Podcasts - Williamson Muscular Retraining: Recent Episodes
Craig Williamson
Craig demonstrates exercises, including instructions to the exercises found in Muscular Retraining for Pain-Free Living in the video podcasts. The Questions for Craig series is an audio podcast, in which Craig responds to questions about muscular retraining, the body/mind relationship, movement patterns, alignment, pain and more. He is interviewed by Susannah Sanfilippo, a registered yoga teacher in Portland, Maine.
Craig leads a guided imagination exercise that will help improve your inner feeling of good carriage and alignment. Try it!
Irritation of the sciatic nerve, which is felt as pain in the buttocks and down the leg, is a common problem. This podcast covers some of the possible physical and mental causes of sciatic nerve pain.
This discussion begins with a question about "ground reactive force", which is referred to in Pain-Free Sitting, Standing and Walking. The conversation continues about how the legs and hips use the ground for leverage, for easy walking.
What do these four things have in common? This podcast looks at how a person uses his or her eyes, and how that affects balance, tension, and one's sense of self.
This podcast is a guided sensory awareness exercise, with periodic verbal directions given by Craig. This exercise suggests how to experience your whole body as continuous process of shifting sensations, rather than the typical way of experiencing it as a solid object. It can also be a way to center yourself and to relax. Try it!
"I have lots of muscle tension and usually Is there any link between fatigue and chronic muscle tension? Can tight muscles keep you on edge and keep your nervous system on constant alert? Can improving your kinesthetic awareness help calm down your nervous system?"
Craig presents a mind/body approach to these questions, attempting to answer them all in 15 minutes. The discussion includes the idea that muscle tension, fatigue and anxiety are often connected to each other - addressing one issue can help the others, but it doesn't necessarily replace the need to address the cause of each issue specifically.
"When I am lying down with my knees bent I have the urge to rotate my legs to the outside. They are creaky feeling and they click when I move them. What is that about? I can't seem to get my hips relaxed."
This discussion specifically addresses a listener's questions about hip rotation and the causes of tension in the hip rotation muscles. Craig also suggests new exercises for her to try. If you have questions about your own hips this podcast may be useful for you.
"It seems like a lot of Williamson Muscular Retraining is similar to meditation, but I don't hear you refer to meditation specifically. Is meditation something you teach people?"
In this discussion, the meditation qualities of receptivity, self-awareness, and attentiveness to the present moment experience are described as components of muscular retraining.
“In your book you suggest reading John Sarno’s work on psychogenic pain, yet your ideas do not seem exactly like his. Who is correct”? This discussion covers the how thoughts and feelings can cause real bodily pain, including the ground-breaking ideas of John Sarno. Then, how that understanding can be used in conjunction with movement awareness exercise for a holistic approach to solving pain problems. 37 minutes.
“In your book you very briefly mention the word hara. What does hara mean”? Hara is a Japanese word for “belly” that refers to a location in the body, psychological awareness, and a person’s relationship to Being itself. In this 45 minute interview Craig discusses the physical, mental and existential aspects of hara.
“I play the piano and my forearms hurt after I play for about an hour. I have been playing for years and wonder why this is happening now and what I can do about it. ” Craig describes how dysfunctional movement patterns and mental stress lead can result in irritated tendons and painful muscles. Helpful for musicians and non-musicians alike.
“Why does imagery work (to improve alignment and muscle tone)?” A brief conversation about how mental imagery works for improving alignment, muscle tone, and relaxation. After this, Craig leads a 10-minute guided imagery session for relaxation. Give it a try!
“I read that you said releasing a muscle is different than stretching a muscle. Is there any value to stretching exercises?” A discussion about the difference between releasing and stretching a muscle, and how it applies to exercises for muscle relaxation.
This discussion introduces the idea of kinesthetic awareness and its importance in relaxation. Also, how dysfunctional kinesthesia occurs and how it can lead to pain.
"I have been told that my psoas is tight - what does that mean and how did it get that way?" A brief discussion about tension in the psoas and iliacus muscles, how it can can cause pain, and the physical and emotional causes of a contracted psoas muscle.