Body Mind & Spine Align

Core Strength as a Rooting and Wrapping Phenomenon - the Complimentary Functions of Psoas and Transversus - Heavy Lifting and Snow Shoveling to Cycling and Pilates Roll-Ups

Herald of
Backbone and Wingspan®
relates a personal core story:

when a surgical experience brought about backbone building and wingspan

widening out of necessity.

 

In reading this you can most readily relate my experience to when experts advise you to bend your knees and use your legs when lifting heavy boxes or shoveling snow. When they say to "use your legs to lift," they really should be more specific in identifying that you are involving the deep support of the psoas, which is a core muscle connected to the legs. You can see this in two previous posts about the psoas. So to learn how to protect your back when lifting, read here in detail about how the psoas and transversus muscles work in a complimentary way, but also see the posts about the psoas and lesser trochanters to see how the core relates to the legs.

 

I had abdominal surgery seven years ago resulting from a ruptured appendix. Because it was ruptured, and not merely punctured, the surgeon had to cut my belly through all the abdominal layers, or actually through the layer of connective tissue that all four abdominal layers are attached to. The incision stretched from above my navel to almost all the way down to my pubic bone.

 

After eight weeks, I went back to work, and had to begin again the bending over that I do for my clients in order to best attend to them.

I knew that despite my frontal abdominal layers not fully having healed, I could rely on my psoas.

 

My psoas had not been severed with the surgical incision because the psoas is attached directly to the lower vertebrae and thus is underneath all of the abdominal organs.

I could also still access the horizontal fibers of my transversus which also had not been cut because the transversus comes off of the lumbar vertebrae from the backside of the body.

I had to really focus my mind to go deep and root with my psoas -  spread wide and wrap with my transversus. I had to root my lumbar with my psoas to stabilize those vertebrae, and wrap wide to either side off my lumbar with the horizontal fibers of my transversus in order to bend. In order to arise from a bent over posture, I did the same: root first to stabilize, extend, and ground, and then wrap around to arise.

They say that injuries can be a gift, and that is true in my case.

There was no way that I could pull my abs in from the front to bend and unbend from the waist. I had to be more mindful to rely on deeper and three dimensional connections. There was no way I could pull my belly in. I had to find different elements to embrace.

Embracing is a notion and an image I now use often with my clients when working with them. Whether it be on the Pilates reformer or trapeze table, whether it be core strengthening, muscle toning, or healing from injury, the wrapping embrace is what centers someone to work deeply and safely.

Getting to the root notion

Embracing the wrap motion

There are two sets of musculature that comprise

the root 'n wrap core.

The psoas and the transversus are muscles connected directly to the large lumbar vertebrae, which are the bones needing and contributing to the most stabilization in the body.

Stabilization is not holding or bracing.

 

 

This is an important notion to em-brace: the lumbar vertebrae need support, but these vertebrae also contribute to support. The lumbar spine, when directed in an extension down through the sacrum and out the tail, engages the force of the psoas rooting into the inner thighs.

 

The psoas is a rooting core, and

the transversus is a wrapping core.

The lumbar is extension, and

the transversus is expansion.

The psoas is a central force. The transversus is a cylindrical force.

So the image-oriented actions are to root and wrap; the complimentary directional forces are central and cylindrical.

None of this implies pulling in, although the abdominals do deepen when using the complimentary rooting of the psoas and and wrapping of the transversus.

 

The embracing notion of the transversus is that it expands from the back, and  then wraps around to the front. It's like when you embrace someone, you don't shove your front up against the person - you widen your arms, and then encircle around the person's body. This is what you do with your own transversus abdominis: you encircle yourself cylindrically - it's a self-embracing action and sensation.

Get More Core! Feel More Floor! Get Grounded! Get Centered!

Herald teaches specific deep core-strengthening work 

as well as back-strengthening for spinal support and foot function.

Call Herald at 212-647-8878

or email [email protected]

Backbone and Wingspan®

 

www.backboneandwingspan.com 

www.feetforfitness.com

www.highheelhealing.com 

 

Related articles

Learn to Lead with the Heels to Lengthen the Legs Above & Below the Knees for Pliés, Squats, Leg Presses, Yoga Chair Pose & Pilates Reformer Leg Extensions

Deep Core Strength is Accessed Through Activating the Psoas - Inner Thigh Junction on the Lesser Trochanter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The psoas is an enormous muscle attached in six strands on either  side of the front of the lowest six vertebrae, from the lowest lumbar vertebrae to the lowest thoracic vertebrae: L5 L4 L3 L2 L1 and T12. 

 

 

*

There are six strands on each side, so it is actually twelve strands of muscle making up the psoas-lumbar relationship.

 

 

*

I love that there is this number, twelve, intrinsic to our deep core because of how that number relates to the months of the year, the twelve disciples, twelve tribe nations, twelve astrological signs, twelve making up a dozen bagels or eggs or twelve inches to a foot.

 

 

*

Twelve is prevalent in our social structures because it is in our deepest structure of support in the body.

 

The psoas is attached directly on to the front of these six lowest vertebrae, meaning that these strands of psoas are underneath the abdominal organs as well as being much deeper than any of the abdominal muscles since the abdominal muscles stretch over the organs.

Thus the psoas is essentially the deep core, not to imply that the abdominals aren't important, but just to make a distinction between what is deep spinal support and what is more outer support for the abdominal cavity's contents.

There is what I consider a cylindrical core, made up of the transversus abdominis, which is attached to either side of the back of the lumbar vertebrae.

But in my view, and in my experience with my own body and in guiding and witnessing my clients, you can't utilize the three-dimensional wrap of the transversus without the psoas stabilizing the lower vertebrae.

The psoas must be directed as a rooting force, so that the transversus can be expanded off of the extended lumbar vertebrae and become a wrapping force from back to front.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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In addition, the place where L-5 and T12 meet, which is where the extending curve of the lumbar subtly changes into the opposite curve of the thoracic, contributing to the serpentine line of the spine, is often referred to as the lumbar-thoracic junction.

So essentially, your true deep core extends from one important spinal junction down to another important muscular junction.

When I hear myself describe this connection to a client using the term junction, I cannot help but think of a television show from my childhood, Petticoat Junction, which is about the people who work in a place where trains come in and connect to other trains.

This may seem silly, but watch how the train winds down the track, and imagine how you have this deep core muscle that is attached to your spine, and how it winds down to the inside of each of your legs.

 

 

 

Sensing your lesser trochanters as junctions could be akin to sensing deep pathways of transport from your legs to your spine and your spine to your legs.

 

Maybe I have this perception because I go underground to transport myself everyday in the subway, which winds me through the city from station to station. There are certain stations that are junctions where you can transfer and make a connection to another train, such as Columbus Circle where you can go from the 1 Train to the A Train. 

 

The lesser trochanters, which are little nubs, can also be perceived as hubs on a winding deep subway-like line in terms of transferring from the spine to the legs and the legs to the spine. The lesser trochanter - inner thigh - psoas junction is  like the Columbus Circle of your core. When I look at a subway map, I cannot help but be reminded of the charts I've seen in fitness studios that show the winding pathways of the nervous and muscular systems.

*********************************************

 

 

 

You can also see the relationship between

the psoas,

lesser trochanters, and

the lumbar spine in

three-dimensions in the book,

Anatomy of Movement

 

 

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Related articles

Learn to Lead with the Heels to Lengthen the Legs Above & Below the Knees for Pliés, Squats, Leg Presses, Yoga Chair Pose & Pilates Reformer Leg Extensions

What's Lesser is More in Accessing the Deep Muscles that Are Your True Core

This Pilates Iconoclast post explores the accessing of core strength and stability with

three key elements:

Psoas
 Inner Thighs
 Lesser Trochanters

 

 

 

The lesser trochanters are small nubs of bone high up on the insides of the femurs. These little nubs are where the lower portion of the psoas muscle meets up with the inner thighs.

The lesser trochanters are the sites where the singular force of the combined lumbar spine and the core, which are central, split off into the paired central forces of the inner thighs.

Because the inner thigh and psoas are each connected to the lesser trochanter, the site where they meet is sometimes referred to as the psoas - inner thigh junction.

 

 

The psoas essentially connects the spine to the legs through it's connection to the inner thighs on  the lesser trochanters.

This is a very important connection to understand, tap into, and utilize because it is the relationship between

the psoas and inner thighs

which gives the body the potential to sustain a powerful support for the large lumbar vertebrae.

 

If you are working your abs

without sensing the relationship

of the psoas between the spine and legs,

you are mainly working the outside stuff,

and probably tightening your hip flexors.

 

 

 

 

 

When the lumbar is extended and stabilized with this psoas -inner thigh connection through the lesser trochanter,

the floating ribs which begin right above the lumbar spine, can then expand back and wide by breathing deeply into the lower lobes of the lungs.

This expansion of the lower back ribs in turn gives access to the lats and lower trapezius, and then in turn the upper spine will be more free.

 

 

 

This psoas - inner thigh connection also gives a powerful facility to the legs,

relieves the overwork of the quads,

and grants muscle toning potential to the tone-challenged area of the upper inner thighs.

 

 

 

What's more, when the lumbar spine is extended and stabilized

using the inner thighs, psoas, and lats,

then the deepest abdominal layer,

the transversus abdominis,

has the most potential to expand and wrap

from back to front efficiently.

 

 

 

  

Again, the lesser trochanters can be described as little rounded    protrusions or nubs of bone on the inside of each of the femurs.

It is interesting that these tiny nubs nestled so so deep and high up on the insides of the legs could be so intrinsic to core strength.

But there are so many ways that the core can and should be utilized for support, that it really shouldn't be a struggle to call upon the core.

Elusive connections are attained more mindfully, and with subtlety.

 

 

Most people are more aware of the greater trochanters 

because these larger-than-the-lesser nubs are on the

outsides of the femurs,

and because the greater trochanters

can be sensed through touch.

 

 

 

 

  

Greater just means

that they are bigger,

not that they are more important.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, this greater and lesser relationship is testament

to the beautiful balances within the body's ever-amazing design!

 

 

 

It's interesting to realize 

that the lesser trochanters align down to the big toes and

the greater trochanters align down to the little toes.

It goes greater to little on the outside line of the leg

and lesser to big on the inside.

 

 

 

 

You really can't touch the lesser trochanters.

 

 

 

The phrase "you can't touch this"

resonates on a literal level in that

you cannot palpate the lessors.

 

 

However, I also consider this "can't touch" phrase figuratively,

as in the MC Hammer Rap Song "You Can't Touch This."

Hammer's version of the phrase implies something so astonishing that it can't be "touched,"

that is, it is without parallel.

Watch the video for this song, and witness how facile Hammer is with his femurs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In terms of the "can't be touched" quality of the lesser trochanters, it's not just that you can't find them with your fingers.

It's that the vital connection between the inner thighs and the psoas that occurs on these lesser trochanters is essential, and actually, crucial to employing a truly deep core connection.

In my estimation, regarding the various muscular and skeletal relationships

that add up to accessing core support,

 this lesser trochanter - inner thigh - psoas relationship

really can't be touched

in that it is an unparalled central connection.

 

 

Backbone and Wingspan®

at Mind Your Body Pilates Lexington Avenue @ 90th Street

and in Bedford Hills at Contour Studio

Call Tim at 212-647-8878

[email protected]

www.backboneandwingspan.com

 

Those Heels Rock! A Simple Exercise to Assist in Activating the Supportive Power of the Heels and Connecting The Heels to the Hips and Spine

 

Heel rocks are a simple activity to help a  person who wishes better support for the spine to understand how the heels can connect to and assist in supporting  more-free spinal movement for exercise or posture.

 At Backbone and Wingspan in New York City, I use this gentle rocking movement before leading someone into a Pilates Roll Down Exercise because if the heels are activated, then the resulting connection to the spine promotes deeper core work.

  It is best to perform this activity while lying on a carpet or rug or mat, not in bed.

Lie down on your back with your heels in line with the hip joints,

not the width of the outer hip bones,

but in line with where the ball of the thigh bone, the femur, fits into the hip socket.

 

Flutter the toes gently and with softness towards you and away from you

so that the heels rock back and forth into the surface of the table or carpet or mat-covered floor beneath you.

Make sure that you are not tensing the tendons in the front of the ankle to do this.

 

 

It is important that you learn ways to energize 

and direct parts of the body without effort or exertion.

 

Part of the purpose in performing this action with the foot

is to learn that you can release the heel away from the ankle

in a way that gives more spaciousness to the joints in the

foot, particularly the ankle.

 

You use the surface underneath the back of your heel

as if you could go deeper and deeper into that surface.

  

The entire spine will respond from you sending the back and forth motion first from your heels to your hips, then from the hips through the spine and then all the way to your head.

Rock the heels,

not by moving them with the tendons in the front of the ankle,

 

 

 

but by feeling a subtle spring-action in the achilles.

 

Use your imagination to get away from the perception of the foot being what you se e from above which is the toenails, instep, and frontal tendons.

 

Sense the foot from the sole. 

The sole connects to the heel, and the heel connects you to the entire back-body which supports the spine.

You could imagine having sand bags draped over the fronts of the ankes,

or you could imagine soft sand behind your heels for them to sink into.

I use sandbags in the studio with the pilates equipment to give support in roll down and roll up exercises, but don't use sandbags for the more subtle movements of your heel rocks.

 

The sole is the underside of the foot, 

and the underside surfaces of the body connect to the backside surfaces,

which would be the hamstrings, lats, trapezius, and alot of large layered muscles

very important to the support of the spine.

So the underside of the foot (the sole) connects to the backside of the foot (the heel).

This may seem like a no-brainer, but because we are much more familiar with the topside and frontside of the body (because those are the surfaces we can see and thus access more easily)

it takes imagination and almost a complete reversal of perception to think of and better utilize the sole and heel, those being the unseen surfaces.

 

Heel rocks are a very effective to help someone release tension in the back, hips, spine, and neck.

However, this heel rocking can also assist someone in understanding how the heel relates to the hips and spine, and thus tap a person into better support for the body by using the heel more efficiently.

This is crucial for women who wear high heels because often the height of the heel of the shoe forces the weight of the woman forward.

When the heels move back and forth, not just on the surface of the floor or mat or table you are lying down on, but those heels move into the surface that they are in touch with, then the expansion of the heels while they are rocking back and forth will move the hips and then the spine and then the head.

 

 

Thanks so much for reading !

 Comments and questions always welcome !  

  - Herald

 Backbone and Wingspan®

 Founder and owner and author of Pilates Iconoclast

 can be reached at  212-647-8878 or :

 Email: [email protected]

 Twitter: [email protected]

 

Read some great press at

these heel-ing websites:

 

                     feetforfitness.com

 

                     highheelhealing.com 

 

 

 

 and Like or Follow Me on Facebook:

 

Heel & Sole for Foot Pain Page

Backbone and Wingspan LLC 

Lunge into More Core Support on the Pilates Reformer

Backbone and Wingspan has a great new profile for Manhattan, New York City, featuring

reviews of Tim Driscoll's unique approach,imagery, caring guidance, and sensitive hands-on assistance on this Insider Pages Directory.

This Pilates Iconoclast post coming to you  from Backbone and Wingspan in Midtown Manhattan, could also be entitled "deepening femurs."

This post is an expansion of the post immediately previous entitled

Core Columns of Support for the Spine

I have discovered in many instances ways to impart these principles of movement in a way that a person can relate directly to the work that they perform in their career.

I will call forth now again

"the body as architecture".

A relatively new client who I teach is an architect, and was able to walk without pain for the first time since February because I related to her the image of the femur bone as columnar and the hip as the corinthian capital above, and the foot, particularly the heel, expanding both back and wide as the pedestal of the column. She was able to realize this core stability in a lunge on the Pilates reformer.

I currently teach a few people who are both fascinated and experienced with underlying foundation and structure.  It is inspiring that two of the several body mythologies I intend to write about are the body as architecture and the body as garment, and here within a span of a month, I am introduced to an architect and a fashion designer,

I believe the reason the lunge brought freedom in the hip is that this woman  under-stood not separating, but relating column and capital for core strength  She was able to transform in a lunge what she had previously perceived as a hip stretch that involved pushing the femur bone back and out of the hip in order to attempt to release tightness.

It is a matter of relationship, not merely alignment, as alignment can be misconstrued merely as a lining up the elements, but if they are not given a sense of relationship to one another, the person may have a sense of needing to hold muscle to maintain the alignment rather than

Ladies Who Lunge!

In this video you will see another student of mine who is a runner, performing the lunge. There is significant time spent expanding the back of the heel of the extended leg, so as to not push back on the Pilates reformer from the ball of the foot. Deepening the toes down into the surface of the Pilates reformer carriage, the foot can then still serve as a pedestal of support for the release of the hip.

 

Any comments, questions, real-life stories to relate about the relationship to your hip?

Please feel free to comment directly in the comments section below, and also please  travel over to the right-hand sidebar to become a.........

Pilates Iconoclast subscriber!

 

Backbone and Wingspan Universal Principles of Movement

Integrating Fitness, Movement,and Health

Tim Driscoll, Backbone and Wingspan founder and owner and

author of Pilates Iconoclast

is now located on the Upper East Side at Mind Your Body Pilates

1370 Lexington Avenue @ 90th Street

and also at Contour Studio in Bedford Hills

 

Tim can still be reached at 212-647-8878.

 

Backbone and Wingspan: Pilates-Based Movement-Oriented

Manhattan New York City   212.647.8878    Tim Driscoll

 

Core Columns of Support for the Spine: How the Heel is a Pedestal of Support & Relates to the Architectural Term 'Footing' Which - With the Pelvic Foundation - Creates Grounding of the Body

When exercises are performed using underlying Backbone and Wingspan principles, including those for Foot Function for Spinal Support, the strength created using the integrated relationships within the systems of the body is exceptionally beneficial to postural support, any sport, and even artistic endeavors. 

 

 

This is because the principles employed are accessed through the imagination, and induce fascination for the person using their own creative thought process while performing the movements, rather than the person mindlessly recalling each exercise's cues or having to remember the corrections given in prior sessions.

 

 

It's more about introducing images that have strong sensory connections which the person can then relate to their current or previous life's circumstances and experiences which deepens the realizations more personally and specifically.

 

 

Thus, there is less tension in struggling to adhere to rules - and changes in the body are easier to sustain. This is because of the positive effect that constant thought processes have on the strengthening of the support systems rather than the person having to exert constantly to build muscle tone.

There is more strength in affirming and utilizing the relationships within the body, such as gaining empowerment of the foot-leg-pelvis integration or understanding how the ankle-knee-hip system functions without muscle strain or stress on the joints. And of course, there is the ease in working from the power of the back body, particularly the heels-to-hamstrings-to hips connection. So it's about the back and the bones, just as the name suggests.   

This fascination for the body becomes a fuel for the person to then play with the principles throughout the day whether walking to work, training for the marathon, drafting drawings for a building or sketching life drawing models.

Principles involve play, and thus are very different than rules that are adhered to. This is an important distinction for me to make, as I believe that what makes Backbone and Wingspan distinctive is the use of imagery to induce deep change.

 

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I read in The New York Times years ago about a study on the reason why the twin towers didn't topple over. The reason is that there were core columns connected down into the depth of the foundation.

I passed the twin towers often on my way to work and was amazed that on very windy days they swayed. The skyscrapers were an exceptional feat of the interplay between stability and suspension.

Our own body's core is also grounded and rooted into its foundation - the foundation being everything in the body below the navel line. This includes the lumbar spine with the deep core muscles attached to the front of the vertebrae, called the psoas, the pelvis, the legs and lastly the feet from heels to soles. 

**************************************************************************************

 

   No building begins with wall construction - you don't put up dry wall and then 2 x 4 supports.

The walls don't support the framework, but that's what's implied when people perceive attaining core support by shoving the abdominal wall towards the central structural framework of the spine.

That's also what's implied in using muscles - other than the abdominals - to attempt to hold the spine in place or position, which is what many people's idea of posture is - holding.

I had a great ballet teacher who used to say, even when we had to perform difficult balances on one foot:

"It's all about moving, not about holding."

 

 

But getting back to relating the construction of a building to how we build support in our bodies: the integrity of the framework, which relates to the skeleton, precedes the wall construction. Just as a contractor has all the underlying wooden supports fashioned together prior to bringing in the dry-wall, so it is with the creating the underlying integrity of the skeleton and spine - and how elements of the bones of the feet and legs and hips relate to the spine - prior to engaging muscular core support.

This is a concept not very prevalent in exercise methods: that the skeleton and spine can be directed with the mind and using gravity and suspension forces. People think of the bones as dead-weight and that the muscles have to shove the bones into place. This is not true of course, seeing as the bones, being porous, are actually less-dense than muscle, and also that the bones, being filled with marrow, are very much alive and able to be moved with the intention of our minds - subtly, but absolutely.     

The deepest abdominal muscle called the transversus abdominis expands wide horizontally off of the back of the same lumbar vertebrae that the psoas is connected to in the front.

The transversus wraps from back to front to form a cylinder of support.

I find that in order to grant someone access to the deepest core support for the spine, both to access the rooting support of the psoas and the embracing wrap of the transversus, the stability of the femur bones must be employed by deepening the bones into the ball and socket joints of the hips.

It is helpful to point out the anatomical truth that the femurs are the largest single bones in the body.

I often say, "the femurs can be a burden or a boon." ..... Boon .... Bone  

In relating the concept of the body's core through myth - myth being defined as using image and metaphor to convey a deep truth that eludes access through literal interpretations - I will attempt now to use architecture as a metaphor for an aspect of the the way that the human body is built and functions.

 The femur bones could be considered core columns.

A couple of weeks before I posted a comment about the core in response to The New York Times article entitled "Core Myths," being inspired to include my impressions of the mythology of the core, a woman was referred to study me who is an architect.

I felt a little inhibited in her first lesson to speak about architectural images, but I said to her at one point while she was on the reformer, "The femur bones are 'columnar', if that is even a word, columnar."

She said, "It's a word."

 

 

 

Well, as the lesson progressed, and I assisted her in feeling the femurs deepen into the hip joints, I couldn't remember the name for what is at the top of a column, as in the columns that are named Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.

"Capitals'" she reminded me.

 

Anyone who lives or works in Manhattan has no doubt been across the street from or next door to some building that has been torn down and then been subjected for weeks to endure the all-day jack-hammering down into bedrock.

 

This unnerving cacophony is necessary so that a developer can replace a four story building that once housed, say artists lofts, with a twenty-eight story high-rise hotel. The taller the building, the deeper the foundation. 

 

The skeletal system is an amazing structural framework - an interplay of anchoring and stabilizing forces balanced with three-dimensional and bendable suspension.

Anchoring doesn't have to do with pulling in and

suspension doesn't have to do with pulling up or lifting.

When the femurs are utilized as columns with the hip sockets akin to capitals and the feet - with the heels expanding back and wide - as pedestals, then it is possible to use this underlying columnar support to gain access to the central core.

 

People labor extraneously in an effort to support the spine - the central structure of the body - with no thought to the  footing or foundation below.

People also needlessly try to lift - ribs, shoulder girdle, head - parts of the inherently buoyant skeletal structure that is meant to be - and absolutely can be - directed in suspension.

No architect would devise a structure such as this - it could not withstand the elements or sustain itself over time.

 

 

 

 

Our bodies don't fall over with lack of footing or foundation - our bodies have muscles that have the capacity to hold and grip - and these muscles compensate for the lack of stability that could come from the intergration of the skeletal system, but since it is not the inherent function of muscles to hold bones in place, these muscles that compensate by straining to hold things in place cannot belie their nature, and they inform us of our faulty notions and usages by getting sore or eventually giving out.

 

One of the best ways I have found to pass on the principle of stability accessed through the femur bones being deepened into the hip joints is in a lunge on the Pilates reformer. This acquaints a person with the truth of that the body can be ascertained and efficiently and powerfully utilized as movable architecture.

 

Watch for a future blog posting for a continuation of this body-as-architecture mythology including a video of a lunging stretch on the Pilates reformer. You'll see still that the columnar femurs relate to the Corinthian capital-like hips and that the pedestal-like heels keep the woman balanced and grounded even with her one leg forward in the lunge and her other leg extended behind.

 

You will learn that both femurs need to have an equal deepening relationship to their respective hip joints in order to access and sustain core support for the spine.

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Backbone and Wingspan      Foot Function for Spinal Support and Pain Relief

                                                     Integrated Back Strength and Spine Support

 

Integrating Fitness, Movement, and Health

Herald, Backbone and Wingspan founder and owner and

author of Body Mind & Spine Align 

can be reached at 212-647-8878 or

[email protected]

 

Backbone and Wingspan: Movement-Oriented Exercise and Posture

Free Your Spine & the Rest Will Follow

New York City and the World   212.647.8878   Herald

Core Notions

  From Backbone and Wingspan in Manhattan and Bedford Hills...

                                                                       true teaching.

   The use of imagery illustrates the vast difference  between a  trainer or instructor and a teacher. An instructor tells you what to do: this is exertion- oriented.

A teacher provokes a thought process within the person who is being taught through relating relevant or inspiring images -

this is movement-oriented.

A movement teacher gives a physical education through information that is physically experienced but these experiences are initiated, enhanced, and sustained through verbal and visual imagery taken in through thought.

 

 

 

 

This is the first in a series of postings

inspired by a New York Times article entitled Core Myths and accompanying

Phys Ed column in the "Well" blogs section of The New York Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I believe there is a mythology, distinct from the definition of a myth being a false notion, which through potent imagery, can change how people perceive the core, which is both deep and three dimensional.

 

A very important thing I have realized in relating information about the concept of core to my colleagues and students is relationship. I believe that the muscles do not operate on the spine, nor is the core something comprised solely of muscles. You don't work core muscles to better support the spine; the spine itself is a portion of the core. The muscles and the bones have a relationship to one another that is supportive and which involves depth, direction, and dimension.

The bones of the spine can be directed in and of themselves - they aren't dead weight that has to be put in place or held to be supported.

The bones have an innate buoyancy depending on the body's relationship to the force of gravity which is not meant to be resisted, but to be tapped into and utilized.

 

The skeleton is a movable architectural (even archetypal) structure, but what gets confusing and eventually debilitating are notions of a straight spine, flat abs, and holding.

No part of the spine is meant to be flattened or straightened  - when you flatten any part of the body, you deprive yourself of length and length is something that creates space.

 

People have a faulty notion of the spine being straight in the same way people have a notion of a myth being a lie.

 

 

 

 

Science wants to grant people measurable methods of corrective ways to do things.This betrays self-investigation. Being "told" how to "hold" my spine in place is antithetical to my life experience.

Nothing has changed so much the potentials of the investigation into the depths of my core as reading The Power Of Myth . Of course, Joseph Campbell strains to define myth not as opposed to fact, but as using poetry and metaphor to grant someone an experience that goes beyond something able to be defined by words.  He stated that the new myth makers will write symbolic stories that reconnect man to the planet and to the animals we share the planet with. 

 

Writing in scientific and anatomical terms is anti-myth. Of course in a society which has been conditioned to perceive myth as the opposite of fact, perceiving holding the spine with core muscles would make sense.

 

 

 

In the next Pilates Iconoclast posting: How deepening the femur bones serves to liberate the lumbar spine, and within this liberation you explore the core as a rooting sensation into the legs.

Thanks so much for reading. Questions, comments, augments, arguments welcomed.

                                                                                                                                    Tim

 

Also see Core Support in a Search Engine Society

for what the imaginative and hands-on informative support (here at the studio) can grant you to be able to access the deepest abdominal layer, the transversus abdominis. This is the muscle in question in the "Core Myths" New York Times article in which the author of the article poses,

"Is your ab workout hurting your back," and "Can developing your abs hurt your back?"

After reading the article, see what may answer those questions for you in any of the postings here in: Universal Principles of Movement

from the Category: Core

 

Backbone and Wingspan Universal Principles of Movement

Integrating Fitness, Movement,and Health

Tim Driscoll, Backbone and Wingspan founder and owner and

author of Pilates Iconoclast

is now located on the Upper East Side at Mind Your Body Pilates

1370 Lexington Avenue @ 90th Street

and also at Contour Studio in Bedford Hills

 

Tim can still be reached at 212-647-8878.

 

Backbone and Wingspan: Pilates-Based Movement-Oriented

Manhattan New York City   212.647.8878    Tim Driscoll

 

Core Support in a Search Engine Society

Search Engine Society

We operate within a phenomenon
someone thought to call a
 world wide web 

(world implies a sphere, a global perspective, a fully-realized creation; wide implies expansive, far-reaching, all-encompassing, embracing;
web implies intricacy, being caught-up, captured)

We search ubiquitously from some enormous ephemeral astounding interconnection of information and imagery.

Our lives are influenced in countess subtle incomprehensible ways through this invisible technology driven largely by something someone thought to call metatags:

brilliantly built-in markers devised to make expedient searches for information and products we expect with immediacy.

If you perform an initial unsatisfying search, then you are given an option to perform another one with a label someone thought to call refined.

These are the terms that are tangled with technology

with easily accepted but estranged meanings:

search, refined, history, refresh.

We've lost touch with the refined inward searches for deep meaning accessed through a forgotten image and story based mythology driven by something someone thought of long before metatags.

Metaphors.

*******************************************************************************

In our bodies which house a vast storage of wisdom information, you don't access deep support for the spine by performing something as unrefined and unsustainable and undimensional as pulling in something from the front.

You access an inwardly deepening sustainable and refinable support from connecting first to what is below - you root.

I believe there is a mythology (distinct from the definition of a myth being a false notion)

which through potent imagery can change how people perceive the core, which I believe is inclusive of the entire abdominal structure, the musculature directly connected to the lower spine, the lower spine itself, the entire serpentine spine sensed as a vertical line, the pelvic floor, the three lower chakras........

This world wide web technology has literally flattened our perspectives on our bodies, peering for hours into a flat screen searching, surfing, spending -      we are conditioned to an      outside-of-ourselves experience relieving us of (virtual)ly any            inner depth exploration.

*****************************************************************************

No wonder people think their abs should be flat!

Tell someone the term wrap and they'll most likely think you mean a type of sandwich rather than an encircling ultimately embracing force that literally touches upon our deepest core.

You need a rooting force towards the ground to find a sustainable  suspension of the spine.

Rooting and wrapping go hand in hand as I often put one hand lengthwise under someone's lumbar spine to help direct a rooting force into the stability of the sacrum,

and the other hand width-wise over the abdomen to help the person sense the wrap.

Deep Abdominal Work

There is a great satisfaction in discovering the deepest layer of abdominal muscle that is the key to supporting your spine as well as flattening your belly,

the transverse abdominis.

Accessing the transverse, a deep belt of abdominal muscle that wraps around from the back to the front, you learn to accomplish the most challenging abdominal exercises or movements that demand deep abdominal support with a deep empowering satisfaction and without straining your neck or low back regardless of age or body-type.

 

Traditional Pilates does use a series of visual images to help convey the Pilates principles, but at Backbone and Wingspan you learn to bring it to the next level.

Combining imagery with informative hands-on corrections translates what one may know intellectually into what one experiences in the body.

 Reinforcement of  these images with actual hands-on positioning of each participant's body as he or she progresses through the abdominal work is the difference you get when you study within  Backbone and Wingspan's more all-encompassing methodology and sensitive one-on-one guidance.

 

See Tim's article Fitness and Imagery: Navel to Spine published on a website devoted to providing fitness professionals a platform to express and share methodology, information, and bodily wisdom.

From the Fitelix website About link:

"FitElix, Inc. is developing a web-platform to showcase cool, local fitness studios, clubs, trainers, and the latest research for the World to explore.

We’re not the experts - in fact, the experts are often entirely too busy (being experts) to publicize all of their unique knowledge and happenings. So, we figured we’d do it for them. There is all kinds of cool stuff out there."

 

Call Tim for an appointment or to inquire about his special introductory package for first-time one-on-one clients:

Backbone and Wingspan

212-647-8878 

or email Tim at [email protected]

Tim teaches at Mind Your Body Fitness on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and

at Contour Studio in Bedford Hills.

Call for an appointment to get in touch with the deepest support for your spine!

 

Feel the Feet - Get More Core

 

People who study with me privately also take group Pilates mat classes in other studios, and often relate that in the group classes they have trouble feeling a connection to or the toning of the low, deep abdominals.

 

Of course, it is much easier to feel the upper abs, but getting to the low,deep ones is challenging, and sometimes even seemingly out of reach for them. I believe the core will always seem out of reach, unless you feel your feet, and by that I mean the heels.

 

I always support people with my hands, helping them to deepen the heels down into the table when they are doing deep core and "ab work." 

 

 

 

 

I have found that accessing the deep core involves getting someone to really understand and feel the feet, down, down, down to the ground.

 

Earth to Feet!....

Come in Feet!

Pulling the toes flat back (what we usually think of as "flexing" the foot) tightens the tendons in the front of the ankle diminishing the space in the ankle joint so that there is no flow down.

It is better to soften the toes and give thought to expanding the heel by giving the back of the foot more contact with the surface. As you can see in this photo, my foot is making a little dent in the upholstered surface of the table underneath.

 

 

 

One may also use gravity and imagination to draw the heel out further down from behind the ankle. Gravity and imagination may be what one may have to utilize in a group class that is taught on a thin mat or on a wooden floor.

 

Or use actual earth - or tiny granules of it - 

to feel the feet beneath:  Sandbag 'em !

 

 

 

 

I have found that when I have given the experience to someone of the support of my hands helping them to feel the back of the heel deepen into the table, or the sensation of having weighted bags on the feet to help them utilize more the back of the heel than the front of the ankles, that they can take these sensory experiences into group class and draw upon them imaginatively to create the same stability.

Expansion of the back of the heel gives more access to the sit bone which has alignment with it, and the three hamstrings which are attached to each sit bone,(which is a huge amount of stabilization).

More specifics about this in a subsequent blog post:

Tethering the Hamstrings to the Sits Bones for Relieving Tight Muscles and Developing Full Strength of the Backsides of the Legs

 

 

It is as simple as this: the topside of the toes and the tendons in the front of the ankle relate to everything else in the body that is frontal: the shins, the quads, the hip flexors, none of which can connect you to your core or your deep abdominals.

 

Softening the toes - and thus the tendons attached to those toes -

will assist in releasing the overworked quads and letting go of tight hip flexors, which will subsequently allow you to better access what will support the core: hamstrings, calves, achilles, and heels.

 

Expanding the heel grants release of the calves to connect their force to the springy achilles, which, since we are in the spring season, will be the source of my next blog posting:

The Spring in Your Step Could Be The Achilles

 

Repeat..................

Earth to feet.... Come in Feet!

 

 

Thanks so much for reading. Please comment with any questions or concerns.

- Herald, author of Body Mind & Spine Align

Backbone and Wingspan®

Watch videos about the feet, the back and the spine on the:

Backbone and Wingspan Channel on YouTube

More detailed information about the heels, soles, arches and hamstrings as well as the knees, the hip joints and how the feet directly relate to the spine at:

feetforfitness.com

Information specific to using the feet better for wearing high heels at:

highheelhealing.com

Information about connecting the arms into the back muscles for shoulder strength, tension relief in the neck and relieving lower back pain at:

backboneandwingspan.com