About Mountain Nugget
my ortho
I practice Ortho-Bionomy as a form of bodywork – working with people to help them identify and change patterns, create more space and awareness within their own bodies and enhance proprioception within the nervous system. The work’s intention is to help people feel more connected within themselves through accessing their structural cues, reducing pain, contemplating function and working along communication lines in the nervous systems of the body: True and resilient healing.
The Ortho training itself is an enlightening process because the capacity for healing with this work reaches far. The training has been humbling because of its complexity and layers. And so this path, for me, has been an unexpected journey in humility, clarity, awareness and compassion.
Through my formal education, my ski work, my year-round work with people with disabilities, the practical emergency medical and wilderness training, search and rescue work, challenge course industry work and of course my personal injuries and accidents, I have been ‘collecting’ information about Ortho for my entire life and I realize now that it is deeply integrated.
Like skiing, Ortho-bionomy has touch, light, sound and variability in density, it clearly connects the nervous system to the moment, it has flow, it requires transitional and adaptive skill, it has its own signature, and much like skiing a big mountain line, it contemplates the whole structure.
WHY ortho
It seems that everyone at some point has something within their body that is asking for extra attention, or in many cases demanding it. Whether from illness, trauma, or accumulative structural issues - pain and reduced function is part of so many people’s daily experience. I began to notice that discussion on pain, injury, trauma, and illness was part of almost every conversation. And this was the call for me – it was a desire to basically help people move with ease, help people be present in their own bodies and take control of their own healing. Ortho helps people with the potential to experience space inside their bodies and in so doing, helps them understand that their body has the ability to self-correct .
Studying this work has been infinitely satisfying because it has much more depth than I had ever anticipated. As an ‘ortho recepient’, I just knew it worked for me, but I didn’t know why. Despite the relative punishment I inflict on my body doing the sports I love and following the lines and activities that make me feel vital, I discovered that I liked and responded better to the restorative and multi-layered work of Ortho and giving my nervous system a chance to unwind from the constant bombardment of adrenaline that is so much a part of life here in the mountains. After treatments I feel calmer, more spacious and more aware of my own patterns and what might be causing my functional limitations and beyond.
I wholeheartedly appreciate how helpful, relevant and appropriate the work is for a broad spectrum of people and the issues that arise along the life cycle. Ortho-Bionomy is an opportunity for wellness that is comfortable and non-pharmaceutical, the input helps reduce pain, increases comfort, function, space and awareness in the body…no matter age or ability.
@ amm.images
Karen Reader is Mountain Nugget…
Karen has intensely pursued mountain culture her entire adult life and had a clear vision of the quintessential mountain town she wanted to find. Vision and reality melded in Crested Butte when she arrived in the winter of 1996/97.
For the past 20 years or so, Karen has worked in the field of Adaptive Sports, Adventure Education (Challenge Course Installation, Inspection and Training), and as a Ski Industry professional maintaining enough gigs to support the habit…Karen’s work, however varied, has consistently been directed toward helping people understand themselves better through intention and grit, having synthesized experiences, pursuing and discovering the spark that makes them want to experience flow, and perhaps seeking something that is at once stimulating and miraculously calming.
As a result of her life-long pursuit of happiness through movement, interaction with the natural world, pushing her own limits, chasing down experiences that feed her passions, and ultimately sharing them with others, Karen has acquired a viable skill set for this endeavor of helping others feel better in their own bodies through the work of Ortho-Bionomy
Street Cred:
Registered Practitioner - Society of Ortho-Bionomy International (SOBI) - Requisite educational credits and practical experience for this designation. Currently in continued training with the Rocky Mountain Ortho-Bionomy Center with Sheri Covey.
Post Secondary Education:
Bachelor of Human Kinetics – University of British Columbia
Master of Science – Adaptive Sport — University of Wisconsin
Medical Education:
Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)
Wilderness EMT
Wilderness First Responder (WFR)
WFR Instructor
Emergency Medical Responder (EMR)
Outdoor Emergency Care
Skiing:
Fully Certified (Level 3) PSIA – Telemark
Fully Certified (Level 3) CANSI – Telemark
CANSI Telemark Trainer and Examiner
Level 2 Certified PSIA - Adaptive
Level 2 Certified CSIA - Alpine