Robert Gardner Podcast
Posted on April 28, 2020 Leave a Comment
www.instagram.com/tv/B_UG1CQHjET/
I have been learning so much from Robert. I can hardly wait till I can finally get to his Thai Yoga jam in Austin.
Heart and Harmony Music Therapy
Posted on April 26, 2020 Leave a Comment

Nikki Belshe is a brilliant music therapist and she is just killing it. I wish I had as much creativity in my pinky as she has in her entire body! She is already doing the work I would like to be doing. Thanks Nikki for sharing this valuable too.
Understanding Covid 19’s Cytokine Storm
Posted on April 22, 2020 Leave a Comment
Although our understanding of how the coronavirus affects the body is still very incomplete (and changing rapidly), we do know the virusโs effects vary tremendously from person to person. Some infected people have no symptoms at all; others have a cough and sore throat; some need medical care and may even die as their inflamed lungs and organs fail. Evidence is mounting that in a number of those fatal cases, it isnโt the virus itself that kills the host, but rather, it is the bodyโs own out-of-control inflammatory reactions, snowballing into a โcytokine stormโ that deals the fatal blow.
So, what are cytokines and how can they kill? Does this help us understand anything about other kinds of inflammation? WHAT ARE CYTOKINES?
When the bodyโs immune cells detect pathogens or tissue damage, they secrete cytokines (Image 1) to signal, mobilize, and instruct other immune processes and cells. The word cytokine, in fact, comes from the Greek ฮบฯฯฮฟฯ (kytos) or โcell,โ plus ฮบฮฏฮฝฮทฯฮนฯ (kinฤsis) or โmovement.โ Simplified, cytokines are cell movers. Though cytokines are relatively simple protein molecules, their complex functioning and interactions are still being deciphered. We know cytokines can be inflammatory (turning up immune processes); anti-inflammatory (turning off inflammation); or inflammation-resolving
(by signaling โnextโ in the progression of normally self-resolving inflammatory phases that lead toward healing). In other words, cytokines orchestrate, modulate, and time each phase of normal inflammatory progression. Except in some cases, this orchestration goes very wrong. When a virus like COVID-19 infects the lungs, it hijacks cells there and turns them into virus factories. This damages the cells and releases inflammatory cytokines. These acute-phase cytokines have several important effects:
โข They painfully irritate nearby nerve endings, triggering the aches and pains typical of influenza (causing the host to modify its behavior, and rest).
โข They summon other immune cells (to attack the invader and damaged tissues). Cytokines are the immune systemโs inflammatory messengers and coordinators: when immune cells detect pathogens or tissue damage, they secrete cytokines to signal and regulate inflammatory cells and processes.
Although our understanding of how the coronavirus affects the body is still very incomplete (and changing rapidly), we do know the virusโs effects vary tremendously from person to person. Some infected people have no symptoms at all; others have a cough and sore throat; some need medical care and may even die as their inflamed lungs and organs fail. Evidence is mounting that in a number of those fatal cases, it isnโt the virus itself that kills the host, but rather, it is the bodyโs own out-of-control inflammatory reactions, snowballing into a โcytokine stormโ that deals the fatal blow.
โข They make cell and vessel walls leaky (which helps transport the important immune cells and chemicals to where theyโre needed most).
So far, so goodโall of these inflammatory functions are healthy, normal, and needed. In most cases, the immune
systemโs anti-inflammatory and resolution-
triggering mechanisms come to bear, winding down these acute inflammatory reactions. Tissue healing progresses, sensation normalizes, and function returns. THE CYTOKINE STORM
But, for reasons we donโt entirely understand, in about 15 percent of people battling any serious infection,1 the immune
cycle seems to get stuck in a raging release of more and more cytokines, leading to more cell death, and even more cytokines. Perhaps related to underlying genetic defects,2 this phenomenon (first described in
1993) has been long studied in related forms such as systemic inflammatory response syndrome, cytokine release syndrome,
macrophage activation syndrome, hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, or cytokine storm syndrome (CSS).3 In the
1918 Spanish flu epidemic, differences in cytokine storm reactions between old and young, and between that virus and COVID-19, are thought to explain why that epidemic killed so many young people. CSS doesnโt just occur in influenza, but in other respiratory diseases caused by coronaviruses, as well, such as SARS and MERS. They are also associated with noninfectious diseases such as multiple sclerosis and pancreatitis. But whenever cytokine orchestration has turned into
a cytokine storm, their normally helpful
functions contribute to an escalating spiral of worsening symptoms:
โข The pain, sensitivity, and fatigue from influenzaโs cytokines can make the host inhibit breathing and movement, so much that the concentrated and by-
now toxic inflammatory soup collects in the lungsโ alveoli (Image 2).
โข The cytokine-summoned first-responder cells are aggressive and indiscriminate in their destruction. Flooding into the tissues on the wash of leaked interstitial fluids, they use powerful enzymatic and oxidative processes to demolish both friend and foe alike (Image 3). Other cells, such as fibroblasts, simultaneously try to repair this ongoing damage, but when the cytokine-induced destruction continues, New! ABMP Pocket Pathology at http://www.abmp.com/abmp-pocket-pathology-app. 81
the resulting excess collagen makes tissues denser and more fibrous, further inhibiting normal perfusion and drainage.4
โข In musculoskeletal tissues, the plasma leakage of acute inflammation causes its characteristic swelling and redness. In lung tissue, this fluid buildup causes coughing; and if excessive or prolonged, can lead to breathing difficulties and pneumonia. Whatโs more, capillaries damaged by the inflammatory riot can let the cytokine-rich fluids spill over into the bloodstream, resulting in systemic inflammation and multi-organ failure.5
Microdamage to the lungsโ alveoli from virus replication can, in some cases, trigger a self-escalating โcytokine stormโ of hyperinflammatory cytokine overproduction and further tissue damage.
WHERE DOES THIS LEAVE US?
If thereโs good news in the cytokine storm story, it might be that these cytokine imbalances appear to be detectable (and to some extent, treatable) in COVID-19 patients via commonly available blood tests and immunosuppressive drugs. When excessive inflammation is found in a coronavirus patient, doctors face a tricky decision about how much to suppress the immune system in the face of an active infection, but as experience dealing with this virus mounts, protocols will emerge to help guide these treatment decisions. As has happened with past epidemics, the flood of attention, awareness, and resources will increase our overall understanding of how inflammation gets out of control in other conditions. And there are many, many of those conditions: virtually all musculoskeletal complaints, the majority of chronic diseases, and a growing list of psychological and behavioral conditions are now understood to have a primary inflammatory component. For now, many bodyworkers, manual therapists, and massage therapists are restlessly watching the COVID-19 story unfold from the sidelines. Weโre looking and learning while in this holding pattern, but at some point, weโll have our work to do: helping people stay healthy now has even more important implications than it used to. Immune competence is emerging as a key factor in overall health, and we have clear contributions to make there. As time passes, we will learn more about how we can support post-coronavirus recovery of both individual survivors, and of our world.
Notes
1 Cytokines are the immune systemโs inflammatory messengers and coordinators: when immune cells detect pathogens or tissue damage, they secrete cytokines to signal and regulate inflammatory cells and processes.
2 Microdamage to the lungsโ alveoli from virus replication can, in some cases, trigger a self-escalating โcytokine stormโ of hyperinflammatory
cytokine overproduction and further tissue damage.
3 Lung tissue sample from a 1918 influenza victim, showing extensive damage to alveoli from inflammatory cell infiltration.
- R. Cron, as quoted in Apoorva Mandavilli, โThe
Coronavirus Patients Betrayed by Their Own
Immune Systems,โ New York Times, April 1,
2020, http://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/health/
coronavirus-cytokine-storm-immune-system.html. - Grant S. Schulert et al., โWhole-Exome Sequencing
Reveals Mutations in Genes Linked to Hemophagocytic
Lymphohistiocytosis and Macrophage Activation Syndrome in Fatal Cases of H1N1 Influenza,โ Journal
of Infectious Diseases 213, no. 7 (April 2016):
1180โ88, https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiv550. - J. L. Ferrara, S. Abhyankar, and D. G. Gilliland,
โCytokine Storm of Graft-Versus-Host Disease: A
Critical Effector Role for Interleukin-1,โ Transplantation Proceedings 25 (February 1993): 1,216 โ17. - J. R. Tisoncik et al., โInto the Eye of the
Cytokine Storm,โ Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews 76, no. 1 (2012): 16โ32,
https://doi.org/10.1128/MMBR.05015-11. - Fields Virology, 6th ed., eds. David M. Knipe and
Peter M. Howley (Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer/
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Health, 2013).
Til Luchau is the author of Advanced Myofascial Techniques (Handspring Publishing, 2016), a Certified Advanced Rolfer, and a member of the Advanced-Trainings.com faculty, which offers online learning and in-person seminars throughout the United States and abroad. He invites questions or comments via info@advanced-trainings.com and Advanced-Trainings.comโs Facebook page.
Coronavirus…Again
Posted on April 15, 2020 Leave a Comment
Coronavirus got me likeโฆ. ๐ฆ
- Thankful I work from home and not with little kids everyday. ๐ท
- Yes Iโm out and about living life but am taking our immunity, and super reds and super greens like crazy ๐
- I’m getting to ride my horses more often than if I was working and I haven’t had to worry about paying the bills as much as if I hadn’t had this business and my health.
Yโall I have the โ๐ป solutions for you ๐. Come join me and make money from your home + I got the best IMMUNITY BOOSTERS ever.
Coronavirus ainโt gonna be touching me โ๐ป We are all in this together
It’s a miracle
Posted on April 14, 2020 Leave a Comment
2 pills โข90 days โข
31lbs gone
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Monthly Cleanse
Posted on April 13, 2020 Leave a Comment
I was so bad with my eating this last week with Easter, stress and just everything going but I did my cleanse…and I still managed to be down from last week.
After all of the yummy food๐ด that took place this past weekend, my body definitely needs to ๐ป๐ฎ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฝ & ๐ป๐ฎ๐ซ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฌ๐ฎ ๐๐ป
I was feeling sluggish, groggy and not myself. So I pulled out my gentle two day cleanse to get back on track and feeling like me again๐๐ผโโ๏ธ NO MORE BLOAT!!!
If you are feeling the same- you may be in need of a RESET๐๐ผ. I only have a few spots left. Message me to get started!๐

Type DETOX” below if you want info!
Therapy by Alice 
