“We live in a society that teaches us to ignore our emotions and prioritize productivity over well-being. Many times we do not know how to read our body’s signals because we have lost connection with it. “We are taught to endure and numb the pain with anti-inflammatories instead of listening to it, which leads us to not register the initial alerts until it is too late.”
Who says this is Ignacio Monti (47), who has been researching the link between body and mind for decades.
He became so specialized that he became create the Holistic Postural Therapy (HPT) method.
He maintains: movement and physical exercise are not separate issues of people but are part of the lifestyle that we have decided and that are key to our physical and emotional health.
His is an invitation to see the world through the body.
In this interview the concern was very specific: the contractures.
He, in his classes, teaches exercises to see how the body stores and reflects the emotions that we do not process..
First of all, who is Nacho Monti
“I was born and raised in Buenos Aires. From a very young age I knew that he had a very deep connection with the mountains. In my family they were more of the beach; So my first vacations as a child were, generally, to the beach. One summer we had the opportunity to visit the mountains of Córdoba, which amazed me. Over time I was lucky enough to get to know Bariloche. On that occasion I toured the area of Tronador and Paso de la Nubes, a transformative experience. Then I traveled through several mountains in Argentina and the world, I arrived at the Everest base camp,” he says.
After the pandemic and the birth of his second child, he and his partner made the decision to settle in a quieter environment with easy access to nature and the mountains.
This is how they settled to live in Bariloche.
When I started traveling to the mountains I had some transformative experiences that led me to make a radical change. This is how I began to learn even more about the body and its power to quiet the mind and recharge it with energy.
Ignacio Monti, creator of the TPH method. He lives in Bariloche
About his career he says:
“My academic background is very diverse; I graduated from high school with a degree in Electronic Technician. When I finished school I didn’t know what to do, so I tried a little of everything. I did the CBC for the Image and Sound degree at the UBA and I realized that my future with art was going to have little flight. I enrolled in Medicine at the UBA but it didn’t work out either.
“I finally decided on Industrial Engineering. I started it but there was something inside me that told me that it wasn’t going that way. By then I was already involved in various activities related to the mountains – courses and trips. Until one day I was at the cinema with my partner at the time and I felt a very strange sensation; After a while I “woke up” in a room with lots of light and some doctors who were examining me. I had fainted. Diagnosis: stress syncope, and I was only 22 years old! There I decided that I had to make some changes in my life…
“Among other things, I began to understand that the body was giving me a message that I had to learn to decipher. At the same time, I started doing psychological therapy because I felt I needed help and support to understand what was happening to me and find my way.
“I left engineering and enrolled in a Physical Education degree. I took the entrance exam and began what would be my great vocation. After graduating, I continued my studies at UNSAM to complete a degree in physical education. Then I did an MBA in marketing at USAL.
“In 2004 I started working at the Italian Hospital of Buenos Aires. There I was able to focus on body development, movement and health and working in interdisciplinary teams. I was also able to observe that there was something more, it was not only approaching the body as a complex mechanical system but also the person had to be included in its multiple dimensions: understanding that we are a complex unit, where body, mind and emotions are constantly interrelated.
“With this experience I began to research and study various alternative medicine techniques. Over the years, I have been training in different lines of work that today allow me to carry out a comprehensive approach to the person: active global stretching (SGA), the study of fascia and integrated movement, yoga and meditation.
We live in a society that teaches us to ignore our emotions and prioritize productivity over well-being. Many times we do not know how to read our body’s signals because we have lost connection with it.
Ignacio Monti
– You created the TPH method.
–It is a method that combines postural awareness techniques, flexibility and strengthening exercises, and mindfulness and meditation practices. The idea came from observing that many traditional therapies focus only on the physical aspect of pain and contractures, without addressing the underlying emotional and psychological causes. I wanted to create a holistic approach that helped people understand the inputs not only to their bodies, but also their minds and emotions.
Contractures and our poorly managed emotions
– Contractures are related to the emotional, you say.
– We reach this point of pain because we live in a society that teaches us to ignore our emotions and prioritize productivity over well-being. Many times we do not know how to read our body’s signals because we have lost connection with it. We are taught to endure (and/or numb with anti-inflammatories) the pain instead of listening to it, which leads us to not register the initial warnings until it is too late.
I give an example: when you are nervous your stomach or head usually hurts. When you are distressed you may feel pressure in your chest or a lump in your throat… If you are under tension, it usually happens that your shoulders tense up, and we begin to breathe shorter and more superficial. This, if you do not deactivate it, remains installed in the body and becomes chronic… this chronic situation can cause a muscle “spasm” to occur that results in a contracture…
Our body tells a story through its symptoms and ailments. Every contracture, every pain, has an origin and a message. By learning to interpret these messages, we can better understand the underlying causes of our ailments and work on the root of the problem, not just the symptoms.
Ignacio Monti
Storytelling of the body, a wonderful concept
– You talk about storytelling of the body.
– This concept is based on the idea that our body tells a story through its symptoms and ailments. Every contracture, every pain, has an origin and a message. By learning to interpret these messages, we can better understand the underlying causes of our ailments and work on the root of the problem, not just the symptoms. It’s like learning a new language that allows us to dialogue with our own body. It is like a control panel that has a lot of information, what happens is that we do not have the tools to interpret it. It is the body that helps us generate that dialogue between our own body, mind and the emotions that pass through us.
– At the first symptom of contracture, what should we do?
– Learn to have a better and greater record of our body. This will allow us to detect muscle tension before it turns into a contracture. The other thing is not to ignore the symptom. It is important to stop and pay attention to what is happening. A good first step is to perform gentle stretching exercises daily that allow us to be more connected with our body and apply relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing or meditation.
How to avoid contractures
– If we have a high pain threshold, it is highly possible that we register the contracture when it is already a knot that is impossible to unravel…
– There are many people who have a high pain perception threshold, but there are also many people who are highly trained and overadapted to withstand tension and stress. Therefore they are at greater risk of having contractures and possible injuries. Although these cases are the most difficult, they also have the ability to learn to train the connection with the body to be able to anticipate and detect these symptoms before they become very complicated and generate these states of deep pain.
If we reach this point, it is advisable to seek professional help. A therapist specialized in techniques such as Holistic Postural Therapy, Osteopathy or Physiotherapy can be of great help in unraveling these severe contractures. The chosen professional must be qualified enough to know if it is necessary to refer to a specialist doctor if necessary.
Body pains can be multifactorial; Therefore, it is advisable to complement it with an approach to the underlying emotional and psychological causes through therapy or meditation and mindfulness practices.
These preventive and anticipatory methods help to medicalize these situations less and less and overload health systems less and less.
-How, then, to avoid contractures?
– Keeping the body active and in harmonious movement. Maintain good posture, engage in regular physical activity, stretching exercises, and practice stress management techniques such as TPH, meditation, or yoga. Listen to our body and pay attention to the initial signs of tension or discomfort. Maintaining a balance between work and rest, maintaining a good diet and making sure to dedicate time to activities that relax us and make us feel good, is key to avoiding the accumulation of tension in our body.
More info:
@terapiaposturalholistica
www.terapiaposturalh.com
email: [email protected]
