On July 2, 2017, the three-day workshop was able to finish without incident. I wrote about the first day in “For What Purpose Is Technique Used?“
On the first day, the shoulders and the area around the neck; on the second day, a session with an invited client; and on the third day, the iliopsoas, the hamstrings, and the cranium — each was learned in detail. Despite being a three-day workshop, being able to experience a session with an invited client is also valuable.
What was common across the three days was that something like a guide to “how the body should be looked at” was given.
For example, before a client session began, there was a guide such as: which part of the spine’s curve is restricted? When the body cavities are divided into four, which cavity is restricted? After everyone did Body Reading of each client, the points were explained, and how to approach the session was explained in detail.
Some people can intuitively understand right away, on the spot, what should be done from looking at the body — but not everyone can do that. He also said that what everyone can do, rather, is to sharpen the sense of the hands, and to learn how to approach the body accurately.
For example: “With what test is the problem of frozen shoulder clarified?” After two simple tests, what muscles are in the shoulder and with what way of touching are they addressed? Starting from a large muscle (the latissimus dorsi), the method of approaching the fine muscles around the scapula (the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres major, and serratus anterior) is clarified.
Where the effective places are — surprisingly little known — Peter explained simply, based on his many years of clinical experience, and this was impressive.
Finally, I was able to learn what the content of the Advanced Training is and what should be learned in advance. What was unexpected was that he said it is better to approach it with an understanding of the position of the viscera and of how to approach the viscera.
For example, the shoulder is connected through the fascia by way of the psoas major, the kidney, the liver, and the diaphragm, so if something is restricted, restriction appears in movement.
By looking at the body as a whole, there is an overall impact on the body even without touching the shoulder by hand. And along the way — showing, with ultrasound images, that the kidney moves up and down more than expected, and, through an actual pelvic bone, how the fascia and ligaments are joined — I was able to feel keenly the necessity of developing an understanding of the viscera.
Now, this workshop is positioned as a preparatory workshop for the Advanced Training. In two weeks of training (held in Vienna, Austria), it becomes possible to build a single session. Then, after an interval, in the latter three weeks (held in Bologna, Italy), that session is built in three parts — a training spanning five weeks in total. Many things are learned, but the theme is how to build a session efficiently without burdening the hands.
Peter teaches the Advanced Training about once every four years, but whether he will teach it going forward is undecided. I’d very much like to look forward to next year.