Blue Dunn; MT,HHP
The Origin of Evolution™ BodyWork?

Since 1984 in San Diego I have had a private practice of bodywork which I call Evolution™. I taught in a number of Massage Schools around town and have wound up being one of the practitioners that other Massage Therapists come to for their maintenance and the one they refer their especially problematic clients to.

Having originally been trained by one of Ida Rolf's first students to do the "10 sessions", I worked in that modality for a few years. As time went on I began to realize the downsides of working on pieces of the body, spread out over a two and a half month period of time. Either the person would drop out before the 10 sessions were completed or they would miss a session or two, thereby stretching the "disorganized body time" out to 3 months or more.

I began using my "Tent Analogy" as a way to frame up how I wanted to address the body. Picture one of the old style tents, one with two poles and guy wires coming out the front, back, and both sides. In this analogy the skeleton is the tent and the guy wires are the muscles (soft tissue). Over time, through exercise, non-exercise, stress, etc…the muscles (guy wires) become indiscriminately tightened, pulling the skeleton (tent) out of shape. For example, repetitive exercise, such as running, cycling, weights (and weight machines), use a very few isolated muscles over and over again to the exclusion of all others. This is like going out to the tent everyday and tightening a little bit 3 or 4 of the 12 guy wires. In not too long, the tent is becoming distorted and in a few years it no longer even resembles a tent; the fabric is tearing because of the strain and the pegs are pulling out of the ground. This paints a picture of everyone's body as the years rack up.

Therefore, I found it much more mechanically logical to work through the entire body each session. This would equate to making one complete circle around the tent, taking stress and tension off the entire structure and letting it settle back into it's rightful place. The good part about this method too is that each session stands on it's own and if no other work is ever done to it the body is not so quickly going to revert. Also, the body as a whole is becoming more organized each session, not just individual parts and pieces. Finally, every part of the body is addressed many, many times to assure that it is symmetrically falling into place throughout the process.

My sessions are 2 to 3 hours in length; the first session is often a half hour longer due to an information form at the beginning and a demonstration of whatever self-maintenance tools and/or movements I would have you begin using immediately.

My high success rate with clients who come to me with their problems is due to a number of things. One, has to do with the time I spend with the client each session: 2-3 hour sessions. Two, is because of the Flextasy Routine which I want every client to integrate into their life (at least the absolutely crucial movements for their particular case). Three, is my entire arsenal of Self-Maintenance Tools I have knowledge of and which I make available to those I work with.

I do not do "spot work", which addresses the symptoms of the problem and not the cause of the problem. If you come to me with a knee problem, I can assure you that there will be distortion and disorganization above and below the knee, as well as in the foot, the hip and low back, and basically throughout the entire structure. Remember the Tent Analogy; over tighten (put strain on) even one guy wire and observe the effect to the entire shape of the tent. People invariably come to me with what they think is an isolated problem and very soon discover the extent that their entire skeleton and musculature is in a very stressed and disorganized state. This is a good thing to find out sooner than later and is not something you will usually find out from a surgeon or most Physical Therapists who treat the symptom as the problem.

Some people I see only once and never again. Some I work on a few times until their "problem" is alleviated and then I won't see them again until it recurs due to not untangling the entire distortion. Some folks I see weekly, some once or twice a month, others not until they are in pain again and call me moaning and groaning and wanting me to "fix" them. Those last people are not my favorite ones to work with as they usually leave the welfare of their body up to me and are not pro-active with the Flextasy Routine or the Self-Maintenance Tools I have taught them how to use to keep themselves moving forward, keeping one step ahead of entropy.

yours for Health, Blue Dunn