Oriental Body Balance
By dr john brazier
Is there a complementary medical system that offers the modern therapist the confidence to treat almost any client’s condition, utilising unique experiences, techniques, diagnostics and knowledge from all over the world?
Oriental Body Balance (OBB) believes it has the answer. OBB has found its way into corporate health care schemes, premiership football, professional golf, high quality spa resorts around the world, and appearances in national newspapers and on television.
John Brazier (the founder of OBB) is a doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine, an Oriental medicine practitioner (Thai & Japanese) and a practitioner of modern Western complementary systems. He has studied with masters all over the world, and believes ‘real’ holistic medicine is based on being able to diagnose on all three mind, body & spirit levels, and then have the skills to apply treatment directly on the primary level of ill health.
What makes OBB so successful is its ability in finding the route cause of the condition and having the ability to apply the most appropriate treatment to clear and correct the condition as fast as possible. John Brazier’s Oriental Body Balance seamlessly brings together techniques and skills from traditional Oriental and modern Western systems and understandings. It balances psychology, physiology and energy work to create a perfect balance of integrated medicine.
ORIENTAL BODY BALANCE connects the 5 principals of complementary medicine
1. Philosophical systems: Traditional Chinese & Integrated Medicine Traditional Chinese Medicine allows us to understand the integrated nature of the body in many ways. One of these is the way the internal organs balance and affect the whole body. The organs are seen as the body’s engine; it is here that the body makes blood and chemicals that affect the strength of your muscles, right up to the brains functions and the emotions that we all experience.
Once you understand the traditional connections of Oriental medicine like the Livers involvement with pain, eye problems, constipation, PMT & irritability to name a few, your diagnostic questions, Pulse & Tongue, and palpation will lead you to decide if it is an organ imbalance or energy (meridian) that is at fault, and the decision of the best therapy to use for that particular client.
Integrated medicine enhances the best of many medical systems by matching and balancing the theories and techniques, bringing them together and simplifying their concepts into a unique usable system. Imagine a reflexologist who can directly work on someone’s abdomen and cranial bones when it’s necessary for their condition. Or an aroma therapist who can recognise and release a sacroiliac strain. OBB training is all about enhancing what you know already, and confirming the science and research behind your gut feelings creating greater treatment confidence.
2. Mind body therapies: Physical NLP & muscle testing Physical NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) is utilised both in the student training modules to enhance learning and understanding, and in treatment its effect can be quite dramatic.
Every clients condition has both a physical and psychological side, by using muscle testing to diagnose, and anchoring to lock weaknesses into the immune system, we enhance and direct the bodies natural repair system to fix itself. The more deficiencies we can find & show to the client, the more things get fixed. It’s simple but effective.
OBB uses physical & psychological skills and techniques to purge negativity and promote positive enhancement and repair. Muscle testing enables us to diagnose faults throughout the body, from spinal problems in adults to cranial imbalances in children leading to learning difficulties.
Modern research informs us that a weakness of one muscle usually means a slight misalignment of one vertebra in the spine, and a weakness of the same muscles on both sides of the body usually means a fixation (or jam) of the spine or cranial system. The Psoas muscle for example will be weak on one side if there is an imbalance around Vertebrae T11 & T12, but if it fails on both sides this means the occiput is jammed in the head and neck (A typical case of a neck problem causing back problems! Along with fatigue, anxious emotions and fertility issues) Muscle testing diagnosis can also be expanded to test food and vitamin intolerances, psychological disturbances, acupressure point quality, blockages, functional tests of the spine, diaphragm, ligaments, joints and general imbalance.
3. Medicinal therapies: Nutritional support and food & vitamin testing It is essential in today’s world that each person understands his or her own dietary needs. Everyone’s bowels are of a similar design however our life experiences are completely different and individual. These experiences give rise to bowel torsions and tension, leading to each of us having different food intolerances. OBB challenges foods & vitamins being introduced to the body, along with the over growth of bacteria (Candida). We then apply corrective therapy or introduce dietary supplements that will correct any imbalance.
4. Manual therapies: Tuina – Cupping – Mobilisation – Anmo Fu Our manual therapies cover a range of techniques from both the Orient and the West. All of our techniques are applied in a gentle manner, the lighter and more sensitive you are with your client the more feedback you get and the more energy can be used and involved in the treatment. Once we have a diagnostic (pulse & tongue, muscles testing, palpation or questions) of the underlying cause or causes of the condition, we can work from there.
1st we evaluate the structure, including feet, pelvis, spine and cranial bones. Therapists need to understand how the structure dramatically affects all of the other systems in the body including: meridian energy flow, internal organ imbalance, neurology, muscular strength, hormonal balance, blood flow and brain function. If we find a miss-alignment in the spine, we can correct it by utilising techniques from Tuina massage, Qi Gung, mobilisations, muscle balance and gentle leg or arm repatterning. Bone positions are dictated by 2 or more balancing muscles, by working on the imbalanced muscle the bone naturally moves to its correct position (and stays there!).
During Repatterning we gently use one of the limbs as a lever to mobilise and reset the spine and pelvic ligaments, by moving a leg into a new position it will naturally guide the spine into position and balance the muscles that are involved. 2nd we evaluate other systems including the internal organs, lymph system and cranial bones for imbalance.
OBB practices a number of treatments one of them is a gentle but deep abdomen massage called Anmo Fu. It is used to clear the twists, torsions and trapped gas that cause many different bowel, back, reproductive and emotional problems. This system is utilised when there is an obvious organ problem which we can find through skilful palpation or muscle testing diagnosis. We use oil as its base to apply movement and pressure in many different directions, mixed with vibrations and energy. The techniques release ligament and fascia restrictions that interfere with the normal blood flow and organ operation.
5. Bioenergetic therapies: Qi Gung – Cranial Balancing All of OBB diagnostics lead the therapist to a unique clarity of the causative factor of the client’s problems, the more you understand, the more you can see in your minds eye, the stronger your energy treatment will be. Ancient Oriental Qi Gung energy treatment uses universal energies to treat all conditions, it is a powerful therapy that will release joints, organs and pain, often when other treatments fail.
The therapist feels and rides the body’s natural unwinding and balancing system. By holding any part of the body you can feel the cycles energy, blood, lymph and body fluid flow. With the therapist energy the system unwinds and balances. Qi (energy) is primarily based on intention, ‘where intention goes chi follows’. To have pure intention and quality directed treatment, you need to know exactly what it is the person needs. This can often be far from the site of pain.
Cranial Balancing draws together skills utilised by sacral-cranial therapists, cranial osteopaths, and healers. We diagnose the suture & bone position imbalances through muscle testing challenges, and then apply very gentle Qi releases to the different parts of the cranium to enhance recovery. This treatment is usually left to the last 10 minutes as it has a dramatic effect on finishing off a complete body balance and providing an effective relaxant.
For further details about Oriental Body Balance treatments & training please email: tcmdoctor@o2.co.uk or phone: 01253 728035
Dr. John Brazier (TCM) MSc. MBRCP. CCATCM
Complementary Medicine Consultant
Corporate health & wellness advisor
Performance Enhancement Specialist
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