Energy, Meridians and Health

 

Meridians in the body are like the electrical wires in your home. Acupuncture points are like the switches and chakras are like the circuit breakers.

There are 12 common paired energy meridians, which are named after organs or glands in each of us. Each of these meridians in the body is like an electrical circuit in the home, and has within it a number of switches, plug points and a circuit breaker that will trip if there is an overload. In the body specific organs, glands and muscles are activated and energised by each meridian. If there is a block or overload along or relating to the meridian any of these may experience impaired function or complete malfunction. This is when disease is diagnosed.

For example, if one manifests chronic pain in the neck and/or has Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD) digestive problems, it could be an imbalance of the energy that flows in the stomach meridian. The neck muscles and the stomach (organ) are overseen by energy meridian labelled ‘stomach’.

The MYYO Technique takes all the levels, tangible and subtle, of human existence into account to bring balance and harmony back to the client. Often when this is carried out the chronic pain and/or disease is alleviated at the source and cause. Hence the MYYO Technique does not mask symptoms but rather it removes the problem.

The six levels of health that the MYYO practitioner will check are the physical body level; the energy level; the emotional level; the chemistry of the client like hydration, nutrition, and toxins; the mental and spiritual levels. If imbalances are discovered in any of these layers they are corrected in specific ways to ensure that people can “Live Life Painlessly” on all levels.

SternoCleido..what...? A Neck Muscle

The Sternocleidomastoid muscle runs from the mastoid process at the occiput to collar bone and sternum bones on both sides of the neck. If it harbours trigger points it can be the source of many a problem, even though it is seldom painful itself.

Some of the problems that manifest are frontal headaches, ear pain, facial pain, jaw tension, TMJ pain, and even stranger symptoms, like dizziness, brain fog, blurry vision, redness or tearing of eye/s or drooping eyelids, sinus pain! Pain may also be felt in the chest area or there can be hearing loss and/or ear pain.

Also fascinating is that trigger points in the SCM can affect the inner ear, causing balance problems such as dizziness, fainting, staggering, or even falling. The dizziness can last from seconds to hours following stretching or using the SCM. This can also create nausea, but not usually vomiting. The proprioceptors in the SCM signal the brain about the orientation of the head in relation to the body, so when there are trigger points in the clavicular branch of the SCM, the brain gets faulty information, creating the dizziness.

Very near to the SCM in the neck are feedback mechanisms called baroreceptors. These are responsible for correcting blood pressure (baro = pressure, as in barometer) when it gets too high, to protect the brain and heart. They are not in the SCM but nearby to the SCM, in the walls of the blood vessels (here: the carotid arch of the carotid artery). It is these miraculous structures that protect the brain from being flooded with blood in the inversions in yoga like, shoulderstand, headstand etc.

Massaging or applying pressure (as we do in MYYO) to the SCM can result in pressure to the baroreceptors if done too deeply or too hard. Practitioners need to remember the 5:5 rule - no more the 5 on the SUDS and no longer than 5 seconds of holding the TPs on neck and face!! You should not feel a pulse at all because you are then on or near the artery. Perhaps dizziness experienced at the MYYO treatment of these muscles is due to the blood pressure dropping too rapidly or false feedback from the proprioceptors to the brain.

Some activities and reasons why trigger points form in the SCM muscles:

• Looking upwards in overhead activities
• Keeping the head turned to one side
• Forward head posture
• Computer monitor off to one side
• Holding phone with shoulder
• Stomach sleeping
• Heavy lifting
• Falls and whiplash
• Tight collar
• A short leg or scoliosis or awkward posture
• Stress and asymmetrical muscle tension
• Chronic cough or asthma
• Chest breathing

Stress may also play a big part in chronic muscle pain. Ongoing ‘low-grade’ stress from worries, anxiety, phobias etc may eventually create pain in either the postural muscles of the body or the smaller muscles, causing ailments like fibromyalgia or others. If you are hydrating yourself with sufficient water everyday, eating nutritious foods, exercising and regularly having MYYO treatments to de-trigger muscle knots…… then perhaps you need to distress with a session of EFTapping.

For further info see: www.myyo.co.za OR www.eft.org.za

Become a MYYO Technique Practitioner

This training has been arranged to suit everyone. The only pre-requisite is that you have a matric education - and a passion for helping people. An open-hearted, compassionate approach is always of benefit in any healing modality.


The training to become a practitioner of this healing technique entails the following:

a good knowledge of human anatomy and physiology - especially the structural system of the body, which is the muscular and skeletal systems

an understanding of working with people in a therapeutic way and how to set up your healing practice

an understanding that the human being is not just a physical body, but is made up of various layers

the technique of MYYO developed by Anne Combrinck

If you have been trained as a Yoga Teacher or in another therapy you should have knowledge of the first three. Therefore it is the MYYO Technique that you require. If you do not have this knowledge we will train you in them in an initial pre-module.


Training in the MYYO Technique - the steps

the foundational training is a 4-day module

the intermediate training is also a 5-day module where we refine and specialise the foundational training, as well as learn new refinement hands-on techniques.

update modules and MYYO Practitioners days are available for Continuing Education

specialised deeper tachniques and self-care trainings are also available to keep you updated in the technique and to always strive for improving your practice. These also are for Continuing Education.

All the above modules which are the hands-on, practical part of the training takes place in Somerset West, Western Cape. The theory and theory examinations take place at your home over the internet.
For dates of trainings see: www.myyo.co.za

MYYO Technique and Yoga

Sometimes after a yoga class we feel really good and the body is flexible and relaxed. Sometimes if we have strained ourselves and try using yoga to 'stretch it out' we may feel worse after the class. Why is this??


This is a likely reason:
If one has active trigger points within a muscle after a recent or 'long-ago'' injury, these may be activated by stretching. MYYO Technique is a way to release these muscle knots or trigger points and after that the muscle is stretched in a specific manner to keep that muscle from re-knotting and therefore the trigger point is de-activated. The client is given home-work stretches to do afterwards to prevent the re-occurrence.


A simple explanation
If one ties a rope between 2 trees, one tree is rigid and strong and one tree is young and flexible, and give the rope a tug. The most likely outcome is that the flexible tree would bend and give and the old tree would remain upright. Once the rope is released the young tree returns to its upright position.

Now if one ties a few knots into the same rope, the young tree would remain bent after the rope was released due to the shortened effect of the rope (by the knots). If one then pulls the young tree upright again there would be immense tightening and strain on the rope, the fibres on either side of the knots would take strain and may even start to tear due to this overstretching. This is similar to what happens in the muscles when there are trigger points (knots), and if they are not released the muscle is jeopardised and a worse injury may result. The other effect is that muscle flexibility is compromised - those tight hamstrings that never seem to lengthen... yes, you're right they are most likely full of trigger points.


Benefits of having a MYYO treatment on your Yoga practice
One word - flexibility !!!

The MYYO Technique practitioner will release the trigger points in areas of your body and pain is released along with them as well as an increase in flexibility.