Category: Alignment

When You Think Of Your Body, Do You Think Of It In Pieces Or As A Whole?

When You Think Of Your Body, Do You Think Of It In Pieces Or As A Whole?

reneeinnerbreathyoga

By Renee’ Fulkerson

When you think of your body, do you think of it in pieces or as a whole? Imagine a puzzle that always needs putting back together, especially after an injury. Or a pulley system that engages entirely when the body moves or stands upright. 

I used to think of or refer to my own body in pieces. I can think back to exercise, yoga, and fitness classes that almost always separated my body parts during practice. What does that mean exactly? Phrases like today is a leg day or, we are only going to work on these muscle groups today. Does this sound familiar to you? I never realized how disempowering these phrases and movement programs were. 

And, then I was taught to view my body as a whole and not in pieces. I cannot tell you what a game-changer moment that was for me. I went from pulling my body apart to its end range like Stretch Armstrong, a toy of my youth. Who, by the way, does not always go back together so quickly after so many pulls. To putting myself back together in what we refer to in YogAlign as a full-body stretch. The end range can be very misleading for most people, especially those who tend to be hypermobile. Just because you can doesn’t always mean you should.

I have a student who is hyper-mobile in her hip joints but not necessarily strong in this area. Does hyper-mobility affect strength? From what I have read and seen while teaching there, is sufficient evidence that hypermobility may be associated with strength deficiencies. An injury waiting to happen would be for her to continue to pull herself apart just because she can. We need to think about how this affects the body as a whole. Hip strength is necessary for the stability and prevention of injuries. 

My goal is to guide students through full-body movements creating balance, health, mobility and, strength. By reprogramming your movement patterns from piece to, whole we get the benefits of all body support, balance, strength, and mobility. Hanging in joints and ligaments to go a little deeper may feed the ego for a moment but does nothing for the rest of the entire body. Cons outweigh the pros in that movement programming or regular practice. 

A lunge, Ashta Chandrasana, or Crescent High Lunge Pose is a posture when hanging in your joints or ligaments can happen. I cue students to identify this possible hanging by checking in with the pelvic floor during a lunge. Is it hanging down like a hammock? With no support? To go deeper or closer to the floor. Are your shoulders lifted to your ears, making it hard to breathe? Is your ribcage flaring up, creating a backbend? In practicing this, way you are compromising pieces of the body and not benefiting the whole. Now let’s take that same posture and tweak it a bit.

  • Step your right foot forward and wiggle your back foot to get balanced between front and back bodyweight.
  • You will know if you are balanced by checking in with your hip alignment. Is one hip twisting to accommodate the unbalanced spread?
  • Make sure you are high up on the toes of your back foot.
  • Check-in with the pelvic floor. Does it feel unstable (hanging)?
  • If, so engage your inner thighs slightly and get the glutes firing. In doing, so you will feel to the touch your IT band fully engaged.
  • Again check hip alignment and think of your hip bones as two flashlights shining forward.
  • Draw your arms down and out into a V shape on either side of your body. With your palms facing forward and fingers spread.
  • And slightly press your hands forward like you are pushing against a wall firing the back muscles. 
  • Draw the sternum slightly down if the rib cage is starting to flare up.
  • Eye gaze is eye level and straightforward. Look side to side and stick your tongue out, relieving your neck of any extreme tension.
  • Once you are in the high lunge, bring your attention to the space on your sideline. Between the floating ribs and the top of your hip or Iliac Crest. 
  • There is a good amount of body real estate between these two bones. Easier to see on an anatomy skeleton but, you can feel it with your hands. We do not want to lose this space (collapse) on our exhale.
  • Recap – the back foot lifted, inner thighs slightly engaged, firing the glutes, arms in a V, palms facing forward, fingers spread, pushing against a wall, hips aligned, released neck a shoulder tension. 
  • Now SIP in like you are drinking through a straw fill the diaphragm muscle with air (engaging the core muscles). Make fists with your hands and tense your entire body. Pause at the top for a moment (neck and shoulders relaxed). Start your S-hale like a snake with your teeth together, then open your hands and don’t collapse by controlling the exhale. In other, words to the naked eye, from SIP inhale to S-hale there would be no change in your whole body posture. You would maintain your gift of lift, spacious sideline and, not collapse in your S-hale. 
  • Repeat 3, more times, and then change sides and repeat.

In practicing the YogAlign Method Lunge, you begin to move and relate to your body as a whole. Receiving and retrieving all the benefits moving and thinking in this way has to offer. You get to reclaim some of that precious real estate and space back into the whole body without having to pull it apart into pieces. 

I will leave you with this thought you use 200 muscles to take one step (Human Bones, Joints and Muscles Facts).

Aloha

Hip Hinge And Bending Over – The Proof Is In The Pictures.

Hip Hinge And Bending Over – The Proof Is In The Pictures.

reneeinnerbreathyoga

By Renee’ Fulkerson

I recently attended Ohana (family) Day A school function for my tenth-grade son. That entailed building several garden boxes from scratch and then planting vegetables in the garden boxes. I began taking pictures of the beautiful moments. That was taking place between the diverse community that had gathered for Family Day. I looked through the camera lens I started noticing with greater attention how folks were moving their bodies. Observing the differences between young and old, male to female, and everyone’s visible health. The first big difference between young and old was how they each approached the planting of the vegetables. The younger kids/ teens almost always squatted down to plant their seeds while the parents/ older folks bent over into a C shape to plant their seed.

Inner Breath Yoga Yogalign Kauai

I flashed back to a time before I started training and teaching YogAlign. A time before knowing proper body mechanics and real-life movement in a yoga class. Where I would practice forward folds with straight legs. That at the time, I did not realize I was creating pain in my knees in my everyday life.

Flash forward to today, I realize I have come along way in my YogAlign practice. I have been able to overtime re-wire the bad habits that had become my daily improper movement patterns. I learned why it is good or bad to move my body a certain way. Example bending down to pick something up and bending down properly. I was looking through some pictures of a recent summer trip. I was pleased to see my regular YogAlign practice having positive effects on my daily life. It was natural for me to hip hinge while capturing water from a natural water spring. With proper movement hip hinging, my spine can stay in a neutral position. Meanwhile, my hips and upper legs support my body weight. When you bend at the waist (pictured on the right), the back curves, putting stress on the spine.

Inner Breath Yoga YogAlign Kauai Hawaii

“Bending at the hip takes the pressure off the back muscles,” says Liza Shapiro, who studies primate locomotion at the University of Texas, Austin. “Instead, you engage your hamstring muscles.”And by “engage the hamstrings,” she also means stretching them.”Oh yes! To hip hinge properly’ your hamstrings have to lengthen,” Shapiro says. “If you have tight hamstrings, they prevent you from bending over easily in that way.”

Food for thought:

The little’s younger than three years old are great hip hingers. They haven’t learned yet from our example to bend like a C. I know I am a work in progress but, I can imagine the possibilities in a body I can trust to allow me to continue enjoying all the activities I love well into my senior years.

Next time you take a trip down memory lane by looking at photos, take note of how you move your body. Hip Hinge and Bending Over – the proof is in the pictures.

Aloha

 

YogAlign Or Swimming?

YogAlign Or Swimming?

reneeinnerbreathyoga

By Renee’ Fulkerson

To the question above, the answer would be yes and yes.

Definition of swim: propel the body through water by using the limbs.

Swimming like YogAlign engages the entire body during the movement. That was the perfect solution to our required body movement regime.

Many of you already know my son Joaquin, age 15, has been diagnosed with Pectus Excavatum, Scoliosis, and Scheuermann’s Disease.

Refer to blog post https://innerbreathyoga.com/2019/05/21/our-journey-so-far/

Quick recap – I started Joaquin on a regular YogAlign practice schedule of three to four times a week. Shortly after his diagnosis beginning in January of 2019. That was a one on one program, one to two hours per practice with YogAlign teacher Renee’ Fulkerson, AKA mom. We had a few challenging moments until we found our rhythm. Joaquin is dedicated. He knows YogAlign will be a part of his life for the rest of his life. After roughly a few months, Joaquin began attending my regularly scheduled public YogAlign Classes with a bit of hesitation. Then as mothers and teen sons do we, started the debate on comprising. We began a new dialog on body movement (exercise). Swimming  Joaquin requested he can have the option of practicing YogAlign half the time and swimming the other. Swimming like YogAlign engages the entire body during the movement. It was the perfect solution to our required body movement regime. Now we are not only seeing postural shifts from the regular YogAlign practice. But also from Ocean swimming and hey if you are going to swim why not swim with the turtles?

My Conclusion – Pectus Excavatum, Scoliosis, and Scheuermann’s Disease. have many symptoms that can benefit from regular YogAlign practice and a good swim a few times a week.

YogAlign Inner Breath Yoga Island Kauai Hawaii (1)

Health Benefits of Swimming (web MD) Intensity Level: Medium -You will use your lower and upper body muscles for a steady workout. You can make your swim harder by going faster or longer.

Areas It Targets:

Core: Yes. Swimming gives your entire body a great workout, including your core muscles.

Arms: Yes. You will need your arms for most swim strokes, so expect them to get a workout.

Legs: Yes. You will use your legs to propel yourself through the water.

Glutes: Yes. Swimming uses your glutes.

Back: Yes. Your back muscles will get a workout, whether you are doing the backstroke or a water-based exercise class.

Type:

Flexibility: Yes. Swimming will make you more flexible.

Aerobic: Yes. Your heart will keep pumping as you use your entire body to move through the water.

Strength: Yes. You will get stronger from the resistance in the water. That is about 12 times the level of air resistance. Try using hand-held paddles, foam noodles, or a kickboard for extra resistance.

Low-Impact: Yes. Swimming is an excellent low-impact workout. The water gives you buoyancy. You will float through your exercise session without putting pressure on your joints.

Aloha

A Quick Lesson From Real Life Movement.

A Quick Lesson From Real Life Movement.

reneeinnerbreathyoga

By Renee’ Fulkerson

I added these pictures for two reasons:

A. because these animals are beautiful, we were blessed to have come across them on our recent road trip.

B. because these animals’ bodies are in perfect balance and alignment.

  • they move gracefully
  • they remain strong and agile with just the natural movements of their everyday life
  • animals move their bodies with efficiency and effectiveness. Not slouching or slumping

If we were to see any one of these animals slouching, limping, or out of alignment, we would immediately become concerned for their health. But, as humans, we see ourselves and others living with all kinds of body miss-alignment that becomes the norm.

YogAlign Inner Breath Yoga Kauai Hawaii Island

That brings me to my conclusion I suppose we would not last very long out in the wild being out of balance and alignment. Unable to hunt for our food or take care of our young – food for thought.

Aloha