"Approaching the brain manually with our clients allows us to perceive its responsiveness and its complexity. We feel it come alive under our hands, sometimes in unpredictable ways. This work offers a new therapeutic approach to working with people with brain problems so we might improve the lives of countless people who seek help."
- Jean-Pierre Barral, DO, MRO(F), RPT
The brain has always fascinated the medical community and scientists. The various investigative tools of the brain have made exceptional progress. For example, functional MRI can highlight not only structural, but also functional problems. Even so, the brain has remained a mystery despite all the research for which it has been a subject.
Jean-Pierre Barral has been interested in the brain for over forty years. After treating many people with head trauma, stroke, brain diseases, and psychomotor disabilities, he has developed original techniques to help these patients. Barral demonstrates how to work simply with what is considered the most complex organ of the human body—the brain. He addresses the brain and its associated nervous and vascular connections as the ‘content’ of the human head, which, characterized by its bony and membranous enclosure, is regarded as the ‘container.’
The course is organized into two parts—a structural approach and a functional approach:
--The structural approach is aimed at the vascular, nervous, meningeal, ocular, barometric, and cerebrospinal fluid circulation systems.
--The functional approach explores the sense of smell, hearing, sight, language, coordination, proprioception, emotions, etc.
The material assists manual therapy practitioners to view systemic diseases in a new light. This includes discussions about such conditions as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and Multiple Sclerosis. Such pathologies and the limitations of manual therapy with regards to helping people with these conditions will be discussed, as well as how a manual approach to the brain may transcend these limitations and help alleviate symptoms that people are experiencing due to these diseases. Barral shares how precise manual therapy may encourage the central nervous system to self-repair and thus may help people with certain conditions. The practitioner will also learn ways to help people who have had a stroke or ictus.
Because the brain is inherently plastic, the tools that the practitioner will learn enables him or her, in Barral's own words, to help restore 'inner bridges' within the brain, which is vital to the life of those facing difficulties.
In short, the principle underlying this work is the striking of a balance between the ease of minimum manual effort and the finesse of maximum manual precision.
Prerequisite: Visceral Manipulation: Abdomen 1 (VM1), Visceral Manipulation: Abdomen 2 (VM2), Visceral Manipulation: The Thorax (VM4) and Neuromeningeal Manipulation; An Integrative Approach to Trauma (NM1).
Listening Techniques 1 (LT1) is recommended (not required)
Textbook: Manual Therapy for the Brain ($1,070) can be ordered below