Moving Into Harmony

MOVEMENT & BREATH: HEALTH - FITNESS - WELLNESS

Warning! Trying to get fit is now a health risk.

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Don’t get me wrong. Physical Activity and Exercise have incredible benefits…..when done in synch within your capacities to respond and adapt positively to a demand, or load (used in scientific literature as a measure of “workload”).

The benefits of physical activity and exercise are well documented as investigators compare these to inactive, or sedentary, lifestyles. Across the board there are great improvements in health markers. And most of these references are from very controlled physical activity environments and variables, for a short period of time. It isn’t til recently have there been long-range observations of populations and lifestyles to really see what happens outside the short time in a laboratory setting. And these are highlighting the great benefits of physical activity.

Notice I say – physical activity.

Physical Activity is often defined in general populations as not sedentary. Each person observed had a regular walking activity during each day of the long-range time observed. They participated in regular physical activity – walking, gardening, dancing, and other outside activities involving their joys of moving about on their feet. This is physical active, NOT exercise.

Many confuse the two terms. We as a species, with two legs are built and organized to move….on our feet.

Exercise is a different activity, as defined by the language. It is a load, a stressor, for the purpose of creating a change in the body. The challenge is if there are negative impacts – unhealthy breathing habits, stiff joints, and a driven mind – one can promote a negative outcome to the stressor, and thus leading to strain on the system….ALL systems. The main four that you might begin to experience are:

  • Muscle, Tendon, Joint – aches and pains, even injury if the accumulation of strain is not addressed.
  • Cardiopulmonary Malfunctions – heart rhythm issues, shortness of breath, loss of stamina – the main culprit here is too high intensity for too many times. And intensity is not measured by how good you feel after….you need more direct feedback about how the body responded.
  • Loss of Motivation – often associated with the body-mind’s ability to continue the want because of many factors – not progressing like you want, difficulty in doing, or too much time, and internal brakes that the body is trying to get you to stop strain it that then the mind says “what? why?”
  • Loss of Sleep Quality – disturbances and lack of good quality are signs the body is too strained.

Good measurable feedback helps you understand yourself better and bring some guardrails to the driver behind the wheel of exercising. It is a major factor in staying healthy is exercising well for what capacities you have. Does not help to stress a stressed body-mind complex.

Why? Because this re-occurring circumstances with the people who seek help and guidance from me are showing this to me. And very often these clients have seen me after being seen by many clinicians and when shown has never been addressed related to their condition, or setbacks in their fitness and performance progress.

It’s been the primary variables I see over and over again that are limiting a person’s potential for healing, fitness and performance. It has not been identified, understood, addressed or placed importance on what I consider minimal standards for real progress and success.

Here are the top 5 variables:

Good Ankle Mobility

The Ankle, and the Foot (below discussion), are the most important area for proper movement in any shape for health, fitness and performance. The mobility of the ankle in particular have a profound influence on what occurs up the chain of motion….all the way to the head. Good balance strategies, good multi-directional movement, stability and impulses from the huge sensory portion of what the foot feels in relationship to the ground all coordinate on an integrated, beyond attention, the pattern of mobility and motion you accomplish. Your ankle mobility also affects how you sit AND how well you breathe!

In-person sessions can easily identify if this needs to be addressed based on the activities and demands you place on your body for health, fitness and performance.

Good Posterior (Back Body) and Anterior (Front Body) Flexibility

In all motions, especially ones that you do with walking or use of one hand require a coordination of motion and flexibility to accomplish even simple acts of walking. Then add running, hiking and other more demanding activities and you have the necessity for both capacities. In addition, when you use your hands for any activity, then this same coordination of freedom of movement is essential to promote healthy patterns of movement, instead of deteriorating patterns of movement that lead to illness, injury and degeneration.

And a very simple measure is done in a very safe way to better look into this capacity, and what to address if not in a range for proper movement to the activities you do.

Proper Natural Core Engagement

I would say 75% of the people in the last 5 years who have come for help demonstrate a overuse pattern of engaging their core for daily activities, recovery from injury, fitness and recreational activities. And this is because the myth of the core being something one needs to voluntarily contract to prevent something from happening that they are afraid of, or experienced before……..such as back pain.

The message to people from misguidance is the assumption that they are weak at the core. Now, just say that to yourself and what does that really feel like? “You are weak to the core.” In my clinic, and online assistance, I debunk this false belief and embedded concept and replace it will feelings of proper engagement and understanding how each individual can uniquely empower themselves beyond fear, apprehension and un-coordinated mechanical movement to be at their best.

And there is a simple measure, actually three that I use to identify where to link in the true core.

Right Action of Hands, Feet and Head

The arrangement of how you use your hands and feet in exercise can impact your core stability, spinal health and your breathing. Especially if when you raise your hands overhead…and notice I guided you right there to raise your hands not your arms (this can have good positive impact on the mentioned capacities).

Do you rise up in the ribs and torso, does your navel lift upward toward your heart when you raise your hands? Not a good way to move. Notice when you raise your hands what the quality of your breath is compared to when you don’t rise out of your base…..naturally, not bind something else like your abdomen to keep from rising!…but rising out of your base what is your breath like compared to raising your hands differently and staying home in your base and legs?

The Physiological Capacities of Breathing

How your breath is driven is from the metabolic process. If there is accumulated strain – or the opposite, congestion and immobility of fluids inside – then the breath is usually faster, louder, heavier and more forceful to get good breath. And the breath often becomes over-breathing when you exercise. The BOLT score, or comfortable pause measure, can give you an indication into the physiological capacities of how your exercises impacts you. It also directly relates to blood pressure, heart rate variability and tissue integrity. This article goes into a bit more detail.

Acquire the right capacities with the right guidance. Your capacities of Moving and Breathing Well will fundamentally support every activity you do for daily life, recovery and healing, health, fitness and performance.