Block Therapy: The Simple Tool to Feel Taller, Stronger, and More Relaxed

Introduction to Block Therapy 0:00

Hey everybody, welcome to what I think is a really exciting addition to the Reversing Heart Disease Summit. You see a smiling face that I've invited as a guest. And there's only so many people in the world that say they actually can have developed a whole line of therapy, a whole field of therapy. And we have Deanna Hansen beaming in from Winnipeg, Canada. I don't even want to say what province that is because I'm going to mess it up. But you. Where is it? I'm in Winnipeg. Manitoba. Manitoba? Okay, I have to say, I was going to say Manitoba, but I wanted to save myself from falling into that pit.

And Deanna was a certified athletic therapist alone. But, I don't know, I think around 16 years ago, you took a fork in the road that led you to now being a world pioneer in block therapy, and I want everybody to write that down right now. In your notes block below Seagate Therapy. And you can easily find that by just searching and on the web. And you'll find a tremendous website with Deanna and other people and certified instructors. So welcome. Thank you Deanna. Thank you so much, Doctor Khan.

It's an absolute pleasure to be here. Thank you. And I have to admit, I can interview world experts on hypertension and endothelial dysfunction and congestive heart failure. But you put me in a pickle here a bit because I've had a study. Study. Reed Reed. And I'll just show it right now. There's a very nice book by Deanna that you can buy on the online sellers, block Your Body. It's a good read. It's worth reading more than once. I've only got through it once. And, I will continue to study the field, but tell us, you know, if it was 15, 16 years ago, you know, where you were at in life and kind of what you learned about a part of the body that we've never mentioned.

And there's some at the Fashion Society, so take it away. All right. Well, actually, it was about 25 years ago that this whole journey began for me. So as an athletic therapist at that time, I was always focused on deep tissue work. And I had a very successful client base because I had good, strong hands and I could detect adhesions and scar tissue in the tissue tissue. However, my own personal body was really struggling. I was 50 pounds overweight, struggling with anxiety, depression, chronic pain, even though I was working really, really hard to try to change things.

Deanna Hansen's Origin Story 2:25

So when I turned 30, I'm 55 now. I made some major changes in my life and as a result of those changes, I started having some serious anxiety attacks. But this one, an anxiety attack in particular, was the seed of everything to come. In that moment, I actually thought I was going to die because I was in such a state of turmoil, I couldn't find my breath so intuitively. I dove my hand into my abdomen and the first thing I encountered was a tremendous amount of pain. But the pain brought me back into my body and I realized, okay, you're breathing, you're living.

And so then I continued to intuitively explore in this tissue. And I never touched that part of my body because that's where I stored most of my size, and I was really ashamed of it. So now I'm in this tissue and it's riddled with what felt like scar tissue, even though I hadn't had any injury or surgery in that space. So for about 30, 45 minutes that first evening, I just was working on my tissue and most importantly, I felt calm, which was absolutely not my normal. I woke up the next day. I still felt calm, so I was excited.

After working on my patients to go back home that evening and continue the exploration. And after the second evening when I stood up, the first thing I noticed was I felt taller. And then I went and I looked at myself in the mirror and my belly was flatter than it had looked in years. And I mean years of working hard, the the working out, the dieting, all of those things which I now understand are completely not conducive to a healthy body. But as I continued to do this work, that my chronic low back pain was going away, and I started seeing life in a very different way, and I started to apply those techniques to my patients and was developing this whole protocol, which in time I recognized was the fascia system that I was working in.

And so that was the seed of everything to come back in 25 years ago with that anxiety attack. Wow. And, you have two terms and one isometric. What's the other word? Fluid. Isometrics. Yes. The matrix. That I've developed. Of a hands on therapy, hopefully by a certified instructor, because not everybody gets to Winnipeg, Yourself or yourself. You can also do the work on yourself with your hands. But, fluid isometrics is a way to deal with your fashion. Fascia is a system of connective tissue throughout the body, head to toe. It bundles and wraps up all your arteries, all your nerves, all your organs.

Something I only know from brief time as a resident in operating rooms and surgeries where the surgeons would talk about old planes and dissecting through, you know, nature's own barriers within the body and, occasionally those barriers. Great medical emergency is called a compartment syndrome. If you get too much pressure inside our facial space. And, yeah, these are all things that the listeners are, you know, largely unfamiliar with. And I don't think I've talked about fascia in my cardiology practice in decades.

But so and the other aspect you developed was something people can do at home, which we've always said the word block therapy and a website, videos and training and a literal wooden block there. It is a beautiful block that one can apply. So, you know, I've listened to you on some of your interviews, opening spaces. I mean, why aren't we open and how are we opening with either fluid isometrics or home based block therapy? So the fascia literally is connecting the cell membrane of every cell to every other cell.

So the fascia system becomes the communication between all cells. And it's largely comprised of collagen and elastin. So the collagen gives it the structure. The elastin gives us the mobility. And when balanced what happens is it supports proper cell alignment so that there's space in and around every single cell. And as long as there's space, there's ease of absorption of nutrients into the cell as well as ease of waste removal from the cell. So that's the perfect version of what we want for our body.

However, that's not the reality because we are constantly being pulled down toward the earth under the force of gravity. But we don't compress linearly. We spiral down in one direction or another. We're dominant on one side, so we overuse one side of the body, and that creates an imbalance. So what happens to the balance of the proteins that make up the fashion is the collagen component starts to migrate to areas of need. So for example if I'm always tipping over to my left side which would be my fallout posture because I'm right handed.

So that's a typical, generalization. But as I'm falling over to the left side so my body doesn't tip over now that collagen starts to migrate to create false walls and false floors in our system. But they act just like scar tissue. They become barricades to that flow. So as we get older, we basically get shorter and wider. And it's that descent that is really create

Fascia, Decompression, and Breathing 7:27

so many of the problems within the body. So the system that I've developed, it takes you in the opposite direction. So over time we compress, we become shorter and wider. What we do is we put the space back into the body through fashion decompression, and that's through understanding how to address the scar tissue and adhesions throughout the layers of fascia all the way to the bone, because those those adhesions will grip and adhere with the force of up to 2,000 pounds per square inch holding us out of alignment, which, I mean, if you can even consider that force inside the body that's existing all the time, it's almost hard to imagine.

However, if you've been slouched over a computer for years or decades, you might be able to sit up straight for a moment, but you'll find that you very quickly get pulled back into those signature postures that we've developed over time because of that magnetic component. So the first process of what we do is we melt the adhesions or scar tissue. Then we teach people proper diaphragm breathing. And this is really the most significant component of what our body needs. When our diaphragm is working properly.

It feeds those cells. It keeps our body temperature warm as it needs to be in order for that flow. I'm just going to bring my computer down here, my screen just to show. So here's the diaphragm muscle. It's the foundation of the rib cage and everything above. When we inhale it moves down. When we exhale it lifts. And when it's working properly it's creating a massaging action for the abdominal organs the heart, the aorta, the lungs, this whole space. However, most people because pain, fear and stress cause us to react.

We hold the breath, our breathing through the muscles of the upper chest and then this becomes weak. The weight of everything above over times comes crashing down. And if you can imagine that your heart is around here, and then the aorta coming through as we collapse, it's putting tremendous stress and pressure on the organ itself. And then the aorta is getting twisted and decreasing in the amount of space. Now the heart has to work harder to attempt to move the blood and oxygen to all of the cells.

So in conjunction with teaching people how to release the adhesions, we also are teaching people on proper diaphragmatic breathing to strengthen this muscle. And the reason it's so important compared to upper chest breathing, it's at the base of the lungs where the majority of the oxygen receptor sites reside. So if we're breathing shallow, which most people are doing these days, we're not pulling the air deeply enough into the lungs to reach that bed of abundance of alveoli for that optimal absorption.

And I've read that we can feed the body up to six times the oxygen when breathing diaphragmatic. I've also learned through the years that we can exhale. 84% of weight loss comes through proper exhalation. So for me, that was the thing that I really tied the pieces together when I was back in my 20s and I was overweight and I was working out like a fiend and dieting and getting bigger as a result of what I was doing, I recognized I wasn't breathing at all, so I wasn't moving the toxins properly out of my body, and my whole core space was frozen because I wasn't activating this beautiful muscle that is really the body's internal furnace compared to the upper chest muscles being like a space heater.

And then the third thing is understanding proper postural foundations, how to keep your body supported in correct alignment going forward. Now I have to have a disclaimer. You can't return the 2 or 3in that some of us have lost over time. Even though we're talking about restoring space. People don't get tall. They're just, well, actually. Oh well, we know often from our community, which I just love, is after people do a class, they often notice when they get into their car, they have to adjust their mirrors.

And we have had many people in our community share that they have actually regained some of their height. That has been lost over time. So, there's a, certainly something to get excited about because we do know with time we get shorter and wider. A lot of us can feel that I'm ten years behind you and, and I'm quite aware I'm not quite, five foot nine and a half I was at the time. So we talk about three components. Fascial decompression, which people can learn about. And the videos at Block Therapy, dot TV and block.

We talked about, diaphragmatic breathing and we talked about finally proper posture as three important steps to open spaces, improve blood flow. And also, very importantly for everybody listening, dealing with chronic pain. You make a big deal about, you know, the the root of pain. It isn't always where you feel it. Now a lot of people and I'll, raise my hand is one of them have, you know, low back pain, maybe more in the morning. They can work out. But you would imply it's not always coming from the low back, you know, some of us have had clean MRI scans, and it's not due to disc disease.

So you're a big into ankles and calves and foot position. So talk a little bit about that because so many people do have low back pain. Of course it's the number one disability that people, you know report. Yes. So we're built like a building. And again, the goal being that we keep every cell in its right position. So whenever I'm doing assessments on bodies, I look first at the feet in the foundation. So you're always going to have one foot. That's like a flat tire pulling the body away from alignment.

The opposite side of the body ends up anchoring to stop you from getting from falling down. Think of walking 120 pound dog that is not well trained and yanking on your arm. The opposite body is going to contract and stabilize to stop you from falling. So this is like a very slow moving version of that. And it's again the collagen that migrates to create all of those false walls and floors to stop us from tipping, because the feet are the furthest from the engine. This is where the fascia will grip and adhere with the greatest force.

So if you have low back pain and you go for a treatment and you don't correct your foundation, it's like you're still driving that car with a flat tire. I mean, I think about driving a car with a flat tire for a month and other problems happen if you go fix the other problems, but you don't pump up the tire, the problems aren't going to get resolved. So it's really about understanding how to utilize the body in the way that it was designed. And most people have lost connection to their toes. So there's actually a study I had just, listened to a wonderful doctor talk about the link between longevity, longevity and strength.

So we talked a ton about the toes and how to actually release the toes from the pattern that they're in so that they can become an active participant. And what the toes really do is they allow us to bring our center of gravity back on to our heels. We should have approximately 60% of our weight on our heels. The average person has the majority of their body weight more on the balls of their feet and twisting. So if you think about what that means to now the rib cage, if my right foot is getting pulled away or my left foot is getting pulled away, I'm going to have this rib cage.

Also responding to the foundation, as well as the arms and the hands anatomical position as palms facing forward. But if you look at the majority of people, their palms are behind them and that internally rotates the arms, which adds additional compression to the rib cage. So when we can understand how to support our system correctly and postural, we use our body in the correct way. Then we maintain that internal space. So we're not crushing all of this weight on to whether it's the low back, the heart, or any other part of the body.

It's really about alignment and that ease of flow that results from being incorrect alignment. Okay, now, you know, some people may be 15 minutes into this conversation. Was wondering this is fascinating because everybody's got to make some pains, but it's not relevant to me. So one question I want to ask you, have you ever actually met somebody that has perfect alignment and doesn't have a need for fast decompression? Or there's always something and pretty much everybody. I've never met any perfect person, and I don't think any us in this world will ever be that, because as much as we can be conscious and doing the work, gravity is constant, stress is constant.

The unconscious response to to pain, fear and stress is to reactively hold the breath. So it's more about understanding how to use the body with what we're dealing with. To support healthy flow of lymph detox ification, as well as to support all the systems and organs in the body. Again, keeping that space. But no, I have yet to see anybody. That's perfect. And a second, you know, reaction. I have maybe some of the viewers have is what we I've heard about diaphragmatic breathing in the yoga class.

I talk or, you know, the yoga online session. So you did bring ins, you know, yoga etic, trainings. I mean, nothing wrong with that. They're pretty. They're pretty powerful and efficient. And, do you practice yoga yourself? I do, I'm actually starting a class again tonight. Oh, good. And third, people may be wondering, this is fascinating, but this is a reversing heart summit, and I want to indicate to people on page

Posture, Pain, and Heart Health 16:58

75 of your book, you have a chapter focus on the heart muscle and the, section after it is about, blood vessels and vascular status. So you talk a little bit about opening, areas and particularly for congestive heart failure or heart failure. So share with us a little bit about, fluid isometrics might help a cardiac patient. And the very first thing that we ever do when somebody starts in new to our system is we address the rib cage in the core. So even the adhesions that are locking the rib cage in this alignment are locking us with that 2,000 pounds per square inch seal.

So you may be doing breathing exercises and what part of the diaphragm you have available you can keep strong. However, just like a frozen shoulder, if we don't release the adhesions, locking the shoulder, I might be able to do this and keep this strong. But I want to be able to do this and keep all the range is strong. So same with the rib cage. We end up basically having a frozen diaphragm and that again pulls the upper body forward and down, adding immense pressure and stress on the heart muscle, taking the space in the rib cage away for the heart and the lungs.

So they end up getting pushed to the back of the rib cage, as opposed to be positioned with the diaphragm as its foundation, giving the mechanical action of a massage to create that heat and energy to support the heart muscle. So we always start, no matter what we're dealing with, with this understanding to open the rib cage and teach people how to properly diaphragmatic breathe. Because what's really important about that is that turns on the vagus nerve, the parasympathetic nervous system, which we need to be in order to heal and to rest and digest.

So when we're stressed breathing up through here, we're basically in the sympathetic state 24 seven. So we never get that opportunity to go into that healing momentum that is required from proper breathing. So for anybody, no matter what the situation, this is really something that we all want to learn, and we want to make the exhale more of the focus than the inhale, the exhale. And I love James Nestor's book breath. He goes into great detail explaining the carbon dioxide and how when that builds up in the blood, through slowing the breath down and living in the exhale, that is the currency for the oxygen to jump from the hemoglobin into the cell.

So if we don't have enough carbon dioxide in the body, we might be pulling in all of this air. But that doesn't mean that the oxygen is getting to the places that we need it to go. So that component is so incredibly important. So from there, we teach people how to breathe properly, and then we work throughout all of the adhesions because every part of the body has become impacted as a result of time and gravity and stress. Okay. And you actually went where I was going to go next with a question which was the vagus nerve.

You have a teaching module on your block therapy, dot TV, on the vagus nerve, the biggest nerve in the body between the brain and all the way through the heart to the intestines and back. And, we've talked about heart rate variability at times. So many people are weighing rings and watches and just traps. And it's very common in my clinic that they're very distressed that their heart rate variability, their HIV is, you know, you're only compare yourself to yourself. But there's taking a look at other people's is a mind so low.

And I mean they really are working to try and raise it. So, have you experienced with teaching people die from manic breathing that they actually. Yeah. And just better posture and better health, which is key. But are they actually able to see a difference? And some of these biometric, you know, apparatus. Yeah, absolutely. And we've also had a number of our community members, get off of their meds, which is really important as well, because there's always, you know, toxic effects to taking those medications.

So, yes, when you have that control of your breath, that's what helps you control your heart rate. So if we're not connected to that conscious breath and we're watching, you know, our heart rate, you'll see, you know, stressors or other things will impact your heart rate. But when we know how to slow down the breath and support proper diaphragmatic breathing, again, the diaphragm is basically the floor to the heart. And also it helps keep the vagus nerve as well as the aorta in their right positions so that they're getting stimulated properly.

And we're not developing all of these adhesions and locks around the organ and the channels to, to support everything. So, yes, absolutely. And that's a wonderful thing. It's, it's really something that you can track very simply too, through this process. So, so far people are saying she can make us taller, she can improve our heart rate variability on our, watch our rain. She can reduce and maybe eliminate our pain. And now you just mentioned maybe reduce or eliminate some medication. Always work with your medical team before you throw your pill bottle away.

Of course you are like a miracle worker, so it's exciting. Now, I did just download a 20 page PDF that you offer when you sign up. I'm pain and yeah, there was attached a seven minute YouTube on diaphragmatic breathing. And I think people can probably find on your YouTube page. I'm only partly through it, and I actually have for years practiced something called the Five Tibetan Rights. And you might be familiar with that from your yoga experience. And the sixth one, because there are six, is to exhale, to a point in you, you actually suck your, your abdominal contents as close to your spine as possible.

But I actually think this is almost the opposite of what you're teaching, where when you breathe in your your belly actually protrudes a bit. When you breathe in, it's more on the exhale. You breathe out. Yeah. No, that's exactly what we teach. We want the belly to become nice and big with the inhale, but most importantly, squeeze the belly small with the exhale. And if we connect to that exhale properly and we really focus on making that the dynamic action, the inhale takes care of itself. It's like a vacuum. So definitely.

And so I always teach people exhale for a count of six. Inhale for a count of four. If you can connect to that as a relaxed breathing number, that takes a little bit of practice. But once you learn how to exhale slowly and completely, it it truly just does become this structural support for your core as well. Again, it allows you to be in that relaxed, stress free state. It actually changes the breathing or the brain frequency tone of a relaxed state instead of the upper chest breath. Being in a stressed state.

Okay. And I want to make sure because people that are watching, have the right data, because I may have misspoke that you have the two websites I spent the most time on our blocked therapy.com, and then you can go over to Block therapy.tv, which is a depository repository. Maybe I have a bunch of videos that you can sign up for as you guide yourself through this, but other. You know, purchase and then you get into block therapy TV once you once you have access, that's where all of our content is stored.

Yeah. And you have trained people as certified block therapy instructors. I was a little distressed. I put in my, zip code from my home, area in suburban Detroit. And there's nobody unless you want to correct me on that, but at least on your website. So I actually already called a couple friends. Hey, you have to sign up as instructors. I think it got a wide open market here in Detroit. I did find a couple people because I'm wintering for a few months, in Florida, in Pompano Beach, Florida, I think a yoga studio.

You've got a Corben Stacey, a Janice Jacobs. So people can actually find somebody in Fort Lauderdale. You can find people to help guide you hands on,

Tools, Training, and Results 24:58

with, like, therapy or doing at home. You know, how many people do you think are out there in the United States? You've been able to train and certify? Oh, that's a good question. How many we've certified. We've had several hundred people come into our program, but that doesn't mean they're all certified and working and they're from all over the world. So I don't even actually know the number of people. But there's also another two components to our in our, academy. One for body workers, where I train fluid isometrics for the body worker to do, and then also institutions program, where we teach the institution how to do facial decompression for the face and teach their clients as well the full body connection so that those rejuvenation techniques are actually beneficial.

Okay. But just in case you're in a locale that does not have somebody certified, there is a way that anybody stimulated by, you know, so many different aspects of we've addressed posture, we've addressed breath and stress, we've, addressed pain. We've addressed actually height and vagal tone and health. I mean, do people report that they're sleeping better? Yes, yes. We've actually had people come off of their CPAp machines as well. Wow. That's, not a small progress in life. That's a major progress.

So this is very exciting. You know, you maintain a hands on practice in Winnipeg? I do, yes. Okay. Yeah, I do see that. If listeners go to block therapy.com, that's where I found that 20 page PDF for free called Five Steps to Control Your Pain. And having just read it and or immediately shared it with a few family members, I suggest everybody listening. Go give that a look, because we all have our pains and, we clearly have some fascial know, resistance that we can all work on. Now, getting educated in these cardiovascular applications and vagal tone applications are just, just phenomenal.

So and what I just want to share also what's most important is that people can do this in their own home. So we we ship the tool. There's actually two sizes. It's the block buddy. There's a smaller one as well. And then all of the instruction is also online. So you can search out to see if there's somebody in your area that you want to do live classes with. Or we have a membership as well with, a number of different programs for pretty much anything and everything that people can do in the comfort of their own home.

Yeah. I was saying I watched a YouTube of you and my good friend Sirius Combat, co-founder of Mastering Diabetes, a long time friends. And you know what? If I were to do this only at home, I don't have the. I didn't notice all the things you were noticing. And Cyrus's body, the posture of his shoulders and his rib cage and his calves and his ankles. But if you can find yourself somebody certified, I would imagine they probably have that. I, you know, analysis that you have gained over the last 25 years.

So I think I'm going to book, actually a visit down, a few miles south of here in Pompano Beach and meet one of these people who have certified and. Passed. Analysis. Drag my drag my sweet wife with me, and we'll both become blockers. Well, I'm happy to assist you personally as well. So all you have to do is send me some pictures and I can review it all for you. Yeah, you'll have ours. Of course. Hours of work. Because, I know that posture. I am reminded by my sweet wife. My posture at times is far from optimal, so it's good to have, a friend to remind you.

But now I'll reach out and have a friend who can correct it. So I appreciate you coming on and sharing and, exposing the audience to something so therapeutic. You know, we learned a lot on this summit, but, to actually some everybody today can start working on their health. I'm excited to have had you on and share this. And thank you for your time. I know you're busy. You got lots going on. Thank you. So much. It's been an absolute pleasure.