Barcelona-based director Gerard Montero talks about Empty, a film he made with choreographer Paloma Muñoz:

"The film explores ideas around dance and the significance we place on movement, which can't always be easily explained. In this empty space of the swimming pool we explored the poetic potential of the body’s movement and how a place can effect how we shape it.

slack jaw

Slack Jaw - Ellen Page & Emma Portner from Emma Portner on Vimeo.

“Do my movement and my thinking have an intimate connection? First of all, I don’t think my body doesn’t think.”

— Trisha Brown

"I find and I know that painting from nature is meaningless for me. I'd rather create paintings from memories, as visions of a landscape - I now mostly observe the bodily movement of mountains, water, trees and flowers. They are all reminiscent of similar movements in the human body of similar stirrings of joy and pain in the plants. Painting alone is not enough for me, I know that one can create qualities with colors - in the summer you feel an automnal tree deep inside, with your essence and your heart, it is this wistfulness that I want to paint." 

-- Egon Schiele in a letter to Franz Hauer, August 1913

Untitled, David Horvitz, 2016

grays anatomy

Georgia O'Keeffe

Feldenkrais Method in action

Cy Twombly

Pierre Verger - Capoeira, Salvador, Brasil, 1946-1948

Nancy Spero

spiral motion

“When a person loses his way in the forest or in snowstorms or fogs he goes around in circles as long as he keeps on moving, until in some way or other he finds his way again. The same is true of foxes, rabbits, antelopes,’ and doubtless other animals, when hard pressed in the chase. Going down lower in the scale of organisms, where there are only poorly developed guiding senses, as in some of the crustacea, or none at all as in the protozoa arid the flatworms, one finds these creatures going in circles all the time that they are in movement, hut with a ‘drift,’ making the path a loose helical spiral. In all these animals and, in fact, in all motile organisms whatsoever, there is a deep-seated spiralling mechanism which leads an animal to go in a series of circles of spiral form when there are no guiding senses, as in the lower organisms. or when the guiding senses do not function through fear or for other reasons, in the higher. A tendency to spiral locomotion is inherent in all moving organisms. An examination of biological literature shows, as is well known, that the lower animals : flagellates, ciliates, rotifers, and the marine larvae of echinoderms, molluscs, worms, and crustacea swim in spiral paths, as well as some of the zoospores of algae and a few spermatozoa. So many organisms, in fact, swim in spiral paths that the negative aspect of the question is the more practical form for purposes of investigation : Are there any motile organisms which do not move in spiral paths when guiding senses are absent or not functioning?”

from here: “Spiral motion in man”

Caroline Denervaud

cathédrale from caroline denervaud on Vimeo.

friday cartoon

friday cartoon

this looks like a beautiful retreat!

week 13

Active hang

Since I just left you hanging for a week we are going to progress to an active hang. This one is short and sweet and should only be attempted if the passive hanging from last week is feeling good.

From the passive hang, pull the shoulders down while keeping the elbows locked. You can hold this active hang for a time or try it in reps as I'm doing in the really bad quality video below.

Also, a couple of little 'compensation movements' to watch out for...
1. Don't bend the elbows
2. Try not to point the ribcage up, instead focus on pulling the shoulder blades down.

Enjoy!
Credit to Ido Portal for this weeks challenge.

Malick Sidibé

Rest in peace Malick Sidibé

week 12

HANGING AROUND

Our shoulders are meant to hang (and swing) from things. Unfortunately this is not a skill encouraged by our culture (look around your work place/home/public space, are there any anchor points for you to hang from?) or taught in yoga class for that matter, which means it is not something that has had the time it needs to develop properly in most people. Ideally you should have developed the ability to hang as you were growing in height and mass so to start as an adult takes more than just doing it – especially if you haven’t done it in years. 

If you feel your shoulders/arms/neck need some TLC before attempting the following I recommend getting hold of Katy Bowman’s aligned and well ‘From the shoulders up’ DVD and doing it daily.

If you are ready to monkey around then the next few weeks will be a series of progressions for hanging basics and then a few drills for building serious scapular stability. These are the preceding qualities for swinging, brachiating and basic body-weight pull-ups so if you get the urge to take your hanging journey further I’ll through in a few drills for those too.

But we will begin at the beginning and I’m making this one meaty to make up for missing last week! Doing it all with a ridiculous grin on your face is optional...

1. Find a bar or branch that you feel confident will take your weight. Ideally put one up in your living space so you can monkey around on a daily basis.

2. You hands are probably going to dislike you in the beginning. Ideally your skin would have been gently loaded by using this skill throughout a lifetime, but all is not lost if this wasn’t the case. To build up beautifully callused hang ready hands will take time and I recommend trying the following three steps out on different surfaces i.e. bark/rock/metal/rubber to build strong skin.

3. If it’s been a really really long time since you tried this then please keep your feet on the ground to start so that you can load your body in a respectful way by introducing a load that is much less than your weight. Try each arm by itself and then both together. Try palms up and palms down. Also, the bar doesn’t need to be over-head, it could be waist height, like a railing, if you don’t yet have the mobility for an over head reach.

4. Add some more weight to your ‘one arm feet on the ground hang’ by carrying something heavy.

5. Then try it with your feet of the ground!

Finally, if you have kids, encourage them to hang regularly. You will be doing their bodies a great service.

blood and earth

"They do the washing and preparing of the minerals. A lot of them, as I say, are living and sleeping in tunnels, which they've been digging through the mountains and so forth, and then there are a few structures, but those structures are controlled by the armed gangs that control the mines and enslave all the people in the mines ....

The jobs that they're doing are divided up in two or three categories. One is simply the digging — digging into the side of mountain or digging down from the top — and you're just hammering away with hammers and chisels and shovels to pull these minerals out. Another job will be hauling those minerals on your back out of the tunnels and out of the holes to take them down to the river, where they'll be handed over to more women workers who will then wash the minerals to get a lot of the clay and other dirt off them. They just put them in giant tin cans with lots of holes poked in the can to shake around in the water and clean them up a little bit. Then there'll be people who put those [minerals] into bags and then those people who carry those bags and stack them up and store them. And then, ultimately, there will be people who are enslaved whose job it will be to put those bags on their back and walk for 20, 30, 40, 50 miles to get them out of there and into the supply chain that brings them to our cellphones."

This is a really interesting listen.
All the conveniences we use, somewhere it is costing someone something. I'm working on becoming more aware of the labor involved in procuring a 'convenient' item. The convenient option will always seem like the best option until you start to imagine the risks and movement involved in making them as well as any movements that these items reduce on my behalf.
Becoming a more conscious consumer is part of becoming a better mover. It is all connected!

"Movement frames much of our experience on Earth. We are constantly resisting the pull of gravity and making our way around the world to accomplish our tasks, whether that be taking a shower in the morning, training for a marathon or picking up a tired child to tuck them into bed. Our yoga practice challenges us to untangle the complicated strands of unconscious movement and then re-create a new normal, one that is informed by a fresh understanding of how we perceive our own bodies in space."

- Kate Krumsiek for Yoga Dork

Week 10

REACH (farther then for the remote control)

The natural motion of your shoulder and elbow axis is, as you might guess, important for your well being. Unfortunately it's a motion far to many of us a have altered by decades of hours at a desk (or other repetitive forward motion actions...insert option here...................).

Fortunately there is a habit you can inject into your everyday life to help combat this lack of range. REACHING. My favorite everyday variation of this is the 'Door Jamb Reach', as named by Katy Bowman. It's so simple, basically every time you walk through a door reach up with both arms to touch the top of the door frame, you can add to that with a fake hang, or a real one if the structure allows (bonus) or keep your arms straight and push your chest forward through your arms....and if you are feeling really fancy play around with the position of your elbows as you do this.

Enjoy!

(p.s. not like this pictures, obviously, although it does look fun...)

friday cartoon

Shiva Ray Moon Salutation via Yoga Journal

contagious

week 7

PILLOW TALK

After nearly a year of living out of suitcases, we moved into our first flat this week. It’s unfurnished and we have literally nothing to put into our new home, which, since I’m a fan of living furniture free (or at least furniture like sofas that take the human movement out of modern life), fills me with joy! Alas we will need to purchase a couple of essentials. Like a bed and something for my mother to sit on when she visits, but I will be enjoying not filling the place with things and having floor space to dance around and the move has inspired this weeks (and next's) movement challenge! Yay! It’s a long read because I felt it needed the Why The Hell!?! explanation before hand, but it’s a brilliant one, because it can be done while you sleep! 

On that note, how many pillows do you like to sleep with?

Pillows are often marketed for their ability to support the head and neck, relieve pain, and align the spine. Do any of these claims sound familiar? Yep, pillows have now become orthotics for the neck. The claims coming from specialty pillow retailers and foot orthotic sellers are almost identical, and both are based on the faulty premise that our bodies require external support to be healthy. 

No one is born needing a pillow to sleep. Our heads and necks are perfectly capable of resting without support. When we are young, our bodies are adaptable and can handle sleeping almost anywhere, but through continued use of pillows over time we become conditioned to feel like we need them. This introduction of pillows to children is largely driven by our culture. Throughout history there have been plenty of cultures that have slept without any support for their heads.

When you lie on your back there should be a space underneath your neck. The neck naturally has a C-shaped curve. A common recommendation is that a pillow should fill up this space to provide “support” for the neck. Saying that this arch in the neck needs support is the same faulty logic that gets applied to the arch of the foot. An arch gets support from its ends, not from propping it up in the middle. Without a pillow, lying flat provides traction to joints and creates space between the bones in the neck. All day while we are upright the force of gravity is compressing these joints. At night we can allow gravity to work in our favor to help lengthen the spine. Propping the head up with pillows takes away that benefit. 

Basically using pillows restrict movement. All tissues in the bodies need movement to remain healthy. We don’t move a great deal when we’re asleep, but movement still occurs as the body adjusts during the night to our sleeping surface. These natural movements are limited when we’re cradled and encased in pillows and to be healthy adaptable beings our bodies should be allowed to respond and adjust to whatever we’re sleeping on. 

It’s fine to use pillows sometimes, or even most of the time. But you should never HAVE TO use them. Sleeping with pillows is comfortable, but realise a large part of this is because we’ve accustomed ourselves to using pillows. A big part of keeping your body healthy is being adaptable, and this means being able to sleep comfortably no matter what your head is resting on.

So my challenge to you is this; Consider working your way down to being able to use a thin, flat pillow or nothing at all. If you would like to give a try, just be careful not to make the switch too quickly. The transition to sleeping without a pillow should be more like a marathon than a sprint. Your body is very resilient, but it will need some time to adapt to no longer using a pillow. The transition to no pillow took me just under 6 months, but it can take much longer. 

Here are some tips from a reformed sleeper (me) to help you on your way:

1. Use a folded towel or blanket as a pillow for the first few weeks. Start with the towel at the same height of your current pillow and gradually reduce the height of the towel by unfolding it. Take as long as you need to do this. If you are a two pillow sleeper then follow the same tip, but start with one pillow and a towel. Continue to reduce the towel height until you are able to lie flat.
2. Make sure to keep your neck aligned as you reduce your pillow, like we do in class in Savasana. If you are lying on your back, make sure that your chin is not pointing up towards the ceiling. For some people, it may be helpful to keep a small hand towel folded in half as a pillow to ensure proper alignment. Feel free to experiment to find out what works best for you.
3. As you decrease the towel height you can put some of those yoga neck and shoulder stretch’s to good use each morning/night.
4. For a while I kept my pillow on the floor or next to me in bed, just in case I woke needing it. A good nights sleep is the main goal ofcourse, adding some neck and shoulder adaptation while you do it is a bonus!

Shout out to Michael Tetley who conducted research on natural sleeping postures and found that nomadic people and forest dwellers sleeping with natural postures suffer from less muscular and skeletal problems compared to people in modern societies thus inspiring a whole host of brilliant movers to promote the above.

Now go, be pillow free! 

p.s. I'm a side sleeper mostly, just like the beauty in the picture, but i've noticed that sleeping without neck support has me sleeping comfortably on my back and front too.

"i love the cold"

" I think of the cold as a noble force. It's just helping me. It's training me. It's bringing me back to the inner nature, the way it was meant to be."

-- Wim Hof

This guy is amazing!

friday cartoon

"Frank Forencich of Exuberant Animal was one of the really early influential thinkers on applying the evolutionary paleo perspective to movement practice, one of the first great play advocates and great author."

-- Rafe Kelly (who also has a brilliant perspective on human movement)