-
Balancing the Head on the Spine
We don’t think too much about our necks unless we are in pain. But before we talk about pain, lets talk about the head and spine. Take a moment to think about how the head balances on the spine. The size of the two joints that form the head/spine connection are the size of 2 pennies. Knowing that the head weighs 10-12 pounds, it is an amazing architecturally engineered structure that supports that kind of balance! Turn and Look Along with ligaments and tendons, the head is free to turn and look at any moment and maintain the integrity of our senses with just the right amount of…
-
Letting Go
A major principle when doing Awareness Through Movement® lessons is to “do less”. Interestingly, it isn’t so easy. With each lesson, participants are instructed to move easily, only do what is comfortable, and make the movements simple. Yet, so often, following those directions can be challenging. As a practitioner, I have learned strategies to make it easier for students, but still, you may wonder why is it challenging to begin with? Early Learning As youngsters, we use our senses to explore our environment. We learn. We grow. We develop. Part of that development is to work to get our needs met. If one way doesn’t work, we may…
-
A Refuge From the Aggression of Life
Conflict. Some people thrive on it, others run from it. What’s hard is to sit with it or even know what to do with it. Competing interests create conflict, tripping us up, holding us back, basically making a mess of things. All conflict has a home in the mind/body and is acted out through our actions, meaning our muscles are at play. In stressful situations muscle activity increases, giving us the perceived experience of tension, tightness, or pain. Reducing Conflict In order to reduce conflict, a change in the entirety of the neuro-muscular system has to take place as well as in the psyche. Does one change before…
-
Hip Joints…Keep Us Moving
I love telling people that there are 22 muscles that move each hip joint. It’s a surprise and hard for them to know what to make of it. The problem is that in the fitness and rehab worlds, you would think that the only muscles of the hips are the hip flexors (psoas), the ITB and the piriformis. Those are the ones that are most written about, stretched, rolled and massaged. In the olden days, it used to be all about the quads and the hamstrings. How times change! Of course there is good reason to give press to them, but if that is all that we think…
-
One Step Towards Better Breathing
What do I want? I find myself asking this question multiple times a week. Sometimes even multiple times a day. Some days I want this. Some days that, making sticking to a specific plan like going through a maze, not sure where I will end up or how long it will take to get there. Isn’t that true for many people? Of course, we all have to know what we want in order to get it. And we have to take action to have it materialize. The problem is that sometimes we get what we don’t want in the pursuit of what we do…
-
A Bit of Anatomy
Muscles attach to at least two different bones. Tendons attach a muscle to a bone. Ligaments attach one bone to another bone. Ligaments help keep the joints from moving beyond their joint surfaces. Tendons help move the joint when its muscle contracts. Muscles, ligaments and tendons have receptors that provide sensory information to us. That is, we get feedback from our body giving us specific information. Here are a few descriptions of those receptors and how we know what they are telling us and how best to use that information. You may have heard of them in your classes or books or through your friends or practitioners, even…
-
Love Your Shoulders
My finger slides across his shoulder…lightly…just enough to let him know that I am there and just before he turns and reaches up, me following; each of us dancing to the music in response to each other. Spinning, turning, sliding…the fluidity of the dance…that is what I love. If I push, I get immediate feedback…a strain, a frustration, a disappointment. I practice letting go and staying attentive, both needed to be in harmony with myself, my partner, the music. I have been there before, my excitement, my ambition pressing my body forward, pressing for something that it cannot do or is not ready at that moment and then…
-
Harmony In Support
I transported onto the silky white ground under a bright blue sky. I had been away for months. The lusciousness lifted and held me. Jason sat on a picnic table. I opened my arms signaling a hug. The conversation began. Walking tall, I met Jimmy next. He had just returned from Costa Rica on retreat. He carried the energy. I captured it. Eric joined as he climbed on Jimmy’s back. Jimmy yielded to his weight. They had traveled together. His tanned skin evidence. I watched them share space. I put my backpack down and joined the others in the open area. There were about 30 of us. BC-Before…
-
Holiday Greeting
Please join me this holiday season to pause, to reflect, to acknowledge this moment of living. In the pause, what shines, grieves, glows, prickles? How do you move with yourself in your feeling life? How do you move with others? At the end of one year and the beginning of another, we are reminded that we start anew. We don’t need a page turn of a calendar to remind us to start over. Each moment gives us an opportunity to live it with a greater degree of satisfaction. Simpler, Softer, Clearer, Longer. Where do you want to make a shift? Where in yourself can you sense that…
-
Taking A Stance
Sitting on the steps outside my house, I feel the October sun warming me just enough to feel the pleasure of having to do less work to stay warm. Taking a break. Rest, recover, sleep, the golden nuggets of balance in a busy life. Listening to the leaves blowing in the breeze and the traffic from Rt. 1, I am grateful for this time. Time to write. Time to notice. Time to enjoy. Even the pangs of hunger don’t interfere with the pleasure. It is moments like these that are sprinkled into my life that soften the jabs of obligation, chaos, destruction that go on within me and…
