All Movement is Good Movement
I am starting this new blog series with a bold statement. All movement is good movement. We are used to hearing in yoga and other disciplines that some positions or movements are dangerous. Like we shouldn’t send our knees over our toes in a standing lunge, because it is too much force on the knees. But if we never had our knees past our toes, how would we climb stairs? Try it.
Many of us have an implicit belief that the body is inherently fragile and that movement is dangerous. No place in the body is this more obvious than in the back, or more specifically the spine. We do certain movements, suck in our bellies, tighten our cores to “protect the spine”. And yet, that hasn’t solved the problem of back pain. Far from it.
Here are a few ideas that might help you reframe how you think of your body:
The body is highly adaptive to the stresses put on it.
When scientists exhumed Neanderthal bones, they found that the right arm bone was significantly bigger and denser than the left. They explored many possible reasons for this. The current theory is that some Neanderthal people spent a lot of time scrapping the fur off of animal hides with stone tools. The repetitive scrapping, with one arm, required more strength, so the body responded by building more bone tissue on that side. Whatever movement tasks you are doing, your body is adapting to do them.
Your body is designed to respond to many different movement scenarios.
When I was a dancer, I remember people remarking that dancer were sometimes clumsy people outside of the dance studio. I used to think, well that’s because a studio is a controlled environment. The floor is flat and smooth, the objects in the environment are very predictable. But the real world is not like that. Modern humans have made our lives and environments more predictable by paving roads and sidewalks, making buildings rectangular, floors smooth. But in fact, this is not as great for our bodies. Our feet are designed to negotiate bumpy paths and uneven terrain, barefoot. That makes them more resilient and healthy. Not just feet. If you stand up and imagine turning around, as if someone was calling your name from behind, you might notice that the twist starts from your ankles and knees. Our capacity to turn starts very low down (its a good thing because then we don’t put as much turn in our necks). But that means our knees are meant to twist. It is good for them.
Challenge makes you stronger.
It seems obvious to say but when we add challenge, the body gets stronger. The first time we lift a weight, we might be limited to a small amount. Over time, we can move more and more. It is in response to the challenge that makes our capacities change. So when people lose movement for some reason - illness or injury, part of what they are losing is that adaptation.
The body seeks efficiency and Minimize capacities it doesn’t use.
You know the saying “If you don’t use it you lose it”? That is key to movement. Sometimes I hear movement pratictioners saying “you don’t want to have movement here (for example at the SI joint).” You can trust this - if your body put a joint there, it wants to have movement there. Otherwise the bones would calcify and you wouldn’t have that joint. It is much more efficient to have a solid structure than a moving one, so if it would be easier not to have a joint, the joint will fuse.
If you don’t use it, you lose it part 2… If you use it badly, You lose it faster.
Ok, so it is true that there are some strategies for movement that are more effective than others. Most of the time this relates to distribution of forces over the entire body, vs. isolating effort at a particular joint. Healthier movement tends to be distributed more widely. Dangerous movement tends to focus on one joint area. Then why do movement teachers, PT’s and more tell you to isolate certain joints? One reason is to encourage movement somewhere that movement is limited. In my body, certain joints are very mobile. But that can mean that other joints don’t get involved in movement, and the mobile joint takes all the force. I have noticed that with greater movement in my whole system, some joints seem less flexible, but they hurt less, and my whole body feels stronger.
So what are some take aways, that you can use in your daily life.
Move more.
Walk places, take the stairs. Dance around the kitchen. Use your whole body to clean the floors. Get up from your desk. Shake it out. Reach up…
move in unpredictable ways.
Give yourself movement tasks that mimic activities like taking dishes out of a dishwasher, picking fruit, digging, swimming, climbing.
Add some challenge.
Pick up something heavier. Add some resistance. Pull something, push something…
Be loving to your body when you move.
Use a mental dialog that supports your goals. Think of your self as dynamic, capable, strong, or any other adjective that feels aspirational. This isn’t about gaslighting yourself, but it is about using your mind to create the qualities you want in your body. It feels a bit silly at first, but don’t let it. Be your own motivational fitness coach “You can do it. You are strong, powerful, capable…”
Breathe.
When we feel worried or resistant, we can stop breathing. Steady breath helps the body know it is safe. Keep breathing, not too heavy, while you move. If you notice you stop breathing, do less.
Touch your own body.
That sounds so risqué! But it shouldn’t. It is your body. Touch helps bring awareness, and we do it instinctively when we have pain. So add touch, self massage, tapping and more to your routines. I have some videos of tapping here.
And LAstly, Enjoy moving.
Get interested in the sensations you feel, even if some of them are new at first. Pain is a signal from your body, but it does not always correspond to a present danger. If you feel resistance to a movement that you know is within your capabilities (I get pain sometimes in my upper spine) slow down, don’t force it, but explore if there is movement that is possible there. It can be small, even tiny. You can even just imagine the movement. Start small, but try to create movement in places you feel resistance. It helps. It doesn’t have to be big, dancerly, graceful movement. All movement is good movement.
When we get moving, most of us feel better after. Let your own fear of moving go, and try, little by little to bring new movement into your daily life.
Next week I will be sharing a video of some pelvis movement that you might be missing from your movement diet. I hope to see you then…
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