Two day Human Dissection courses
A rare opportunity to fully dissect the human form. Led by Julian Baker, one of the Europe's leading experts on connective tissue function and dissection, this is a remarkable series of workshops spread out over eight months. It will only be open to a small group of people at each stage, allowing everyone to have plenty of hands on.
The course will run for six days over three weekends (you can attend all weekends or just one or two). We will drop down through the layers of the body exploring the integral tissues that define the body. Participants will be able to fully engage with the guided dissection process, and will have the rare opportunity to dissect tissue. The periods between weekends will allow students the time to reflect and study what has been covered and prepare for the next session.
The course will concentrate and study functions and movement as a major part of this process. The layers will be examined and explored and the relationships between them studied. Each part of the course will be accompanied by explanations of the tissues we are looking at, with notes and diagrams, functional explanations and examples, allowing you to redefine your understanding of your own therapy and why it works.
At each stage you will be helped and assisted and there will be lots of opportunity to ask questions and have things clarified.
Weekend 1:
Saturday & Sunday 21 - 22 April 2012
Skin, superficial fascia and deep fascia. Participants will engage in the dissection process to remove the skin first and superficial fascia second, to reveal the deeper layers surrounding the muscles. For hands on therapists this is an amazing process and one which allows us to fully understand the relationships that we touch every day in clinical work. We discuss the superficial fascia and it's role in hormonal distribution and protection and it's function in the therapeutic process.
Weekend 2:
Saturday & Sunday 6 - 7 October 2012
We reveal muscles and their relationships to deep fascia and bone. We study and challenge the idea of origin and insertion and discuss implications for movement and function. We will learn about the make up of deep fascia, it's behaviour and how it changes and explore the continuous nature of fascia. We will drop into the abdominal layers to examine the fascia and truth behind core stability and explode some myths surrounding muscle and their function. The diaphragm will be revealed and it's continuity with underlying structures discussed.
Weekend 3:
Saturday & Sunday 1 - 2 December 2012
Our last weekend will give us the opportunity to go into viscera and their fascia, dissect spinal tissue and study the tissues that surround spinal discs. We will also look at cranial fascia and the brain, delving into deep spinal muscular structures as well as the remaining deep pelvic layer including psoas. Respiratory tissues will also be examined and dissected and again the connective elements will play a big part in considering function of the breath.
Julian Baker has been running connective tissue dissections at Imperial College School of Medicine and St George's School of Medicine, for over five years. He has worked closely with Gil Hedley, assisting him in is intensive six day integral anatomy workshops. An experienced body worker and teacher, he has been working with soft tissue therapy for over 20 years and lectures widely on body mechanics, fascia and connective tissue.
This course is designed specifically for hands on body workers and aims to formulate an alternative view of traditional anatomy. The anatomy we learn in books and in classes, doesn't really relate to overall body wide function and what we experience during hands on treatments. These weekends will allow you the time to explore the tissues that you feel every day and develop a different, holistic and connected view of the body as a functioning unit.
The course will be limited to 14 participants and preference will be given to those students who wish to book for all three weekends.
Cost £520 per weekend. A discount of 10% will be offered to participants who book in advance for all three weekends.
Location St Andrew school of medicine. This state of the art facility has recently undergone a £40 million refit and boasts some of the most advanced workshop space in the world.
The dissection lab is bright and well lit and has superb audio visual equipment which will assist us in our learning. Adjacent to the lab itself, there is a therapy suite, where we will be able to translate our sessions into living palpation as part of each weekend.
The university is close to the town, which is in a beautiful part of Scotland, on the coast, just one hour from Edinburgh.
“Seeing the bodies revealed in all their glory has given me even more respect and admiration for our bodies and the way they function on a daily basis; heal when wounded. Seeing the beauty and interconnection of the fascial tissue has given me a whole new 'view' in my head when I treat. It has totally enhanced the way I treat and how I relate what I'm doing to the client during the session.” Juliette T.
'About Julian' from Gil Hedley, Ph.D., Producer of The Integral Anatomy Series
Julian Baker is a remarkable clinician with the rare ability to convey his knowledge and excitement for what he does as a teacher, as well as the enthusiasm and persistence to back up what he shares with actual research. He is willing to engage the material of the whole human form at the deepest level. It is a pleasure both to work and study with him in the lab.
