finds its way back to balance through self-corrective reflexes.

An important element in each session is communication with the client–the listening process. Ortho-Bionomy always works away from pain and towards ease and comfort. The body is never forced into change, which can cause it to fight or resist in opposition. Ortho-Bionomy works with the body, not against it.Each Ortho-Bionomy session is specific to each person’s individual needs. No two sessions are alike.

HISTORY OF ORTHO-BIONOMY

Ortho-Bionomy was developed by Arthur Lincoln Pauls (1929-1997). Pauls was a Judo instructor who developed injuries as a result of his practice. He received such excellent healing from an osteopathic doctor that this led Pauls to study to become an osteopath as well. During his study at an osteopathic school in England, Pauls read a paper by an American osteopath named Lawrence Jones titled “Spontaneous Release by Positioning”.  Jones found that by putting the body in a place of comfort and maintaining stillness in that position for 90 seconds, the body would automatically release its pain. His technique is now called “Strain/Counterstrain” and is practiced by many physical therapists worldwide.

Pauls was fascinated with these findings and began to experiment and expand on this theory. Among other components, Pauls added compression to the position as well as an energetic quality to the work. He also included isometric and isotonic movements along with self-care exercises. He began teaching this technique in the late 1970s and named it Ortho-Bionomy. Today, there is a 500+ hour program of study and practice in order to be certified as a Practitioner of Ortho-Bionomy. There are over 200 practitioners of Ortho-Bionomy throughout the U.S. and the Society of Ortho-Bionomy International exists to help promote Pauls’ work. (www.ortho-bionomy.org).