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“Transitions”
“Transitions”, the last Awareness Through Movement(R) series I taught, shared a perspective that included agency. The idea for the theme came to me because I was going through a significant transition. And it would be interesting to teach what I wanted to explore. Following a short vacation and time away from work, I continued to go deeper into the transition –…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.…
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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…
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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…
