Spiral Movement Patterns, Rolling and 'Following The Eyes'

In case you missed it, Craig (ARC training) and Simon (Ancestral Movement) just released a new three video series on various movement patterns incorporating spiraling/rotating and rolling with the concept of eye lead movement (following the eyes). 

These drills are totally cool and playful, and can be done just about anywhere.  Simon is demonstrating them (on a miscellaneous patch of Earth in Canberra) as they should be done (or, as you should work towards doing them) - with smoothness, awareness and control.

They make a great warm-up; 'morning mobility' or movement-play session.  Looking forward to more videos from my good friends Simon and Craig!

Videos below:


Spiral Movement Transitions part 1 - Rotating

Spiral Movement Transitions part 2 - Rolling

Spiral Movement Transitions part 3 - Following The Eyes

Physical Alchemy

Physical Alchemy is the name of my business and also the name of a movement, re-patterning and physical cultivation method I am creating based upon my studies, training and experience in the last 12, or so, years.

I am a practitioner and instructor of Stretch Therapy and Monkey Gym [Strength & Flexibility] methods, and a practitioner of soft tissue therapies.  The methods I employ are fundamentally about transmutation (positively changing, transforming and refining) of the physical body.  

Theoretically, I draw influence from the sciences (anatomy & physiology; ecology; biology; exercise science; neurobiology; psychoneuroimmunology to name a few); the intellectual heritage of the Stretch Therapy™ syllabus; the Structural Integration [Rolfing and others] school of bodywork; human ecology; art; history and philosophy of science and medicine; anthropology and the life sciences of China, India and greater Asia.  On a movement level I draw influence from the traditional and modern martial arts; the Stretch Therapy system; Western physical culture old and new, and my own exploration. On a more mystical level I am heavily influenced by Zen/Ch’an Buddhist practice; Daoism; Sufism; Gurdjieff and the enneagram.  An odd mix, I admit.

My fascination with transformative practices and methods began with my first bodymind transmutation via training in the martial arts. I experienced another of these transformations using the Stretch Therapy method; and then again through practicing various contemplative methods and techniques. 

Each of these transformative periods and the practices involved in them led me to view my previous incarnation (my self before the training) as only being partially alive; embryonic.  

 The reality I inhabited after each step was so radically different that it rendered the ‘old me’ obsolete – with only the true aspects of myself coming along for the ride into each new stage.  Often difficult, sometimes painful, nevertheless what happened was alchemical each time.  I had been transmuted.  I had learned new information, yes;  but I had also put down much unnecessary baggage and felt the lighter and happier as a result. 

These transformations now inform my observations of the world. Sadly, what I (and other peers) perceive is there is a silent epidemic of lack of body awareness and embodied presence in the people who live in Western cultures (and many other developed nations) and it robs us of the joy of living with full aliveness. 

Many people move around in unnatural and unconscious ways, unaware of their surroundings and themselves (yes, even their own bodies!).  They are armored against sensitivity and creative expression.   They are often collapsed, hunched, weak, tight, restricted, brittle and uncoordinated when they could, and should, be open, graceful, strong, supple, agile and bodily aware.  Moreover, many are either unaware of this reality, or rigorously deny that it is happening at all – very few simply see this, accept it and start doing something about it. 

I believe if we are to survive and flourish in this 21^st century, we need people coming forth at full capacity and full creativity.  Working at transforming your own bodymind to some degree is a great place to start (and possibly the only place to start).

This was the seed from which Physical Alchemy germinated. Now I am blending the elements I found most useful from the teachings I have studied into the ‘bones’ of my method.  The ‘muscles’, ‘organs’, ‘fluid systems’ and ‘nerves’ of the method will be added via my continual practice and refinement of what I have been so blessed to have learned from my teachers, and from what other influences I continue to study and explore.

Although I will explain the core of the Physical Alchemy method below, let me preface those comments by first saying that a lot of what makes up the Physical Alchemy method is un-learning.  

What I mean by this is the removal of inhibition and unconscious culturally conditioned movement patterning from the nervous system; re-modeling restrictions in other soft tissues and dissolving the character armoring that is legion among the adult population of this society (and even among the young, these days - disturbingly).

The Physical Alchemy method seeks for its practitioners to return to the child-like state of wonder, spontaneity (wu wei) and shoshin (Beginner’s Mind). To do this, there must be intentional letting go of inappropriate belief systems and views about the world.  Physical Alchemy is training to create balanced and aware individuals.

The core of the Physical Alchemy method in its current incarnation is: 

The Re-Enchantment of the Body (Yin Training – Body and Spatial Awareness; rejuvenation and Aliveness)

+ Tiger Body (Yang training – Strength, Flexibility & Agility)

+ Intent (Intention towards physical cultivation, longevity and Radical Plasticity - and Intent more generally)

+ Awareness 

 = Physical Alchemy

People often train one, two, sometimes even three of the above categories well – but very rarely are all four cultivated with equal intensity, intelligence and passion. 

The Re-Enchantment of the Body 

The Re-enchantment of the Body is concerned with all things increasing body awareness, kinesthetic sensitivity and the cultivation of a ‘full body map’ of sensory location in the brain.  This involves systematically becoming aware of the interior (and exterior) of the body, of all the asleep and missing sensory information from: muscles and soft tissues, nerves, visceral and digestive organs, lungs and blood systems, other fluid systems. 

It is also the working towards cultivating ‘Total pulsation’[1], a body that has all the subtle motions and pulsings of the organs, glands and other pulsation systems working in harmony; a body that has the nerves and blood vessels un-adhered within the myofascial matrix.  A body that is un-restrained and functioning in a natural way.  The same, or very similar, concepts are found in osteopathy and Daoist medicine and cultivation practices.

Soft Body Skills of all types are included here: self-massage and soft tissue work (using both Eastern and Western perspectives); body and spatial awareness practices; suppleness and stretching exercises that are more subtle and deeper than the stronger stretching methods included in the Tiger Body section. This also has a soft tissue textual component – what is the palpable quality and health of the tissues, besides their movement capacity. It aims at reducing the amount of unconscious, ‘parasitic’ tension in the body and freeing up wasted energy.  

Freeing the Breath (releasing and re-patterning dysfunctional breathing patterns) and Deep Physical Relaxation (learning to activate the Relaxation Response in the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system and bring the experience of deep physical relaxation to the body).   Both of these I view as essential survival (and "thrival" - if that is a word!) skills for the madness, stress, increased communication and uncertainty of the 21^st century.

One of the goals of working with these yin skills is to re-ignite the Radical Plasticity* of the body (it is there in babies and some children).  In my terms Radical Plasticity obviously involves the currently trending neuroplasticity, but is wider and  more general in its scope, basking in the wondrous regenerative capacities of the human body as a whole - when you get it working in the specific manner that is natural to it.  To this end, The Re-enchantment of the Body also involves themes of longevity and rejuvenation.

A great one-line quote from one of my teachers (Kit Laughlin) that points directly at the essence of the Re-Enchantment of the Body, is: “Increasing the sensations of being alive”.  

 

Tiger Body

Tiger Body is the yang counter-part to the yin training methods that are encompassed in The Re-Enchantment of the Body syllabus.  It is training for a balanced combination of strength, flexibility and agility.  It is a body that wastes little energy in movement and has the ability to relax quickly and fully after moving.  It is a body with a high movement vocabulary (movement lexicon).  The goal is to attain the proverbial body like a jungle cat.

To expand just a little further, Movement Lexicon is the continual playfulness and exploration of the vast capacity of movement available to the human form.  It emphasizes quality before quantity, and working on movement patterns without too much of a conditioning component (keeping the system fresh). It is large, visible movements and small, subtler movements, done internally - getting movement into any joint that has movement potential.  

Play is tempered with sessions of specific strength, flexibility and agility work (which are also fun, just not as exploratory).  Methods combine techniques and ideas from: Monkey Gym syllabus; Stretch Therapy™; kettlebell training & bodyweight mobility-conditioning (largely drawn from my studies with Steve Maxwell), agility and movement drills from martial arts; Gymnastics; Parkour and Free-running and Feldenkrais, to name a few.  General conditioning and fitness are not emphasized. 

Awareness

Awareness is a clear mind.  A mind not entranced by wandering thoughts, emotions or stuck in fantasies about the future or past.  Awareness is bringing all of one's faculties to bear on a specific task.  A lot of what is classified as awareness in Physical Alchemy is bodily awareness (awareness of what is going on inside the body) and spatial awareness (what is going on in the immediate environment around the body) - or both simultaneously.   It is precisely the same awareness as the Zen just doing whatever it is you are doing. 

Moshe Feldenkrais has great paragraph about how to use awareness to transform movement in Alchemical Movement.

“In those moments when awareness succeeds in being at one with feeling, senses, movement, and thought, the carriage will speed along on the right road.  Then man can make discoveries, invent, create, innovate, and “know”.  He grasps that his small world and the great world around are but one and that in this unity he is no longer alone”  Moshe Feldenkrais, Awareness Through Movement. 

Intent

Intent involves a direction to which momentum is concentrated (it is the will, the hara); such as directing exercise done towards physical cultivation and the re-awakening of Radical Plasticity in the body.

“Be strong to be useful” - a quote from Georges Hebert, is a great principle. Why not be strong, flexible, agile and have a high degree of embodied awareness, too?  It’s fun(!) and feels great on a number of levels for the individual; and there is a great healing on a cultural-body level to be had here, too.  The split between mind and body, and humans and Nature needs to be sewn up. Many of the unfortunate hallmarks of this modern culture: depression; un-happiness and lack of contentment; pain and movement dysfunction; ‘stuckness’ of all types; obesity and anorexia (body image-sense disorders) can be linked to this silent epidemic and often healed via movement and awareness training.    

My aim in bringing Physical Alchemy into the world is primarily at developing a practical method. I’m interested in getting down to practice over knowing a lot about practice and movement.  Studying and reading fascinating philosophies and sciences is great, but at some point you have to put that down and go out and do something. 

 To echo Goethe via Bruce Lee "Knowing is not enough, we must do".  

Physical Alchemy gives highest priority to the doing (which is a type of knowledge), with discernment and diminishing returns being applied to intellectual knowledge and habitual reading. They are obviously useful – but the goal in this system is to become as high a level of practitioner as you can; not a philosopher.

As Physical Alchemy matures, with it, I predict a group of like-minded practitioners will gather; a group that explores, tests and refines these exercises and practices – always looking for improvement and evolution of the methods.  I am very excited by this, as I will learn many new things via this process. 

Classes –  my Stretch Therapy classes at the moment are more about the Re-enchantment of the Body, flexibility and un-patterning aspects - suppleness, relaxation, breathing and of course increasing range of movement (one of Kit’s other favorite quotes is “Attaining grace and ease in the body”).

The Monkey Gym (Strength & Flexibility) classes are aimed at the Tiger Body set of attributes, with play and increase movement vocabulary in there too.  Adding the awareness and intent to either class gives the higher benefits, but must be practiced via the individual. No one can do these for you. 

If you have read this far, something has resonated with you.. come and explore, play and transmutate!

"A child-like man is not a man whose development has been arrested; on the contrary, he is a man who has given himself a chance of continuing to develop long after most adults have muffled themselves in the cocoon of middle-aged habit and convention."- Aldous Huxley.

* The term 'Radical Plasticity' comes from the great book The Protean Body: a Rolfer's view of Human Flexibility by Don Johnson. 

---

[1] Kinesthetic Dystonia part 3B: the contribution of bodywork to somatic education, Structural Integration: Collected Journal Articles, T.W. Myers, 1999.   

Great Interview with MovNat Founder Erwan Le Corre

See HERE.  I love the idea (also talked about in a parkour interview I posted months ago) of increasing environmental complexity to test fundamental human movement skills (physical competency). 

It's fascinating and fantastic to see this type of training becoming more popular (certainly other types are still valid), and interesting from a point of mechanstic --> systems theory paradigm shift reflected in changing exercise trends, perhaps? (or Perhaps not..).

Anyway, great article and this style of Natural Movement training certainly has something to offer, would mix well with, barbell; kettlebell or martial arts training. 

The Wisdom of the Spiral

Check out this VIDEO of a Feldenkrais practitioner on 'Movement Nature Meant'.   This type of movement work makes great active recovery; goes well with Stretch Therapy, Yoga and/or strength training of various types.. basically you can explore at this low level intensity everyday, and should do a daily movement practice to (among other things) "challenge you nervous system to update your habits" and "you enrich your movement vocabulary with new options".

The last few minutes on using 'the wisdom of the spiral' from lying to sitting should be taught to everyone.  Spiral patterns pop up all over the place in movement arts of different types (and in Nature more generally).  I've been playing with some wave and spiral movement patterns during my stretching practice of late, to great and interesting effect (more later). 

Essential Knowledge for the Practice of Martial Arts circa 1750

Craig (ARCtraining) posted the bellow except from a 18th Century martial arts manual from China.  Some pretty good training tips here, for (as Craig says) movement explorers as well as martial artists.  Craig's comments are in bold (as is the title).  Enjoy: 

 " Essential Knowledge for the Practice of Marital arts
by Dai Long Bang, 1750

Solo and Partner Practice - For those practicing martial arts, eighty percent of the time is spent in solo practice, twenty percent of the time is spent with others. Therefore, it is said, "The time strengthening the body is long, the time defeating opponents is short." [this can apply to us too with movement, we have plenty of partner drills, this is a great split between partner and solo drills]

Daily Practice - One must practice every day, barring illness, without break.

Humility - One must not show off or bully others.

Quality vs Quantity - One who practices too great a variety will become panicked and distraught , if one does not train the body with a realistic foundation, in combat there will be no mature technique to fall back on, one will have neither a well trained body nor a solid technique. [this will apply for movement too, mature technique is essential for more dangerous situations]

Perseverance - There are those who have no perseverance, who study a little and think they know it all, they are quite satisfied with themselves and rarely practice, they think they are a great success, until they have to use the art and find themselves useless.

Before practice - The stomach should be neither too full or too empty, the mind should not be preoccupied with other affairs, do not practice when angry. When hungry one has no energy, too full and the stomach will be injured. Extraneous thoughts harm the brain. Anger harms the spirit.

During practice - Do not fool around. Do not spit. Do not be disrespectful. If one is not serious in practice the spirit is dispersed, spitting inflames the throat, disrespect weakens the practice.

After practice - Do not eat or drink, do not relieve yourself, do not lay down. Food and drink will not digest well, elimination causes qi to scatter, laying down causes the qi to rise causing discomfort.

The Three Harms - Those who practice martial arts must avoid the three harms.
1 - Inappropriate use of strength
2 - Forcing of breath
3 - Sticking out the chest and pulling up the belly

If one uses strength inappropriately, the qi will not flow smoothly, the meridians will be obstructed and the body will become bogged down. If one forces the breath, one will become stiff and easy to break, with the chest full of air the lungs will be squeezed and will suffer harm. If one sticks out the chest and sucks in the belly, the qi will move the wrong direction and will rise, it will not return to the dan tian. [this talks about proper relaxation during movement, i.e. dont be so stiff and tense during any movement]

Seeking Instruction - In order to study martial arts, one must be diligent in two areas. First, one must be willing to travel great distances in order to study with those of higher ability and sincerely request instruction. One must also be diligent in speech, humbling the self and asking for guidance. [Both Simon and I have traveled quite a way to learn what we know, and have also spent quite a sum of money. Definitely worth it, much more so than saving to buy a new car or something equally as boring. As a side note, maybe next year I will attend Ido Portal's Movement X event whereever it is if peeps are interested in going as a small group]

Force and Self-satisfaction - In practicing the martial arts there are two things which must be avoided, the first is reliance upon force, the second is self-satisfaction.

Start Practice Slowly - After a period of practicing slowly, it is good to use more force and speed in order to increase the internal power for practical purposes. [again this is a great way to practice movement methods too - slow is smooth, smooth is fast]

Sequence of practice - At the beginning of practice stand in San Ti, afterwards practice forms. [San Ti is a form of standing meditation. This is similar to us doing our spinal awareness, or body loading awareness drills prior to practicing the actual movements. Standing meditation is great too, and I might start introducing it to some classes]

Stages of Training - After beginning formal practice, one must follow the rules of training, if so, in three years the basic training will be complete. In the intermediate stages of training, practice single forms repeatedly, use the form to express the intent. After a long period of practice one will be able to change spontaneously with the circumstances. After six years one will complete this level of training. In advanced stages of training, both the internal and external gong fu will be completed, your body will become as hard as steel, your gong fu will be of a high level." 

Evolutionary Movement

Check out this CLIP of Ido moving his way through evolution.  I really liked to beginning crawling; going to have to up my volume of creepin' and crawlin' movements, so I can get that smooth!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzGKjXY52Uw)

Exercise Ecology pt 2

In part one of 'Exercise Ecology' I talked about the idea/concept of viewing the body from a systems science (ecological) viewpoint, and about how this effects how we view training and select exercises.

Today, I want to muse a brief primer to something that I find fascinating, and will no doubt be re-exploring many times in coming years.  That is, what type of physical training best prepares us for the rigors of the Information Age (or other future)? This is a general outline and musing, please feel free to post anything you think needs to be added, or is interesting. 

Well, firstly, I am thinking of a hedged bets style training, in case of long decline towards a salvage society and Ecotechical future. (Not reading the ArchDruid Report?? Why not?! One of the best blogs on the internet, IMHO).

So, training for salvage society via hunter-gather style natural movement training, and, training to buffer stress, enhance creativity and engender positive bodymind states.  This is cool, as I find all the natural movement/outdoor training; re-wilding and survivalist stuff fun! Training this way also engenders a certain degree of adaptability and general skill on a physical level, which by my reckoning carries over very well to mental adaptability.  

Training for mental agility and neuroplastic effects definitely makes my short-list of goals for training (for either Ecotechnical style future or Information age future).  Having a solid base strength, flexibility, agility and graceful (smooth, controlled movement) strikes me as a good foundation - then add in all types of skill and movement patterns from martial arts; yoga; athletics; climbing; hunting; sneaking about being quiet; archery/throwing; using small boats (canoe/kayaks); swimming; juggling; etc.  Keep at a skill long enough to get an improvement, notice when you are flagging in skill acquisition, and cycle on to a new skill - or have a strategic break and re-focus.  Play to strengths, but work on weaknesses. Nice expert generalism theme to all this (which I love!).

Exercising for nootropic effect goes well with physical training strategies for neuroplasticity, and teamed up hopefully buffer all the sights/sounds/things assaulting our nervous systems all day long.  Basically, using strength & conditioning; sleep; diet; lifestyle and bodymind practices in a sensible, and pragmatic way that avoids over-training and other un-healthy outcomes of training incorrectly, or too much, and aims to engender positive effects on neurochemistry and neurotransmitter balance in preference to very high levels of strength or fitness/conditioning. Principles of 'minimum effective dose' apply here.

Tom Myers, in his brilliant Kinesthetic Dystonia pt 2 article (which is on my 'essential reading' list, for sure), talks about a lot of what I've mentioned already (plus other cools things, such as how our PE system formed; the 'warrior-hero' ideal and agricultural society; and fills in some the back-story (if you haven't done that yourself already).  Do try to get a copy and read it.

He also mentions physical training to enhance creativity; embodiment (he refers to as somatization) and the need to move away from repetitive exercise in schooling, towards creative, explorative movements. Cool. 

I definitely agree with the movement training to enhance creativity aspect, and would put that as one of my primary categories for this topic.  Not just having regular 'movement breaks' away from the computer, or whatever project - but just moving; playing, being and feeling alive; moving about and exploring in an intuitive manner, and digesting information gathered mentally, whilst resting the cognitive aspects of the bodymind. 

The use of restorative methods and using lighter, more yin training types (qi gong/soft yoga/joint mobility/etc) for recovery from training sessions (and recovery from life in general - it can be draining just getting the groceries in the larger cities), and for their other positive effects on the bodymind. Also to buffer the increased speed and stress of this world of 7 billion and counting humans. 

If you don't have a sport or activity to train for, it might be worth considering an 'ecological' mindset for you physical training.  Most articles you read in popular media are touting on the industrial era 'body-as-machine' mantra, but me thinks that era is going the way of the dodo.  Why not start to think of structuring you training to help you with whatever else you do in these chaotic, speeding up times?

Mini-Club Mobility Refresh

So I brought home a small 5lb club to play with..(also of note in the photo are the awesome Minimus shoes I picked up from the States for $50).

There is some specific rotator cuff, forearm/wrist/elbow and throwing pattern drills I want to use it for, but mostly I just want it laying about - so that I can get a lot of volume of weighted joint mobility and movement training in throughout the day.

Today is the first day of the test/play.  I've been doing mobility work in small, exploratory sessions of 1-3 exercises for about 5 minutes maximum, throughout the day.  It feels like it's going to work well as a 'refresh' between other activities, or as a 'bridge' when I get irritated by something and need a change.   

Anyhow, I'll let you know how it turns out.  I'm already getting that itch of wanting to pick it up off the couch whenever I see it..  going to start off with about 5 x 5 minute sessions, and see how that feels.  I'm already getting that processing large amount of novel//new movement patterns feel you get at workshops, and the like.

Check out Kit's 'Scatological' post for today, if you haven't already!