My Assessment

Lambert van Buuren

My knowledge and expertise

Holistic Health

My assessment concerning my knowledge and expertise in Massage therapy, Pilates, movement therapy, and dance, is my express interest and purpose to articulate the need for helping people recover from discomforts such as neck, shoulder, low back, hip and knee pain. My expertise in the techniques I have developed in massage and movement therapy, allows me to relieve various shooting pain and numbness that starts in the neck and travels out to the shoulder, down the arms to the fingers. My techniques can relieve low back, hip, knee and some forms of sciatic never pain by realigning the hips and strengthening the core muscles and lengthening the spine. I have used my knowledge and years of expertise to help many clients over time return to a healthier active life with little or no pain.

My knowledge of Massage therapy, Pilates and Movement therapy (as I like to refer to it) came full circle beginning in 2002-05. After being laid off my corporate job; while unemployed, I requested retraining after a work related injury. I actually took up massage when I was in my early 20’s. I was naive to the information that massage was a way for men to have sex without paying for prostitution or letting their wives know. I became discouraged and only massaged people I knew who truly wanted or needed the relaxation. Nearly thirty years passed before massage would be seen for more than sexual. So back in 02 I was certified and then licensed to start my own practice. I was now helping people help themselves using my knowledge of Pilates, Massage and my knowledge as a dance teacher for 28 years (meaning: my knowledge of the human body and how it moves) as a therapy. Keep in mine that being certified and teaching dance for 28 years, I had to learn the anatomy of the human body and the understanding of how we humans move our bodies regardless of shape and size.

My Masters degree allowed me to continue to teach at the college level but I was limited in teaching units, which kept me from earning a comfortable income. I became a Master Storyteller, recorded four CD’s of Bruh Rabbit, and wrote twenty unpublished stories. Later I came to realize it was unfortunate that I did not focus enough on dance in my Masters degree. The degree did not include enough information on choreography and movement; therefore, the degree is seen as a “subject less” Masters in Education because in the 90’s things at the education level changed once again. Slow but surly educational institutions were becoming a business by fashioning itself along the lines of the corporate world.

More over, chapter V in my Masters’ thesis was entitled, “The language of Dance”, which I thought was acceptable at the time. I learned over time, I should have focus more on the curative powers of dance. At any rate, I stated in chapter V of my degree “the function of dance was more than entertainment”. I spoke on how movement call dance was preformed in every walk of life and I supported my ideas with documentation. I am now the living proof that dance has preserved the muscle tone and strength of my body. I have danced all of my life, from my mothers’ living room as a child; in college dance studios as a student; on the stages of many college theaters as a dancer and choreographer and in many dance studios as an Instructor and Educator, at the college level.

My determination to dance began in my first year of college in 1970. My family and I had just return from Germany where I lived for 3 years and graduated High school. My fathers’ military career stationed him in Fort Ord, central California; I was 17 years old and starting college. I would be the first one in my family to go to college. My interest was Art and Dance; I wanted to be an Artist! Unbeknownst to me there were an uncountable number of artist in central California, whose work was far superior to mine. There were thousands of Art schools in California alone and I was not good enough, so I turned my attention to dance; it came natural to me. My first dance class was Modern dance at Monterey Peninsula College. I had no idea that dance was so structured and the music had to be counted. This counting of beats was at best strange, we African Americans did not count the beat; we felt the beat, we became one with the music. Which brings me back to my statement that dance is more than just entertainment. African dance found, me in my early 20’s! Once again, I could dance and feel the movement. The sound of the drum would massage my heart, my lungs filled with the air of life and I could dance without getting tired, because the spirit of dance would take over allowing me to experience the possession of the movement. For the first time in my life, I have come to understanding that all my life, I have been possessed with the spirit of dance and is why dance came to me so naturally.

The spirit of dance would lead me to Alvin Ailey’s dance troupe, who would teach master dance classes at the San Jose Performing Arts Center every year. I went for the sheer pleasure of learning their clever techniques of movement that allowed me to move through space effortlessly. It made me feel like a butterfly and look good doing it. I knew I was not good enough to be in this professional troupe, but I would learn technique from the star dancers of this famous troupe. I would take this information back to the classes I taught at the colleges. The techniques I learned, helped my students properly align their bodies as they to learn how to move through the weightlessness of space and time.

One of the most important parts of dance is the warm up. It prepares the muscles and joints for rigorous movement and allows one to focus the mine and channel energy so one can concentrate on movement. I wanted my students to have the understanding that came from the very essences of Alvin Ailey’s troupe. Every move, from the down-to-earth to the magnificent, has an effect on the body. Dance moves increase the bodies’ strength, its flexibility and give rise to self-awareness and an endorphin induce exhilaration of movement. After every dance class, be you the teacher or learner, we all felt the afterglow that comes from exerting ones selves. Dance is the curative power one experiences in releasing stagnant energy and toxins from the body and is the reason why we sweat. Dance has an impact on the quality of breathing, rhythm and ability to relax while moving. It is one of the forms of movement that is uniquely holistic that uses the entire body. All over the world people dance so that we can fulfill the longing of an artistic rich experience given to us by the spirits of movement. What is experienced in dance, even in the moderately simple movement of standing on your toes will simultaneously lengthen, strengthen and stretch the spine, the gluteus muscles, the abductor thigh muscle, the quadriceps, the hamstrings, the ankles and feet.

Dance is the therapy that has perseveres the very fiber of my 57-year-old body. I call it the “Curative Powers of Dance”. Every time I raised or extended my arms beyond my fingertips, and/or raise my torsos, I would lengthen my spine and strengthen the muscles of my upper body. Each time I extended a leg and pointed my foot beyond my toes my legs got stronger. Each time I would lift my legs I would use the techniques I learned to lengthen my spine and strengthen my core to bring muscle power to my body. It is my experience that the Curative Powers of Dance holds the psychological power of expression. I have choreographed many pieces that captivated the audience and filled them with emotions they were not aware would surface simply by watching a dance designed to do just that, make them feel. Another psychological power of dance builds self-esteem, as several women from the Woman’s Studies program pasted through my classes over the years, word got back to me that I helped build self-esteem. Woman taking my classes experienced a lift in their self-esteem, they said their teacher assured them they too had the power and the strength to dance and express them selves. And that is the reward a teacher gets, what a pleasure to know you helped someone.

Let me turn your attention to Pilates. In accordance to the protégé of Josephs Pilates, Romana Kryzanowka and her daughter Sari Mejia who stated that Pilates has proven itself since 1945, as an effective and safe method of exercise, when taught and applied correctly. It has been the workout of choice for dancers, gymnasts and fitness enthusiasts for decades. In recent years, the name Pilates became the word Pilates and has worked itself into the mainstream, the direct result of an intellectual property lawsuit in which a United States Federal court rules that the term "Pilates" was a generic and free for unrestricted use. Search engine results are now in the millions as numerous organizations have entered the market to capitalize on the latest fitness trend and individuals across the globe look to benefit from Joe’s unique approach to health and fitness. As a result, consumers now face extensive and conflicting information about what Pilates is, how it works, and what credentials they should seek in an instructor.

I have stayed true to my training in Pilates; even though it was not quite True Pilates. My training is by far the same breathing techniques used by True Pilates' training and not the lack of breathing techniques numerous organizations that have entered the market to capitalize on a fitness trends use. I teach Pilates classes week every semester at the college. In teaching Pilates, I have many students that express their concerns over knowing who to take Pilates from as many gyms and fitness centers have teachers adding Pilates to their workout programs. Adding Pilates to a workout program is an invite to injury. This is because students are not being taught the proper breathing technique and many are finding that they are hurting their low backs or some other part of their body. Alternatively, students are reporting that Pilates is too hard and it hurts. I now tell my students if you are not being taught the correct breathing technique or Pilates is mixed into a workout or routine it is not True Pilates and yes, it is easier to sustain an injury.

With that said, let us turn our attention to Massage and the use of Pilates as therapy. Instead of boasting how these great holistic methods are beneficial and so on and so forth, I wish to speak on the benefits of the healing process via therapy. When a client comes to me for bodywork, I ask where they hurt and for how long; what their working conditions are; do they mostly sit or stand at work; do they use a laptop and so on and so forth. I then examine the affected area by palpating the muscles. This in turn permits me to feel their skeletal alignment. As I do so, I follow along the affected area back to the root of the muscle or joint. I check the cervical spine for misalignment. I palpate the back muscles and the vertebrae for curvature and check for misalignment in the pelvis. I also check the length of the legs to see if one is longer than the other leg. This exam allows me to determine how I will relieve the tension of the muscles and depending on what I find, I ask them if they are seeing a doctor or chiropractor. There are Pilates moves such as the “double leg lift” that can be used to test for muscle weakness. After testing for muscle weakness I can design a non-abrasive exercise routine using Pilates and movement therapy to strengthen core muscles and lengthen the spine.

I suppose I do need to speak about the usefulness of massage techniques. First and foremost, never strain! Deep tissue massage is not about hard work it is, rather learning how to move and stretch the fascia tissue and the connective tissue to give the muscle room to stretch back into their natural state. In other words, massage allows the muscles to relax. Massage improves circulation and the flow of the Lymphatic system. It promotes improvement in posture and effectively help tissues retain its flexibility/elasticity. It is my expressed opinion that massage is best learned by palpating the muscle. With the use of books that describe and illustrate the anatomy one can learn to navigate and gain the correct orientation of the human body. This allows a thorough understanding of the location and interrelationship of the bodies’ structure. I learned to let my hands and my senses explore the geography and terrain of the human body. This alone allowed me to apply the many massage techniques I use as a form of holistic therapy.

The combination of my knowledge in Massage, Pilates and Movement has grown over the years and my goal is to share these techniques of holistic healing on can use to "heal thy self!"

If you have questions or comments please let me know.

Thank you Lambert van Buuren