My lessons at IDEA West

I just left the IDEA West personal trainer institute conference held in Seattle, Washington—one of my favorite cities to visit. The scenery and mountains are just beautiful and once again, the weather was wonderful and sunny.

This year, I decided not to hassle with having a booth or sharing MELT and the full method. Instead, I came as an educator. I simply wanted to share my knowledge of the chronic pain cycle and how people can learn to eliminate accumulated stress so they can live a better life.

I did three 75-minute sessions. The first was on avoiding the chronic pain cycle. The focus was on the brain, traditional understandings of how the brain produces pain and how the missing link of the connective tissue system is linked to pain issues and frequently a doorway into restoring balance and eliminating the pain response. It goes without saying, the chronic pain cycle is complex, confusing, and for those who suffer with pain, it’s quite resistant to traditional remedies when it comes to pain medications and pharmaceuticals. I always say pain meds are great for acute trauma. But if you have a chronic issue, they rarely work and certainly don’t eliminate the cause of pain becoming chronic. It tends to be more of a mask of feeling pain symptoms rather than a resolve for them.

The second lecture was all about my favorite topic, the connective tissue system and how it provides support, protection, and connection to all other systems of the body. I talked about recent research that has been well documented that myofascia and its tone can contribute to pain symptoms. I discussed an expanded model and how fascia provides more than connection for muscles. It is a vital system of nutrient transportation, cellular function, and assists on many different levels of our overall wellbeing and longevity of functional health.

The final lecture was about the neurological core system, the reflexive and rooting mechanisms of involuntary stability, and how imbalances in these mechanisms can cause shoulder and pelvic instability and pain. I showed them a demo of the rebalance sequence, some lower body compression and length, shared MELT techniques to restore the sliding surfaces and elastic properties of the fascial system.

You can never really tell if people have taken the info in so they can leave with a different perspective on their own health and that of their clients. I did my best to share a lot of ideas in a very short period of time. It was nice to see some familiar faces as well while out on the left coast..

Although I didn’t get to see some of my favorite presenters in the industry, I heard Pete Twist, Chuck Wolf, and even Jillian Michaels were there sharing their knowledge and influencing the attendees at IDEA.

For those of you who are curious about IDEA, their next event is in July at the IDEA World Convention in Los Angeles, CA. I will be there to stop by and say hello if you are out on the west coast this summer! I will be doing some MELT sessions so you can experience MELT for yourself and meet some of our amazing instructors!