I'd had 6 Rolfing sessions before Lou worked on me.  When he did my head, I no longer needed my eyeglasses to drive with (which I'd been wearing for 13 years!).
     When he worked on my legs and hip rotator muscles in the pelvis, I became able to put my whole leg behind my head in the "resting yogi pose."  I've been practicing yoga for 10 years and been teaching it for 4 years.  (I've been a Certified Bikram's Yoga Instructor, a very intense 1-1/2 hour program, for 2 years.)  And this is the first time I've been able to do that pose.
Ms SA, age 29, Certified “Bikram’s” Yoga Teacher,
Certified Massage Therapist, & Jewelry Artist
Doing Yoga for 10 years, teaching it for 4 years

     I had three Bodywork sessions.  The first, of 2-hours, all on my torso, arms neck and head, made me feel more open and lighter.  And my movements and energy became more flowing.  The second session fixed my knee in just 45 minutes.  It had been misaligned, and was hurting for a week.  I’d even been wearing an ace bandage on it.  The third session of 1-1/2 hours on my other leg and my pelvis made me feel more balanced.
Ms HS, Certified “Bikram’s” Yoga Teacher for 6 years, Gymnast Teacher, Guest Teacher at Bikram's School

     Lou’s Bodywork and Body-mind release practices put my mind and awareness more into my body.  I can also get into more positions easier and they stretch further.
Ms JM, Certified Yoga Teacher, Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Hypnotherapist, Certified Specialized Kinesiologist, Certified Nutritionist, Professional Dancer

               I’ve been doing Yoga intensively, and teaching it, for more than 50 years. Lou gave me a 2-hour Structural Integration Bodywork treatment, covering my head and neck, back and shoulders, chest, pelvis and legs and some arms.
            I’m a strong deep breather, yet even during the session, I found my breathing was easier to do, requiring less muscle effort, and I could actually take in double the amount of air as before.  I’d also had tightness and reduced circulation in my left ankle, from an accident there when a bone broke 16 years ago.  Even as Lou was working my upper body, I could feel more blood circulation and warmth get to the ankle.  And when he worked directly on the whole leg and foot, I gained a lot more flexibility in my ankle and even more blood circulation.  Lou's treatment also loosens deep and thoroughly into the head, where we don't get much in yoga.  My face is more relaxed and physically open.
            I have allowed Lou (and even invited him) to give information about Structural Integration at my yoga classes.  He has shown us his Structural Stretching method for lengthening the fascial soft connective tissue and for pulling section-by-section over long lengths of the body structure.  This method, based on his Bodywork training, helped us stretch noticeably further, and also increased our body-mind awareness.  Lou pointed out how this approach can help us in all our yoga asanas.
            I have even bought a book on Structural Integration Bodywork so I can learn more about this approach which I consider a compatible “cousin” to yoga.
Mr CL, age 81, Yoga Teacher for 50 years, Studied Primarily with Swami Vivekenanda of Australia, who was also a medical doctor and psychiatrist.
Clint taught Yoga Teachers and still teaches privately and at colleges & hospitals.

     I had lack of overall flexibility with pinched and degenerating disks in my lower back.  I had pain and was restricted in my movements.  In racquetball, it was hard for me to move on the court.  Now the pain is gone, I can move again, and I even play a good game of racquetball.  In yoga, I can now get into positions I never could before, and I can push beyond limitations that I'd had.  I also used to wake up stiff in the morning, and it took me a while to loosen up.  I don't have that anymore, either.
Ms RS, Businesswoman, Yoga Student and Racquetball Player, age 44

     I'd been doing intensive yoga for 1-1/2 years to try to loosen my structure that had gotten very tight through 25 years of running and 10 years of skiing.  But I'd made very little progress in my flexibility.
     This Bodywork did a tremendous amount of loosening in only 13 hours of treatment over 8 days.  And I felt noticeably better from the very first session.  Besides the fact that the treatments loosened and lengthened my body all by itself, Lou also showed me an improved “Structural Bodywork” and “Connective Tissue” method to stretch my body better on my own, so I could do the yoga class better.
     In the yoga class itself I can now do the full 1-1/2 hour, 36 step position cycle, a big improvement.  My backward bend and side-to-side bends are much improved.  I can also stretch along the spinal muscles as well as the muscles on the sides of my torso (something Lou showed me how to do).  My arms stretch up and back better.  I can spread my feet apart some  more and I am more comfortable when I stand in a wide stance; there's less tension, especially in the legs.  And, my breathing is much deeper.
     In general, I'm more relaxed overall. And when I'm standing, I stand straighter, my neck moves a lot better and I’m more relaxed and comfortable, all an improvement from before.
Mr JC, age 66, Engineer, Avid Recreational ATHLETE & YOGA Student

     I've been doing yoga for a number of years. But I had an injury in my middle back a year ago, and it also re-stimulated an older injury in my lower back that was from a car accident. Because of this, I still had a lot of “stuff” in my body that made it impossible for me to do a lot of yoga postures.  It would either pull and hurt too much at the site of the injuries, or it would pull my back out and I'd have to go see the chiropractor.  The problems were so severe that I couldn't do much of the yoga I used to be able to do. And there was a period of time that I felt I was not going to be able to get back into a regular yoga practice at all.
     In fact, when I started the bodywork, my upper back and neck were constantly going into spasm and I was indeed running to the chiropractor at least once a week.  I was also attempting to do physical therapy once a week to strengthen my knee because I thought I'd hurt it.  I never realized, until getting these treatments, that the knee hurting in the cross legged lotus position was coming from my tight low back and tight leg and thigh muscles.
     Lou’s Bodywork treatment has corrected pain, spasms and restrictions in my low, middle and upper back, in my neck and in my knee.  After just a half dozen sessions, I'm able to do yoga regularly.  And except for a few, I can do all the postures again.  This has reassured me and increased my confidence.  I believe I’ll be able to do all the postures I was able to do before, including ashtanga (or Power Yoga), once the tightness that's still left is removed by a few more Bodywork sessions.  (Which she eventually did, also with the help of an energy movement session.)
     Before I found out about this Bodywork and had the treatments, I had even thought I'd have to accept that I wasn't going to be able to do “any” yoga anymore...or that I'd have to go to “only” the very beginning classes.  Now, as I said I already go to the more advanced form of ashtanga yoga again.
     Even before this recent injury, there was a little "glitch" in my low back that I'd feel in, like, the warrior pose. I knew this glitch was left over from the car accident many years ago. Considering what a major accident it was, and that I had a slipped disk from it, I really felt grateful that I was able to do yoga at all, even “with” a glitch.  It didn't stop me from doing the poses, so I just accepted it would always be there.  Now I see that's not true.  From this Bodywork, the glitch I'd always felt and accepted is not there anymore.
Ms JW, Long Term Advanced Yoga Student

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