Biotensegrity

In case you are still thinking of your body as a mechanical system with levers, pulleys, and springs much like a mechanical system...that paradigm has long gone out the window.

The new way of addressing the living body is as a three dimensional model that needs balanced tension throughout our soft tissue to function effectively.  Soft tissue equals muscles, tendons, ligaments, bone and fascia. It’s got a name:  biotensegrity.... You can read more about it here: http://www.biotensegrity.com

Shari Berkowitz says: “it is an inner web of 3-dimensional support that connects all parts of our bodies:  A completely reactive and adaptive system of soft-tissue tension. Through this we move, think, digest…everything.”

The thing is: how we think about our movement, ultimately effects how we move, so obviously this is ground breaking stuff.

More to come on how we can use this new thinking to help move better.

Willingness to Change – (off topic post)

During my (very) extended recovery time with all it’s bumps and hurdles I have come to realize many things that go against my previous conceptions.  ARGH!  Not only am I rewiring my entire body; I have to change the way I think about my body and my recovery.  So hard.

What I want to share today is how it is sometimes very important to do activities you either don’t like or don’t want to do to get the results you need.

What does this go against for me?  I have long supported the concept that you need to do an activity you like or love to get results.  Why?  Because that is the activity that you will be the most likely do regularly and with continuity.

Now I see that in order to develop the strength I need to recover and maintain my recovery I need to be doing sooo many more repetitions of basic movements than I want to do.

As soon as my foot and weight bearing started improving, I threw my repetitions out the door and began moving:  beginners Pilates classes, bike riding, and small walks.  Why?  Because I hate performing simple movements over and over again! I’d rather watch paint dry.  Within 2 weeks my hips and injured foot and leg became highly unstable and I was back in the weeds.  I thought I had been so cautious, but I had thrown out the keystone to my recovery:  all those repetitions for my local stabilizers!

I don’t think this situation is specific to rehabilitation though.  People tend to do what they are good at and not what they need to get good.  Me:  case in point

My PT and I joked a lot about how the people doing Pilates and Yoga should be doing strength training and vice-versa.  That would be interesting!  I'd have a whole different clientele to teach.

Cueing

I write about cueing over and over again, because it is so important.  As an instructor I am always looking for new ways to express the same idea, because different words work for different people.  Or maybe it's not a word at all, but simply an image.  The right word, image or feeling can not only help you find engagement, it can completely transform your quality of movement.

How we learn is always so fascinating to me.  I can watch something a thousand times and never figure out how to do it.  I am a kinesthetic learner.  If you know what kind of learner you are, share that with your instructor so that they can interact with you in more helpful ways.

Here is a cue that is really working for me right now, maybe it will work for you as well:

When standing or lying prone: 
Imagine your inner thigh lifting up to the ceiling while you press your hips lightly down.
This cue puts me right in my center with access to my pelvic floor and Pilates lift.  I love it!