beauty comes first

"It is evident that a child will learn a piece of music more quickly where there is melody, rather than an exercise in which only technique is required. Therefore beauty comes first.  In the same way, yoga will be accepted by the body when it is done without resistance. The wave along the spine is like the melody in music. When the beautiful flow of extension is in action, this wave (felt along with the magical attraction of gravity) will help the body find the right adjustment in the performance of the various movements."

--Vanda Scaravelli

Evolution

Dr. Bigelow: What can I do for you?
Louie: Uh, well, I hurt my back today really bad. Uh. Can you help me with my back? I mean...
Dr. Bigelow: What's wrong with your back?
Louie: It hurts.
Dr. Bigelow: My professional diagnosis is your back hurts.
Louie: Well, what can I do about it?
Dr. Bigelow: Nothing.
Louie: Nothing?
Dr. Bigelow: The problem is you're using it wrong. The back isn't done evolving yet. You see, the spine is a row of vertebrae. It was designed to be horizontal. Then people came along and used it vertical. Wasn't meant for that. So the disks get all floppy, swollen. Pop out left, pop out right. It'll take another. I'd say 20,000 years to get straightened out. Till then, it's going to keep hurting.
Louie: So that's it?
Dr. Bigelow: It's an engineering design problem. It's a misallocation. We were given a clothesline and we're using it as a flagpole.
Louie: So what should I do?
Dr. Bigelow: Use your back as it was intended. Walk around on your hands and feet. Or accept the fact that your back is going to hurt sometimes. Be very grateful for the moments that it doesn't. Every second spent without back pain is a lucky second. String enough of those lucky seconds together, you have a lucky minute.
Louie: Okay.
Dr. Bigelow: Come see me when you have something fun like a blood disease. That's what I went to school for.

HA! This again via Mrs Rebecca Ketchum cus it make me giggle...

Evolution

Dr. Bigelow: What can I do for you?
Louie: Uh, well, I hurt my back today really bad. Uh. Can you help me with my back? I mean...
Dr. Bigelow: What's wrong with your back?
Louie: It hurts.
Dr. Bigelow: My professional diagnosis is your back hurts.
Louie: Well, what can I do about it?
Dr. Bigelow: Nothing.
Louie: Nothing?
Dr. Bigelow: The problem is you're using it wrong. The back isn't done evolving yet. You see, the spine is a row of vertebrae. It was designed to be horizontal. Then people came along and used it vertical. Wasn't meant for that. So the disks get all floppy, swollen. Pop out left, pop out right. It'll take another. I'd say 20,000 years to get straightened out. Till then, it's going to keep hurting.
Louie: So that's it?
Dr. Bigelow: It's an engineering design problem. It's a misallocation. We were given a clothesline and we're using it as a flagpole.
Louie: So what should I do?
Dr. Bigelow: Use your back as it was intended. Walk around on your hands and feet. Or accept the fact that your back is going to hurt sometimes. Be very grateful for the moments that it doesn't. Every second spent without back pain is a lucky second. String enough of those lucky seconds together, you have a lucky minute.
Louie: Okay.
Dr. Bigelow: Come see me when you have something fun like a blood disease. That's what I went to school for.

HA! Thanks Miss Rebecca Ketchum for finding this!

Found here

slow motion

Cheetahs on the Edge--Director's Cut from Gregory Wilson on Vimeo. The spinal motions! Can you see the similarities in the suppleness of the spine?

“The World Traveler”

Here are the snapshots from Horor Vacui
That’s me jumping off a cliff!
That’s me throwing a lit match in a forest of drought!
That’s me standing in the rain with a lightning rod!

Of course, all of these are doubly exposed.

Oh, Look, Here I am, trying to take a steak from a Doberman.
Oh Look, Here’s a cute one; me taking a poke with boxing gloves at the local heavyweight.

I’m alive and well in Horor Vacui.
I have no time for visitors.
There is always a flurry of excitement.

Sometimes,

it is so quiet, I can hear,

my vertebrae connecting.

—Ina Chadwick Wilde, “The World Traveler”
(image Bloodpool by Kiki Smith)

"...in a non-wimpy way"

Exploring the work of Steve Paxton today.
Much useful, inspiring and fascinating stuff in this video...


...in a non-wimpy way / steve paxton from lenk3rad on Vimeo.

And this for a beautiful example of the spines capacity for movement.

Odette New York

rings and things from OdetteNY.
these beautiful pieces always remind me of bones...spines and ribs.... 

images by Lina Scheynius via eternal-optimist

“Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where your backbone ought to be.”

 

— Clementine Paddleford

The rib cage, breath and extending...

The rib cage is the major limiting factor in all movements of the thoracic spine, and it is a usefull exercise to see how they influence the spine as we breathe.

When we breathe in, the ribs elevate. The lower ribs tend to widen and the upper ribs and sternum lift forwards and upwards. you will feel wider in the lower trunk and deeper from the front to back in the upper trunk.

See if you can feel what happens in the spine in relation to the ribcage as you inhale.

The ribs do indeed lift and push the sternum forwards, but can you also feel the thoracic spine is at the same time pushed backwards? Every inhalation is accompanied by a gentle forward bending of the thoracic spine.

On every exhalation the opposite happens. Try and feel it!

As you breathe out the rib cage moves back in towards the center line of the body and the spine moves into extension.

There is no exception to this action so it makes total sense to move into extension (or back bend) postures as we exhale, if our intention is to access the thoracic spine. Which lets face it, it usually is!

Anything else will be going against the intelligence of the body.

 From Robert W. Lovett’s Lateral curvature of the spine and round shoulders, c. 1922 via evencleveland

WOW Human beings are brilliant.....
Source retronaut

Breath

"There is a rebound - a kind of ripple effect that happens naturally at the end of an exhalation. The problem is we can't DO it.

Instead, look for the precise moment which marks the end of an exhalation. Be completely relaxed and attentive to your spine.
See if you can notice the snake like micro-movements that are your spine's response to your breath.

The Strength of any rebound depends entirely on the strength of the initial impact - the harder something is thrown, the stronger the bounce...

...so the more strongly you concentrate on noticing the exact moment at the very end of an exhalation, the more you'll feel the effect."

From See How Yoga Feels by Su Sareen.

(image source: chasingskinnyrabbits)

Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live.
~Jim Rohn