The Thinking Practitioner
by Til Luchau & Whitney Lowe
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Estimated from 11 chart positions in 11 markets.
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- 🇺🇸US · Courses#5730K to 100K
- 🇦🇺AU · Courses#1065K to 30K
- 🇬🇧GB · Courses#1285K to 30K
- 🇳🇱NL · Courses#1121K to 10K
- 🇮🇸IS · Courses#3210K to 30K
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31K to 120K🎙 ~2x weekly·168 episodes·Last published today - Monthly Reach
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62K to 239K🇺🇸42%🇦🇺13%🇬🇧13%+8 more - Active Followers
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18K to 72K
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From 12 epsHosts
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Recent episodes
178: Menopause, Pain, and Bodywork (with Ruth Werner)
Sep 2, 2026
30m 05s
177: Clinical Reasoning, or Clinical Improvisation? (with Whitney Lowe & Til Luchau)
Aug 19, 2026
58m 00s
176: Becoming Friends with Movement (with Nuria Bowart)
Aug 5, 2026
1h 03m 40s
175: The Affection Question (with Kory Floyd)
Jul 22, 2026
55m 49s
174: How to Bend Time (with Til Luchau & Whitney Lowe)
Jul 8, 2026
51m 30s
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| Date | Episode | Topics | Guests | Brands | Places | Keywords | Sponsor | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9/2/26 |  178: Menopause, Pain, and Bodywork (with Ruth Werner) | 🎙 Menopause, Pain, and Bodywork (with Ruth Werner) What if midlife achiness isn’t simply aging—and isn’t necessarily an injury that needs fixing? Menopause can affect far more than temperature. As hormones shift, sleep, mood, cognition, bone and cardiovascular health, pain, and tissue tolerance may all change. Yet most hands-on practitioners received little or no training about what this means for the people on their tables—or for practitioners going through menopause themselves. Pathology specialist Ruth Werner joins Til and Whitney to separate what we know from what we merely assume. They explore why hot flashes remain surprisingly mysterious, how declining estrogen may intersect with inflammation and musculoskeletal pain, and whether naming a “musculoskeletal syndrome of menopause” improves recognition or risks turning menopause into a catch-all explanation for midlife symptoms. Most importantly, they bring the conversation into the treatment room: adjusting expectations, avoiding unnecessary overwork, accounting for medications and longer-term health changes, and recognizing that listening and thoughtful support may be as valuable as anything we do with our hands. They also make room for menopause as more than loss or disruption—for many, it can be a passage into greater maturity, clarity, creativity, and freedom from others’ expectations. ✨ We talk about:• Why menopause is a normal transition, not a disease—and why its effects can still be profoundly disruptive• Perimenopause versus menopause, and why the transition can affect decades of a person’s life• What may be happening during a hot flash—and how much remains unknown• The difficult overlap between menopause, aging, pain, and injury• Estrogen’s possible roles in inflammation and musculoskeletal health• The promise and limitations of the term “musculoskeletal syndrome of menopause”• Practical session considerations: temperature, osteoporosis, cardiovascular health, medications, and tissue sensitivity• Why changing our expectations may matter more than trying to “correct” hormonal effects• Listening, validation, and the therapeutic alliance when clients feel dismissed elsewhere• Menopause as a potentially powerful, creative, and liberating stage of life. 🎓 Continue with the complete course:This episode offers a useful overview and key takeaways. Ruth’s complete 85-minute course, Menopause for Bodyworkers, goes deeper into the physiology, symptoms, treatment options, research, and hands-on implications. It includes the full presentation and discussion, course handout, quiz, and one continuing-education credit. Purchase it individually—or access it at no additional cost with an Advanced-Trainings subscription—at https://advanced-trainings.com. ✨ Resources:• Ruth Werner’s courses, writing, and resources: https://ruthwerner.com• I Have a Client Who… Pathology Conversations with Ruth Werner: https://ruthwerner.com/podcast/• Vonda Wright and colleagues, “The Musculoskeletal Syndrome of Menopause”: https://doi.org/10.1080/13697137.2024.2380363• Advanced-Trainings courses and subscription library: https://advanced-trainings.com 🌱 Sponsor Offers:• Jane – Try it free for one month with code THINKING1MO at https://a-t.tv/jane• ABMP – Save on new membership at https://abmp.com/thinking• Books of Discovery – Save 15% with code thinking at https://booksofdiscovery.com• Advanced-Trainings – Try one month free of the A-T Subscription with code thinking at https://a-t.tv/subscriptions• Academy of Clinical Massage – Grab Whitney's free Assessment Cheat Sheet at https://academyofclinicalmassage.com/cheatsheet ✨ Watch the video / connect with us:• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AdvancedTrainings/podcasts• Whitney Lowe – https://academyofclinicalmassage.com | https://facebook.com/WhitneyLowe | https://twitter.com/whitneylowe• Til Luchau – https://advanced-trainings.com | https://facebook.com/advancedtrainings | https://instagram.com/til.luchau 📧 Email us: info@thethinkingpra | 30m 05s | ||||||
| 8/19/26 |  177: Clinical Reasoning, or Clinical Improvisation? (with Whitney Lowe & Til Luchau) | 🎙 Clinical Reasoning, or Clinical Improvisation? (with Whitney Lowe & Til Luchau) Every good protocol, recipe, or routine is designed to be outgrown. The trouble is that almost nobody tells you when. Protocols are how most of us learned: a sequence, a recipe, a named technique for a named condition. They reduce cognitive load when you’re new, they keep you and your client safe, and they let you know what to do next. And then, at some point, they start to get in the way — because real clients are complicated, and they rarely arrive looking like the textbook. Whitney and Til work through what they’re calling the protocol paradox: why structure is essential early on, why it has to loosen for real clinical skill to develop, and how to tell which side of that line you’re standing on. They get practical about it too — how to catch the moment a routine is running you instead of the other way around, what to do when the technique you were taught doesn’t work or makes things worse, and why every hunch and every thing you feel under your fingers counts as assessment data. Along the way: a young Rolfer told that moving arm work earlier in the series “speaks of hubris”; a Sufi sect that shook their left foot for generations because the founder had a sticky sandal; Ida Rolf’s cook-versus-chef distinction; Whitney and Til comparing notes on the difference between detective work and flower arranging; and how AI tutors might finally solve continuing education’s oldest problem — the 20-year-old new grad sitting next to the nurse with 20 years in. ✨ We talk about:• What protocols actually do for beginners — cognitive load, safety guardrails, and a sense of belonging• A practical test for whether you’ve outgrown one: habit, protocol, or an actual reason for this person?• What to do when the neck technique you learned doesn’t work — or causes a reaction• Assessment as an ongoing loop, not an intake ritual: “it’s all assessment”• Symptom chasing vs. detective work — and why the leg that hurts often isn’t where the story starts• Til’s reframe: a flower arrangement of what the client brings you, rather than a Jenga tower of stacked reasoning• Technique narratives that outlived the physiology that was supposed to explain them• Stories from the Rolf legacy: orthodoxy vs. reform, and the principles-based experiment that didn’t survive contact with beginners• The massage school that turned down an experienced teacher for being too experienced• Clinical reasoning — or clinical improvisation? Two names for the same advanced skill• The confidence paradox: you need enough certainty to act, and enough openness to be wrong• Scales, Coltrane, and why “improvisation” never meant winging it• Newtonian and quantum, both true at once — the physics analogy for holding two models at the same time• Culture and structure: Swiss students who needed the notebook first (and then shuffled its pages), shakuhachi players with no tradition of improvising, and Singapore buying its way back to innovation• A clinical reasoning skill to try this week. ✨ And tell us what happened: when you paused at that moment of not-knowing, what came next? Email us — we’d love to hear it. ✨ Resources:• Dr. Ida Rolf Institute: https://rolf.org• Ida Rolf’s Ten Series — the “recipe,” and the decades of debate about it• Esalen Institute — “get out of your head and come to your senses”: https://www.esalen.org• Cognitive load theory and what it means for hands-on teaching• Paul St. John and the neuromuscular therapy community• Trail Guide to the Body, 7th edition (Books of Discovery): https://booksofdiscovery.com• Whitney’s Socratic AI tutors and personalized learning paths: https://academyofclinicalmassage.com• Til’s trainings, CAMT certification, and subscription library: https://advanced-trainings.com 🌱 Sponsor Offers:• Jane – Try it free for one month with code THINKING1MO at https://a-t.tv/jane• ABMP – Save on new membership at https://abmp.com/thinking• Books of Discovery – Sav | 58m 00s | ||||||
| 8/5/26 |  176: Becoming Friends with Movement (with Nuria Bowart) | 🎙 Becoming Friends with Movement (with Nuria Bowart) 📌 Save the date: early December 2026 in Boulder, Colorado — as a result of their discussion here, Til and Nuria are teaching a collaborative workshop for bodyworkers, hands-on and moving, both. Details to come at https://advanced-trainings.com Tell Nuria you’re “not really a mover” and she won’t argue. She’ll just say: maybe you’ve forgotten. Most of us learned to work on bodies that hold still. Nuria Bowart — dancer, movement artist, Certified Rolfer, and a Mestra in Capoeira — lives at the opposite pole, where the body is always moving, listening, and playing. Til sits down with her to explore a deceptively simple question: how can those of us who work with our hands become better friends with movement — not as one more thing we prescribe, but as listening, relationship, play, and a way of being more at home in ourselves? Along the way they get into Fascial Intelligence, the Axis Syllabus, Contact Improvisation, and Capoeira — and what each one teaches about touch, agency, aging, and befriending the unknown. ✨ We talk about:• Why “maybe you’ve just forgotten” is Nuria’s answer to anyone who doesn’t think of themselves as a mover• Fascia as a constellation of intelligences — and listening as the core point of access• What changes when we start with the body’s design and options, instead of fixing• What Contact Improvisation reveals about weight, gravity, and arriving together in the present moment• Capoeira as a healing art: play, risk, vulnerability, and responding creatively to danger• Aging as a “mystery school” — and movement as the micronutrient of longevity• A simple practice for the week: finding the moment you don’t know what to do, and staying there to listen ✨ Resources:• Nuria’s website: https://www.nuriabowart.com• Nuria on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nuriabowart• Berkeley Capoeira Collective: https://berkeleycapoeira.com• The Field Center, Vermont• The Axis Syllabus: https://www.axissyllabus.net | US events: https://axissyllab.us• Axis Syllabus literature and texts: https://www.axissyllabusforum.org/literature• Axis Syllabus socials: https://www.instagram.com/axissyllab.us | https://www.facebook.com/AxisSyllabusResearchMeshwork• Frey Faust, founder of the Axis Syllabus• Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen & Body-Mind Centering; Sensing, Feeling, and Action (Contact Quarterly)• Nita Little & the Institute for the Study of Somatic Communication — hear her in episode 140 of The Thinking Practitioner 🌱 Sponsor Offers:• Jane – Try it free for one month with code THINKING1MO at https://a-t.tv/jane• ABMP – Save on new membership at https://abmp.com/thinking• Books of Discovery – Save 15% with code thinking at https://booksofdiscovery.com• Advanced-Trainings – Try one month free of the A-T Subscription with code thinking at https://a-t.tv/subscriptions• Academy of Clinical Massage – Grab Whitney’s free Assessment Cheat Sheet at https://academyofclinicalmassage.com/cheatsheet ✨ Watch the video / connect with us:• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AdvancedTrainings/podcasts• Whitney Lowe – https://academyofclinicalmassage.com | https://facebook.com/WhitneyLowe | https://twitter.com/whitneylowe• Til Luchau – https://advanced-trainings.com | https://facebook.com/advancedtrainings | https://instagram.com/til.luchau 📧 Email us: [email protected] The Thinking Practitioner Podcast is intended for professional practitioners of manual and movement therapies — bodywork, massage therapy, structural integration, physical therapy, osteopathy, and similar professions. It is not medical or treatment advice. Rolfing® is a registered service mark of the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute®. | 1h 03m 40s | ||||||
| 7/22/26 |  175: The Affection Question (with Kory Floyd) | 🎙 The Affection Question (with Kory Floyd) How many of your clients come to you, week after week, not just for their shoulder or their low back — but because yours may be the one space in their life where they feel truly touched, attended to, and seen? Roughly 40% of people report not getting enough affection in their lives. And research suggests that for our older clients, that number is likely even higher. To explore what that means for our work, Til sits down with Dr. Kory Floyd — professor and chair of human development at Washington State University, and one of the world’s leading researchers on affection and human connection. He created Affection Exchange Theory, wrote The Loneliness Cure along with more than a dozen other books, and makes a striking case that affection isn’t a luxury or a nicety — it’s a biological need with measurable consequences for our health. Drawing on his own recent experiences of loss and loneliness, Til turns toward something that sits underneath almost everything we do as bodyworkers but that we rarely name out loud: the simple, profound human need to be touched, cared for, and connected to. ✨ We talk about:• Affection deprivation — the gap between the affection we need and what we actually receive, and why roughly 40% of people report not getting enough• Why age (not gender, education, or geography) is the strongest predictor — and what that means for our older clients• How deprivation erodes our sense of safety, fueling hypervigilance, poor sleep, and a weakened immune response• Why — to the body — professional touch and intimate touch aren’t so different, as long as it feels safe• What lives inside the therapeutic “boundary”: validation, normalizing, listening, attunement, and a felt sense of being seen• Transference, counter-transference, and the difference between "genuine" affection and what Kory calls being “affection-adjacent”• Being “touched out” — and why the giver of affection may benefit even more than the receiver• Each person’s range of tolerance, why too much touch can also be aversive, and why attunement matters more than quantity• Touch as the first sense to develop and the last to fade — and why it’s the most essential to our survival• Boundaries that keep the heart open, and why our table may be the one place a client truly feels heard ✨ Resources:• Kory Floyd’s book, The Loneliness Cure• Learn more about his research at koryfloyd.com 🌱 Sponsor Offers:• Jane – Try it free for one month with code THINKING1MO at a-t.tv/jane• ABMP – Save on new membership at abmp.com/thinking• Books of Discovery – Save 15% with code thinking at booksofdiscovery.com• Advanced-Trainings – Try one month free of the A-T Subscription with code thinking at a-t.tv/subscriptions• Academy of Clinical Massage – Grab Whitney’s free Assessment Cheat Sheet at academyofclinicalmassage.com/cheatsheet ✨ Watch the video / connect with us:• YouTube: youtube.com/@AdvancedTrainings/podcasts• Whitney Lowe – academyofclinicalmassage.com | facebook.com/WhitneyLowe | twitter.com/whitneylowe• Til Luchau – advanced-trainings.com | facebook.com/advancedtrainings | instagram.com/til.luchau 📧 Email us: [email protected] The Thinking Practitioner Podcast is intended for professional practitioners of manual and movement therapies — bodywork, massage therapy, structural integration, physical therapy, osteopathy, and similar professions. It is not medical or treatment advice. | 55m 49s | ||||||
| 7/8/26 | time perceptiontherapeutic techniques+4 | — | Massage & Bodywork magazineBending Time: The Therapeutic Power of Timelessness | — | bending timetherapeutic power+7 | — | 51m 30s | ||
| 6/24/26 | trauma recognitionSomatic Experiencing+4 | Dr. Peter Levine | Waking the Tiger | — | traumabodywork+7 | — | 53m 28s | ||
| 6/10/26 | lateral hip painbursitis+4 | Whitney Lowe | — | — | trochanteric bursitisgluteus medius+4 | Jane AppTHINKING1MO | 48m 45s | ||
| 5/27/26 | client historymanual therapy assessment+4 | Whitney Lowe | The Thinking Practitioner | — | assessmentmanual therapy+4 | — | 26m 49s | ||
| 5/13/26 | hypermobilityEhlers-Danlos syndrome+4 | Tina Wang | Ehlers-Danlos syndromeA-T subscription library | — | hypermobilityEhlers-Danlos syndrome+5 | — | 54m 48s | ||
| 4/29/26 | anterior neck workmanual therapy+5 | Walt Fritz | — | — | anterior neckmanual therapy+6 | — | 57m 38s | ||
Want analysis for the episodes below?Free for Pro Submit a request, we'll have your selected episodes analyzed within an hour. Free, at no cost to you, for Pro users. | |||||||||
| 4/15/26 | back painmanual therapy+4 | Stuart McGill | — | — | back painstiffness+4 | — | 1h 04m 10s | ||
| 4/1/26 | cupping therapynervous system+4 | Dr. Joi Edwards | The Thinking Practitioner | — | cuppingnervous system+5 | — | 49m 05s | ||
| 3/18/26 | massage therapyresearch+3 | Bodhi Haraldsson | McMaster UniversityCochrane Cervical Overview Group+1 | — | massage researchevidence-based practice+3 | — | 48m 35s | ||
| 3/4/26 | Interstate Massage Compactmulti-state licensing+3 | Deborah Persinger | Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards | — | Interstate Massage Compactmulti-state license+3 | — | 41m 53s | ||
| 2/18/26 | balance challengesmanual therapy+4 | Ruth Werner | I Have a Client WhoA Massage Therapist’s Guide to Pathology | — | dizzinessbalance+8 | — | 57m 11s | ||
| 2/4/26 | deep tissue massagelistening and touch+3 | Art Riggs | Certified Advanced Rolfer™bodyworkers | — | deep tissuemassage therapy+5 | — | 39m 55s | ||
| 1/21/26 |  162: AI in Massage: Thinking Partner, Threat, or Crutch? (with Whitney Lowe & Til Luchau) | 🎙 AI in Massage: Thinking Partner, Threat, or Crutch? Is artificial intelligence coming for your massage practice? Not the way you might think. In this episode, Til and Whitney dive into the rapidly evolving world of AI — exploring where it genuinely helps manual therapists, where it falls short, and why the human elements of touch, presence, and clinical reasoning remain irreplaceable. From AI-generated anatomical images with mysterious octopus tentacles to "massage robots" that feel like being rubbed by a cow, they share their own experiences with these tools and separate the hype from the helpful. Whitney unveils his Clinical Massage Coach — a custom AI tool trained on curated clinical knowledge that engages practitioners in Socratic dialogue rather than just spitting out answers. The key insight: AI works best not when it replaces thinking, but when it prompts better thinking. ✨ Topics covered:• How AI is already quietly influencing bodywork education and practice• The "hallucination" problem — why AI sounds confident even when it's wrong• Will massage robots take your job? (Spoiler: the client-therapist relationship isn't going anywhere)• Personalized learning: the "holy grail" of education that AI might help unlock• The de-skilling danger: when easy tools erode hard-won skills• Using AI as a reasoning partner vs. a script generator• Whitney's Clinical Massage Coach: SOAP notes, treatment planning, and Socratic questioning• Ethical considerations: energy consumption, bias, and the "human in the loop" ✨ Resources• Whitney's Clinical Massage Coach (CMC)Ever wish you could have a clinical expert on call 24/7? The CMC is an AI-powered assistant trained on over three decades of Whitney Lowe's textbooks and articles as well as hundreds of peer-reviewed resources. As a core feature of our Orthopedic Medical Massage Specialist (OMMS) program, it's designed to help you navigate complex clinical questions with science-based precision. Explore the CMC here: www.academyofclinicalmassage.com ✨ Watch the video / connect with us:• Til Luchau – https://advanced-trainings.com | https://www.youtube.com/@AdvancedTrainings/podcasts | https://facebook.com/advancedtrainings | https://instagram.com/til.luchau• Whitney Lowe – https://academyofclinicalmassage.com | https://facebook.com/WhitneyLowe | https://twitter.com/whitneylowe 🌱 Sponsor Offers:• Books of Discovery – Save 15% with code thinking at https://booksofdiscovery.com/• ABMP – Save $24 on new membership at https://abmp.com/thinking• Advanced-Trainings – Try one month free of the A-T Subscription at https://a-t.tv/subscriptions/ with code thinking• Academy of Clinical Massage – Grab Whitney's free Assessment Cheat Sheet at https://academyofclinicalmassage.com/cheatsheet 📧 Email us: [email protected] The Thinking Practitioner Podcast is intended for professional practitioners of manual and movement therapies — bodywork, massage therapy, structural integration, physical therapy, osteopathy, and similar professions. It is not medical or treatment advice. | 49m 32s | ||||||
| 1/7/26 |  161: Science, Skepticism, & Keeping Heart (with Paul Ingraham) | 🎙 Science, Skepticism, & Keeping Heart (with Paul Ingraham) What happens when a former massage therapist turns a skeptical eye on his own profession and starts asking uncomfortable questions about pain science and manual therapy? You get Paul Ingraham of PainScience.com — a writer whose work has challenged, irritated, and influenced practitioners in equal measure. In this episode, Til Luchau and Whitney Lowe sit down with Paul to explore how clinicians can think clearly in a field crowded with confident claims, competing models, and stories that feel true even when the evidence is thin. The conversation doesn’t shy away from friction. Paul is known for his sharp critiques of manual therapy’s favorite explanations, and many practitioners bristle at his tone. Here, we examine both the substance of his skepticism and the costs that can come with it. Together, they explore questions many therapists wrestle with, often quietly: How do we tell the difference between what helps clients and the stories we tell ourselves about why it helped? When does confidence in a method turn into intellectual blinders? And how can practitioners stay curious and effective without clinging to explanations that may not hold up? In this episode, they discuss: Paul’s move from massage therapist to science writer — and the unresolved questions that pushed him there “Modality empires” and why techniques so easily become identities The challenge of separating your identity from your methodology — and why it matters Confirmation bias in clinical practice: how we see what we expect to see and miss contradictory evidence Placebo, context, and why they complicate claims about mechanisms in manual therapy Paul’s critique of “structuralism” — the exclusive focus on alignment, posture, and movement dysfunction How to think about biomechanical explanations without falling into reductionist storytelling Why connecting dots between distant body parts (like foot problems causing back pain) can slip from plausible hypothesis into speculation The role of neurophysiological effects in manual therapy outcomes How to engage with research critically without becoming paralyzed by uncertainty Why practitioners may need intellectual humility more than confidence in untested theories The tension between skepticism as a tool and skepticism as a communication style — and what can get lost when critique outpaces curiosity The future of manual therapy as it integrates pain science and biopsychosocial models — and where Paul remains unconvinced This conversation won’t give you comfortable answers or a new technique to believe in. Instead, it invites you to sit with uncertainty, examine your assumptions, and reflect on how skepticism can sharpen thinking — and how, at times, it can narrow it. Whether you admire Paul’s work, struggle with it, or find yourself somewhere in between, this episode offers a chance to engage the questions underneath the disagreements. ✨ Resources👉 Paul’s website with articles and books: https://www.painscience.com 🌱 Sponsor Offers:- Books of Discovery – Save 15% with code thinking at https://booksofdiscovery.com/- ABMP – Save $24 on new membership at https://abmp.com/thinking- Advanced-Trainings – Try one month free of the A-T Subscription at https://a-t.tv/subscriptions/ with code thinking- Academy of Clinical Massage – Grab Whitney’s free Assessment Cheat Sheet at https://academyofclinicalmassage.com/cheatsheet ✨ Watch the video / connect with us:• Til Luchau – https://advanced-trainings.com | Facebook: https://facebook.com/advancedtrainings | Instagram: https://instagram.com/til.luchau• Whitney Lowe – https://academyofclinicalmassage.com | Facebook: https://facebook.com/WhitneyLowe 📧 Email us: [email protected] The Thinking Practitioner Podcast is intended for professional practitioners of manual and movement therapies — bodywork, massage therapy, structural integration, physical therapy, osteopathy, and similar profes | 57m 46s | ||||||
| 12/24/25 |  160: 5 Years & Half a Million Downloads: Your Favorite Episodes & Ours (with Til Luchau & Whitney Lowe) | 🎙 5 Years of The Thinking Practitioner: Our Favorites & Top 5 Most Popular Episodes It's been 5 years since we launched The Thinking Practitioner — with over half a million downloads and 130,000 unique listeners along the way. In this special retrospective episode, Til and Whitney look back at personal favorites that shaped their own thinking, then count down the top 5 most-listened episodes of all time. What stands out? A clear shift from tissue-focused to nervous-system-first thinking. Ideas about consent, context, and the client experience that once felt radical now feel like common sense. And the conversations that resonated most? They're about fascia, trauma, pain, and the practitioners brave enough to challenge what we think we know. 🎧 Episodes discussed (in order of appearance): Personal favorites:- Ep 140: Embodied Attention & Contact Improvisation (Nita Little)- Ep 23: Do Expectations Shape Results? (Mark Bishop)- Ep 80: What We Might Learn From Sex (Betty Martin)- Ep 144: Movement Optimism (Greg Lehman)- Ep 130: The Body of Grief (Jun Park)- Ep 146: Inflammation, Touch & the Grieving Body (Mary-Francis O'Connor)- Ep 135: The Neuroscience of Bodywork (Mark Olson) Top 5 most popular of all time:5. Ep 108: Trauma & Bodywork (Peter Levine)4. Ep 79: Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos, Fascia, and Pain (Tina Wang)3. Ep 45: Fascia in Sport & Movement (Robert Schleip)2. Ep 69: Back Pain, Stiffness & Fascia (Stuart McGill)1. Ep 126: Fascia: A Deep Dive (Dr. Antonio Stecco) ✨ Watch the video / connect with us:- Til Luchau: https://advanced-trainings.com | https://facebook.com/advancedtrainings | https://instagram.com/til.luchau- Whitney Lowe: https://academyofclinicalmassage.com | https://facebook.com/WhitneyLowe | https://twitter.com/whitneylowe Sponsor Offers:- Books of Discovery – Save 15% with code thinking at https://booksofdiscovery.com/- ABMP – Save $24 on new membership at https://abmp.com/thinking- Advanced-Trainings – Try one month free of the A-T Subscription at https://a-t.tv/subscriptions/ with code thinking- Academy of Clinical Massage – Grab Whitney's free Assessment Cheat Sheet at https://academyofclinicalmassage.com/cheatsheet 📧 Email us: [email protected] The Thinking Practitioner Podcast is intended for professional practitioners of manual and movement therapies — bodywork, massage therapy, structural integration, physical therapy, osteopathy, and similar professions. It is not medical or treatment advice. | 41m 12s | ||||||
| 12/10/25 |  159: Can You Really Palpate the Psoas? (with Christopher DaPrato) | 🎙 Can You Really Palpate the Psoas? MRI Evidence, Clinical Debate & a Bonus Visit from the Researcher Can manual therapists actually palpate the psoas, or is it anatomically out of reach? In this episode, Til Luchau and Whitney Lowe unpack a new real-time MRI pilot study presented at the 7th International Fascia Research Congress by UCSF physical therapist Christopher DaPrato and colleagues. The study offers rare imaging-based insight into what really happens when we try to touch this deep, controversial muscle. And at the end, Christopher drops in for a brief bonus segment to share safety insights and his hopes for future research. The debate around psoas palpation has become a kind of proxy war in manual therapy — between pain-science and movement educators who question highly specific anatomical claims, and hands-on practitioners who have used psoas work for decades and find it clinically meaningful. This conversation explores how DaPrato’s imaging helps reframe that debate. In this episode, they discuss:- Why psoas palpation has become a flashpoint debate and a stand-in for deeper philosophical disagreements in the field- How DaPrato’s team used dynamic MRI to observe what happens under the hands during attempted psoas palpation- What the images showed about depth, tissue layers, and muscle deformation when pressure is applied- The surprising finding that even a higher-BMI participant showed clear psoas shape change under palpation- How viscera behaved under pressure — including what the study suggests about visceral compression and safety- Clinical implications for angle, depth, and pressure when working in the anterior hip/abdominal region- The role of tools like the PSO-RITE compared with hand palpation, and what may (or may not) be interchangeable- How this research interacts with the idea of “palpatory pareidolia” (imagining specificity that isn’t there)- What this study does — and doesn’t — say about treatment effectiveness and future research priorities- And in a bonus segment, Christopher DaPrato joins Til to talk safety, visceral sliding, and practical precautions for working this sensitive region Whether you regularly include psoas work in your sessions, or you’re skeptical of deep abdominal palpation claims, this episode offers a nuanced, evidence-informed look at what our hands may — and may not — be doing. ✨ Resources👉 DaPrato et al. pilot study abstract (MRI of psoas palpation): https://www.cuptherapy.com/_files/ugd/12c814_c0500f355036456eb450562461ff267c.pdf 👉 Thinking Practitioner Ep 25: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/25-psoas-work-is-it-safe-is-it-necessary/id1492004207?i=1000496358416👉 Video version of this episode: https://www.youtube.com/@AdvancedTrainings/podcasts👉 Episode image courtesy Christopher DaPrato @cuptherapy Sponsor Offers:- Books of Discovery – Save 15% with code thinking at https://booksofdiscovery.com/- ABMP – Save $24 on new membership at https://abmp.com/thinking- Advanced-Trainings – Try one month free of the A-T Subscription at https://a-t.tv/subscriptions/ with code thinking- Academy of Clinical Massage – Grab Whitney's free Assessment Cheat Sheet at https://academyofclinicalmassage.com/cheatsheet ✨ Connect with us:Til Luchau – https://advanced-trainings.com | Facebook | InstagramWhitney Lowe – https://academyofclinicalmassage.com | Facebook | Twitter 📧 Email us: [email protected] The Thinking Practitioner Podcast is intended for professional practitioners of manual and movement therapies — bodywork, massage therapy, structural integration, physical therapy, osteopathy, and similar professions. It is not medical or treatment advice. | 30m 53s | ||||||
| 11/26/25 |  158: Is Your Work Valuable? (with Til Luchau & Whitney Lowe) | 🎙 Is Your Work Valuable? The Psychology of Perceived Value in Hands-On Practice What makes clients value your work — and come back for more? Til Luchau and Whitney Lowe explore the results of a survey of over 2,000 practitioners to uncover the surprising psychology behind perceived value. Spoiler: it's not just about results or price. Value is created in a reciprocal feedback loop between practitioner and client — shaped by confidence, preparation, communication, boundaries, and dozens of subtle signals clients pick up (consciously or not). In this episode, they discuss:- The "chicken-and-egg" relationship between value perception and client outcomes- The famous "expensive pain pill" study and what it reveals about perceived value- How discount addiction undermines both value and client loyalty- The 9 ways to communicate value — from linens and punctuality to CE certificates and testimonials- Why going over time can actually diminish perceived value- How asking clients to invest effort (goals, homework, participation) raises their commitment- The importance of receiving the work you give — and what the survey showed- The surprising correlation between in-person CE hours and practice satisfaction - The confidence paradox: does success breed confidence, or does confidence breed success?- Practical tips: where to start if you want to shift value perception tomorrow Whether you're building a practice, thinking about pricing, or wondering why some clients don't seem to "get it," this conversation offers a roadmap for communicating value from the inside out. ✨ Resources👉 Read the full article: Is Your Work Valuable? https://a-t.tv/articles/luchau_valuable_mbw_20180427.pdf 👉 Video version: https://www.youtube.com/@AdvancedTrainings/podcasts Sponsor Offers:- Books of Discovery – Save 15% with code thinking at https://booksofdiscovery.com/- ABMP – Save $24 on new membership at https://abmp.com/thinking- Advanced-Trainings – Try one month free of the A-T Subscription at https://a-t.tv/subscriptions/ with code thinking- Academy of Clinical Massage – Grab Whitney's free Assessment Cheat Sheet at https://academyofclinicalmassage.com/cheatsheet ✨ Connect with us:Til Luchau – https://advanced-trainings.com | Facebook | InstagramWhitney Lowe – https://academyofclinicalmassage.com | Facebook | Twitter 📧 Email us: [email protected] The Thinking Practitioner Podcast is intended for professional practitioners of manual and movement therapies — bodywork, massage therapy, structural integration, physical therapy, osteopathy, and similar professions. It is not medical or treatment advice. | 48m 45s | ||||||
| 11/12/25 |  157: What Happens When the Body Lets Go? (with Werner Klingler) | 🎙 What Happens When the Body Lets Go? Werner Klingler on Anesthesia, Altered States & the Physiology of Relaxation What actually happens when the body "lets go" — in anesthesia, trance, or the deep relaxation familiar to hands-on practitioners? Til Luchau talks with Professor Werner Klingler, anesthesiologist, physiologist, and fascia researcher at Ulm University (Germany), whose work bridges clinical anesthesia, neuroscience, and connective-tissue research. Drawing on decades of operating room experience, Dr. Klingler explains how different parts of the brain disconnect and re-synchronize during altered states, why the "freeze reflex" comes first, and how fascia's responsiveness makes it a living sensory organ rather than inert tissue. Fair warning: Werner gets wonderfully detailed about physiology — but stick with it, because he drops some genuine gems about autonomic "push-ups," why tears cleanse neurotransmitters, and what happens when children wake from anesthesia with wide-open pupils. In this episode, they discuss:- The "octopus model" of consciousness — why "altered state" is too simple- The three pillars of anesthesia: unconsciousness, analgesia, and muscle relaxation- How breathing and CO₂ levels influence pH, drug effectiveness, and tissue tone- Why warmth matters: how temperature shifts the load between muscle and connective tissue- What "autonomic push-ups" teach us about resilience and cyclic training- The freeze-then-flight reflex pattern and how it shows up under anesthesia- How emotion and perception shift as anesthesia fades — and why some people wake up sad- Whether sensation is required for bodywork to be effective (spoiler: tissue effects happen either way)- Pre- and post-operative care: what bodyworkers can offer surgery patients- Why fascia is alive — restructuring, remodeling, and central to our sensory and autonomic systems- The FRECLS project: how practitioners can contribute to international fascia research Whether you're curious about the neuroscience of deep relaxation, how anesthesia informs hands-on practice, or what happens when different "arms of the octopus" come back online, this conversation offers a rare clinical perspective on the states we work with every day. ✨ Resources👉 Join the FRECLS project (Fascia Research Consensus and Liaison Statement): https://frecls.org/👉 Fascia Research Society: https://fasciaresearchsociety.org/👉 Video version: https://www.youtube.com/@AdvancedTrainings/podcasts Sponsor Offers:- Books of Discovery – Save 15% with code thinking at https://booksofdiscovery.com/- ABMP – Save $24 on new membership at https://abmp.com/thinking- Advanced-Trainings – Try one month free of the A-T Subscription at https://a-t.tv/subscriptions/ with code thinking- Academy of Clinical Massage – Grab Whitney's free Assessment Cheat Sheet at https://academyofclinicalmassage.com/cheatsheet ✨ Connect with us:Til Luchau – https://advanced-trainings.com | Facebook | InstagramWhitney Lowe – https://academyofclinicalmassage.com | Facebook | Twitter 📧 Email us: [email protected] The Thinking Practitioner Podcast is intended for professional practitioners of manual and movement therapies — bodywork, massage therapy, structural integration, physical therapy, osteopathy, and similar professions. It is not medical or treatment advice. | 1h 07m 02s | ||||||
| 10/29/25 |  156: Lessons from 50 Years (with Benny Vaughn) | 🎙 Celebrating 50 Years of Massage: Benny Vaughn’s Legacy of Professionalism, Perseverance & Touch Whitney Lowe sits down with legendary massage therapist Benny Vaughn to celebrate his 50 years in the massage and bodywork profession — a career that helped shape modern sports massage, elevate professional standards, and open doors for generations of practitioners. From his early years breaking racial barriers in sports medicine to his pioneering integration of massage into collegiate and professional athletics, Benny shares powerful stories of courage, mentorship, and the mindset that turns adversity into purpose. In this conversation, they explore:• Benny’s beginnings in track & field and how that led him to massage in 1975• Integrating massage into university and professional sports programs — and how it changed the field• Overcoming racial and cultural barriers in the Deep South of the 1970s• The essential mindset shift for success in massage practice• Why mentorship matters — and how to approach a mentor with respect• What Benny hopes the next 50 years of massage will bring This inspiring retrospective honors one of massage therapy’s most influential pioneers — a practitioner who continues to teach, mentor, and elevate the profession every day. ✨ Learn more about Benny Vaughn:👉 https://bennyvaughnlifecoach.com/ ✨ Watch this episode on YouTube:👉 https://www.youtube.com/@AdvancedTrainings/podcasts Sponsor Offers:• Books of Discovery: save 15% by entering thinking at checkout on booksofdiscovery.com.• ABMP: save $24 on new membership at abmp.com/thinking.• Advanced-Trainings: try a month of the A-T Subscription free by entering “thinking” at checkout at a-t.tv/subscriptions/.• Academy of Clinical Massage: Grab Whitney’s free Assessment Cheat Sheet at academyofclinicalmassage.com/cheatsheet.• Til’s 2026 Thailand Retreat: use code “thinking” for $100 off Finding Balance in an Out-of-Balance World at a-t.tv/thailand-retreat-2026/. ✨ Connect with us:Til Luchau: advanced-trainings.com | facebook.com/advancedtrainings | instagram.com/til.luchauWhitney Lowe: academyofclinicalmassage.com | facebook.com/WhitneyLowe | twitter.com/whitneylowe ——— The Thinking Practitioner Podcast is intended for professional practitioners of manual and movement therapies: bodywork, massage therapy, structural integration, chiropractic, myofascial and myotherapy, orthopedic, sports massage, physical therapy, osteopathy, yoga, strength and conditioning, and similar professions. It is not medical or treatment advice. | 54m 40s | ||||||
| 10/15/25 |  155: The Value of Disgust: What Our Bodies Tell Us About Boundaries & Connection (with Todd Hargrove) | 🎙A better understanding of the very human emotion of disgust can help us navigate boundaries, empathy, and connection in our hands-on work—and in the wider world. This week, Til welcomes back Todd Hargrove—Certified Rolfer™, movement educator, and author of A Guide to Better Movement and Playing With Movement. Together they explore one of the most primal, and often least examined, human emotions: disgust. Drawing from psychology, neuroscience, and his years of practice, Todd unpacks disgust as part of our behavioral immune system—a mechanism designed to keep us safe from harm that also influences our moral judgments, client relationships, and social divisions. In this conversation, they explore: • How disgust shows up physiologically and emotionally in practitioners and clients • The difference between protective instinct and unconscious bias • When disgust serves as a moral compass, and when it drives prejudice or separation • Practical ways to notice and work with disgust as a signal rather than a verdict • How turning aversion into curiosity can deepen empathy and compassion in practice At its heart, this dialogue invites practitioners to see disgust not as something to suppress or be ashamed of, but as a doorway into greater awareness, boundaries, and connection. ✨ Read Todd’s original article on disgust:👉 https://toddhargrove.substack.com/p/disgust ✨ Learn more about Todd’s books and writing:👉 https://www.bettermovement.org/books ✨ Watch this episode on YouTube:👉 https://www.youtube.com/@AdvancedTrainings/podcasts Sponsor Offers: • Books of Discovery: save 15% by entering "thinking" at checkout on https://booksofdiscovery.com/. • ABMP: save $24 on new membership at https://www.abmp.com/thinking. • Advanced-Trainings: try a month of the amazing A-T Subscription free by entering “thinking” at checkout at http://a-t.tv/subscriptions/,. • Academy of Clinical Massage: Grab Whitney's valuable Assessment Cheat Sheet for free at: https://www.academyofclinicalmassage.com/cheatsheet/ • Til’s upcoming retreat, Finding Balance in an Out-of-Balance World, happening March 2026 in Thailand. Use code “thinking” for $100 off: https://a-t.tv/thailand-retreat-2026/ ✨ Connect with us:• Til Luchau: https://advanced-trainings.com | https://facebook.com/advancedtrainings | https://instagram.com/til.luchau• Whitney Lowe: https://academyofclinicalmassage.com | https://facebook.com/WhitneyLowe | https://twitter.com/whitneylowe ——— The Thinking Practitioner Podcast is intended for professional practitioners of manual and movement therapies: bodywork, massage therapy, structural integration, chiropractic, myofascial and myotherapy, orthopedic, sports massage, physical therapy, osteopathy, yoga, strength and conditioning, and similar professions. It is not medical or treatment advice. | 41m 55s | ||||||
| 10/1/25 |  154: Sacroiliac Joints: The Next Level (with Til Luchau & Whitney Lowe) Listener Favorite! | 🎙Til Luchau and Whitney Lowe go deep into the sacroiliac (SI) joints in this listener-favorite rebroadcast of Episode 74, where they unpack anatomy, mechanics, assessment controversies, and treatment strategies. From the relationship between pain, stability, and mobility, to ligamentous support, gait mechanics, and the limits of positional models, they offer both clinical clarity and practical takeaways. Along the way, they share road stories, podcast crossovers, and resources for further learning. 🎧 Listen in for evidence-based insights, hands-on strategies, and nuanced discussion that balances analytical precision with experiential wisdom.👉Thailand Retreat 2026Join Til and friends for Finding Balance, an immersive bodywork and movement retreat at a floating retreat center in Thailand. Learn more → https://a-t.tv/thailand-retreat-2026/ 🔍Key Points by Time Code: 00:00 – Sponsor, catch-up & travel stories; 2022 Fascia Research Congress 03:13 – Today’s focus: sacroiliac joints; Whitney’s Massage & Bodywork article on SI dysfunction 03:53 – Til’s Ilia/SI online course announcement (now available on demand) 04:50 – Podcast review shout-out: Hands at the Table reviews Til’s course 06:11 – Anatomy tour: interlocking joint surfaces, nociceptors, ligament overview 08:30 – Weight transfer & keystone analogy; iliolumbar, sacrotuberous, sacrospinous ligaments 13:53 – Pain mechanisms: “culprit or victim?” framing 15:00 – Motion at the SI joint: small ROM, often misunderstood 18:01 – Nutation vs. counternutation explained; clinical relevance 24:50 – Assessment: why provocation tests (Laslett cluster) matter more than positional diagnosis 28:58 – Treatment approaches: working with sensitivity, remote-site effects, neural target zones 30:22 – Clinical reasoning: differentiating nerve tension vs. ligament vs. joint capsule 33:20 – Complexity of models vs. simplicity of sensation-first approaches 37:14 – Hypermobility paradox: Ehlers-Danlos and individualized load titration 45:00 – Gait mechanics: contralateral in-/out-flare with each step; self-exploration drills 46:07 – Lateral tilt, functional vs. structural leg-length differences; heel lift caveats 58:43 – Self-care: DonTigny-inspired gentle movement in both directions 59:30 – Course info recap; live & recorded access options 1:00:42 – Closing sponsor; how to find show notes & rate the podcast Resources: Article: “Current Concepts in Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction” (free, registration required) Training: Ilia & SI Joints: Principles Review: the Hands at the Table podcast hosts dissect an AMT Principles course Previous TTP SIJ episode: 3: Sacroiliac Joint Pain: Causes, Controversies, and Considerations Whitney’s references: Physiotutors web clip on Laslett SI joint test cluster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8txpsqHYpQ&t=197s Szadek KM, Hoogland P V., Zuurmond WW, de Lange JJ, Perez RS. Nociceptive Nerve Fibers in the Sacroiliac Joint in Humans. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2008;33(1):36-43. doi:10.1016/j.rapm.2007.07.011 Bertoldo D, Pirri C, Roviaro B, et al. Pilot study of sacroiliac joint dysfunction treated with a single session of fascial manipulation® method: Clinical implications for effective pain reduction. Med. 2021;57(7):1-11. doi:10.3390/medicina57070691 Sponsor Offers: Books of Discovery: save 15% by entering "thinking" at checkout on booksofdiscovery.com. ABMP: save $24 on new membership at abmp.com/thinking. Advanced-Trainings: try a month of the amazing A-T Subscription free by entering “thinking” at checkout at a-t.tv/subscriptions/,. Academy of Clinical Massage: Grab Whitney's valuable Assessment Cheat Sheet for free at: academyofclinicalmassage.com/cheatsheet Til’s upcoming retreat, Finding Balance in an Out-of-Balance World, happening March 2026 in Thailand. Use code “thinking” for $100 off: https://a-t.tv/thailand-retreat-2026/ 💡 Join the Conversation: Share your thoughts with u | 1h 03m 28s | ||||||
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Chart history for The Thinking Practitioner
Peaked at #32 in IS, currently #32 in IS.
| Market | Genre | Peak | Current | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IS | — | #32 | #32 | — |
| CH | — | #53 | #53 | — |
| Denmark | — | #54 | #54 | — |
| United States | — | #57 | #57 | — |
| GR | — | #66 | #66 | — |
| Australia | — | #106 | #106 | — |
| Netherlands | — | #112 | #112 | — |
| United Kingdom | — | #128 | #128 | — |
| New Zealand | — | #183 | #183 | — |
| PL | — | #193 | #193 | — |
| Norway | — | #197 | #197 | — |
Chart Positions
11 placements across 11 markets.
Chart Positions
11 placements across 11 markets.