week 18

DANCE DANCE DANCE

I'm back on this movement challenge malarkey! Missed a chunk of the year due to life celebrations, but I hope that will be forgiven...
I'm going with that celebration theme for this week and it's somewhat of a cliché...but there usually something to those oft said things so here we go...

DANCE LIKE NO-ONE IS WATCHING
thats it.

each day pick a song you love and loose control. There is joy, endorphins and giggles to be found in this challenge and those are self care musts.
On a side note i've fallen down a Michael Clarke choreography rabbit hole so its now inspiring everything I do.

week 15

PUT A LOAD ON

This weeks movement musing is a HUGE shout out to Katy Bowman.  My fan status for this woman knows no bounds, as I'm sure you are all aware. We are going to lay off the hanging for a week (although that is not a cue to get of your branch, keep up the good work) and talk about something else we should all spend time doing. Carrying things.

The Europe wide introduction of a small fee for a plastic bag at the supermarket is our friend in this instance. Now if, like me and my better half (who thinks my very existence is hilarious and so frequently snaps brilliantly attractive pictures like the one below), you always forget to bring a bag, then you are probably already doing what I am about to suggest. It’s simple. Vary the way you carry things.

Katy says it best herself…

“ Every way of holding something requires that you balance the holding with a particular set of muscles. Change the location of what you’re holding and, boom, you’ve changed the set of muscles used. By varying up your holds, you’ll be using more of your parts for a bout of walking. This is different than always putting your stuff in a backpack, where the same muscles are used over and over again. Savvy? Tip: Ok, you love your backpack and I love mine too. But what I do is carry that backpack in different ways.”

Simple!

There are a million and one ways to vary the way you carry things each day and it’s a beautifully simple way to add more movement to your day.

Enjoy!

week 14

BAR HANG (since it's Friday...)

Piling up the hang nutrients this week with three simple (but harder then they look) bar hangs. If they are a bit much go back to week 12 and spend as much time there as your body needs before giving this ago.

Hang out for as long as you can in...

1. an L sit
2. a knee tuck
3. and a one arm hang.

I'll just add don't do it in skinny jeans, nothing should be done in skinny jeans, especially if you like moving. Alas my vanity still dictates my wardrobe choices and that's unlikely to change anytime soon...

That's it! Enjoy fighting for space at your local playground. x

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.

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...)

week 9

PLAY

This week's challenge might sound down right ridiculous, but that just makes it all the more appealing : ) Also, it's really simple. Bonus!

Head to the playground. That's it. Watch kids playing in their un-self-conscious ways - no reps, no ‘exercise as a chore’- and see if you can get on the equipment and move like they are, within the range of what is an option for you physically right now.

Why is it not OK for adults to play on those things anyhow? We are missing out. I can no longer pass one by without having a swing on something...

week 8

Free your head.

This weeks challenge is a movement meditation and one of my favorites from Mary Bond over at Heal Your Posture. It's also is a nice follow on from the whole 'getting rid or your pillow rant' from last week as it's something to help restore mobility at the joint between the top of your neck and your cranium, the area that so often expresses stress as rigidity.  It will be particularly useful if you have to spend long hours in front of a computer screen. 

Like most of the challenges I'm posting, this is not a one-time exploration, but rather a practice to incorporate into your self-care routine and it can be done anywhere. The meditation asks you to “draw” circles and figure 8’s using your uvula (that strange bit of flesh hanging in the back of your throat) as a stylus, and rather then make you read a long badly written post by me you can check out Mary's video below, she describes it wonderfully!

Enjoy!

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.

week 6

ON BEING COLD

I, like most people reading this, like to be a nice temperature. Not to hot and not to cold. I especially dislike the cold. This week’s natural movement challenge is something I’m still working on, but since it’s still winter in this hemisphere we might as well make the most of it.

I want you to make sure part of your day is spent outside in the cold or somehow getting a little cold…doing it whilst out for a walk would be my top suggestion cus then two movement nutritionals in one. BAM.

And now for the WHY THE HELLS…?

So we tend to think of muscles like “ I’m going to train to do a pull-up and a marathon” or “My hamstrings feel like guitar strings, I’m going to train to increase their tolerance, get me to yoga!” but its rare that I hear people talk about activating their musculature in that sense of “I need to train for a variance in temperature.” Unless you happen to be Katy Bowman.

Most of us house/office dwellers are always exposed to exactly the same temperature throughout the day. So when it comes to getting out in the cold our bodies aren’t used to generating their own heat. Now the body can actually generate its own heat, but you have to train your heat-generating muscles, and so regular exposure to cold is part of that process.

Nice ways to start this training include….

1. Not bundling up too much to go out and actually letting yourself feel the cold. I would recommend doing it in layers and every now and then taking a layer away. Just like working with yoga props!

or, for the brave….

2. Not taking a really really hot shower, but a slightly cooler one, and then cooler, and then a colder shower. 

Simple!

Big shout out to fellow Amsterdamer Wim Hof (also known as The Iceman) for the inspiration this week. 

(Image of me in the cold with my gloves off...you gotta start somewhere...)

week 5

GET UP STAND UP

Since you have already spent the past week challenging yourself to find 10 different ways to sit and stand throughout your day...you have right? This weeks resolution/challenge/life changer should slot right in nicely.

When you sit on the floor (or in a chair or on someones lap) try and sit down and stand up without using your hands. This simple but surprisingly tricky task will serve to help maintain mobility and flexibility in several joints in the body (hips, spine, ankles, etc.) over time.

There are many many many ways to practice transitioning from floor/chair/lap to standing and back down again and I would recommend taking a look at some of the MovNat challenges for inspiration.

NO HANDS to stand and sit is a golden rule in our house....although my husband to be is a rebel and rule breaker so I will be making sure he gets this memo too.

Thanks to Dr Andreo Spina for the inspiration and to Bob Marley for EVERYTHING. 

week 4

SIT DOWN STAND UP.
What is your position in life?

I'm going to copy and paste directly from Katy Bowmans blog Nutritious Movement (go there immediately after this and read EVERYTHING) for this weeks 'become an opportunistic mover' task because she says so brilliantly..

"So, we’ve got a situation where sitting constantly is creating disease and standing constantly is creating disease. Do you see the theme? Although the research and media are going to probably miss the boat on this one, the problem isn’t the sitting (or the standing, for that matter), but the constant and continuous use of a single position.

...As many anthropologists know, the way we move is mostly a result of our cultural inheritances and has very little to go with genetics. Clothing, terrain, temperature, gender, class, and fear are only a few of the many factors that affect how we adjust our joints when sitting and standing. Gordon W. Hewes reported on about 100 resting postures of the world, and I have posted this image from the study so you can see, perhaps, why our Western joint health and metabolism (which is dependent on muscle length) is the poorest in the world.

So, we need to think bigger. There is more than just sitting and standing. Create ten different options of each! If you have a standing work station, stand a few different ways every hour. When you sit, sit a few different ways every hour. Open your mind and open your joints! When you get home, stay out of your chairs and try out a lot of these Worldly Options. (Note: If you don’t have a spear, a broom may work…) Circle the ones you can’t maintain for longer than five minutes and make a note to practice that posture at the beginning and the end of an exercise session. And, parents, don’t insist that kids sit in the same fashion as us stiffer folks and allow them to explore other options. And, join them! They can teach you something about natural movement.

Also, if you do spend a yoga/stretching class cycling through10 or so of these postures, know that while this cycle is a good thing, getting back into the sitting position the other 6-10 hours of the day reduces your health just the same. Adjust the way you sit, as often as possible for a real, deep, and cellular change."

Bravo Katy. I concur!

week one

...we'll start simple...

TAKE YOUR SHOES AND SOCKS OFF

That's all. I know it's cold, but that's good for you too sometimes (more on that another day).

If you find that you have your toe-lock-socks and shoe-prisons on most of the day, then start slowly by slipping them off every now and again at work and IMMEDIATELY when you get home.
If your work and/or home are already free of the aforementioned then why not go all out (go on, I dare you) and get those feet in contact with as many different surfaces as you can throughout your week. The more texture, bumps and grooves the better.

If you start to notice that your day-to-day is filled with flat, even, hard surfaces then get creative about what you can find to walk on. There are grass verges EVERYWHERE and since you don't need that mat at your front door to wipe your shoes on anymore (cus you took them off right?!) then how about replacing it with a pebble mat! Google it (they exist) and make one!

Feeling all the texture the earth has to offer is a simple but profound pleasure and there are many many many benefits that accompany that pleasure. I recommend looking up Gary Ward (Author of What The Foot?) and Barefoot Ted (clues in the name) for some facts and figures and funny anecdotes.