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You said Restorative Exercise is not an exercise program, but it’s called Restorative Exercise?
Yes. This is because the program includes movement. In our current paradigm, exercise and movement are considered to be the same thing. While building a new platform, it is often useful to employ the language of the existing paradigm to assist people in making a transition in understanding. However, the point of the program is not the exercises. The alignment you will learn is timeless and applicable to all human bodies throughout space and time.

The exercises/movements you will learn are relevant to human bodies that move (or don't move) in specific ways that are held in common by people in today's modern world. The exercises seek to help you to regain the natural function you were born with, and would still have, had you come with an owner’s manual that explained how to use and care for your body over a lifetime, or lived at a time when you had to interact with the wider world in a more natural or primal way. Restorative Exercise will restore you ability to move in a way that nourishes the optimal function of all the tissues of your body. You came with the potential for optimal function but lost it along the way. However, you can rediscover your innate abilities at any time.

 
How is Restorative Exercise different from performance based training or fitness?
Restorative Exercise is distinct from physical fitness and traditional exercise in that it is based on our biological need to have the whole body in a state of good health, rather than training specific muscles groups for performance or "fitness." Ill health is occurring because we no longer use our machine the way it was intended. As a result, degeneration and disease are occurring at unprecedented rates, and have come to be regarded as a “normal” part of aging. Diseases of affluence and overuse injuries manifest in a broad range of forms, including inwardly manifest disease and outwardly manifest disease. Inwardly manifest disease can be expressed as cardiovascular disease, chronic pain (e.g. back pain), pelvic floor disorder, the need for temporary or permanent joint immobilization (e.g. hip replacement, spinal fusion), osteoarthritis, and more. Externally manifest disease such as fallen arches and bunions are also indications of misalignment of the body's segments.
In a Restorative Exercise program, no muscle group will be thrown “under the bus” in favor of more “important” muscles or muscle groups. Muscles are like children, they are all different, but equally important. This does not mean that Restorative Exercise cannot benefit your athletic or fitness endeavors. Whatever your pursuit, having an aligned optimally functioning body will help you perform your best.

 
This sounds great, but how long will it take me to feel better?
Well, that depends on how often you use the tools you receive. If I gave you a shiny new hairbrush you would then have the choice to 1.) brush your hair on your own as often as necessary or 2.) wait until your next appointment so I would brush it for you. Having information (the hairbrush) is not enough, you have to do something with the information you have (brush your hair) and you have to do it as often as necessary if you want to see measurable change. Don't worry, this is something you can do! If you know how to brush your hair, you can do RE.

Ask yourself, who is running your machine?
Because of modern lifestyle choices, there are parts of your body that you no longer have conscious control over. For example, can you lift and lower just your big toe on each foot independently of the other toes? It is so common not to be able to do this that it has become to be regarded as “normal”. But normal does not mean it is natural! You should be able to send a signal from your brain to any of your skeletal muscles and receive a corresponding response. It may not consciously bother you that you have lost the ability to move your toes because you have never had the need to use them. However, at an unconscious level, your body objects mightily to not having this ability. In fact, your body is quite anxious about the fact that the toes are no longer sending reports back to the brain or responding to the brain’s commands. This creates an undercurrent of stress in the body even when we think we are "relaxing". Your nervous system is ill at ease with having parts of the body go “offline.” Did you know that this inability to communicate with parts of your body is the beginning stages of neuropathy? The condition may not be painful or permanent yet, but it an indicator that your nervous system is degenerating.

What will Restorative Exercise teach me?
During your RE session, you will come to understand where things stand in your body currently, how your body should be able to function, and receive clear easy to follow instruction on steps to take to start feeling better.

When we become aware of the geometry of our physical structure and the influence of physics on what happens to the body as we move through space, a great deal of information we previously did not perceive (or have the capacity to interpret) suddenly becomes valuable data. The path to living long and well was hiding in plain sight all along!

Is Restorative Exercise really for for me?
From the RE Northwest website www.rxnorthwest.com
Relieve pain and ward off disease by restoring your body's alignment and learning how to work with the physical forces of gravity, friction, and torque to better sustain your physical health. In addition to practicing various forms of science-based therapeutic movement and natural alignment, gather essential information on the laws of physics, geometry, biomechanics, anatomy, and physiology that govern your body.

Learn to use your body correctly.
Many ailments are caused not by HOW MUCH you move, but by HOW you move. Even the number of hours per day spent in a sitting position can have a negative effect on your health. In fact, the most common, expensive, and painful ailments are the result of poor motor skills. Diligent, consistent effort will improve them. It’s simple physics, and it works.

Posture is different than alignment.
Posture is how your body looks. Alignment is how your body works. Your posture can look great but your alignment can still be really off as many of our "posture rules" come from our culture and have adapted to various habits taught in the military, ballet dance, what is "proper" (think good manners). Adapting our bodies to our culture is one of the main reasons affluent ailments have developed in the first place.

How can I tell if my alignment is off?
If you need pain or anti-inflammatory meds to function, have aches, pains, or have worn out a body part here or there (joint replacement or other surgery), then there are some adjustments you need to make in HOW you are using your body. You can learn a new way.

Why does the RE program work so well?
Geometry is right 100% of the time for EVERY BODY. RE program is not about passive treatments. It goes beyond chiropractic, nutrition, physical therapy, massage and other healing modalities by teaching you what kinds of movement habits are damaging and how to turn your patterns into healthy ones.

Temporary pain relief from medications, adjustments, and treatments are just…temporary. Lasting changes are not possible until you deal with the root cause of the problem: how to move, sit, and stand in alignment.

 Improving the mechanics of how you sit, stand, and walk, will
• Reduce pain (knee, back, foot, hip, neck, generalized all-over pain, etc.)
• Increase your ability to move
• Develop your strength
• Build up your bone density
• Sharpen your ability to perform (activity, sport, job)
• Clear “brain fog”
• Eliminate headaches
• Boost organ function
• Improve Pelvic Floor Disorders (menstrual cramps, urinary issues, pelvic pain, organ prolapse, prostate issues)
• Regulate digestion
• Improve heart and lung function

It’s never too late to make positive changes. Or, too early! Faulty alignment has a cumulative effect which allows damage to accumulate silently. Take action now to prevent common “ailments of aging” down the road and to begin reversing any damage already done.

Still more questions? Check out the Restorative Exercise Institute's website here.

Praise for Restorative Exercise from the Restorative Exercise Institute
“With over six years experience in pain relief and injury prevention, I recognized that Restorative Exercise was a missing piece of my wellness puzzle. It’s mind boggling when you start to recognize that the diseases we suffer as a nation are largely avoidable!”

"Wholistic methods to heal lower back pain and prevent chronic headaches led me to the Restorative Exercise Institute. The wealth of information I gained from completing the RES training program has enabled me to identify and change the habits that have inhibited my wellness in the past. Developing a greater awareness of my own physiology has been incredibly empowering and I am excited about sharing this new-found knowledge with others."

"20 years of practicing massage has demonstrated both its value and limits as a therapeutic tool. Habitual movement patterns, poor motor skill, stress and/or misalignment are common problems I see in my practice. 60 or 90 minutes of bodywork can reduce pain, increase range of motion and reduce stress, all worthy, useful though often temporary goals. If the root causes for these conditions are not addressed, the same conditions are sure to reoccur. I am convinced that Restorative Exercise is the missing link, connecting the short term beneficial effects of massage with the long term goal of a healthy, balanced (more) optimally performing body. I have arrived at this conclusion after 20 months of intense personal practice and from feedback from my clients. Often dramatic results occur from small and simple changes in alignment."

"The basic exercises assess motor skill, balance, strength and flexibility in key areas/joints of the body. A diagnosis emerges of problem areas. This leads to a prescription: areas or movements that demonstrate the lowest motor skill, balance, strength and flexibility are at the top of the list for practice. Diligent practice restores function to these areas."