SomaTherapy is a clinician-based program designed to teach the fundamentals of normalizing fluid flow in all fascia/joints/duramater. Space and Flow are the 2 most basic principles fundamental to health, resilience and performance. SomaTherapy, at its core, teaches how to intelligently create space and flow in all systems.
A potential paradigm shift?
Tensegrity
A close second to the more fashionable “fascia,“ tensegrity is appearing on more and more websites in performance therapy and rehabilitation. However, in the various approaches to treatment, there seems to be a disconnect in applying tensegrity to solving the “puzzle” of our patient’s conditions. SomaTherapy—through “pumping,” fascia normalization, and TTLS (explained below) combined with SomaTraining—through myofascial stretching, segmental strengthening, ELDOA, and other techniques provide us with the tools to affect permanent change.
Basic definition of tensegrity: discontinuous COMPRESSION and continuous TENSION with ligament/ fascia… the most basic shape being a triangle.
If this is a newer concept for you, you can find excellent visual resources on YouTube: “Strolling Under the Skin” 1 and 2, Guimberteau, and through text: “Architecture of Human Living Tissue,” by Guimberteau and Armstrong, 2016 or “Biotensegrity: The Structural Basis of Life” by Graham Scar. There are of course many others, but these are some personal favorites.
Fascia
Undoubtedly, within the last decade, across the US, there has been an increase in awareness of fascia in manual medicine and performance therapy. Yet, this global connective tissue is nothing new to the European and Canadian osteopathic teachings. Combine fascia, tensegrity, and the remarkable regenerating capabilities of the human organism, and you get a very complex puzzle that principles of SomaTherapy help to solve.
Inherent to this paradigm shift, Dr. Voyer teaches us the Complexity Model of thinking, understanding, and treating of the whole body during the learning process.
Examples:
- Causality vs. Interactive Process… cause and effect? too simple!
- Procedure vs. Process…a recipe for treatment? ouch…linear thinking at its finest!
- Control Reference vs. Relative References…controls in the body? the body doesn’t work that way!
Foundational tools of the SomaTherapy Program…
1st Year: Osteo Articular Pumping
Solicitation of the movement of fluids(lymph, synovial fluid, water of the bursae, water in the collagen tubes of fascia/ligaments/ tendons) in both acute and chronic cases.
P1 Osteoarticular pumping of the Lower Limbs
February 15th & 16th, 2024
$950
P3 Osteoarticular pumping of the Trunk & Pelvis
February. 17th & 18th, 2024
$950
P2 Osteoarticular pumping of the Upper Limbs and TMJ
2024 TBA
$950
Cost for P1, P2 & P3
$2500
Spots are currently limited to 20 students. Cost is $950 per course or $2500 for all three pumping courses. Full payment is required prior to the first day of the P1 course to secure your spot, it will sell out. Please follow call the office to pay with credit card.
Practitioners involved in a manual medicine specialty including, but not limited to: osteopaths, chiropractors, physical therapists, massage therapists, acupuncturists, physiotherapists, and athletic trainers. One does not have to be one of the above named practitioners to take SomaTherapy classes, but it is the student’s responsibility to know their scope of practice and local laws governing practice and use of these techniques.
- Inflammation and the physiologic response
- Classic descriptive anatomy
- Relational Anatomy
- SomaTherapy? Where we are headed!
- Basic Osteopathic principles
- Joint pumping. What it is? Why? When to apply?
- Introduction to the Complexity Model
- Micromovement dictates Macromovement.
- Detailed instruction on the hands-on techniques for joint pumping
2nd year: Fascial Normalization
Treatment of entire chains of fascia Continuity of the collagen tubes from the lateral heel to the sacrotuberous ligament to the transversospinalis fascia AND Contiguity, fascia that is immediately adjacent (therefore related) and has a direct influence on the function.
2024 Fascia Normalization Courses
F1 Fascia Normalization of the Lower Limb and T1 Transverse Tendonous & Ligamentous Stretching
TBA
$1900
F2 Fascia Normalization of the Upper Limb and T2 Transverse Tendonous & Ligamentous Stretching
TBA
$1900
F3 Fascia Normalization of the Trunk & Pelvis and T3 Transverse Tendonous & Ligamentous Stretching
TBA
$1900
Cost for all three
$5000
Practitioners involved in a manual medicine specialty including, but not limited to: osteopaths, chiropractors, physical therapists, massage therapists, acupuncturists, physiotherapists, and athletic trainers. One does not have to be one of the above named practitioners to take SomaTherapy classes, but it is the student’s responsibility to know their scope of practice and local laws governing practice and use of these techniques.
3rd Year: Transverse Tendonous & Ligamentous Stretching (TTLS)
Two primary effects:
- normalization of mechanical tension in a contracted or shortened ligament/tendon (or other fascia)
- creating a temporary inhibition of the protective mechanism of the ligament/tendon just before an adjustment of the joint
A critical component in all dysfunctions are SPECIFIC, untreated contraction/tension of ligaments/tendons that will never be corrected with NON-SPECIFIC treatment or exercise.
T1 Transverse Tendonous & Ligamentous Stretching Lower Limbs
T2 Transverse Tendonous & Ligamentous Stretching Upper Limbs
T3 Transverse Tendonous & Ligamentous Stretching Trunk & Pelvis
Dates TBA
Newport Beach, CA
4th Year: Diaphragmology
Treatment of the 4 Principle Diaphragms
2024 Dates
D1 Treatment of the Thoracic Diaphragm
Dates January 12th – 13th
$950 early bird
After December 15, 2023, $1050
The Pelvis: The LINK to all!
January 14th
$475
D2 Treatment of the Cervico-Thoracic Diaphragm
Dates April 26th – 27th
$950 early bird
After April 5th, $1050
The Pelvis 2.0
April 28th
$475
D3 Pelvic Diaphragm
Dates TBA
Newport Beach
D4 Cranial Diaphragm and Concussion
Dates June 2025
Dominican Republic
Cost TBD
Now, after 3 years, these experienced and elite therapists will learn how to solve more complex imbalances that are seen throughout the body. Examples: spondylolisthesis, scoliosis, prolapses, hernias, long term concussion symptoms, chronic headaches via the dura mater or ventricles, organ dysfunction…to name a few.
SomaTherapy students acquire highly-specialized hands throughout the 4-year program, as they move from more global practices to more subtle techniques. They also learn, specifically, how Structure dictates Function (but there is a synergy), as well as the remaining 4 tenets of modern osteopathy:
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- The rule of the artery is absolute
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- The body has the capacity to auto-normalize
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- Body functions as a unit – “globally”…
- The body follows the rule of Complexity…
SomaTherapists and SomaTrainers are highly sought out by the NHL, NFL, MLB, NBA, PGA, world cup skiing, world class track & field athletes, professional musicians, singers, etc. due to their ability to see things through the lens of the Complexity Model and the sheer results felt and seen by these athletes and professionals.
If we want to see lasting outcomes in our patients’ progress, we need to consider a higher level of anatomy, beyond what we’ve previously learned, combined with tensegrity-based biomechanics. We cannot continue to simply guess and press and expect a SPECIFIC effect or therapeutic outcome. Dr. Voyer teaches us “you cannot distinguish between structures that your brain isn’t aware of.” If our eyes have only been trained to perceive muscles, bones, and nerves, and are blind to the integral material that connects them, our ability to make permanent change to the system and to the quality of our patients’ lives is vastly limited.
SomaTraining
SomaTraining is a rehab-based program designed to teach specific tools for changing and normalizing the body’s tensegrity biomechanics to attain maximum function and health.
Guy Voyer DO
Guy Voyer DO is an accomplished athlete(Olympic Judo) and physiotherapist with 4 Osteopathic degrees, an Orthopedic MD, and PhD in Pedagogy. After truly understanding the global continuity of the body/fascial system, Dr. Voyer remains an Osteopath, teaching exercise as the foundation of all permanent change to the body for function, health, recovery and treatment. Many performance therapists and trainers around the world utilize his SomaTraining & SomaTherapy principles in the treatment and rehab of professional athletes and the conclusion of complex cases.
Jason Amstutz DC, CCSP, CSCS
Dr. Amstutz is a classically-trained Chiropractor since 2006, with a foundation in performance and rehabilitation. He began studying in the Complexity Model with Guy Voyer in June 2011. He has recently completed the SomaTherapy program for the 2nd time and is in the process of completing the SomaTraining program for the 2nd time. He works with many professional athletes in various sports and continues his role as student in an 8-year European/Canadian Osteopath program through Sutherland University in Montreal, QC with Dr. Voyer.