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Being human is a balancing act.  We’ve accomplished an astounding feat. We’ve evolved to stand and walk upright, negotiating gravity through the contact each tender sole makes with the ground.  No wonder, then, that we’re afraid of falling; the fear is hard-wired. And if we’re structurally off-kilter, our postural muscles over-burdened, we’re unconsciously working overtime to avoid collapse.  The MELT Method restores balance, increases stability, and reduces the risk of falling in several ways. With the MELT soft balls and roller, you can: Deepen your grounding Boost neurological connection to your center of gravity Improve muscle timing and coordination Reduce joint compression Differentiate motion ofRead More →

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I’m a devotée of the body’s center. Both my Honoring Your Belly project of many years and my more recent enthusiasm, the MELT Method, put the body’s center in pride of place. These two approaches to body-mind balance also share a focus on three-dimensional breathing. Chapter Six of The Woman’s Belly Book presents “Breathing Into Three Dimensions” as a way to revitalize your whole body. The MELT Method presents the “3-D Breath” as a way to rebalance your body’s natural capacity to support, protect, and ground you. The Woman’s Belly Book The MELT Method Both practices encourage the diaphragm, the broad muscle at the baseRead More →

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Smooth. That’s what my left shoulder feels like and sounds like now. Amazing. Two or three weeks ago, before my vanity-induced daily practice of the MELT Mini Soft Ball Hand Treatment plus Facelift, it sounded like an ogre chomping on carrots in there. Now, when my arms lift forward, out to the sides, and overhead there’s no complaint. I’m having fun hunting for images of “dry” and “moist” as I walk in the woods, to illustrate the blessedness (is there any better word?) of rehydrating our connective tissue. Now I’ll be hunting for “smooth” as well. This is what I’ve got so far for “smooth,”Read More →

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Today, August 6, is the anniversary of Andy Warhol’s birth; he would have been 90 years old. In Baltimore last summer to visit with a friend of my father’s, I stopped by the city’s Museum of Art. What a surprise to meet Warhol’s hara painted large. (Hara is the Japanese term for the body’s central volume as the sourcepoint for our physical, emotional, and creative energy. Bringing hara to light in contemporary terms has been the purpose of my enduring Honoring Your Belly project and the subject of The Woman’s Belly Book.) The spiral line, with its horizontal segment at the center, indicates a sortRead More →

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Since mid-June I’ve been creating the corewellbeing website as a container for both my enduring Honoring Your Belly project and my new service, teaching the MELT Method for eliminating chronic pain. Both initiatives activate our body’s center, enlisting the energy of this one-point for our well-being in every dimension. Huzzah! I felt like I’d distilled thirty-plus years of research, writing, and teaching with this tag line: connect to your body’s center, nurture your whole self. Thrilled, I was repeating these nine words as a mantra as I was walking through the woods. I stopped short: just in time to see the remarkable web stretching across myRead More →

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This might look like an idyllic scene, and it is. I was walking in these woods a few weeks ago with my friend Randee when I tripped on a root crossing my path. I stumbled forward, accelerating down the slope at what could have been, literally, breakneck speed. Then I tripped a second time, on another root. I’ve been practicing the MELT Method, an approach to self-care which uses a set of soft balls and a soft roller to rehydrate connective tissue throughout the body. Connective tissue is the three-dimensional scaffolding that runs from bone to skin and from head to toe, protecting our visceralRead More →

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I’ve calculated the cost of the physical therapy which didn’t work for me — and compared it to the cost of practicing MELT, which did. Of course, practicing MELT has provided benefits that go way beyond restoring my left leg, but that’s another story. The total cost for a year of physical therapy treatment — including physician referrals, orthotics, and exercise ball was $3,154. The Medicare-approved amount was $1,442. My out-of-pocket expenses, excluding insurance premiums were $357. The total cost for the bundle of MELT balls, soft roller, book, and DVDs was $169. Total Cost        Medicare-Approved Cost       Out-of-Pocket Expense Read More →

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Physical therapy said the cause of my ankle and knee pain was muscle-strength imbalance in my butt. But the real problem was the remaining stiffness, however slight, in my left ankle. As long as that stiffness remained, my body compensated by shifting weight off my left leg and into my right leg. What’s more, a disconnect between nerves and muscles in my left leg made that leg clueless about bending at the knee. By rehydrating the connective tissue and restoring the tissue’s elasticity, MELT techniques eliminated the stiffness in my left ankle and repaired the communication between muscle and nerve. Next: Cost comparisonRead More →