Lorraine Davis

May 2, 2023

Movement, Feldenkrais, Yoga

Mindful Movement Part II: Yoga and Feldenkrais

Lorraine Davis

May 2, 2023

Movement, Feldenkrais, Yoga

Our last blog discussed the importance of mindful movement as a way to recognize and change patterns of strain, become more connected to our bodies, and to find a flow state. Moving in this way will support a healthy enjoyment of movement and exercise, which will encourage us to stay active for longer. Below, we discuss two mindful movement practices that can be integrated into your lifestyle.

Restorative Yoga

There are many organized movement practices that focus on cultivating mindful presence. Some styles of yoga, which integrate mind, body, and spirit can help improve the awareness that we have of our movement. Vinyasa styles of yoga such as power yoga are more focused on the physical challenge of the practice, aimed at building strength and working up a sweat. If we are new to yoga, a better option would be a slow flow, restorative yoga, or yin yoga class. These slowed-down practices allow us to tune in on a deeper level.

If we want to truly feel what is happening in the present moment and be able to learn from it, our nervous system respectfully requests that we slow ourselves down.

To practice yoga more mindfully, become aware of where your attention is drawn. Is it drawn to the teacher? Trying to emulate the shape of the flexible person in front of you? Wishing time would pass so you can finish all the items on the to-do list?

Rather than focusing on doing, or achieving some yoga pose or transition, shift to an internal focus of what is happening right now.

What can you feel and sense in your muscles? What parts of you are connected to the ground? How does your mind respond to a physical challenge? Does the pattern of your breathing change when you are changing the shape of your body?

Feldenkrais Method

The Feldenkrais Method uses somatic education and gentle movement sequences to help people learn new and more efficient ways of moving their bodies. It is based on principles of whole body/whole brain learning. Feldenkrais practices integrate the mind, body, and spirit while bolstering self-awareness and supporting positive changes of habitual movement patterns.

For example, a person with shoulder issues can learn to reach overhead comfortably by engaging proper use of the pelvis and spine – See “pelvic clock lesson“ below.

This method can be performed in one-on-one sessions by a practitioner, and there are also group movement classes known as Awareness Through Movement.

A classic Feldenkrais lesson is known as the pelvic clock. By imagining that you are sitting or lying on a clock, we can become more aware of our posture and the natural movements of the spine.

Try this now: Lie comfortably on the floor or in bed with your knees bent. Imagine there is a small clock under the back of your pelvis. 12 o clock would point towards your head, 6 towards your feet.

Now, how would you go about rolling your pelvis between 12 and 6? How does this influence the shape of your spine as you move between 12 and 6?

If you had a light shining from your chest bone onto the ceiling, would this light move? Does moving in this way have any influence on your breathing? What sensations can you detect as you move in this way?

What is the experience of reaching an arm up to the ceiling while engaging in the pelvic clock? How does your arm want to move along with your pelvis and chest bone?

Follow along with this video to get a better sense of the pelvic clock in a sitting position.

The Wellness Station is a somatic physical therapy practice that integrates principles of traditional physical therapy, therapeutic yoga, and the Feldenkrais Method. Our gentle approach is aimed at helping our clientele improve their lives through movement-based interventions.

We help you to identify the obstacles that are preventing you from being active, and guide you on the path towards enhanced health and well-being.

You might find that through our guidance and your participation in mindful movement practices, your love of movement will increase, and you will naturally find yourself moving more throughout the day. With this comes the excellent health benefits of exercise, enhanced bodily comfort, and a greater ability to participate actively in your life, FOR life.

Written by Jacob Tyson, DPT - Physical Therapist, Yoga Instructor and The Wellness Station Team

Images:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbalanced-movement.com%2F2019%2F02%2F17%2Fcontrolling-pelvis-hips%2F&psig=AOvVaw0RvUu0nQoruwHfwwxeLSyL&ust=1679328035400000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CA8QjRxqFwoTCJjT_smu6P0CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAO

Lorraine Davis

March 28, 2023

Feldenkrais, Holistic Body, Health and Wellness, Movement, Physical Therapy, Yoga

How Your Spine Moves: Connecting the Planes of Motion (Part 2)

Lorraine Davis

March 28, 2023

Feldenkrais, Holistic Body, Health and Wellness, Movement, Physical Therapy, Yoga

On the last blog How Your Spine Moves, we discussed the three directions of spinal movement, and the importance of regular movement. It is great to be aware of these three movements, and know how to incorporate them into your life and daily practices.

Recall that the planes of movement are flexion & extension, side bending (right and left), and rotation (right and left).

Although it is helpful to understand these movements individually, note that these movements do not happen in isolation, but rather our movement is typically moving in some combination of flexion/extension, side bending, and rotation. Our bodies move in patterns, rather than in a series of isolated movements. This speaks to the importance of practicing moving in a variety of directions, feeling the different shapes your spine can make.

Connecting the Planes into 3D Movement

From the hands and knees position, making circles with the spine is a great way to dynamically move through all three planes. This movement is more advanced than single plane movements, and it may take some time and practice to find ease with this pattern. With a keen awareness of an imaginary light from your tailbone, draw circles with that light on the wall behind you. Be sure to switch directions every so often! Just remember it doesn’t have to be perfect. Now that you can make circles, what other shapes can you make?

Another option for three dimensional movement would be making circles with your thigh, as demonstrated in this video. Engaging in these movements is an opportunity for you to feel and sense yourself without judgment, rather than trying to “achieve” something.

The bias towards one-dimensional movement

Just as our life can be biased towards movement involving forward flexion, our movement and exercise routines can also be biased in this way. If all of our movement practice involves moving primarily in one plane (e.g. the sagittal plane), we can sell ourselves short. While strength training machines at the gym can be very helpful for developing strength and muscle mass, they are typically constricted into one of the above described planes and thereby restrict our spine’s ability to move three dimensionally.

To be clear, we believe that strength training machines are brilliant at isolating muscles and enhancing overall conditioning. But the downside is that our nervous system, the little woman or the little guy in the control room of our brain gets more and more biased to think in terms of isolated movements rather than whole body patterns.

Think of throwing a ball and only moving your arm, rather than your whole body. Contrast that with turning first, flinging the arm back in the direction we are turning and then reversing the whole movement so that the arm is like a whip sending the ball so much further without strain on any one particular joint. Knowing how to integrate the movements of your body into three-dimensional patterns will improve the efficiency of your movement and thereby decrease the likelihood of strain and injury.

At the Wellness Station, we will teach you how your spine moves, and help you to expand your movement repertoire. We will encourage you to get involved in a regular movement practice that will include three-dimensional movements of your spine, such as Feldenkrais or yoga classes. Supporting the health and movement capacity of your spine will help you find a greater sense of ease and comfort in your body, while preparing you for successful participation in the unpredictable demands of life.

Written by Jacob Tyson, DPT - Physical Therapist, Yoga Instructor and The Wellness Station Team

Images:

Lorraine Davis

March 14, 2023

Holistic Body, Movement, Yoga

How Your Spine Moves And The Importance of Moving It (Part 1)

Lorraine Davis

March 14, 2023

Holistic Body, Movement, Yoga

We live in a three-dimensional world, and our body is meant to move in all three dimensions (See our past blog post, Moving in Three Dimensions). Our spine, which contains 24 moveable vertebrae, has the capability of moving in these three planes.

The facet joints of your spine are the joints at which point each vertebrae meets the one above and below on the side. These are synovial joints, they require regular movement in order to stay lubricated and nourished with nutrient-rich fluids.

By understanding how the spine moves, and regularly moving it in a variety of ways, we can keep our spines healthy, the tissues nourished and supple.

Life can be unpredictable, and we might find ourselves in random shapes in order to meet the needs of our environment. Reaching for that pan located awkwardly in the back of the cabinet? Your spine needs to change its shape. Turning towards your backseat to pick up the glove you dropped last week? Again, your spine needs to change its shape. Having trouble reaching overhead to get the glass from the highest shelf? Again, shape change is required.

If we can train our spine to change shapes with ease and comfort, daily tasks are easier and less likely to contribute to strain. The mobility of our spine is so interconnected with our quality of life, as the loss of mobility can make these daily tasks that much more difficult.

The process of engaging in mindful spinal movements can help ease tension, improve tissue health, enhance body awareness, and feel really good!

As we go through life, we might gradually incorporate less variety or spontaneity in what we do. This goes along with our spinal joints moving with less variability, and thereby becoming less supple and possibly stiff in certain directions and ranges of motion (use it or lose it phenomenon). Most of our lives are biased towards activities that bring us down and forward, so over time it can become more difficult to extend, rotate, and bend from side to side. Imagine how you feel after sitting, hunched over a computer for several hours. Or perhaps after a long car drive. Can you feel the relief that moving your spine the opposite direction (extension) can bring- such as by reaching to the sky and following your hands with your face and eyes?

Our tissues do not like to be stuck in the same position for extended times or do the same repetitive task without variations. Without incorporating variety into how we are moving, our spines will not move as comfortably as they once did. Take a look at our Movement Snacks blog for some ideas on how to move your spine in different directions, the perfect antidote to prolonged sitting.

Directions of Motion

The 24 moveable joints of the spine permit movement in three planes, as described below. The joints that move are located through the neck (cervical spine), upper and mid back (thoracic spine), and lower back (lumbar spine), and below are the sacrum and coccyx (tailbone) which contain fused (non-moving) joints. The moveable regions of the spine have different capabilities in how much they can move in each direction, but are all capable of flexion, extension, side bending, and rotation, as described below.

Flexion and extension

Flexion and extension are movements that happen in the sagittal plane, which includes forward and backward movements. Flexion (AKA rounding) involves a forward bending of the spine, which often happens when we look down, bend down, and reach down to tie our shoes.

Extension (AKA arching) is involved in looking up and reaching up. Typically, we can flex much further than we can extend, and our cervical and lumbar spine tend to have more sagittal plane range of motion than our thoracic spine. The mid back, the rib cage/thoracic area, is designed more to flex, thus the tendency for many of us as we age to present a more rounded/slumped posture.

The cat cow, also known as the hill and valley, are a great way to feel your spine moving through a range of flexion and extension. Try to notice how you are initiating flexion and extension, and where in your body you can feel the movement happening (e.g. regions of the spine). Imagine there is a light shining from the end of your tailbone (coccyx). When doing a slow, easy cat cow, can you notice that light would be moving up and down throughout the movement?

Side Bending (Right and Left)

Side bending movements happen in the frontal plane. These movements involve one side of our body (e.g. right vs left) getting longer as the other gets shorter. Side bending may be involved in reaching, stairs, and lifting an object from one side of our body. Our cervical spine tends to have the most capability of side bending, followed by our lumbar, then our thoracic.

Lateral cat cow, also known as tail wagging, is a great way to feel your spine’s ability to bend side to side. Considering the light from your tailbone, can you perceive that the light would be moving from side to side, like wagging your imaginary tail right and left?

Rotation (Right and Left)

Movement in the transverse plane involves rotational movements, rotating to the right and left. These movements can be involved in turning around, looking from side to side, reaching behind or to the side, repositioning in bed, and more. Our cervical spine tends to have the most capability of rotation, followed by our thoracic, then our lumbar.

A thread-the-needle type of movement on hands and knees is a great way to feel rotation of your spine, and to sense how rotation is connected to the reaching of our arms. Notice an imaginary light shining from your chest bone. Where does this light move?

Now that you know the three directions of spinal movement, try to pay attention to your movements throughout the day or during your exercise routine. What plane do you move in most often? What plane do you move the least in? What parts of your spine feel more freedom of movement within each plane? The process of self-study will support mindfulness and self-awareness, and begin to harness your ability to listen to your body and respond accordingly. This ability will guide you towards making substantial improvements in function, patterns of pain, and will help you stay comfortable in your body as you move through life.

Written by Jacob Tyson, DPT - Physical Therapist, Yoga Instructor and The Wellness Station Team

Images:

Lorraine Davis

January 17, 2023

Feldenkrais, Health and Wellness, Holistic Body, Mindfulness, Movement, Physical Therapy, Yoga

Reversals: What and Why?

Lorraine Davis

January 17, 2023

Feldenkrais, Health and Wellness, Holistic Body, Mindfulness, Movement, Physical Therapy, Yoga

Reversibility is the ability to stop, start, and change the direction of a motion at any point in time.

According to Moshe Feldenkrais, the ability to perform reversals is a key indicator of well-organized, refined movement. When performing a movement, consider your ability to turn around and go the other direction, pause, or do something else. When our reversibility is impaired, it indicates a lack of freedom to change our minds or to respond to changing circumstances. This can be evident in certain functional movements: can we sit down in a chair or get on the floor slow and controlled, or is there a plop? When attempting to change the direction of a movement (e.g. pelvic clock circles), are we able to find a flow or is there jerkiness and incoordination? Can we walk backwards?

Reversibility is not just a movement, but a state of existence.

Our ability to be spontaneous, go with the flow, adapt, maintain presence and freedom of choice. An ability to perform reversals indicates that we are not moving on autopilot, but have a keen sense of what and how we are doing something in the present moment. When we reverse, we are traveling the same territory but from a flipped perspective. In the muscular system, what primarily for a particular muscle or muscles has been a concentric action (muscle shortening under tension) will become an eccentric action (muscle lengthening under tension). As mentioned above, “sit to stand” is a concentric action, and “standing to sitting” is an eccentric action. When we purposefully choose to reverse, it provokes the cognitive process of attentiveness, comparing and contrasting. This is one of the key requirements for learning.

When we use movement to enhance our learning, the quality of our lives can expand.

As we go through life, there may be a gradual tendency towards settling into our habitual patterns, and an associated loss of spontaneity, functional mobility, and options for how we move and engage with ourselves and the world around us. We may not be able to respond as quickly to the demands of the situation, like needing to step back quickly to avoid an oncoming vehicle while crossing the street. Or we may lose the agility required to turn around when we forgot our keys, and instead of taking one step backwards, we may need to take several small steps to turn ourselves around. The person who has difficulty with these reversals is much more vulnerable to falling when they do have to turn around quickly. Practicing reversals helps us learn more about how we move, and can expand our movement repertoire so we have more options available to us. We certainly do not want our only option to be able to plop down into a chair each time, rather than gracefully descending in any way we choose. Reversals are a key requirement for developing and improving balance, agility, neuromuscular control, and eccentric strength. In fact, dynamic balancing is essentially reversals in action.

Practicing reversals

Walking backwards

Walking backwards is a task that may have originally been easy, but perhaps can become impaired over time. If unsteadiness is present, perform this practice next to the kitchen counter or back of the sofa to have something to hold on to as needed.

Simply start by walking forwards slowly, paying attention to how your body moves, how the feet make contact with the ground, etc. Then, reverse it. Walk backwards, comparing and contrasting this experience to walking forwards.

Check out this article that dives into the health benefits of walking backwards.

Focus on the eccentric

Bring attention to the lowering component of a movement, whether this is in strength training or daily life.

A simple example is to practice standing up from a chair, paying attention to how you do this. Then, try to sit down the same way in reverse, challenging yourself to lower down slowly. Compare and contrast the process of standing and sitting in terms of the mechanics of the movement as well as the sensory experience.

If strength training is part of your routine, pay attention to the lowering movement such as the descent into a squat, the lower of the weight during a bicep curl, or the lowering of your chest towards the ground during a push up. Try to refine the control of the movement, with the ability to slow it down, pause it at any moment, or reverse the movement at any point in time. Also, in a safe manner, practice some reversals quickly, because sometimes that is what life demands!

Yoga Transitions

If yoga is part of your routine, tune in to the transition between two poses.

A simple example is cat and cow, which involves reversing between spinal flexion and extension. Tune in to the exact moment of transition, and explore reversing the movement at different speeds, and at different phases of the motion (e.g. can you do the cat cow in slow motion, and switch between cat and cow through variety of ranges, rather than going all the way into the full expression of cat pose before transitioning into cow?)

This can be applied to any transition in yoga (or life off the mat). Get creative with it- pick any two yoga poses, and explore a variety of transitions between the two shapes.

Explore Your Own

Enhance your sense of spontaneity and exploration by bringing reversals into your daily life.

Perhaps make up a dance move. Practice the move again and again. Then, try reversing the move, as if someone recorded you and played it in rewind. Or, take an everyday task. Reaching for a glass. Can you pause as you reach, and reverse it? Repeat this, reversing the movement at various stages of the reach.

Notice if this brings any greater sense of awareness of your movement and ability to choose different options for how to reach for something. And notice how much more confident you will be crossing a street when an unexpected vehicle requires you to take a very quick step backwards.

Written by Jacob Tyson, DPT - Physical Therapist, Yoga Instructor and The Wellness Station Team

References:

Lorraine Davis

February 1, 2022

Health and Wellness, Healing Pain, Strength, Movement, Physical Therapy, Yoga

Osteoporosis and Osteopenia: A Healthy Movement Practice

Lorraine Davis

February 1, 2022

Health and Wellness, Healing Pain, Strength, Movement, Physical Therapy, Yoga

Are there any special considerations for a movement practice for someone who may be at risk of osteopenia or osteoporosis, or perhaps is already diagnosed with a condition of impaired bone density?

Absolutely! One size does not fit all when it comes to movement, especially when it comes to protecting the integrity of our bones. At the Wellness Station with our Feldenkrais-inspired approach, it is our job to address osteoporosis and osteopenia with individually-crafted lessons that are unique for every individual. Factors that are important to consider throughout therapy are how to maintain and increase bone density, improve muscular strength and responsiveness, body awareness, and help prevent the risk of a fall or compression fracture.

Here are some key considerations when engaging in yoga or any movement if you are aware that you have decreased bone mineral density:

1. Communicate effectively with your body:

When we move, we are engaging in a dialogue with our body. We initiate the movement, and it is our job to listen to how our body responds, and modulate our movement based on that response! In other words, what are the subtle signs that we can pick up when we are putting our body through strain? Do we notice when we are doing a forward fold that we feel uncomfortable pressure in our abdomen? Do we notice that the way we pick up a heavy object from the floor causes us to hold our breath and feel a sense of distress? If so, we have to change the way we are moving.

2. Modify movements that put excessive load on the front of the spine or neck of femur:

The most common osteoporotic fractures are of the front vertebral bones in the low or mid back. Notice in this image the location of the compression fracture is in the front of the spinal bone towards the middle of the back. There are many types of movements that increase load on these bones, such as bending forward at the waist, as well as twisting and turning the body when bent at the waist. When engaging in movement that involves compression of the front spine, consider the load that is going through these bones, and be careful not to push or strain if any discomfort is felt.

Consider a forward fold. Especially if the hamstrings are tight, the spine may become very rounded in this pose, which can put extra load through the front vertebral bodies, especially if we are straining to try to get the hands to the ground.

When modifying your movement practice, consider the intention of the movement, and modify to match the intention but in a safer and more effective way.

The intention of a forward fold is to experience lengthening and relaxation throughout the back of the body, including the hamstrings, gluteals, and muscles of the low back, and the fascia (connective tissue) that runs down the back of our body.

Notice that in this movement sequence, these same intentions are met, but the spine is fully supported by the ground and we are able to move dynamically without increasing the load on the vertebral bodies.

The neck of the femur just below the hip joint is also a common fracture area. Be cautious about poses such as pigeon, as this position subjects that bone to a high amount of load. Many people practice pigeon in a very passive way, which is not helpful for strengthening the bones and the surrounding hip musculature.

Consider these hands and knees variations of pigeon pose. Notice that by performing this “wagging the tail” movement, we are bringing suppleness into the whole spine, and also challenging the weight-bearing leg (the leg that is down on the ground). Notice that “sitting back” into the weight-bearing leg is very similar to the “pigeon” position, but it is a dynamic rather than a passive movement. This challenge can stimulate bone density as well as improve strength and responsiveness of the supportive hip muscles including the gluteals and piriformis.

After you get the hang of wagging your tail, try to make circles! Notice the engagement of the entire body with this dynamic movement pattern.

3. Prioritize extension postures rather than flexion postures

Flexion-based movements such as forward folds are when the spine is bending forward, which puts more compression on the front of the vertebrae. Extension-based movements do the opposite. Also known as backbends in yoga, extension-based postures are very safe for those with bone density loss. Spinal extension helps to reverse the compression on the front of the body, and helps to strengthen the muscles that promote healthy posturing.

Notice these extension-based movements performed while lying on the belly. This is an excellent way to build strength and awareness of the back side of the body. Notice the balance and stability that is created by performing these diagonal movement patterns in which the right upper body moves with the left lower body, and vice versa.

4. Challenge your balance with ease and support

Yoga can be an excellent tool for improving balance, but it is important to be able to maintain stability and ease throughout your standing practice. There is no point in practicing feeling unbalanced, so modify your practice to meet yourself where you are. If you are feeling too challenged and at risk of falling, then this is not doing you any favors. Maintain stability and ease by modifying and using props. My favorite props for balancing poses are the wall, chairs, and even the kitchen counter. By gently contacting one of these props with a hand, we can maintain groundedness, and correct ourselves more easily if we begin to lose our balance.

Notice the use of the wall as a prop to perform this standing side bending and circular movements. This sequence is the same as what we did on hands and knees, but now in a standing position. As balance is a dynamic process, adding movement is more helpful for improving balance compared to holding a static position such as tree pose. Additionally, the weight-bearing leg is being stimulated in a way that will help improve bone density and strength. This is also a great way to warm up the body before further activity such as going on a jog.

At The Wellness Station, we will help you become aware of habitual movement patterns, yoga poses, and lifestyle factors that may be affecting your bone density and risk of fractures. We will help you develop or modify your movement practice with considerations of your individual needs, medical history, and goals. Every day is an opportunity to get to know your body on a deeper level in order to stay active, healthy, and strong, even with osteoporosis.