Active Balance

11/10/2026

What if the area that hurts isn't the whole problem?🩻💥

A painful foot. A tight shoulder. Restricted movement. Nerve irritation.

Too often, each problem is looked at and treated separately.

Active Balance teaches you to start looking at the whole body — how the joints, muscles, fascia, nerves and different systems interact, and how an imbalance in one area can influence another.

And this is exactly what you'll begin learning on our Active Balance Level 1 Practitioner Course.

You'll learn our step-by-step approach to whole-body alignment, including how to:
• Assess the body as a connected system
• Rebalance joints throughout the body
• Identify and work with muscular and fascial restrictions
• Understand nerve mobility and areas of potential nerve irritation
• Recognise compensation patterns rather than simply chasing symptoms
• Work through the body using practical Active Balance protocols
• Understand how the systems of the body interact (muscles, bones, fascia, energy meridians, nerves, viscera, Lymphatic system, craniosacral mechanism)

You don't need years of previous training to start.

Level 1 is designed both for people who want to begin learning hands-on bodywork — whether that's helping friends and family or taking the first steps towards a new career — and existing therapists who want to add a whole-body approach to what they already do.

Massage therapists. Sports therapists. Reflexologists. Acupuncturists. Movement professionals. Or simply someone fascinated by how the body works.

After more than 55 years of clinical experience, Dennis Bartram and the Active Balance team are bringing these principles together into a system that can be learnt and applied practically.
If you've been thinking about joining us, this is the time.

👉 Our next Active Balance Level 1 training is coming up soon.

09/10/2026

04/10/2026

A brilliant weekend completing Active Balance Level 4 🙌

Level 4 is the final stage of our current Active Balance practitioner training, taking our practitioners into cranial and craniosacral mobilisation and some of the more advanced aspects of the system 🧠

This training draws on Dennis Bartram's 55+ years of clinical practice, research and teaching, including more than 35 years studying with Dr Masaaki Hatsumi in Japan, drawing on ancient teachings of Amatsu Tatara Hichi Buko Goshin Jutsu alongside the continued development of Active Balance.
It was a great weekend of learning, practising and refining techniques — with plenty of laughs along the way too!

We also reached another exciting milestone. Our Level 4 practitioners were introduced to Spine Realign and trained in how we use the device as part of our approach to whole-body alignment and physical performance.

They are the first Active Balance practitioners to receive and be trained to use Spine Realign devices, which makes this group a particularly special one for us after all the work that has gone into its development.

A massive well done to everyone who completed the weekend. 👏 It’s brilliant to see how far the group has progressed and to see this knowledge continuing to be passed on and developed.

Level 4 complete! 🎓

Interested in beginning your own Active Balance practitioner journey? 🌀 Sign up to our mailing list for course updates (link in comments) 🦶🏼

03/10/2026

02/10/2026

If you’re interested in using or getting back to being able to do this position, here is a video we made a while ago that can help 🦵🏼

https://youtu.be/lJWIF_6k2Zo?is=nn-YiPRBJsDT2OC3

One of the most devastating structural losses in modern society is the total erosion of our lower body flexibility. Today, millions of people suffer from agonizing knee pain and tight ankles, directly caused by sitting lazily in western chairs with our legs dangling. For centuries, ancient Japanese Samurai and Eastern scholars practiced "Seiza"—the disciplined, formal posture of resting completely on their knees, with the tops of their feet pressed flat against the floor. This was not just a cultural display of respect; it was a mandatory, elite biomechanical stretch.

Modern orthopedics and kinesiology reveal the immense structural power of this forgotten posture. When you sit in a chair, the muscles on the front of your shins (anterior tibialis) and the deep ligaments of the knee capsule become incredibly tight and stiff from disuse. When you fold your body into the Seiza position, your entire body weight acts as a massive, passive traction device. It violently, yet safely, stretches the front of the legs, forcing the ankle joint into maximum plantar flexion.

This extreme stretch physically pulls on the knee capsule, signaling the body to flood the joint with synovial fluid for deep lubrication. By avoiding the floor, modern adults have literally glued their leg joints shut. Gradually practicing this ancestral kneeling posture for just five minutes a day acts as a zero-cost orthopedic overhaul for your knees. Can you comfortably sit on your knees, or are your joints completely locked?

20/09/2026

WHERE DID ACTIVE BALANCE COME FROM?

Long before it became the system we now call Active Balance, Dennis Bartram was exploring a very different way of understanding the body.

A major part of that journey came through more than 35 years studying with Dr Masaaki Hatsumi, and the older principles of Hichi Buko Goshin Jutsu — where Budo, movement, self-preservation and approaches to looking after the body were closely connected.

In this clip, you'll hear directly from Hatsumi himself, alongside Dennis explaining some of the principles he encountered through his studies in Japan — including the body's own capacity for healing and self-correction, and how these ideas influenced the development of his work.

Over more than 55 years, Dennis continued exploring these principles alongside anatomy, the nervous system, fascia, movement and modern concepts such as biotensegrity — gradually bringing them together into the whole-body approach we now call Active Balance.

Ancient principles. Modern understanding. One interconnected body.

🎥 Want to hear the full story?
The full video explores Dennis's journey, his study with Dr Masaaki Hatsumi, and how these different influences eventually helped shape Active Balance.

👉 Watch the full video here

https://youtu.be/OKPgW6hDL3M?is=PvRmAabP8Hs3xlpE

20/09/2026

INFLAMMATION ISN’T THE PROBLEM — IT’S A SIGNAL 🚨
Tendonitis.
Bursitis.
Plantar fasciitis.
Sinusitis.

The “-itis” simply refers to inflammation.
And inflammation itself is part of the body’s natural response to injury, irritation or stress.

So when we see inflammation around a joint or tissue, an important question we ask within Active Balance is:
Why is that area continually being irritated or overloaded?

Take the foot as a simple example.
If the way you’re standing or walking is repeatedly placing more load through one area, the body may respond with irritation, inflammation and pain.

Rather than only focusing on the painful tissue, we can also look at alignment, movement and how forces are travelling through the rest of the body.

Can we improve the way the body is moving?
Can we reduce unnecessary stress through that area?
Can we help the body work more efficiently as a whole?

That’s the thinking behind Active Balance.
Don’t just silence the alarm. Ask why the alarm is going off. 🚨

🌿 Active Balance — Learn to understand the body differently

👉Find our more about our upcoming level 1 course. Link in Bio

🎙️Want to hear more? Watch the full conversation on our YouTube channel

19/09/2026

LOWER BACK PAIN? TENSION? SCIATICA? 💥 DON'T JUST LOOK AT THE BACK. 👀

One of the muscles we often look at when someone is experiencing lower-back tension is the psoas — a deep muscle connecting the lumbar spine to the upper leg.

In this clip, Dennis demonstrates a simple version of one of the techniques we teach on Active Balance Level 1.

But there's more to it than knowing where to put your hands.
Dennis talks about gently working through the tissues and allowing the body to “let you in”, rather than forcing your way into a deep muscle.

That's an important part of learning Active Balance — not simply what technique to use, but how and why we use it.

On Level 1, you'll learn practical hands-on techniques like this and how they're brought together as part of a whole-body Balance to help friends and family or start helping others to develop your own business

🌿 Learn to understand the body differently.

👉 Find out more about Active Balance Level 1.

13/09/2026

From Hatsumi to Active Balance | Budo & Medicine ☯️

We've just put together a video that I've wanted to share for a while.
It brings together some incredible original footage of Dr Masaaki Hatsumi, alongside Dennis talking about his own journey through Budo, medicine and more than 55 years of working with the human body.

Dennis spent more than 35 years studying with Hatsumi Sensei, and the video explores some of the principles he was taught around natural movement, medicine, preservation of the body and the relationship between Budo and health.

We've combined this with clips taken from our Active Balance Level 1 online training, showing how some of those ideas have continued to develop through Dennis’ clinical experience and eventually into the work we now teach through Active Balance.

There's some fantastic old footage in this one, particularly for anyone interested in the history behind what we do.

Watch the full video here 👇

https://youtu.be/OKPgW6hDL3M?is=sJZUjxr1NEXOW5gG

13/09/2026

Great North Run complete? 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️✅

Your body has just covered 13 miles and absorbed thousands of repeated steps.

It’s completely normal for the feet, calves, knees, hips and surrounding muscles to feel tired and stiff afterwards.

Here are a few simple Active Balance resets you can try to gently introduce movement back through the legs and support your recovery.

Keep them comfortable and gentle — particularly immediately after the run. And if something feels like more than normal post-run soreness, don’t try to push through it.

Congratulations to everyone who completed the Great North Run today! 👏

Active Balance — Understand your body. Look after it. Feel better.