Massage & Bodywork Quarterly - Summer 1996,
By Mark Lamm

An athlete comes to you experiencing a sports injury, or to gain the edge that will take him or her to a higher level of performance. A doctor refers a patient with no range of motion in the neck. A chiropractor send you clients with carpal tunnel syndrome or chronic back pain.

All these symptoms respond quickly and dramatically to BioSync, an elegant soft tissue technology which deals with the release of trauma recordings stored in the body's connective tissue. Based upon diverse Western and Eastern systems of healing, and developed by founder Mark Lamm over the last 25 years, BioSync is designed to bring the body to optimal functioning by literally erasing memories of past trauma.

Mark Lamm uses this analogy: "Suppose when you were a child, you put your finger in a fire. It was hot, and you pulled it away immediately; then for the rest of your life you have a useful reference that fire burns. Now suppose for some reason you fell and your hand went into the fire and was badly burned. It hurt like crazy, and you had to go to the hospital. So now you have a dysfunctional reference - a trauma."

"Our bodies record these traumas, whether they be psychological, emotional, or physical, and stores these 'memories' in our connective tissue. Injuries, distortions, compressions, are all trauma that interfere with ideal functioning and need to be released and erased in order to allow permanent change."

Traumas are locked into connective tissue through excessive collagen cross-linking. Collagen, a fibrous protein, is the chief constituent of the body's connective tissue. When we are born, our connective tissue is soft and pliable; for the body to develop strength and tone, a biochemical process called collagen cross-linking occurs, where two strands of collagen bind together at their middle. This process is moderated in our youth by enzymes that unlink these collagen bonds, keeping the body firm yet elastic. Unfortunately, as we are the production of unlinking enzymes decreases, while the cumulative effects of trauma, combined with external stress factors like pollution, poor diet, etc. produce excessive collagen cross-linking. This results in a hardening of the body's soft tissue; it literally can become armored, creating many of the symptoms commonly associated with aging, injury, and stress.

BioSync releases the soft tissue at a very deep level, allowing trauma recordings to become unlocked and erased. "It's like erasing an audio or videotape," Mark says. "Once it's erased, the trauma memory is gone, and the dysfunctional message is no longer there." Excessive collagen cross-linking is eliminated, so the connective tissue can return to its natural, pliable state. As a result of trauma erasure and restoration of soft tissue pliancy, clients experience both relief of specific symptoms and an immediate upgrading of the entire body's level of function.

Unwinding: The Key to Release
BioSync's continuous, synchronistic, hands-on treatment encompasses three basic steps: 1) penetration, 2) lengthening/traction, and 3) unwinding. The last step, unwinding, is unique to BioSync . On a microscopic level, the body's molecular structure is based upon a helix, a holographic or dimensional braid similar to DNA. If you pull or push a helix, what happens? Not much - the helix will merely lengthen or shorten while retaining its underlying structure. In the same way, you can push or pull the body's connective tissue, but eventually it will return to the same position, with its trauma recordings locked inside. To release these recordings, you need to unwind the helix itself. That extra step is what makes BioSync so unique and effective.

Unwinding is accomplished by pre-positioning the body in a way that accesses the area to be released. Mark Lamm has developed a set of therapeutic equipment that positions the body for optimum release during a session. One BioSync practitioner comments, "With the equipment, gravity becomes my partner. When you're on the arch, you're immediately placed in traction in a comfortable way, and the body starts to lengthen on its own. When you begin penetrating and unwinding, the entire process is easier."

A BioSync session typically lasts one-and-a-half to two hours, and is generally divided into five segments. First, the therapeutic arch is used to allow the practitioner to release the sacrum (the key to accessing the rest of the body), the spine, and the cranium. Second, the client moves to the posture chair, where the practitioner focuses on the shoulder-trapezius area, scapula, and spine. Then an extension is placed between the trays on the posture chair, which allows the clients to lay in a "frog" position. (Mark observes that many clients with spinal injury want to take the posture chair home with them, because they feel so relaxed in this position!) From here, the practitioner access the piriformis, the lumbar area, and the spinus erectus.

Third, the client moves to a floor mat for Polynesian footwork, which further facilitates release of the scapula, the sacrum, both sides of the lumbar area, and the hands and feet. Fourth, the client lies on his or her back, knees bent, feet and calves elevated on [the extension], to facilitate internal work in the abdominal viscera. This part of the session focuses on the iliopsoas, diaphragm, naval point, and ribs. The session concludes with work on the cranium and the neck, especially the sternocleidomastoid.

While each session is based upon a methodology and protocol, the practitioner has great freedom to respond to whatever is presented by the client. "This is both an art and a science, and your tools are you. You really become an extension of the other person's system," states Mark.

Upgrading Your Biocomputer
Clients can typically see results immediately, even in the first session. BioSync practitioner Dyal Singh Khalsa, for example, had broken his neck two years before he met Mark, and since then had practically no range of motion in the affected area. After just one session, he experienced a dramatic increase in movement for the first time since his accident. Sports injuries, spinal injuries, neck traumas, sciatic nerve pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, even asthma - many different kinds of discomfort that may not respond will to other forms of treatment can be assisted with BioSync.

BioSync sessions have also proven invaluable for many amateur and professional athletes from football, basketball, professional tennis, boxing and track and field.
D. Paul Cohen, who was John McEnroe's coach during the 1989-90 season, gives Mark Lamm's treatments "much of the credit" for McEnroe going from #34 to #4 in world tennis rankings. In general, athletes find their potential upgraded, their range of motion increased, and they can get that extra half step or half second advantage that separates the best for second best. They can also come off the disabled list faster, and even extend their careers.

The results of a BioSync session are physiologically apparent from the moment clients look in the mirror, because they see a permanent postural change. Functionally, they achieve a much greater range of motion; energetically, they often feel better than they have in years. Peak performance consultant and best-selling author Anthony Robbins has been a BioSync client since 1986. He says, "In the area of creating immediate and dramatic improvements in one's physical body, there are few who can rival the impact of Mark Lamm's work."

Anyone can expect to leave a BioSync session with what Mark calls "an upgrade of their biocomputer" Many clients report feeling lighter, and no wonder, for BioSync literally undoes the effects of the force of gravity which play a major part in the aging process. "We're constantly being pulled by the force of gravity into the center of the earth," Mark said recently in a seminar. "Therefore everyone on the planet needs to be lengthened and released. If we don't, we're going to shrink. Insurance actuary figures verify that people shrink four to six inches in a lifetime of approximately 75 years. That shrinkage IS the aging process. Since our molecular structure is a helix, we're really being wound down, shortened. So unwinding is anti-gravitational; ultimately, this work is anti-aging."