Muscle Activation Technique (mat)

[Voyager]

Hi guys, not sure if you class MAT as alternative, but it's not commonly known or practiced in Australia at the very least. Here is my story with it. 

* It's a bit of a story and doesn't get into the nitty gritty until the Bold part. The reason is that i wrote this for a YouTube video I should have already made but I am such a damn procrastinator. Hope this helps! 

After reading Tim Ferris’s 4 hour body I become intrigued by his asterisked “most effective” treatments he had for muscular recovery. I sat down at my computer and opened the google webpage. Typing in “Muscle activation technique Perth” brought no relevant results. I then tried “Muscle activation technique Australia” and there was but a single practitioner listed on the first page of results. His name was Shane Harvey, located in Sydney. I immediately dialed his number with anticipation and after a game voice mail phone tag we finally caught each other. I was adamant to see Shane as soon as possible, however I had a few months’ worth of Bali flights already booked. I told him I would be over to see him just before Christmas. We eventually ended the call after a compelling 2-hour conversation (fortunately non-billed :D). I released a month later that my Passport no longer had 6 months left prior to expiry, so I promptly changed my last Bali flight and moved it to January, and booked a Qantas flight with some racked up points from credit card use. I was excited all week at work, thinking about MAT and the potential this could have on my recovery, finally putting an end to the weakness and instability issues I’d been facing over the years. How many yoga practice could be benefit! The morning come around quickly as I boarded the plane. Fortunately, I had pre-booked a Gluten free meal, although it was still carbohydrate loaded. A good splash of Brain Octane oil and I was feeling great , immersed in Brain Maker by Dr. Perlmutter during the 4-hour journey. I loaded up an Opal public transport card and boarded the train under the terminal, heading for the place I was staying at in Castle Hill. I had fortunately found this accommodation on Air B&B, being far more affordable than any hotels nearby. Shane’s home, where he was practicing from primarily, was a 15 minute Uber away. I arrive later that evening, after gathering some supplies from the nearby shopping complex. I was delighted to meet Sam, the host and owner. Such a warm and welcoming fellow, with a home that followed suit. He showed me to my room which had a private bathroom. After getting to know each other a while, I crashed on the soft and comfortable bed. The cool wind was blowing on my face through the open window as I drifted off to sleep. The next morning after making my high fat breakfast, complete with bullet proof coffee, I booked my Uber and headed to Beaumont hills. I was astounded by the beauty of the area as we commenced on our journey. The wild flowers all blooming. The size of the trees in the passing gardens. Rarely had I seen such magnificent trees in the suburbs of Perth. I knocked on the door and a grinning man in a tight black zipped up shirt answered the door and presented me his hand. I removed my shoes and followed him to his study, ducking my head to avoid the staircase above. “How many times have you smacked your head on that” I said. “You soon learn after the first time”, he replied. He asked me what areas I had been experiencing the most problems and where I would like to start looking at. My right shoulder had always given me the most trouble and pain over the years so I decided to start with that. He picked up my arm and maneuvered it in various directions, whilst making changes to the elbow and wrist orientation. At each variation, he would attempt to push my arm and I was to resist. It became apparent very quickly that I had very little control over the muscle contractions that I could willingly initiate. Now it was time to correct this weakness. The methods he used in order of preference were as follows. If I could perform the resistance in the same position on the opposite side, left shoulder in this case, he would use this as my reference. This meant I would contract the muscle and press as hard as I could into his hand, sending signals to the brain and waking up the central nervous system to the fact this was entirely possible for me. I was absolutely astounded to witness what happened next. After performing this with the left shoulder, the right shoulder could now resist in the same position. He hadn’t even touched the affected area. I would have never believed this was possible if I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes, baring witness to the experience personally. As we started combing through the positions one at a time, we ran into positions that had weakness on both sides. This called for the next weapon in his arsenal. We would take the position that is weak and start looking for a position in the same "line of movement" that I could resist. Generally, this would involve bringing the position closer to the body. Once found, I would again press as hard as I could against his hand, contracting and waking up the muscle. We then in small increments, move closer to the weak area performing the same process each time, until we were back in the original position. This time I could resist against the force with ease. We continued moving through these positions until we found a line of movement that had no positions that would resist. This initiated the last resort. Manual palpitation. Manual palpitation in most MAT practice is the first and only option when it comes to rehabilitation through this practice. Shane however, a unique and curious fellow, released through his own process of discovery this was not always necessary. He released that the central nervous system could be stimulated by the brain “waking up” in more ways than he was taught. That said, manual palpitation is still a very useful method and we used it extensively on some areas. I found it difficult to contract and resist around the toes, fingers and lower back. We used manual palpitation almost exclusively in these areas. The benefits noticed after the week were really astounding. The internal and external rotation in all my limbs had increased by leaps and bounds. It’s been 4 months and I still have not lost any of this gained improvement. I can finally do Tree Post in yoga on both sides, before I could never internally rotate my foot so the toe would point to the floor. 

I would highly recommend trying Muscle Activation Technique if you'd like to regain range of movement in your body that you have lost over the years. If you have any further questions let me know! If you would like me to make a YouTube video on this let me know! (I am planning on it anyway, but I am being lazy or too fearful i don't know! :D) 

[Loreena]

Thanks for sharing. Good to know it worked for you. This was like a miracle