When he reveals to me that what he learns constantly learns from his patients I smile. In fact, Marco Ferrara has a good dose of manual skill, curiosity, intuition. And it is not of those who are satisfied with little.
In answering my questions, we immediately find ourselves at the keystone and the scope of our dialogue borders on practical and conceptual tools for working on ourselves.
Graduated in physiotherapy, Marco then went on to study the eastern side as well, studying both in the West and in the East, devoting himself to research in the field of traditional Chinese medicine and to deepening stimulation and manipulation techniques. A beautiful fusion between horizons on the human body of a different nature but of mutual contribution, two-way completion.
The importance of hydration
When I arrive in his studio I need a nice glass of water with an anise. And let's get straight to the first key point: hydration . "My patients arrive and first of all we often need to rehydrate them, since most of the diseases derive from a lack of water in the system. And, unfortunately, they often present themselves to me with a metabolic picture already altered by dehydration. " (Yes, reading the interview can undoubtedly be interrupted to get you a nice glass of water).
The interview also came together in a visit booked specifically for a personal affair linked to the hip, which is reflected on one knee and has continued for some time. This gave me excellent elements to evaluate how Marco works, what he understands, how long he takes, what he says and how.
Acupuncture: how does it affect cervical pain?
The session and the aid of acupuncture
They look like details, they are not; it was a coincidence that I ended up with him (after other inconclusive visits), which was described to me by a pediatrician friend as a god with hands and gold tips. The tips intrigued me. In fact, after studying physiotherapy, Marco studied traditional Chinese medicine and specialized in working with complementary acupuncture techniques such as hammers and spikes .
Marco works with the intelligence of the body or better puts the others in a position to experience them. A negligible detail: use graphite. "You see the technique involves blows with a hammer and alternative points to the needle and, moreover, I also use the pencil because the graphite has a bioelectric value that is now beginning to study even at the level of research conducted by the WHO."
The session was long, interesting and Marco never failed to explain the points he was hitting, the insertions of the muscle, the work on the fascia. And while he hits, he also manages to make you laugh. "The children come to me, they say to their parents: Let's go play with Marco." He explains something precious to me: "I don't work on pain. I'm interested in the cause . I start from the feet to treat the stiff neck. I take the case of a small client that I had treated: before a school exam he could no longer move his leg. I went to his house, I had to restore confidence and once that lever was activated, he quickly resumed. If I had focused on the leg we would not have achieved these results. The body has hallucinatory resilience. We are often the ones who row against our own self-healing. This is why I try to work enthusiastically together with my patients and each of them is a source of inspiration. "
And, in fact, every intuition comes from work for and with someone. The photo you see inserted in the article shows him as he gives his back to the painting done by one of his patients. "She had been operated on for multiple hand fractures and both the surgeon and the consulted specialists after surgery had ruled out that she could return to using brushes properly.
I met her at a party and was in the midst of the crisis due to the condition, considering that her artistic passion was also her source of income. We started working together and that picture was my reward ... if you had seen his hand before the start of his work with me, it was a set of external fixators to ensure proper osteosynthesis of the various fractures, we started work from a starting situation that required a great deal of concentration and trust on the part of both, both mutual and individual. "
An explanation of the Great Wave of Hokusai to make the shards of wonder followed by a reflection together with him on intention and trust, in themselves first of all.
So the resource is ours, is it internal?
Unfortunately there is a preference to delegate to an external subject the responsibility of his own healing or the maintenance of his state of health.
Thus, hyper-caring medicine produces the same damage as hyper-protective parents, inhibiting the physiological self-healing processes that, fortunately, remain latent and ready to be exploited if, adequately, stimulated ".
And what is the role of a therapist in this paradigm?
In my opinion, whenever possible, it is to stimulate the patient towards a process of self-healing, which starts from becoming aware of his own pathological status as well as seeing him as an actor and not as a passive-receiving element without, or almost, a voice in regard to of the proposed and undertaken therapeutic path.
The therapist must, therefore, remove "the sticks from the wheels", that is, inform the patient of the risky limits of a passively accepted process, which does not see him as a participant risking to obtain fictitious results, not at all stable and even less satisfying.
But do we have in us a code, a sort of legend to which we can return, something that is a source of inspiration for a natural movement, contactable beyond conditioning, injuries?
In reality things are simplified by what I have called "the genetic memory of the body" or even by its "mechanical memory, which has its roots in the genetically active baggage already at birth (reflex sliding and reflected rolling, etc ...), whose function is precisely to guarantee correct movements as they are economic and performing.
So the "trick" is to be able to adequately stimulate this program that I describe as " original software", as provided by the genetic code.
Do you also do energy work like reiki?
No, I don't do jobs like this because I can't handle them.
Why do postural habits settle and become cages?
The body looks for the comfortable way. Implement "tricks". And this has high costs that sooner or later are highlighted. The event is not so much tied to age as to gravity.
A trick that weighs too much gives way, creates an imbalance that is reflected on the whole structure. I also have doctors for patients and I often have to go back with them to the truth that the emotional aspect is on a mechanical level . The human body is exceptionally designed, we are awkward owners.
Is there extensive advice from your experience with your patients that you would give to readers?
To return to simplicity . Also and above all with respect to the mechanisms of the body. It is a matter of taking up the mechanical fact: a cat does not study how to breathe. Resume life with simplicity.
It is necessary to skim, to return to basic precepts: it is necessary to drink, to move well, to be at ease in the simple standing position.
Does this mean eliminating also social superstructures?
Yes, it means rebelling and not adapting to a crazy cultural concept that takes us with the chest out, the belly in, the jaw tightened to face another day in contact with a disproportionate number of electronic devices.
What is the goal you pursue in each session?
I want to create conscious patients. I want to make them autonomous. For this reason the work on the perception of the state of dolenzia and on the reorganization, I don't want to create a dependence on my sessions.
The patient should at least be enabled to not row against his own healing and this is already a luminous result.
