Tensegrity in Daily Life

/ New Posture Workshops/

Tensegritoy or “Squish toy” being squished.

Tensegrity is HOT! 

From biology to architecture, from the microfibrils of fascia to furniture, bridges and Lego toys, the concept of tensional integrity as an organizing principle of anything physical—even the universe itself —is inciting curiosity, creativity and intense conversations among fascia researchers, engineers and structural bodyworkers. 

But let’s back up a minute and peek at Wikipedia: “Tensegrity, tensional integrity or floating compression is a structural principle based on a system of isolated components under compression inside a network of continuous tension, and arranged in such a way that the compressed members (usually bars or struts) do not touch each other while the prestressed tensioned members (usually cables or tendons) delineate the system spatially.”

Guess what?  That’s YOU.  Your very body is a floating compression system.

Your bones float within a network of tensioned soft tissue.

But too often your squish-toy-self gets squished. 

  • Because you sit curled up on the couch working at your laptop.

  • Because hurrying to meet deadlines, even imaginary ones, makes your body smaller.

  • Because it’s not cool to spread your attention beyond your own periphery in a public space, like a subway. (Whaddya looking at?)

  • Because, even though you work out, you do it while focused on some screen or other. Tight focus tightens you.

Modern living with its conveniences has a way of compacting our bodies and confining our perceptions to narrow points of view.

But here’s the thing, the more expanded our perceptions, the more spacious our body tensegrities become.  Remember the last time you watched a sunset from the ocean shore or stood on a mountain and took in a vast vista. Remember with your senses. You took a big breath. You might even have spread your arms wide to embrace the sky.  At that moment your compression members (bones) were floating more freely than usual within your tensioned network (soft tissues).  Felt good, right?

All you did was tune into the space around your body, to the surroundings of your being. And your body felt better. When you purposefully take this further, your spatial awareness can improve the way you move.  Your “perceptual tensegrity” can improve your balance when you practice yoga.  It can activate your core in Pilates. It can keep you from tripping when you walk down the street.  Awareness of space outside the body creates more space inside the body. One result is that your muscles and fascia are then arrayed to best advantage for efficient coordination.

Discovering the same thing over and over…

I’ve been talking and writing about perceptual tensegrity for years.  My book, Your Body Mandala, discusses it at length and attempts to teach you to feel it. Yet I rediscover new manifestations all the time. A few weeks ago, I was working out with a speed bag at my boxing gym.  It’s like a tetherball suspended on elastic rope between floor and ceiling.  You hit it with various jab and punch combinations—or try to.  The thing moves unpredictably so it can be a frustrating drill.  My arms have never been particularly strong and these days the left one is especially slow to respond. The more the ball bounced around, the harder I tried, tightening my focus on the damned thing, and in the process scrunching up my tensional integrity..

And then I REMEMBERED to find the space to the sides and back of my body.  To know the presence of that space.

Okay, I tell myself. Now keep jabbing the ball but sustain your spatial awareness. 

It was as someone turned on the coordination switch in my arms.  Pop, pop, pop—solidly hitting it every time, faster and faster.  And later, weaving and slipping, hooks and sidekicks—everything became so much easier that I had to be careful not to over train.

This was such a notable experience for me that I’ve renewed my intention to bring more spatial awareness into my daily doings.  Like

  • When my stubborn cat makes me so mad I could scream. I notice that screaming compacts my joints.

  • When I’m multi-tasking, juggling foci from task to task and letting the tasks become more vivid than my body as I do them.

  • When the person on the other end of the phone has put me on hold. I’ve merged with a hoped-for outcome, my disembodiment masquerading as patience.

  • When I’m shopping in Trader Joe’s, my neighborliness is curtailed by a face mask.

Opening my consciousness to the space around me automatically offers options for experiencing each of these moments with greater ease and efficiency.  Like it did when I was hitting the speed bag.

 

Thanks for reading and for sharing.

© 2021 Mary Bond