Range of Motion Letting
the Body Figure it Out
I'm still building up to incorporating the Body-Mind-Centering
approach! Before we get there, here's a little layer of
info from the Feldenkrais
world.
Overview
Your muscles' range of motion, which might be considered
the flexibility or looseness in your body, can be increased
through allowing your body to experience a comfortable range
and 'process' what that means. Notice I mentioned the
body processes the experience! It's not our
mental capacity that we're exercising. There's no need
for theories or explanations. The talking mind becomes
the observer. It's the 'right' (as opposed to 'left')
side of the brain you're accessing, which doesn't have speech.
The Technique Using the Head and Neck as an Example
- Pick a side to turn your head towards
- Because the body likes to know it has learned, it's
needs a before.
- look in the direction you've chosen, gently,
stopping when you reach the end of your range of
motion before you feel a stretch or any discomfort
- Notice what your nose is pointed at.
- Bring your face back to the front, with your
nose lined up over your midline or thereabouts.
- As slow as glaciers creep, gently, always gently staying
within comfort, begin the movement of turning your head to the
same side, slower than a sloth or a koala, so slow you'd
almost fall asleep, but you're staying awake because
you're noticing the quality of the movement --
- is it smooth?
- is it glitchy?
- are there any jumps? or bumps?
- are there some dips?
- does it get stuck?
- now, moving just as excruciatingly slowly, go back.
(!)
- After 4 transits, remain at neutral and rest.
- Now move you head normally and notice how far you can freely and
easily turn your head. This is your after.
Even without words, your body will register it has
changed.
Chances are, it's better. Either you can move the
same amount more freely and easily or you can even more more
than before with freedom and ease.
Then balance it out by going in the other direction!
You can become more specific, isolated individual joints,
use different sections of the torso, or use different
limbs. The technique is the same for different body
parts.
How does this happen?
Again, we are asking the body to do something and trusting it can
do it and the body is delivering on that request.
We don't have to know the mechanics of everything -- like
we haven't talked about the shape of the vertebra or how many
muscles there are or what they attach to or anything. We
simply ask, trust, allow, let ... observe, compare the end
result so the learning is acknowledged.
L
For 'extra credit': If you really want to put yourself to
sleep, isolate each joint and see what happens. IE hold
everything below C7 still and only move C7, allowing everything
on top of it to be moved as if C7 were a lazy Susan.
(recall that for a minute -- if you turn a lazy Susan, everything
on it moves by virtue of the lazy Susan moving, not by virtue
of the things moving. You turn the lazy Susan and it
moves the ketchup to the person who wants it.)
Then hold everything below C6 still and only move C6.
Continue working your way up. The last joint is between
C2 and C1. You cannot 'twist' in the joint between C1
and your skull.
Also for 'extra credit': as you turn your head, notice what
other parts of your body respond. Notice what happens in
both areas of interest as you turn your head.
looking to the right, then returning to
neutral, observing as you go.
|
Are you looking for something more in your riding?
Something that really connects the inside and the outside?
Sometimes a hands on experience can do a lot to clarify
something written.
I've studied horse and human anatomy for twenty five years.
I started with Centered Riding and that is solidly based upon
how bodies work and how brains process information. I
know Alexander, Feldenkrais, Trigger Point, myofascial, Ortho-bionomy,
how to develop resistance training programs, and more recently
I am incorporating concepts from Body-Mind-Centering.
I've done yoga for more than forty years, studied (and used)
the chakra and meridian systems for over twenty.
Sometimes I don't go into theory because in the middle of a
lesson it would detract from the practical learning of how to
ride, but I do clinics where I share this information along
with how to incorporate it into your training program.
And if you really don't mind listening to me yak forever, I
can easily do that during a lesson, too. It's just most
folks want to ride!
|