I’ve had so many questions about the recent training I attended with the fabulous Sue Hitzman, creator of the MELT Method. This experience was truly a game changer for me for both my body and my business. I’m looking forward to sharing this revolutionary self care treatment with you, but in the meantime, I thought I’d share the answer to “What the heck is MELT anyway?” in the words of Sue herself.

You CAN feel better….from Sue Hitzman, creator of the MELT Method

Reposted from blog on 9/5/13

As MELTing has evolved as a purposeful method of self-treatment, so has the necessity to refine its definition. To define what MELTing is, we must master the techniques and understand its intention.

In recent months I’ve seen arguments from massage therapists who want “evidence based science” to “prove” MELT does what I claim it does. So what is it I’m claiming MELTing does in the first place? This is a great question.

I developed MELT initially as homework for my clients to do at home between sessions with me. My goal was to help them help themselves feel better faster and get back to living pain-free. This was a very successful approach. It took me years and endless hours to develop the techniques as well as the language used in MELT so that it was a simple, universal technique for any of my clients to use. Today, MELT has become the entry-level self-care method that anyone, at any age can use to feel better in their body.

The only claim I make is that MELT helps eliminate pain and restore stability. I don’t need a scientific study to allow me to say such a thing. I have thousands of testimonials from MELTers around the world telling me so. Heck, I know it in my own body. If I MELT, I feel better than when I don’t. I’m less stiff, my joints feel more stable, I have no pain, no aches when I wake up, and I can do more at 42 than I could at 28. I can run, jump, twist, and move swiftly – and I do it pain-free. In my 20s, at the peak of my fitness career, I had so much pain I was literally crawling to the bathroom in the middle of the night because it hurt too much to walk. I will never go back to a body that hurts so much.

The thing about pain is, we wait until we are in it to do something about it. But what if you could assess yourself for instability and eradicate it from your body before it escalated into an actual problem that you would have no choice but to do something about it? That’s what I help people to become aware of. Where is stuck stress accumulating in your body today? If you could assess it, eliminate it and have it not hurt you, would you do that? What if it only took 10 minutes a day and it felt so good while you helped your body you were willing, and wanting to do it daily? I’ll tell you the answer – you would feel great and live a happier life. This is a sure thing. When you feel good, being happy is natural. People ask me how I have so much energy all the time. I say it’s because I MELT everyday and it keeps me feeling great.

In the MELT Method book, I simplified the language of MELTing to what I call the 4-Rs of MELT.  This is the self-care recipe to help yourself get out and stay out of chronic pain everyday.

• Reconnect: With the MELT Assessment techniques, you can quickly identify the common imbalances that most people have living in their body today that, when left unaddressed cause most of the daily compression in the spine ultimately leading to neck and low back pain. I’ve also learned how to teach people to sense if their “Autopilot” is functioning efficiently or not. (The Autopilot is what I call the body’s natural stability system that supports us daily so we don’t have to think about stability or basic functions that occur inside our body)
• Rebalance: I’ve created a sequence that is so simple and feels so good while you do it, anyone can do it and reduce a great deal of stuck stress that accumulates causing the body’s natural balance to fall out of sync. This sequence takes just 10 minutes and what’s great is you can actually feel your body go back to balance the moment after you do the sequence. This is a great starter sequence that empowers folks to help their body feel better everyday.
• Rehydrate: Our body is a fluid based being. Daily living causes the fluid matrix outside of our cells – that is our connective tissue system (called the extracellular matrix) – to become dehydrated. This causes the body to become less stable thus movement becomes more labored causing unnecessary compression and tension to arise. This can quite quickly escalate into joint pain, general fatigue, and ultimately stiffness and even disease can arise. The MELT Rehydrate techniques are simple methods of self-care that juices up the body and makes us feel more balanced and stable, helping the body’s natural stability mechanisms function more efficiently. This can help improve performance and keep anyone feeling good from day to day.
• Release: Learning how to reduce some of the negative compression that occurs in the neck, low back, hands and feet is essential if we want to function efficiently. The release sequences and the hand and foot treatments I developed are intended to do just that. Reacquire lost space in the primary spaces of the body. All of these sequences take only 10 minutes to do and once you know how to do them, they can take as little as 5 minutes to restore natural balance.

When you MELT you initiate the chain of events that will ultimately bring new oxygen, new movement, new connection to the body’s neurofascial system allowing it to improve its efficiency. An energy system that uses its energy efficiency not only lasts longer… it functions better. That’s the goal and claim of MELT. For the skeptics out there I urge you to just try a MELT class and feel the changes for yourself. If something makes you feel better and helps you live a happier, healthier life, I say DO IT. MELT feels good while you do it, you will feel great after you are done. The proof is in the personal changes you feel.