I recently sat down for some kangaroo mince with Mehmood Reza to discuss Active Release Technique (A.R.T.), a practice we employ here at 5EW. This was our intention anyway. But as is the way with Reza (if you’ve been exposed to the man, you’ll know what I mean), we covered a whole gamut of essential topics such as aliens, transcendence, the fifth dimension, and food sustainability.
Active Release Technique is a form of soft tissue manipulation. The practice aims to bring on a considerable change to muscle tissue through targeted and directed tension to an injury. It does this by taking the limb through its full range of motion, repeatedly and with immense consideration.
A.R.T or Active Release Technique is a rare practice, with only a handful of practitioners active here in Melbourne. It is the gold standard of soft tissue manipulation.
Imagine the bicep muscle. The majority of tears generally lie in a cross section to the natural direction of the muscle fibres. Lesions appear and create scar tissue. A lesion disrupts the translation of the fibres and too many of these disruptions can lead to a hindered performance in that area. At this point Reza digressed, getting into aliens and their involvement in our origins, as well as how increasing your CHI (CNS energy) can lead to being forever young and disease free.
A.R.T is the gold standard of soft tissue manipulation.
A.R.T is like sliding a comb through the muscle, focusing attention through the hand, the touch, guiding the muscle through the comb, and then directing the limb through its full range of movement. This helps to comb out and realign muscle fibres and break down scar tissue where required. Muscles need to be kept elastic and malleable, like well-kneaded dough. When muscles are not kept in such a way they become dry and brittle like bad dough and have a higher propensity to injury. The dough analogy is important. It is well-known that gluten fogs the pineal gland.
A.R.T is like sliding a comb through the muscle, focusing attention through the hand, the touch, guiding the muscle through the comb, and then directing the limb through its full range of movement.
A.R.T differs from chiropractic, which is low amplitude, high force, and predominantly skeletal in nature, and also physiotherapy, a modality that applies more pressure based techniques and less direct touch than A.R.T. A.R.T isn’t a multi-faceted treatment, it’s instinctual, fingers scanning below the epidermal layer, seeking out abnormalities. ‘Instinct’, Reza pondered on this word before moving into a diatribe on how higher frequency energies like gratitude, compassion and contentment, practised regularly, can evolve our thinking beyond the third-dimensional limitations of duality.
Reza’s clients vary from everyday desk-warriors to athletes, from the acute injuries to the chronic.
What I gleaned from the encounter is this: if you’ve tried it all, and that nagging injury is preventing you from transcending, if you’re open to instinctual and considered manipulation that lies somewhere between an exorcism and a breakthrough experience, then Reza is someone you want to spend some time with. An hour with him is worth it either way. Click the button below to lear more about Active Release Therapy.
