Cortical Field Re-education

Our bodies begin life in harmony with our natural human movement; crawling, then walking and running. Trauma and repetitive stress break down this harmony over time and can lead to tissue breakdown, pain, and other symptoms. CFR aims to restore our natural human movement and reverse the conscious and unconscious compensations that developed to initially protect us at the time of trauma, but no longer help us.

Cortical Field Re-education is a system of healing through learning that increases attention and heightens perception. This new kinesthetic input communicates to the nervous system what it is habitually doing out of awareness and creates effective lasting change to address chronic tension patterns, injury, trauma and stress.

According to cfrhealing.com:
Why do symptoms such as pain, stiffness, and limited movement often remain long after our injuries have supposedly healed?

At first our system protects us by prohibiting movement through the injured areas, with swelling and contraction. However we still want to function, even if some parts cannot at the moment participate. So as we try to sit, stand, or walk — just function in our lives — our brain recruits other available muscles and joints to help. They take over this new workload while continuing with their old jobs, creating strain for which they are not equipped.

Unfortunately these compensations become habit, and remain out of awareness, at a continual high cost to the involved and surrounding tissues and nerves. HOWEVER we can learn to observe, sense, and rediscover those forgotten habitual ways we use our body. Because of neuroplasticity, our awareness extinguishes the old patterns. Our nervous system receives the updated information we need for lasting change. All parts of us are given a chance to once again participate in a more balanced workload. This results in a profound level of healing.

CFR is based on these human truths:
Our personal histories are accumulated learning about how to move in order to live – and learning about what not to move in order to be loved or at least survive. What is or is not permitted to move in our bodies structures and restricts our experience of life. Limitations are a result not only of physical injury, but are also the direct reflection of our learned rules, strategies and beliefs. Your life cannot be any easier than your movements. Reduce the unnecessary effort in your movements and you reduce the effort in your life.

Who can benefit from CFR?

Anyone who wants to improve and promote body awareness.
Those with chronic pain, or poor vision or balance.
Those with emotional stress.
Anyone who is looking to improve sports performance or prevent future injury.
Anyone looking to connect more deeply with themselves their body.

We are offering two weekly floor lesson classes, currently via Zoom: Advanced: Tuesdays, 11AM – 12:30PM Beginners: Thursdays, 4:00PM – 5:30PM

Rules, Strategies and Beliefs

Adapting to earth and the people around us inevitably involves experiences of rebuke and fear, permission and encouragement, which all become wired into the same pathway of movement. By adulthood, distortions and limitations from accidents, injuries, and illnesses – plus the movement compensations left in the body even after the symptoms are gone, all add to the conflicting instructions that vie for dominance in the same movement command. For example, as well as physical pain and limitation in that range of movement, the single intention to reach out a hand, or turn a cheek, or move a hip, can light up a pathway that is home to many conflicting instructions.”No! It is not OK!”, ” But I want to! I should. I shouldn’t! I have to! I can’t!”

Levels of Consciousness

Physical injury and limitation always involve other levels of consciousness. For true healing to occur, the emotional, mental, energetic, and spiritual aspects must be addressed as well as the more obvious physical aspect. Failure to deal with all four levels of consciousness can lead the remaining out-of-awareness compensations to cause hidden limitations and make us more vulnerable to future injuries.

Learning and Healing

Learning is the single most crucial pathway to healing. This is because learning involves bringing back into awareness something that was previously out of our awareness. This may be a new discovery or something which we were until recently unwilling to look at. Functional movement improves which in turn continues the healing.

How CFR Works

CFR uses movement initially to increase physical kinesthetic perception. Through table and floor work and processing the resulting discoveries, this work addresses not just physical limitations but also the emotional, mental, energetic and spiritual aspects that must be included for true healing. When muscular contractions, energetic blocks, and compensating patterns release, new choices in movement, belief and behavior become possible.

This provides new choices in conflicting demands. Functional movement improves which in turn continues the healing.

The reward is:

Clarity of purpose – a totally meant ‘yes’ – a fully permitted ‘no’
Physical and emotional healing
Congruent, powerful, comfortable movement

Cortical Field Reeducation works through the motor-cortex to eliminate physical dysfunction and the emotional issues tied to it, freeing as well the habitual, self-limiting, protective behavior patterns associated with trauma. By releasing deep, long-standing muscular contraction – NOT LOCALLY – BUT AT A PLACE IN THE BRAIN WHERE IT IS ENCODED, we dramatically increase our ability to sense and feel. This work is about upgrading the clarity of the sensory information fed into our organic computer, which is our agent of change.

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