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About

Dynamic Balance

Understanding the complexities of muscle tension, muscle stress and why there is pain, is the Dynamic Balance approach. You don’t learn how to fix this in books, you have to spend years working with all kinds of bodies in various states of stress to massage balance back into a body.

Your body is a delicately balanced robust, intelligent system.

Most bodies have pain because they are out of balance. This usually happens because you have moved too much or because you have moved too little.

You see we are highly adaptive, we can change/train our nervous system, our muscles, ligaments and particularly the fascia, that amazing connective tissue that holds everything together. This is what allows us, through training, to develop incredible skills and do amazing complex athletic events. If however we spend our time sitting, as many of us must do, our bodies respond to that demand too and we train our beautiful complex adaptive bodies to be the occupants of a chair.

Without balance we develop stress and pain.

Too much of the same movement and we overdevelop one system leaving another weak and stressed....pain.

Too little movement and the body develops weaknesses, it builds a static support system that does not support circulation......pain.

If we add the life stresses that manifest in body tension to this mix we get ....pain.

We believe that massage, movement and an understanding of your own body can give you the tools required to be pain free.

PLATO (c.428-348 B.C.)

"The cure of the part should not be attempted without treatment of the whole. No attempt should be made to cure the body without the soul, and if the head and body are to be healthy you must begin by curing the mind, for this is the greatest error of our day in the treatment of the human body that physicians first separate the soul from the body."

Therapies

collage of massaging images

Dynamic Balance aims not only to relieve painful symptoms, but also to address, where possible, the source issue within the body, ensuring a more complete recovery for our clients.

The sum of the parts is greater than that of the whole. We can stick to one particular therapy but we will normally use elements from all of the therapies described below using the best techniques to treat our clients:

  • Deep Tissue Massage
  • Spinal Touch
  • The Dorn Method
  • Movement Correction Exercises
  • Kinesiology
  • Hyperton X
  • Trigger Point Release
  • Myofascial Release
  • Exercise Prescription

Massage Techniques

The area of discomfort may just be the manifestation of structural stresses. By understanding the Dynamic Balance of the body, different techniques can be used to stretch and stimulate specific structures, lengthen muscles, loosen adhesions, dissipating pain and restore a fuller range of motion.

Movement Prescription

We all learned to move via the reflexes that were hardwired into our infant systems. Tapping into that system with simple exercise prescriptions can re-establish healthy movement patterns, and assist the rebalance

Furthermore the increase in circulation promotes healing and encourages a truly dynamic recovery.

spinal massage

Dorn Method

The Dorn method is a simple non invasive, gentle method of correcting misalignments in the spinal column and joints. The clients’ muscles are actively involved in pulling the systems back into place – just as they were involved in pulling them out.

image 5

Spinal Touch

Spinal Touch is a method of correcting postural distortion by adjusting the sacrum so that the body’s natural centre of balance is in line with its centre of gravity.

image 8

Barefoot Movement

When walking barefoot or in "barefoot shoes", we move differently than we would in a cushioned or heeled shoe. (Consider how you walk around a swimming pool). Importantly the stresses/load of or body weight and movement distributes through the body differently. Our posture therefore is indicative of this load distribution. Healthy distribution minimises stress on the muscles and joints and reduces wear and tear. Understanding how your posture is affecting your pain can be crucial to moving with ease. When we move with balanced posture we tone muscles, increase sensory perception and strengthen core.

image 4

Manual Lymphatic Drainage

The Lymphatic System is a network of channels throughout the body that carries fluid, containing all the healing and repair cells, to wherever they are needed. Then collects the debris when their work is done. It is vital to health. It gets overworked when it is stressed out by injury, surgery, illness and it gets sluggish when we have overindulged! Encouraging the fluid along with specific, very gentle movement, can make us feel much better and speed recovery.

image 5

Kinesiology

Kinesiology is a simple, safe and precise muscle testing procedure that can be used to recognise physiological and energy imbalances within the body and rectify them. We most often use Hyperton-X which is a branch of kinesiology used to selectively test muscles for imbalance or inhibition due to injury or overuse. Then we use movement and breathing to bring them back online.

Therapists

Michele smiling at the camera

Michele Hall

"I qualified as a fitness instructor some 25 years ago and was drawn to the subject of injury prevention. Pursuing this, I began to learn more about injury occurrence and treatment. If you can break a system with movement it is likely you will ultimately be able to fix it with movement too. However a little hands-on therapy can really speed up the process. I moved into massage therapy 7 years later and I have been collecting recognised methods, and creating my own integrated techniques, ever since.

Every body is a unique puzzle and collection of stresses from movement imbalances and life imbalances and every body reacts to different release methods. Figuring out that puzzle and solving it with my clients is what the Dynamic Balance methodology is all about.

I have worked in the health industry and trained with the NHS in Health Promotion, Health Assessment and in Smoking Cessation. I have also done advanced Reiki in India. I recognise that stresses of all kinds manifest in the body and I am ever mindful and respectful that I am often dealing with life issues as well as structural issues."

Sharon smiling and taking a selfie outdoors

Sharon Iacono

"My original training in movement practice is Classical Ashtanga Yoga. I was a student in yoga for over 20 years before I took the next step to become a teacher around 5 years ago. I have been working and adding to my teaching practice for almost 5 years now since I qualified. In that time I have studied; Yin Yoga, Therapeutic Yoga, Forrest Inspired Yoga, Vinyasa, Functional Movement and Indoor Cycling.

I love to be a student as well as a teacher and I have taken many different anatomy courses to top up my knowledge. I like to attend a variety of workshops and do a lot of CPD as well as attend as many different classes as I can. I find that there is so much to learn from different disciplines and approaches.

When I’m not on my yoga mat, you might find me cycling up a mountain in Spain, clambering up a wall at Alien Rock, sweating it out on the spin bike or walking my two rescue dogs.

I consider myself a mixed movement teacher. I have recently ventured into the world of mobility, strength training and functional movement. As I continue to add to my knowledge and practice, and work with people from different fields, I know that I am developing a more rounded healthy movement practice to support my body and mind. I can now pass what I have learned to my clients whether they be sports people, who put pressure on the muscles, fascia and joints, or those with daily movement issues.

As I teach a lot of sports specific yoga and movement classes, I often deal with people who have injuries and specific areas they want to work on. This has lead me to change my style of teaching to be more functional and led me to begin to explore various forms of complimentary massage. After a 10 month course with Michele Hall of Dynamic Balance, I became curious as to how manual therapy could be combined to aid our movement practices, whether it be yoga, strength training, running, cycling, etc,as well as a stand alone therapy for those who are restricted in their movement. It therefore seemed a logical next step to formalise my massage training with a Sports Massage qualification. With this accomplished the internship programme with Michele will help to practice, build and sharpen my new skills.

I am also be offering customised 1:1 deep release sessions especially for movement practitioners, combining manual therapy and stretch practice to help with difficulty accessing poses or restrictions in their movement.

This is a direction I have been looking to move towards for a while now and I am so excited to be working with Michele at the clinic in The Club."

Massage Courses/Club

Michele believes in empowering people to look after themselves and to look after others. The key is understanding why your body doesn’t work so well and what it takes to bring it back into healthy balance. It isn’t not just about making people move it’s about giving them maintenance tools in their movement regime.

hands on back

Massage for Movers

This is a course for movement professionals who want to be able to offer a little hands on help for their clients.

The participants learn how to perform quality deep tissue massage and explore muscle and joint release techniques that can be used in a gym or at home setting. Emphasis is on how to use posture and body weight to get the best from your technique. For this reason, graduated professionals, who wish to explore new techniques, and interested amateurs are both welcome and have benefitted from the process.

10 classes of 2 hours duration are spaced out over roughly 6 months. We keep the timings as convenient as possible for the group. Classes are small and can be customised for the group.

All of those who have completed the course are invited to join the the Mad for Massage Club. This not only keeps developing skills but ensures that they enjoy a regular massage. Here are a few of their quotes:

Massage Course - collage of hands on back Massage Course - collage of hands on back

How do I get involved?

Details of the next courses are available on the Dynamic Balance Facebook Page.
If you are interested in getting involved you can also enquire via email.

Michele Hall and Dean Montague

Internship

Michele firmly believes that the massage industry desperately needs an internship programme for all new affiliates. The graduating therapist, even with an advanced remedial qualification, has a long road ahead. It is difficult to retain clients without experience and it is difficult to get experience without clients.

Michele started her internship programme partly to lighten her workload. Now having taught several very competent therapists and helped them launch their own career, Michele is amazed at how much she has learned through the process and is thrilled to be working with another talented and devoted therapist.

Michele Hall and Deanne Tomasino

The Mad for Massage Club

Those who had completed the Massage for Movers course found that they missed their get togethers and wanted to continue to develop their skills. So now we meet every 6 weeks or so and are joined by other massage professionals and students to enjoy a group learning experience as well as a nice treatment. Why wouldn’t you?

We welcome new members.

Details of the next courses are available on the Dynamic Balance Facebook Page.
If you are interested in getting involved you can also enquire via email.

Workshops

The Access Army of Fully Functional Supple Ninja Leopards Access Movement Workshop Big Class

Back in the Game

We affectionately refer to this as our BIG class. It is for grown-ups!

It has been designed to help deal with the issues seen most often in any body therapists' clinic.

We designed this workshop series in response to a space in the market for people who would like to enjoy a good, natural, healthy body that they can then take out to enjoy their favourite activity without having to deal with constant breakdown, injury, and discomfort

Although the format is like most exercise classes with a warm up, a work section, and a cool down at the end it is more like a weekly workshop. Some come just for hip classes and some come just for the shoulders. Many will come along, learn the moves, and do them in their own time. Like adding tools to their own exercise box!

Everyone knows that lifestyle has a huge impact on our bodies. Our clever adaptive bodies struggle with the task of sitting in front of a terminal and try to make us chair shaped to deal with this. They also struggle with repetitive movement required in some fields of work and even in some sports. Our aim is to take the chair back out, balance the repetitive movement and return the hunter/gatherer body that is fit to enjoy life.

Access Movement Workshop Big Class

Each week we work on a different area of the body. The format is:

  1. Shoulder - This involves a lot of deep stretching, opening the shoulder girdle to its full range of motion. It's a good stress reliever and an excellent way to reduce the symptoms of tight and even frozen shoulders, neck pain and tension headache.
  2. Hips - Many issues that show up as back pain or knee pain originate in the rigidity of hips that have lost their range of motion. The stress of this literally pulls the lower back out of shape and makes it rigid or results in the knee compensating and absorbing a torque that causes early wear and tear. Returning that suppleness and also the necessary strength into the thighs ensures that these major muscles can stop relying on the poor old back to do their work!
  3. Core and others - I despair of the lack of core stability in the modern human frame. All the sit ups, crunches, and power plates in the planet are not going to begin to initiate the incredible multi-functional muscle system. We employ a different approach. We innervate the core using the reflex system, the way it was started up in infancy. It is simple, it is clever and it is fun.

I chose the most natural sport in the world as my basis for this class, Parkour. Parkour is simply an extension of play. It is how we all learned to move in the first place, and therefore we know that all of these moves are in us. The supple, energetic, responsive body of youth has been overlaid with years of abuse and our aim is to unpick these layers and loosen off the congestion to give you a body you can work with.

Who runs it?

The class is instructed by Hedge, who runs a very successful parkour school, Edinburgh's first. Hedge is a keen observer of movement and has a good scientific understanding of how the body is supposed to work. He works in schools all over Edinburgh and in facilities throughout Scotland bringing health and fun back into movement.

Content is overseen by Michele Hall of Dynamic Balance. Michele has been involved in the fitness and health field for 22 years (long enough to have seen a lot of crazy stuff come and go!) Michele has concentrated on bodywork and worked as a therapist for the last 16 years. Michele believes in the potential of everyone to feel good in their body and that everyone should be able to enjoy their body without pain. However, sometimes getting to that point does involve some discomfort!

Who else comes?

We have attendees who are:

  • Broken from martial arts
  • Broken from football
  • Broken from office chairs
  • Retired and here to keep themselves in shape to enjoy their golf
  • Professional sprinters
  • Just older bodies who refuse to allow themselves to become old stiffies
  • Tradesmen damaged by the job
  • Recuperating from injury or surgery
  • Getting their muscles in good nick before surgery
  • People who like to think a little differently and this class feels good
  • People who would like to get into parkour but they aren’t quite fit enough yet

All are welcome as long as they are grown up.

How do I book?

You can book via the Access Parkour Website:

Access Parkour Logo
Access Movement Workshop Access Movement Workshop Man of Steel Access Movement Workshop Stretch

Access to Movement

What do we offer?

A reboot start up solution for you and your clients. A simple set of moves for you that will get everyone moving naturally and back in the game.

Those working in the sports and movement world will be aware that there are many clients who turn up who are simply unable to move well. This can be because;

  • They have been sedentary for a longtime and their bodies have adapted and simply forgot how to move well.
  • Perhaps they have taken part in a specialised sport, recreation or professional skill that has taught specific movement patterns that have ultimately become so dominant that correct or healthy movement is is no longer available to them.
  • Some people were not active children, didn’t take part in body challenging play and have never developed movement skills. (Sadly, this is now often seen in the younger generation)

These individuals are often uncomfortable and usually injury prone. They are often discouraged by their inconsistent progress and can be more challenging for Fitness Professionalss and Therapists to work with.

We are offering a solution for movement specialists and sports people.

This workshop gives you easy tools to re-vamp/energise/initiate healthy movement. With this you and your client can move on to enjoy fitter healthier and more natural bodies.

Shoulder skeleton

Shoulder Girdle Release

I have built up a lot of cheeky, simple techniques over the long years that can easily be used to self-correct, to help clients, or to work with/on a partner.

In the course of this 2 hour workshop we will discover and practice:

  1. Skeletal correction techniques.
  2. Joint balancing moves.
  3. Muscle releases.

The outcome is to gain range of movement, increase power and make you feel good.

  • Open the shoulders
  • Free the neck
  • Balance the thoracic vertebrae

Suitable for:

  • Movement professionals working with clients or partners
  • Anyone who wants to understand how to look after their own and a partner's health.

This workshop runs for 2 hours with time at the end to hang, share, and practice if you wish.

No qualifications are necessary.

Hip skeleton

Releasing the Pelvis

Hip hip hooray!

This is about understanding that we are not all made the same but we can maximise our anatomy for the fullest most comfortable range of motion.

You will learn:

  • A hands-on release for that hip flexor
  • What to do with the tilted pelvis
  • Balance the lumbar spine
  • How to correct a wonky sacrum.

The outcome is a fuller range of motion, deep release and better balance.

Suitable for:

  • Movement professionals working with clients or partners
  • Anyone who wants to understand how to look after their own and a partner's health.

This workshop runs for 2 hours with time at the end to hang, share, and practice if you wish.

No qualifications are necessary.

Barefoot Running Blog

Michele Hall and Deanne Tomasino

Michele, who is a qualified Barefoot Running coach, writes a blog which gives hints and tips on barefoot running, natural posture, movement and remedial exercise advice.

To read the latest articles, click on the link below.

Barefoot Running Scotland blog

Contact

phone icon Tel: Michele Hall - 07973 621052
phone icon Tel: Dean Montague - 07999 359437
email icon Email: info@dynamic‑balance.co.uk
facebook icon Dynamic Balance: Facebook
web icon Website: www.dynamic‑balance.co.uk

Dynamic Balance were invited to move into a brand new therapy space at The Club in November 2016.

After more than 12 years working from the MES Sports centre in Ravelston we are happy to be in this very special Club. There is some free parking available outside, and free parking on the street.

If you are arriving for the first time or if you are early go straight to reception at no 44 where someone will be happy to help. If you are already familiar with the layout you can go directly to the clinic by coming in at the glass doors beside 46.

The Club,
44 - 46 West Bowling Green Street,
Edinburgh,
EH6 5PB.