Movement Formulas

I wanted to follow up last weeks post with another meditation on movement. This was inspired by watching a dog. Pets are wonderful guides to a wilder natural lifestyle. 

One way humans distinguish themselves from other animals is how much we lose the ability to move throughout our lives.  Due to our complex social web and our technological wizardry we, unlike other animals, can afford to squander much of our dexterity and remain alive. Other animals, will show signs of aging, but by necessity will maintain the nimbleness to keep up with the group, to acquire food, avoid predation, and to perform other duties that maintain life. So how do all other animals sustain their youthful capabilities throughout their life?  They certainly are sheltered from repetitive stress injuries that plague us as the wild promotes diversity, not repetition.  They, however, are exposed to many other dangers in the wild, that we are mostly immune to. Anyone who's watched a reasonable amount of nature shows will have witnessed some of this routine violence that many animals endure. How do animals recover from the traumas of being chased, and occasionally assaulted by ferocious predators? How are they always ready to be ready for this life and death ritual?  How do they maintain the level of fitness that is required to survive in the wild?

I believe one crucial strategy that animals employ to heal and rejuvenate themselves are movement formulas that are passed down genetically, that animals will instinctually engage in. Humans are of course animals.  We are highly social primates, that uses our shared wisdom to hack the code of nature in beautiful and horrible ways. We too possess these instincts that will guide our bodies to move in healing patterns. Our instincts can be hard to listen to though. We have noisy cultures, and invasive technologies, that all too often drown out our inner voice. 

One movement formula that should be familiar to most people is when an excited dog wags its tail. If we examine this action we can observe the dog will engage its side body in a repetitive lengthening and contracting pattern. This movement pattern predates dogs as it the same movement fish uses to swim through water. This movement provides space in the ribs by stretching the costal muscles that attach to them. These muscle in the dog will be flushed with oxygen-rich blood as long as long as they are doing their happy dance. By routinely wagging its tail dogs will keep their ribcage supple. This allows for easier breathing. Deep breathing will become more natural as the rib cage lose its rigid posture. Healthy breath patterns is the foundation of our health. Likewise, the ever engaged heart of the dog will have less restriction as the chest gains flexibility. It should be noted this activity while beneficial to the chronic health of the dog does take quite a bit of energy. I’m assuming the dog is not too aware of its surroundings while it takes part in this practice.  This is probably why dogs wag their tail when they're happy when they do not feel endangered; when they are with their human and canine friends (pack).  When all the immediate needs of the dog are met they instinctively engage in this movement formula to maintain their long-term movement ability. 

These innate movement formulas have been recognized and systemized by people throughout the world. They have been crafted into various dances, each emphasizing a different aspect of maintaining our health. Many yoga poses focus on easily neglected muscles that improve our posture. Many dances emphasize hip openings which are crucial to avoid chronic low back pain. Many martial arts such as Tae Kwon Do are sneaky as their emphasis on high kicks are not all that practical in fights but a good way to keeps your hip open. Tai chi and Qi Gong slow our motion down to let us explore where there are limitations in our bodies and gently push against them. They also allow us to see in slow motion our default patterns of movement so we can observe exactly where there are warbles.  With this awareness, we can learn to create new more fluid patterns.    

No matter what movement formula we start out with, as we deepen our practice we will pick up bits of somatic wisdom from other disciplines. At the heart of all healthy forms of movement lies all our biomechanical possibilities and limitations. I believe the more we engage in these cultural movement disciplines the more we will become connected to our bodies. This allows us to explore our own patterns deeper. The deeper we explore our own patterns the more instinctual our movements will become. 

To deepen my practice and help anyone who wants to explore theirs I am offering a free once a week movement class where we can learn together how our bodies move.  I wish to emphasize kinesiology as I found the more I am aware of my muscular system the more I perceive all the nuances in how I' moving. Is my wrist deviated, is my shoulder rolled in. Though these may be little details over the course of a life, refining these patterns is how we stay agile and nimble as we age. 

  Anthony Bruni