Advice on exercises for body awareness

[Jim Pickles]

I wonder if anyone has any advice on exercises for specifically increasing body awareness in a general stretch class.

I teach two classes. In one, the members are all long-term yoga students and all have excellent body awareness, and move into and out of positions under control, with economy, and gracefully.

However I have recently taken over another group of students, whose backgrounds can be more simply called "stretch" (and they have signed up anticipating a stretch class). The age range goes from late 30s to late 70s (though the one in the late 70s is a long-term yoga student who is excellent in all respects).

However, they are a very mixed group, and some of the others give rise to concern. I suspect that some have poor body awareness and control. Some may flop into and out of positions. Some seem unable to control different parts of their body separately. Some are unable to relax their muscles while under stretch.

In all my classes I pay some attention to body awareness, and find that slow, smooth movements (e.g. rotations) of the wrists and ankles are excellent at drawing peoples' attention to this (some of this is included in the Novel Movements posting some time ago; we do these too). However, these relate to only limited parts of the body.

I know that body awareness underlies the practice of ST at every stage, and therefore it is implicitly taught by every exercise, but I wonder does anyone have any exercises that brings it to the forefront and teaches it more explicitly, and for parts of the body other than wrists and ankles? Also, it would be good if it ended up looking rather not too far from a stretch exercise, because they did not sign up for dance, or tai-chi, or Feldenkrais therapy (though I am looking at exercises from the latter to see if they can be used).

Many thanks if anyone has any ideas. And do we have any Feldenkrais therapists on this board?

Jim.

(And, yes, I did a search of these forums but did not come up with anything, though may not have used the best search terms).

[Kit_L]

Hello from Piacenza, Jim.

I have found that nothing focuses the mind more intently on the present that any really string stretch, held for time. The HF stretches are my favourite in this regard. As well. I always tell any students who are moving relatively mindlessly to slow down, and to use half, or a quarter of the speed they would use for any movement into and out of a stretch that they think they need. This alone has been transforming for some students. Instruct students to pay as much attention to the sensations of getting out of a stretch as they do getting into one; this has helped many people too.

The final suggestion is the most fundamental and the most important: tell all students to relax their tummies (bellies, or whatever term works for this group); then to breathe into that just relaxed area, and to experience what this feels like. This changes everything, in my experience.

Edited October 18, 2016 by Kit_L

[Jim Pickles]

Grazie molto Kit!

Will do - them all and with especial emphasis on the latter one of breathing into their relaxed tummies which sounds particularly good.

Have a good time and ciao!

Jim.

[Adurst]

Lol...I feel like Kit told me (and others) to slow down about 400 times over the six day workshop. His comment above puts it all in perspective

[Jim Pickles]

@Kit - dont know if you will see this reply in an old topic.

But prompted by an old podcast I downloaded from the Radio National Health Report, I wondered about Feldenkrais therapy - and did a quick search on this board to see what had been posted here, and then saw that I'd once raised the topic myself. I am certainly going to look into it more and see if I can introduce the principles more in my classes and see if the students like it.

Just tagged Kit here because it is in relation to his comment "I have found that nothing focuses the mind more intently on the present that any really strong stretch, held for time." - no doubt, but I find if I am actively moving smoothly and flowingly with full mindfulness and body awareness it brings it to my awareness in a way that a purely static stretch does not. The active engagement of the mind in MAKING a movement seems to do something extra (I have a dramatic example in myself where my own body awareness has been changed for ever* by a single Tai-Chi class). And in any case, I think this is incorporated in ST practice anyway, as e.g. when you say "now make this movement several times, to map it into your movement pattern" (or similar).

So I am going to find out a lot more about Feldenkrais, because the methods could be very valuable for my teaching, and for myself, too.

Jim.

* "For ever" - so far anyway. I am not like this all the time - I can switch in and out of this state of enhanced body awareness since this event at will. And if it is brought to my attention - e.g. as now when I am typing this comment - I also feel it strongly

[Kit_L]

Jim, what I was saying was something that is orthogonal to your point, and one made for beginners: namely, that for me, nothing focuses the mind more intently on the present... The point is that when you are moving well/beautiful/efficiently, there is no thought: there is the action. If only action, then only presence (meaning that the mind, in terms of thinking about what is happening and how to do/what's being done is not present, apart from the "experiencer" of the action). And a single new whole-body experience like the Tai Chi class you mention can change your awareness forever, as it seems to have done for you. Yes to investigating Feldenkrais with your excellent intellect; please post here!

[Jim Pickles]

Kit - thanks for picking up this point. I will be exploring Feldenkrais more in detail - luckily there is a group Awareness through Movement class near me in a couple of days time which I will go to and I'll take it from there. As for the points made in the post, I guess one thing is that many different things are going on in body work, appropriate for many different people and for different stages of action and learning. What might be useful at one point might not be so at another. At the moment I feel I am starting a new adventure which will expand my vocabulary and I hope enhance the type of classes that I give.

The whole issue of the type of awareness or thought in a practiced action is a very interesting one which I suspect will reveal hidden depths - one the one hand, we can have the pleasure and efficiency of being in the state of "flow"; on the other there are times when heightened conscious awareness of every detail is valuable. The latter would appear to be needed when we need to reorganise the brain to do something new, the former when doing some something highly practiced. But I need to think, experience and learn before speculating more, lest I just spin empty words!

Edited October 18, 2016 by Jim Pickles
Second thoughts on a few banalities that had crept in.

[Jim Pickles]

Doing some reading ahead of my first Feldenkrais group class tomorrow, I came acros this paper (file attached below I hope) - showing that the age-related decline in grey matter of the brain did not occur in those practicing yoga. The subjects were relatively young (compared to me at least) - late 20s to early 50s (in other words, for much older people there may well be a decline, but by analogy with these published results we would expect the decline to be much less with those practicing yoga). The correlations were striking and clear. It depended both on the number of previous years of yoga practice, and the number of hours/week of practice. They were able to tease out the effects of the different aspects of yoga on the different brain regions - this part was complex and I need to go through it in detail again (which of us knows what the operculum does?)

One lesson seems that yoga practice enhances a parasympathetic bias of the brain and body, and this particularly enhances the left frontal lobe, an area connected with positive emotions, in comparison with the right frontal lobe, which deals more with negative emotions.

It is quite possible that ST shares some of these benefits too.

Jim.

Villemure et al 2016 yoga and neuroprotection.pdf

(And by the way the authors come from highly respectable scientific institutions - NIH in Bethesda, and McGill Montreal, so I do not expect it to be shonky work.)

[Jim Pickles]

After my first group Feldenkrais class today (called Awareness though movement) -

Gentle movements of the arms, torso and legs done on the floor. If I wasnt primed already with knowledge and experience in other systems I might have thought nothing was changing, and clearly it is going to take time to experience what I believe will be the special outcomes of this technique. I will persist and will look for changes (in body experience) over time. I have also learned some useful lessons (see next paragraph). Of course, it is possible that because I have done so much similar body work already, the low-hanging fruit has already been taken, and changes will take more time than ususal, even though facilitated by a positive attitude.

A motivation for me is that (1) I realise that I have been introducing some Feldenkrais-related ideas (of my own invention) already in my classes, and (2) in emphasising body awareness as I do in my own classes and in my own practice, I am giving a one-sided approach to body work. Sensation is only part of the equation - generating motor movements is another part. Therefore what I hope to take away from the Feldenkrais classes (and have done so to some extent already) is learning strategies to bring more mental focus to the motor movements. For instance, today when starting to make a small movement of a limb, we were asked to direct our attention to the small preliminary body adjustments being made in the other parts of the body. Or having made the movement on one side, before moving the other side, we were asked to imagine how we would make the movement and what it would feel like. There were probably others which I have forgotten but hope to remember after repeat classes.

Another reason for an emphasis on motor movements, is that I am concerned that given the normal focus in my type of class and practice on body awareness, together with detecting (and one hopes correcting) small anomalies and discomforts, the body might become hypersensitive to anything out of the ordinary, including pain. A danger might be that in the case of injury or damage there is an overreaction, and the body becomes less, rather than more, capable of healing itself. Since to some extent the motor system and sensory system are in competition, a motor emphasis (if used correctly) might help to correct this. We'll see.

I wonder if people would like to try a small Feldenkrais-related exercise that I have started to use, and see if they get the same results as I do. It's a simple relaxation, using the breath - with the addition of movements of the fingers (a variant of what in Feldenkrais is called the Bell Hand exercise). Lie on the back to relax, arms at sides, palms up, fingers entirely relaxed. In their neutral position, the fingers will be slighly curved up. Now, when doing deep relaxation breaths, curl the fingers very slightly (maybe a mm or so) in on the inbreath, and then allow the hand to go back to its neutral position on the outbreath. I find this sends me into much deeper relaxation than the breathing alone without the (very minimal) finger movement.

The (maybe spurious) Feldenkrais explanation of this is that because the fingers have such a large neural representation in the motor and sensory cortices, a much larger area of the cortex becomes involved in the relaxation process, than if the fingers are not included.

I'd be interested if people also found if including fingers gave extra relaxation.

Jim.

[Kit_L]

Jim, you might remember me saying a time or two, "the body is much smarter that you are" (with a smile, always!); so, when you said:

Quote

...small anomalies and discomforts, the body might become hypersensitive to anything out of the ordinary, including pain

That will not happen. Given a chance, all bodies prefer to be more comfortable. These exercises will not cause the body to become unnecessarily or undesirably sensitive, except possibly in the short term, when learning something new. Hypersensitivity is the system seeking something it needs but which is being denied it. Hypersensitivity takes energy, and the body is innately conservative in this regard. I can expand, if you wish, using plantar fasciitis as an example.

[Jim Pickles]

Not really relevant to ST as such - but parenthetically, I  am at the moment dealing with a hypersensitivity, and I wonder if enhanced body awareness has something to do with encouraging it. Having had a chest infection for several weeks now, I have become hypersensitive to my lungs and to my breath which has not been positive, but instead anxiety-provoking. So not all is rosy in the body awareness garden. It is of course ironic that in my classes I teach relaxation, breath control etc, but now find it difficult to apply to myself - though I probably learned all this stuff in the first place because I realise that I needed it for myself.

Jim.

PS - on further reading, it seems that this is a response of the airways to long-term inflammation, so not a neurotic response after all. And this evening (though otherwise I feel very well) it has suddenly come on again after a Chinese meal - looking up MSG, it seems that breathlessness is a common consequence of MSG. This occurs via glutamate (i.e. MSG) stimulation of NMDA receptors in the airways which causes smooth muscle contraction, and that NMDA receptors are enhanced with long-term inflammation. This explains why I have eaten similar meals in the past with no bad effects. So it seems there is a basic biological explanation, rather than one involving the "mind" (whatever that is; I am increasingly unsure).

[Nathan]

@Jim Pickles "...the body might become hypersensitive..." vs. "...I have become hypersensitive..."

Notice the difference between these two  Kit mentions that the body is innately conservative. The mind, on the other hand... not so much  It sounds like the issue is not so much increased body awareness, but rather what your mind is doing with that awareness.

[Jim Pickles]

Well, I dont think you can separate the body and mind on this one. The body has sensory receptors, and the mind reacts to them.

 

[Rik]

10 hours ago, Jim Pickles said:

Well, I dont think you can separate the body and mind on this one. The body has sensory receptors, and the mind reacts to them.

 

I agree with your first statement, but for the second, I don't think it's that simple. Is the spinal cord part of the mind? Because that is part of the neurological structures involved in regulating sensation, but I would hesitate to call it a piece of the mind.

Sensory input is ignored on a routine basis: when was the last time you were aware of the fact that you are wearing clothes, and how they feel on your skin? Better still, it's interpreted in completely different ways in some people. How else would you explain the wide range of sensations people get during the Human Crossbow (partner pec minor), just by applying a stretch to a nerve? Body-mind interaction is complicated and I think that's why you can't really separate the two.

[Kit_L]

17 hours ago, Jim Pickles said:

The body has sensory receptors, and the mind reacts to them.

Yes, but different minds react differently to the same sensory stimulation, and within the same mind-body, reaction levels and attribution of significance (or diminution of significance and everything in between) can vary moment to moment. It is what the mind does with the sensory information that is critical in discussions like these. From the mind's perspective, a 'fact' (neurally speaking) is never without this processing nor any attendant meaning.

Part of the problem in getting to grips with subtleties like these is the structure of our language and our innate tendency to see/experience something new as 'this', or 'that', and most immediately as 'good' or 'bad' or 'like/dislike'. 

And as you attend to your breath and notice it more, and more subtlety, anxiety can be the response; for the most part, anxiety is a combination of muscular activity in the stomach, particular unique breathing patterns, and increased activity in the scalenes. An idea can cause the uniques particular pattern of muscular activity that is anxiety for you, and a physical state can recreate the same pattern too (the chest infection).

A gedanken: Let's say there is a hated father-in-law in your life. You are at home, relaxed, with a loved one, and you've just had dinner and a glass of wine, or two, and the phone rings. Feeling mellow you amble over the phone and pick it up. As soon as you hear the first sounds of the hated father-in-law's voice, your body instantly organises itself into 'hated-father-in-law mode': a pattern of tension and mental state that is unique to you and this individual. The thing is he lives in Reykjavik, nearly 16,000km away (and in a secure institution) and this makes no difference to the reorganisation you just experienced. 

In the present situation, your awareness (affected by your new focus on sensations coming from your body courtesy of the Feldencrais exercises, coupled with your knowledge of the illness and experience of the illness over the last few weeks), is likely to be at least part of the new sensitivity to your inner state. It will pass.

@Phi: I would call the spinal cord part of the mind, as is the awareness of the physical body in the mind; google "The body in the mind" by Mark Johnson.

[Nathan]

1 hour ago, Kit_L said:

A gedanken:

Off topic, but thank you for the interesting word! Apparently the English "thought experiment" comes from Gedankenexperiment, but it seems that Gedanken alone has also been imported and (d)evolved to represent a variety of similar but slightly different meanings as well.

19 hours ago, Jim Pickles said:

The body has sensory receptors, and the mind reacts to them.

Sorry my reply was unclear. Kit has more eloquently articulated what I actually wanted to say

[Jim Pickles]

Thank you everyone for your inputs. I think everything that needs to be said on this has been said now. But like someone who has to keep an exchange of "goodbyes" going till one of us has disappeared into the distance, or who will keep an email conversation going for ever with goodbyes, thanks, and other expressions, I will add something further, which is very illuminating to the closeness of the mind- (or here, brain-) and body interaction. The brain (including the spinal cord), the person's responses, and the body always have to be thought of as one.

I have a few friends with Ehlers-Danlos disease, an inherited connective tissue disorder that in some cases is just reflected in hypermobility, but in others shows as a widespread tissue weakness that can affect practically any part of the body and can cause widespread and substantial debility. One of these friends has signed me up to a private Facebook discussion group so that I can give a bit of scientific input. I want to make it clear that I am absolutely not a sufferer from this myself. However the ongoing pain and debility, plus the absolute courage of many of those in the EDS community, are extraordinary - and in terms of their courage, a real lesson to the rest of us.

The link to this thread is that many EDS patients have what is called central pain - generated by biological mechanisms that are not understood, within the brain. It is not a PSYCHOLOGICAL response which is potentially under the control of the patient, in case anyone is thinking that (and is implied by the title of the video I am going to link to - an unfortunate title). Many different mechanisms contribute - synaptic hyperactivity, enzyme dysfunctions, glial cell inflammation among others have been suggested. Normal painkillers (panadol, morphine) are generally ineffective. The video below, concentrating on fibromyalgia as an example, talks very authoritatively about central pain. Anyone wanting to go deeper into body work needs to be aware of these issues, though we hope that you will not come across them directly in your own practice, because they can become highly intractable as well as debilitating. However it is likely that some of these mechanisms will be set up in chronic lower back pain arising from physical dysfunction, which those in physical therapy need to be aware of.

 

[Kit_L]

Jim, I am tired presently; many reasons, but may I ask you to dot the "i"s and cross the "t"s to this extent and ask you to put simply what the relation of this disease (EDS) is to the discussions above? I assume we designate EDS as a disease because it is a disordering of the most common relationships of the various parts of the body; it is neither desirable nor "normal" in the statistical sense. I think I know why you have mentioned this, but I think this is an excellent place to refine, to tease out more.

Some context: my backgrounds are medical anthropology and philosophy (logic, philosophy of Western medicine, philosophy of oriental medicine) and 30-odd years as a practitioner, so assume I am reasonably widely read in disease fields and, more importantly, the construction of diseases in Western and other cultures' medicines. I offered to discuss hypersensitivity with respect to plantar fasciitis above; and the offer stands. As I see it, the EDS above is another example of the same phenomenon, as is fibromyalgia. The fundamental phenomenon (and this separation I make here is not legitimate, but nonetheless is standard practise in our medicine) is a multi-causal physical state whose effects are amplified by the suffer's mind. I do not believe this is either exhaustive nor accurate, but it reflects the structure of the narrative of science and of Western medicine as a subset, so we go with that to open dialogue.

As a practitioner who has helped patients—many, many patients with chronic back pain, I will assert that the standard medical perspective on low back pain (LBP) is limiting for both the patient and the practitioner, and much of my work in this era has been to reframe this perspective to explicitly empower the patient‚ many of whom had demonstrated pathology, some with really severe pathology, yet who were able to get past this limitation and achieve excellent function. 

To this end, I refer you to the "nocebo" effect (placebo's opposite, and L. for "I hurt"). I have written extensively on this but here I will mention only that when a medical practitioner puts an X-ray or other scan on a viewing screen and shows a hard patient evidence of incontrovertible negative somatic change (like an extruded disc) some patients adopt the 'sick role' and never recover. Most practitioners have never heard of the nocebo effect, but it is real, and can be extremely damaging. The stats from all the big studies show that over 90% of LBP resolves spontaneously within two months of its onset—this is why we recommend against diagnostic intervention of this sort because a significant fraction of this community, if tested, will fall prey to this effect—even if the pathology has no relation to the problem (more often the case than not, also supported in the literature). All this is discussed in detail in Overcome neck & back pain, and was the main case study of my PhD research.

Let me illustrate my thesis by mentioning that I have severe tinnitus (to the extent of being functionally deaf in my L ear) but this is not any kind of problem for me (I have been a meditator for 30-odd years, and awareness and relaxation a special focus). In other words, my mind de-emphasises what could otherwise be maddening. The same techniques can be useful in all similar problems. 

[Jim Pickles]

(Please note that this has been edited from what was originally posted, so it anyone gets an email notitication, please read it here rather than in the email.)

Kit - there is a lot to say on all this and I think we are fundamentally in agreement anyway. My comment was not so much directed to you as to be made in general, and I guess also I wanted to get something off my chest about this issue. The link to EDS was to illustrate a condition where there is a complex interrelation between the physical and biological aspects, where it is extremely difficult to tease out the relationships because they interact with and reinforce each other. It is also one where some apects that were once thought to be purely psychological are being found to have a biological basis. Re plantar fascitis - unfortunately I dont know anything about this so am unable to comment in relation to that. At 11 pm I may not express myself as clearly as at other times but I will give it a go. LBP is however a fascinating area where all these issues are at play (and I am bearing it particularly in mind, because of one of my class members).

Added in later: this post was getting very long as I dealt with the various thoughts - but as I said I think we do not disagree anyway. In conclusion: I am more focussing on a biological basis, for both the mental and physical aspects. You are more focussing on a more functional basis for both, which as a therapist is what you deal with. I am interested that, as the biological basis (e.g. the genetics, and biochemical cellular pathways) of both body dysfunction and what drives mental events, becomes more known, then it will be possible to tailor treatment more effectively for each individual, and know when treatments are and are not going to work for each individual.

Actually, I have deleted the rest of this post which would have followed this, but saved it, in case you or anyone else wants to see it. It goes over the above ground in more detail, though sometimes without the scientific evidence which gives the points certainty. I am also happy to discuss tinnitus with you in detail as an example because as you know I am an auditory scientist and can give further views on how some people can deal with it as you do, while others do not (and - very important - how they can be helped).

Cheers,

Jim.

[Jim Pickles]

A follow-up the next day: as a biological scientist, I enjoy reading up about the emerging knowledge on the body, brain, and its dysfunctions, and enjoy trying to put together the new information that has not yet reached the mainstream (often because it is very new, or preliminary, or still uncertain) and seeing how it can be used to illuminate body work.

By the nature of this, I am dealing with issues that are uncertain. I could spend my time reading up and communicating about something known well, like the neuromuscular junction, but that would be boring. I remember a comment from Kit after some long postings I made on diet and inflammation, when his remark was something like - "so after reading all this, we still dont know what's going on?" In one way that is true. It is not CERTAIN, but we now see a pattern emerging and have a better way to direct our understanding in future as more definintive information emerges. Whether this appeals or not, depends on someones approach to the issues.

I do get the impression from recent research that we can link body, brain, mind and their interactions, in a much better, more certain, more fundamental, and much more informative way, than even just a few years ago.

I am happy to go into the example of tinnitus in detail to show how this process works, and how it can lead to more effective therapy. This is particularly because hearing is my specialist area, and the mechanisms are being discovered in more and more detail. Like Kit, I have also had episodes of tinnitus in my life (and I still have it, though it does not trouble me now), and we have used very different approaches in dealing with it. Contrasting these two approaches would I think be very informative.

Jim.

P.S. - using EDS as an example is complex because it is such a multi-faceted disease, still with so many unexplained aspects, that it is difficult to draw clear lessons. However I a very happy to write an essay on EDS - and including very recent discoveries that may not be mentioned yet on generalist websites - if people want. Anyone dealing with flexible individuals has to be aware that they may encounter some individuals with EDS. One thing that brought EDS to my consciousness just a day or two ago was a paper just published showing a genetic link between Mast cell activation syndrome (leading to a generalised inflammatory response) and hypermobility. Who would have thought they were related? People with EDS are sometimes thought to be just complainers, who end up with a range of these widespread but rather non-specific symptoms which people might think have a psychological driver. But the link is there - and explained in terms of basic biological mechanisms..

[Kit_L]

As always, my friend, sincere thanks for this elaboration. Once again I see that we are in agreement, simply with different emphases. I would be interested in a tinnitus thread; a lit. review to start, anyway.

[Jim Pickles]

At Kits suggestion, the discussion on tinnitus has been move to a new topic in this forum.

 

Edited November 1, 2016 by Jim Pickles

[Jim Pickles]

And incidentally, in relation to Kit's comment on lower back pain, in the last few days, new guidelines in the UK say that x-rays should no longer be used as an initial diagnostic tool.

 

[Kit_L]

Quote

Very different from a scientist like me who has chosen another path, because it suited my own very different basic temperament. Is this a factor? I don’t know. However we do tend to make moral judgements about peoples’ responses to these situations, when in fact it may be driven by basic differences in biology (types of neurotransmitter enzymes inherited for instance).

I can't comment on moral judgement in this regard, but I am sure one's fundamental mental "organisation" (or temperament) will have a characteristic chemistry associated with it (think of a basically happy person compared to a basically unhappy one). Is there is an assumption here that one's chemistry drives one's temperament?

I am certain of two things: that one's fundamental outlook/response characteristics and other aspects we call "personality" or temperament can be changed (and contra most people's perspective on this: "a leopard can't change his spots"), but real change requires significant desire for this end and work to bring it about. The second thing I am sure of is that one cannot separate one's internal chemistry as separate from this process. Changing one will changes the other, I believe. So, perhaps, the division between temperament and chemistry is made for particular purposes rather than being an accurate depiction of reality.

I understand your point about basic differences in biology, but I do not believe that any work has been done to support my kind of claim (in my case basic changes took 20 years!). Most likely that research will not ever be done.

As I often say on workshops, a human being stands before me as a complete object, with unique characteristics. Our mind does the separating between the component attributes, and science is simply one set of separation tools well suited to asking particular kinds of questions about the nature of reality. What I am getting at here is I agree with your point about temperament and chemistry as a working hypothesis, but want to add that temperament can be changed. I do not think one's chemistry constrains this; one's chemistry is a reflection of this. 

I would love to read your book; I just tried to order it from Amazon, but an error message was returned "we cannot ship to your nominated address". WTF? And pleased to see the remark re X-rays, too.

[Kit_L]

So the ideas don't get mixed; Jim wrote

Quote

First, some background. It is now clear that the great majority of cases of tinnitus are due to denervation hypersensitivity – i.e., when deprived of its normal input, the central nervous system generates its own activity instead.

Therefore although Kit has suggested the tinnitus made him deaf in the left ear, I suggest the causation was probably the other way round. There was probably some earlier hearing loss (maybe so little that it was not noticed), and the tinnitus developed as a result. The hearing loss then progressed further, so appeared to be the result, not the cause, of the tinnitus.

This very likely is true and I was gong to make exactly the same point about plantar fasciitis: removing what I consider to be the necessary stimulation from one's feet by insulating them from the environment (shoes) is the cause: the brain/neural system needs this information, and 'looks harder' for it by turning up the volume on the signal from the plantar fascia. Hypersensitivity of the plantar fascia is the result. I wonder how much of EDS might be explained by similar mechanisms, and whether the Mast cell activation syndrome difference is the result of this, rather than the cause?

Yes please to starting a tinnitus thread, and cut and paste from the threads above. Re. my L ear: I think that both processes proceeded; in the sense that the loudness of the tinnitus increased as well as the deafness increased. One of the reasons I have not had my hearing tested for so many years is that I think the hearing aid technology that does allow one to hear better does not change the tinnitus. The retraining therapy you mention is of interest to me; perhaps we can talk about this some time.