Frequently Asked Questions
Why Walking?
Walking is the best way to bring permanent change
to the body—because we all do it, and we do
it over and over again. The human body will accept
any pattern we put into it whether that pattern is
good or bad. This is how chronic injuries develop
out of seemingly innocent or even unknown events.
The injury becomes chronic because your body adapts
a new movement pattern due to unconscious compensations.
Very few of us have consciously chosen
the pattern with which we walk. It isn’t hard
to change that. The idea of the FitzGordon method
is that if you learn to walk well and walk that way
for two years (the length of time it takes for the
body’s nervous system to fully adapt a new pattern),
you will have a new body that will be primed to achieve
optimal health •
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How
can walking help with Stress?
The quality of balance within an individual’s
nervous system determines a great deal of that person’s
character and mood. Everyone knows someone who is
angry, or fearful, or bold. These traits are all manifestations
of the endless dance of the nervous system as it tries
to help us find center or homeostasis. The nervous
system is housed in the skull and the spine taking
the form of the brain and the spinal cord. The hypothesis
of the FitzGordon Method is simple. Lengthen and align
the spine and skull and free the nervous system to
work at peak efficiency.
A balanced and aligned body relieves
stress in a number of ways.
- When the body has core tone,
you will be less fatigued at the end of the day.
- When the muscles of the pelvis
and abdomen are properly stabilizing the spine and
trunk, your nerve pathways are at their most open
and free.
A great deal of the brains “nutrition”
passes through the cervical spine (the neck). When
the head sits properly atop the spine the front and
back of the neck are even in length and tone, the
brain feasts with every breath •
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How
can I change in only eight sessions?
At the FitzGordon Method we teach you about your body’s
mechanics and the anatomy of how you move. By walking
consciously for the duration of the program and learning
the how’s and why’s of your body patterns,
change can quickly take hold and you won’t even
recognize the way you used to walk halfway into the
program.
We are always available for follow
up visits and we offer an advanced program once the
body adjusts to its new patterns. But we mainly hope
and believe that we are teaching people to take care
of themselves and helping them to cultivate the ability
to be their own teachers in the process •
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Is
the program as simple and easy as you say?
The FitzGordon Method works differently for everyone.
It is called core walking because the ability to move
properly is based on the “tone” of your
core muscles. If you come in with a lot of core strength
the program can be ridiculously easy. On the other
hand if someone hasn’t led a particularly active
life, emphasis on building certain muscles to better
accommodate movement will be necessary •
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What
if I am really weak?
The Method is designed to assess each individual’s
strengths and weaknesses and then prescribe exercises
based on need. Our goal is that as your body gets
stronger through exercise it will accept the new patterns
you are introducing more readily •
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Can
you help my sciatica?
Proper skeletal and muscular alignment through walking
will allow clients to heal a great many chronic aches
and pains—sciatica especially. Sciatica is often
the result of your piriformis muscle (a very important
muscle deep in your butt) being in spasm and pressing
against the sciatic nerve which is the longest nerve
in the body and runs through your pelvis and down
the back of your leg. We will teach you exercises
that will help you to release the muscle out of its
spasm and with core tone and proper walking you can
alleviate sciatica forever •
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How
can walking help if physical therapy hasn’t?
Almost all chronic injury is based
on imbalance in the musculoskeletal system—this
is why so many people have recurring injuries. Proper
walking means proper alignment, which finds the bones
of the entire body in their proper place. Only when
that happens can real rehabilitation take place. Physical
therapy works for the local injury, but by failing
to address the entire body and its movement patterns
it may not prevent the injury from happening again •
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• About Walking
• About Your Core
• About Jonathan
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