The basic "Swiss Army Knife" movement: for backs, necks, ankles, hips, knees, brains

Last Friday's essay at SlowSonoma.http://chriselms.blogspot.com/com was on "Weird and Strange" and even being the "Fool" all just were about being in a new world other than our accustomed programming.

 Monday's essay in my special needs children blog was about ways of using a child's habit/ wiring of "hand to mouth" as the basis for "connecting not fixing" in action


Today's essay here is going to continue with the movement I find
most useful to recommend to people who are willing to slow down,
pay attention
and get huge benefits from being out of gravity and into awareness.

I call it the "Swiss Army" knife movement,
because it has so many uses.

I've touched on in many times.
Most recently, on Wednesday, March 16, I published in here
an essay on using the foot, foot standing on the table
while you are lying down,
to push into the table
and
rotate your hip
and
arch your back.

Here's the link:  Hip, Back and Brain blog entry

Here's a reminder picture:

You don't see his foot on the table, but imagine it there.

Notice the chain of action:
foot pushes into "ground"
things happen
in
ankle
knee
hip joint
pevlis
back
ribs
neck

So, let's say it like this: this simple movement,
especially if you experiment with how
HARD IT IS IF YOU TIGHTEN YOUR BELLY
and
how sweet and liberating it is
when you release and PUSH FORWARD YOUR BELLY
(which is to say, use your back muscles)
can help ease and clarify all the above "parts" (hip, knee, ankle, back)
and can
help you understand how your back works,
since this movement involves:
1. ARCHING
&
2. ROTATING
our back,
which is two out of the four things a back does.

So, here we go with the rest of the lesson,
the 2 more things that the back does,
which are:
3. SIDE BENDING
&
4. ROUNDING/ FOLDING

Okay: You bring one foot to standing,
and this time you interlace your fingers and put your hands
behind your head

Then as you push with your foot
and
rotate your pelvis
and
push out your belly as you arch your back,
you also
slide your head along the floor, table, ground,
toward the pushing foot.

Feel what happens in the ribs as you do this.
I have a picture here,
taken at night, so it's lousy,
but maybe you'll get the idea,
and later I'll put in a better picture:

Let's try again with a day picture,
noticing the left elbow heading toward the left foot

Two variation are
One: to bring the knee toward the center,

Two:  is more to push the knee away from the head
and keep it as much as possible pointing toward the ceiling/ sky

This second variation creates a more interesting opening
at the hip joint

Anyway:
here's 3 out of four for the back:
arch
rotate
side bend;

Notice here, the ribs on his left (the right as we are looking) are shortening together,
and his ribs on the right side (left as we look) are expanding out.

Imagine his belly pushed forward,
and how the lower back has to rotate more than the upper back.

Now,
to get the final use of the back:
bring the knee that is forward/ toward the sky/ ceiling
toward the head
and the opposite elbow toward the knee,
now using the famous "abs" which are cool,
but only about a quarter of what "core strength"
is really about

Here's the elbow to knee,
ROUNDING/ FOLDING/ FLEXING THE BACK
part of the movement:

Now you know
and I know
you can "crank" through this movement
and it will still be a hell of a lot better than
nothing
or
most yoga,
but
but
but:
if you go slowly,
and really feel the vertebrae
and your ribs
and notice how your ankle
and feet
and toes are working
and really let your back
alternate between using the muscles in the back
and the front
and the sides

discover two ways of breathing with this:
which I won't even describe

take lots of rests

do it "many times"
on one side
and notice the differences

then imagine it on the other side
and just
do it
a few times

with huge
delight
learning
and
awareness


good