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.

Pain, Pain Go Away!

SinceI broke my foot last ApriI haven’t had too many pain free days....ok. I haven’t had ANY pain free days.  So, of course, I spend a lot of time thinking about and researching pain.  Here is something interesting I found out:  The pain starts in the brain!  NOT at the ‘supposed’ injury site.

What does that mean?  You and another person both experience a Miniscus tear.  Only one of you experiences pain.  Why?  Because the pain has to do with your ‘threat threshold’ which is different for everyone.  It’s called the Threat Neuromatrix.

I learned this from Dr. Cobb at Z-Health.  He is such a smarty.

To Lift the Head Neck and Shoulders When on Your Back....or NOT?

To lift the head or not is often a point of contention in a Pilates class.  I remember when I first started doing Pilates  I routinely had a very sore neck.   And yet, I just kept trying to lift my head up.  I thought if I could just figure out how to do it correctly my neck would stop hurting.  So I tried and tried and my neck went right on hurting.

Now I know the thing I kept doing wrong was trying to lift my head up when I couldn't recruit the right muscles!   I would have been doing myself a much better favor if I had just kept my head down and worked deeply into my muscles, gradually strengthening them so that I would eventually be able to use them efficiently.    At the time I was simply unable to stop doing an action that wasn't supporting my workout because I loved the burn from my rectus abdominus when I lifted my head.  Without that burn I felt that I wasn't doing enough work and that I was too easy on myself.  Since I was taking group classes, I probably looked like I was doing the exercises correctly, even though I was actually in a lot of pain.

My stance on lifting the head currently is this:  If you can do it without pain, go for it!  This will really work out the front of the body, especially the upper abs and the rectus.  If not, work up to lifting your head.  Bring it up and down as needed, or use one hand to support the neck. Keeping the head down will work the back body more.  You are still working, but the emphasis is different. The most important thing is not to be in a position that is painful, that causes the neck and shoulders to continuously contract and shorten, as this will not get you where you want to be.  

Be kind to your body and listen to what it is telling you.  Try not to force it to do what it is not ready to do.  It will all come with patience, time, and acceptance.   Lifting the head when you are unable to support that activity will only reinforce existing muscle imbalances.  You absolutely want to feel your muscles being challenged, but that is different from pain.  If you are in pain when you exercise you are not doing your body a service.

Finding Your Posture From the Bottom or From the Top

I  spend a little time finding my posture  most days.  My usual method is to start from the ground up.  I start with my feet, feeling weight under all 4 corners of the foot:  under the big and little toes and the outside and inside of the heel.  From there I usually squeeze the balls of my feet and heels toward one another isometrically, waking up the arch of my foot.  With the arch of my foot doming up, I find my pelvic floor and engage.  Now I have two arcs doming up, my foot arch and my pelvic floor. I line them up. Now I go to my solar plexus, the top of my diaphragm and add that to the mix.  The final dome is the roof of my mouth, or the top of my spine.  When I have all my domes lined up and lifting I am usually in a solid posture:  strong, active, connected and vibrant with energy reaching up through the crown of my head and supported by my legs and feet.  I learned this technique from Wendy Leblanc-Arbuckle.

Today I tried a different technique.  I closed my eyes imagined myself suspended from the ceiling.  My body drifted around for a little while.  I thought about my organs and where they were in my body.  My body stilled and I found myself in alignment.  It felt completely different than the first technique, much floatier, more spacious and quite effortless.

I like both techniques and can see how on any given day I might prefer one to the other.  It's great stuff to play with and find out which technique works best for you, or if you are like me you might find them both useful.