The state we are in.

The state you are in, be it pain or body composition is just a manifestation of the current state of your system.

Let us look at the two maladies that affect the modern human separately to explain further:

– Pain
This affects many of us and in the midst of a painful episode we think of this as a permanent state, how will we ever be out of pain and not recalling a time when we were not in pain. Here are two points to think on, the first is that pain is an output from the brain and the second is that pain is recreated every moment.

– Body Composition
This basically what people refer to in layman’s terms of being too fat or too skinny or not enough whatever. The body as a we see it is merely a manifestation of the system, if we are sick, stressed, consuming too much or too little of certain foodstuffs. The body isn’t a fixed form, everything changes cells, bones remodel, skin renews, hair grows. In fact thats a good point, in much the same way you can change your hairstyle and have to wait for it to grow for some styles we have to wait for the our body to change to new inputs be they food, movement (loaded or otherwise).

So do not look at yourself and think ‘I am fat’ instead see your body for what it is, you have an excess of calories and your body is storing it. Remedy is to alter consumption and maybe alter your movement.

With pain, look to these facts have you an injury, illness or what is covered by the term  red flag if not and have been cleared for movement then is the pain an old pattern being held onto such as a limp which aided you getting around but the injury has long since healed and now the limp is causing issues on the non injured leg.

So composition of ones body can be changed and pain can be often reduced or stopped it is a case of seeing us for what we are, we are systems not statues set in stone. Are poor eating habits and levels of movement unchanging and are old ways of using ourself keeping us in a painful state, in other words how is your nervous system holding you?

“Shannon Technique”


Excuse the advertising but I saw the above video of Bill Shannon a while ago and his movement is wonderful, I read somewhere he has a degenerative hip condition, however he moves with grace and with his crutches he can do things those without cannot.

In the lecture below he brings up the interesting, enlightened and funny phenomenon of naming of techniques and accepted movement. At 12min 50secs he discusses people watching others, however not from a admiration point of view but as if they were helping or acting out helping. This is akin to when I watch rugby or other sports and my body kicks or convulses in response to the action or the action I wish the player had made.

Interesting that some people see him move and think he faking, and so what if he was, just highlights some movements be it fidgeting are frowned upon and people feel the need to judge.

When I attempt to teach people to kayak, to me its not about static postures and strokes but flow.

Regarding staring, I think there are many layers. You are seeing something which is nice, its human nature to do so and human nature to wince and look away from other things.

Links:

Wikipedia Entry – Bill Shannon

Bill Shannon Website

Yawn


"Yawning" - Vinoth Chandar https://flic.kr/p/7NrL1B
“Yawning” – Vinoth Chandar
https://flic.kr/p/7NrL1B

So called civilised people inhibit their movements yawns or otherwise, I would however argue that inhibition is not the sign of the civilised but the sign of the repressed.

Don’t stifle a yawn and notice what ways you move. But don’t analyse too much just gently notice.

Stopping/Starting – The puppy and the child


When doing movements be they of the somatic variety or other when do you stop? But more importantly, when do you start?

Some activities have an end i.e. washing up, but others are open ended. We often think in terms of sets and reps and do them to this formula barring injury whether we need them or not, whether we are exhausted or not.

dog image 4

Recently I ‎saw a video of a puppy playing in a paddling pool. The puppy was not being played with but was playing in the water, it did so until it wanted to get out. It got out shook itself and then jumped straight back in.

I thought that this was a good example of how to move, and how to give oneself permission to move and also how to sense what we want and what we need.

How many babies left to their own devices do not find themselves standing, running and jumping? This successful progression occurs without discussion of muscles, anatomy, sets or reps. Just exploring their range of motion and learning through experiencing.

This seemingly frivolous playful movement can be as powerful if not more so than structured activity. Some of my best learning in a kayak has come around through just trying stuff, this is exactly what we did as babies. We expanded into the world.

“Everything and nothing” – Teachers Perspective

IMG_20140724_191631

People go to school and they graduate.

Teachers teach and sometimes pupils learn.

Maybe the pupil learned only part of what the teachers wanted to teach them. For example they may have learned enough maths to get by and then as life developed they get or work out what else they need to know.

You can never be sure what you teach is what they learn as that is their experience. You are not there to sort the whole of the rest of their lives. We all exist in time and the future and their future needs will solved by them and applying what skills they have.

Be careful not to end gain and want more than this:

  • I feel better – yes
  • I feel lighter – yes
  • I am clearer in thought – yes
  • I can do that better – yes

Do you see that they get out of it what they get out of it, it is everything and nothing all at once.

What is the purpose of education, in its broadest and narrowest sense be it Somatics, school or sport?

An answer and one i favour is not performance per se, or even qualifications, it is merely the desire to learn and be interested. School cannot teach everything, but it can give you skills and set you off in a direction.

In the case of sport there is usually only one winner, so what of the rest, have they wasted their time? Or is their value in playing and competiting even outside the rostrum? Is the medal the only reward or can value be had from mastery and play?

In the case of Somatics, if they are in pain, or immobile help them with that and let them be on their way, on their way to be free. Let them find mastery in the rest of their lives and not expect it within the sessions. Our education doesn’t finish with graduation and neither in the confines of a movement session.

Things moving freely.

Further Reading:

Fable