Whole-Body Integration

New Year's Resolution: Exercise for a Healthy Brain

As we move past the winter solstice – allowing our dark Seattle days to gradually become lighter! – and into 2014, my mind is on my vision for the new year, which includes improving my level of health and fitness. I found some great support for that today in a blog post by The New York Times health and fitness writer Gretchen Reynolds. She surveys research that links the evolution of the human brain and cognitive capacity to the development of physical fitness and endurance, suggesting that "if physical activity helped to mold the structure of our brains, then it most likely remains essential to brain health today." 

Sounds great, especially as there's also reams of research linking physical activity to longevity and happiness and quality of life. As you engage in any new activity or increase in your current level of activity, it's important to avoid injury so that your program is not derailed. Here's a few words of advice from my professional background and training in bodywork and movement:

• Any increase in activity or training needs to be gradual and intelligent: don't "just do it" but listen to your body and what it tells you as you move, as discussed here. Work out in a harmonious relationship with your body, not as its dictator.

• As you add in or amp up strength training or cardio workouts, be sure to stretch as well. I recommend yoga (particularly  Viniyoga) and Scott Sonnon's Intu Flow (which you can learn from  this dvd or on YouTube in this video and others.) I'll be writing more about Intu Flow in the future as I work with it myself, but my initial impression from doing it for about 6 weeks is that it is an awesome methodology for joint health and mobility, plus it is fun to practice.

• To support your physical activity, you may want to consider bodywork, particularly Rolfing® Structural Integration and manual therapy for the nerves to open up stuck fascia around the muscles, joints, and nerves. These "gunky" shortened areas will be challenged as you increase your level of activity, and you may feel restrictions there as either tension or pain that will make you lose heart rather than stick to your program. Some quick tune up sessions can easily jump start your range of motion and make it easier to stay on track.

• For the truly inspired, you may want to consider the Rolfing Ten Series, a ten-session protocol that I describe as "a 50,000 mile tune-up for your body." 

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2014!

 

 

Thanksgiving - The View of Gratitude, Inspired by Leonard Cohen

One of my Rolfing® clients recently mentioned a book he is reading about "rewriting your life story." Without knowing more about the book, that snippet led me to a contemplation that evening where I reviewed my life, not from the nitty-gritty of what issues and conditioning I had to overcome but rather from what I appreciated about the twists and turns and how that has brought me to growth, situations, and people I might never have otherwise been open enough to encounter. For example, I can't imagine that my "disembodied" upbringing could have led me to my life now, self-employed in this strange but profound bodywork profession of Rolfing Structural Integration, were it not for various people, situations, and opportunities that each allowed me to open a little further, expand a bit more, develop mind-body-spirit and transform past what was the restrictive norm in my family and community. It was a very heartening exploration, appropriate as we approach Thanksgiving, a time of gratitude and appreciation.

On the same theme of gratitude, yesterday I came across this lovely speech by Leonard Cohen, given on his being awarded the 2011 Prince of Asturias Award for Literature. This Spanish award honors Cohen whose "poems and songs have beautifully explored the major issues of humanity in great depth." In the speech, Cohen acknowledges the mysterious vagaries of life, the twists and turns by which unexpected pieces led him to his poetry - through the inspiration of the great Spanish poet Federico García Lorca - and to his song - through a random meeting with a young flamenco guitar player who taught him a six-chord progression that "has been the basis of all my songs and all my music."

He thus honors the artistry of Spain and concludes his speech by saying, "Everything that you have found favourable in my work comes from this place. Everything, everything that you have found favourable in my songs and my poetry are inspired by this soil. So, I thank you so much for the warm hospitality that you have shown my work because it is really yours, and you have allowed me to affix my signature to the bottom of the page."

Read that again, if you will. Let it impact you. Have you ever heard an artist pay such selfless tribute to another person, country, or lineage? Cohen is an extraordinarily selfless being, or perhaps it's that his life and Buddhist practice has led him to that over time, as he is now in his 70s. The same humility, the same graciousness, was evident when I saw him perform in Seattle in 2009: Cohen would respond to solos from members of his band with a bow, palms together, and he ceaselessly thanked the audience for coming to hear him perform, as if we were doing him a favor. 

Inspired by this, may we all grow into humility and grace. May we all remember to thank those who have helped us, guided us, taught us, inspired us. And may we all remember to pay tribute to the mystery that unfolds us ever so gently.

Awesome "Yoga Breakdancing"

OK, here's the latest edition of "I wish I could do this!" I do yoga, but not the contortionist moves, and dancing is not my forte, so I don't think it will happen in this life.

 

I did have a breakdancer as a Rolfing® Structural Integration client in Seattle, and saw how the discipline puts major stress on certain joints, depending on the moves (with my client, it was her right mid-thoracics from twists). She related that many times breakdancers will have a preferred direction to spin, and that of course will put a certain twist into the fascia. Obviously, like any other athletes, they learn to deal with pain and injury, but what a discipline for developing mental control, core strength, flexibility, rhythm...

This guy, Arthur Cadre, seems to rotate mostly to the right, and mostly using his right arm for support of his full weight. I notice the video seems to be an edit of at least three filmings, as we see him without an elbow brace, and with two different elbow braces, always on his right arm. If he were my client (wishful thinking!) I'd love to see what bracing patterns are there, and what torsional patterns, and how to support him with even more options of movement. 

Orcas Right Off Vashon Island!

This is not about Rolfing® Structural Integration. It's about the beautiful Pacific Northwest where I moved six years ago. The camera work is shaky (I think it's a cell camera and the woman was trying to control her dog or child) but it is amazing footage of a pod of orcas right offshore from Point Robinson on Vashon Island on October 28. My friend who lives out there got a call that orcas were headed that way and went out to see them from shore - lucky! - and she sent me the link (thanks, Laura!).

 

 

Rolfing® SI Helps NFL Players Stay in the Game

As we are in the football season, I thought I'd share some memories, thoughts, and resources for those interested in how Rolfing® Structural Integration can help professional athletes.

I personally am not a football fan. I've never tried to learn the rules of it, so I see large men clobbering each other to advance a few feet on the field, then everyone takes a break. I hear there's alot of strategy involved for those in the know that makes it compelling. While my interest in the game is minimal, I am nevertheless fascinated by the bodies.

Many years ago, when I was doing deep-tissue massage at a spa on Maui, I had the privilege of working on two NFL players. I say "privilege" because professional athletes' bodies are like fine-tuned sports cars, anatomy developed to a specific, driven purpose. One was a linebacker, and he was built like a tank. I knew enough about football to know that his job was to jump on the other guys. I worked around this gigantic muscular form for an hour, not getting much response but grunts. I was gratified later when one of the spa attendants told me, "I asked him how his massage was, and all he said was "Damn!" I figured that meant I'd made an impact. (I had a reputation for being able to go really deep.)

The other gentleman was a wide receiver (apparently that year's Heisman trophy winner). The body type couldn't have been more different. Again, fantastic muscular development, absolutely sculpted, but this guy was lithe like a ballet dancer. Not knowing about football, I had to ask him what a wide receiver did that he was not built with bulk, and he helped me to understand that his job was to run fast, not get jumped on, and catch the ball and run more. So bulk would not have been in his favor, but man he needed those glutes and leg muscles.

That's about the extent of my understanding of football and my experience working with pro players, but here's a video of a Rolfer™, Wayne Henningsgaard from Minnesota, who has made working with NFL players a niche element in his practice. It's old, but has some nice interview time wth Wayne and video of him working on some Vikings.

 

As Editor-in-Chief of Structural Integration: The Journal of the Rolf Institute®, I knew Wayne's reputation in this area, and a few years ago I invited him and his wife Sandy (also a Rolfer) to write about their Rolfing work with NFL players for our publication. That article can be viewed here. It's quite an interesting read, about how they work with athletes in training, the time demands of working during the season, and a charming story about Sandy coming home one day to find three Vikings playing football in her backyard with a passel of eight-year-old boys (it must have made their day!).

The upshot is that Rolfing sessions can help any athlete with faster recovery from injuries that occur during training and play, and can prolong a career that depends on optimal functioning of the body. Likewise, for those who are not athletes but have careers that are physically demanding in other ways – like construction, supermarket stocking, massage therapy, long-distance trucking – Rolfing sessions could be a way to help you stay in your game.

 

 

 

 

 

Amazing Movement

Here's some pretty impressive movement from dancer Lil Buck, who creates this dance to music played by cellist Yo-Yo Ma. As a Rolfer™, I'm always appreciate those people who show us the fluid potential of the human body in motion.

 

Seattle Has a Superhero

Check this out: Seattle has a posse of guys who dress as superheros to stop crime! From reading an article about Phoenix Jones (in the video below), apparently he and his team all have either military or mixed martial arts backgrounds - that shows in his build, particularly those crazy quads. He seems to have fairly good mobility for being encased in rubber, although I'd say his body is somewhat on the tight side, probably particularly in the IT bands and quads, also through the quadratus lumborum as you see him sidebend quite a bit in his walk. I think his current uniform is a big improvement from the earlier one seen here.

I'd like to try a session on a superhero, so if anyone knows this guy, have him call me! I think Rolfing® Structural Integration could help him move a bit more smoothly, aiding his vigilante activities!

 

 

I Love What Bodies Can Do! - Awesome Hand Dancing (repost - video fixed)

I'm reposting this after figuring out why the video was not centered right and fixing that here (I hope!). I have also learned on the internet that these guys are actually Irish dancers who have toured with Riverdance but are now reinventing that form with alternative music. I also learned here that "Irish dancers learn their steps with their hands...so [the video] just takes what is normally hidden and puts it on display." I think that makes it sound too simple – they are obviously very creative minds.

I had never seen "hand dancing" before and this video is just awesome - enjoy watching what our amazing bodies can do.