Contemporary living offers little demand for unexpected and unusual actions. Bereft of movement, our fascia slowly solidifies into the default position of modern life--chair-sitting. If we were designed to be sedentary, our bodies wouldn’t need 360 joints.
Read MoreToes love having something to do--they love feeling and pushing off from the ground. Happy, useful toes impart lift to your body as they impel your heart forward into the world.
Read MoreContemporary living undervalues body awareness and overrides it most of the time. But could it be that listening to our interior body signals has an evolutionary advantage? If so, we undervalue this capacity to our detriment. We need to practice activating it.
Read MoreWhen you’re feeling self-confident and assertive, there’s an automatic uplift to your chest, spine and neck—your posture automatically organizes itself for the better. But no one feels terrific all the time, right? By teaching yourself the physical sensations that correspond to a good mood, you can use your body-mind connectivity to good advantage. Body awareness helps you cultivate positive outlooks in humdrum situations…
Read MoreAs a Rolfing® practitioner, I've observed that tension in the elbows affects the whole body. Habitual flexion there, however slight, pulls the upper arm forward in its socket, starting a chain reaction that pulls the shoulder blades forward, and the collarbones and chest down, and the neck forward. Elbow tension often corresponds with flexion in the spine just behind the diaphragm, and that interferes with fullness of breath. The postural end result feels, and certainly looks, nothing like the upper crust ladies of Downton…
Read MoreSince I’m not prolific—one every 10 years is all I can manage—it was easy to forget how stressful writing a book can be. I’m organizing the new book in a non-linear way, so I keep reviewing and revising–I want to hold it all in my mind and not repeat myself. This takes time and patience. Despite my efforts to stay present with the process, I experience surges of fear that I’ll never see the last page…
Read MoreMary Bond is a world-renowned movement teacher, an original student of Ida Rolf, accomplished dancer and brings 73 years of wisdom to the discussion of how and why move well. We dive into specific tips on how to develop your felt body sense, how our perception affects our movement and how to break away from a mechanistic mind and body. A true pleasure having the opportunity to have such a wise soul on the show!
Read MoreIf our hunter-gatherer forebears wore simple hide foot coverings or, depending on the weather, went barefoot, wouldn’t shoes that are barely there be good for us too?
Well, not necessarily, because “we’ve paved paradise and put in a parking lot.” We walk on flat, smooth, unyielding surfaces, whereas our forebears walked on grass, dirt, sand and gravel…
We rarely think of our feet as the amazing complex multi-boned platforms that allow us to walk upright. And in fact— they are sensory organs with a deep affinity for balance, movement and listening to the environment. This is an encore interview with our guest Mary Bond, who joined us on EAP020 for a discussion of Presence and Movement. We’d planned to talk about feet, but got delightfully sidetracked with breathing and how that opens the spine. Today’s show not only takes deep look into foot function and movement, but also touches on neuroplasticity and how expanding the movement in our feet not only helps with balance and comfort, but expands the neural maps of the body in the brain.
Read MoreLooking at computer screens creates a habit of narrowed vision. This use of the eyes draws the neck forward, stiffening it, and interfering with overall body balance. Mary Bond, author of “The New Rules of Posture,” suggests this exploration to heighten body awareness and improve alignment. Cultivate Two Way Vision: Stand comfortably. Now focus your eyes tightly on an object in front you…
Read MoreIf you’re thinking that feet are my favorite subject, you could be right. I definitely think that adaptable, responsive feet are a vital component in healthy posture. By adaptable, I mean feet that are able to move--not just to take steps, but also to spread and clasp, to wriggle and writhe and bounce. They can sense the ground and respond to it…
Read MoreI often observe a particular pattern of tension in nurses, mothers, and caregivers in general. It’s a pattern of being ready to help at a moment’s notice. If you have this habit, you’re likely to complain about neck and shoulder discomfort. The source, however, may be lower down in your arms…
Read More“Your posture is determined by the moment before you move…”
How often do we think of posture as something that is fixed, static, out of awareness and somehow outside of us? In this show Mary Bond explores with us subtle motions in the body that can lead to a vast opening of awareness, movement and ease. Listen in as we explore breath, the gentle spacious moment that proceeds movement and a curious ease that comes from dropping our “efforting.” While many of our interviews make for good company while driving or otherwise engaging in activities of the world, today’s episode invites a turn inward. Give yourself some quiet unfettered space to engage it.
Read MoreFinding the sensation of healthy support from his feet made a lovely difference in Eric’s life. In the accompanying video this musician/songwriter shows how his musical expression changes depending on how he lives in his feet.
Your body can move around in the world without your being fully present in it. You may have good body awareness in general but lack presence in specific parts or areas of your body. In the video, Eric speaks about “finding his cuboid.” He’s referring to finding awareness in a specific region of the foot that activates better organization of the entire lower extremity. For more about foot organization, see Know Your Feet, my online workshop.
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