Psoas Power

Psoas Power

In my DVD, I speak several times about the importance of propelling the body forward with the back leg and foot, allowing toe-off to be complete. It’s common, in places where space is at a premium (e.g. crowded sidewalks, corridors between work cubicles, small kitchens) for us to pull ourselves forward with the leg that swings forward, rather than propelling our bodies forward from the back leg. When the body is drawn forward from the forward heel, the hamstring muscles don’t complete their potential for movement which is to extend the hip enough to take the leg behind the body.  When the hip doesn’t fully extend, the hamstrings are robbed of the opportunity to let go during the swing phase of the walk.  This is the scenario of perpetually tight hamstrings…
 

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Your Posture's Event Horizon

Your Posture's Event Horizon

Posted below is Pack Matthews’ TEDx talk.  He talks about the health offascia, the “sitting is the new smoking” research, and the research linking longevity to one’s ability to sit and rise from the floor without using hands or knees–and gives a great demo of this! Pack is the inventor of the Soul Seat™, a great option for people whose work requires that they sit all day.  The design invites you to squirm and stretch while you sit. I’m putting one on my next letter to Santa!

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More About Fascia

More About Fascia

Here’s an amazingly well-produced television story about the latest research on fascia.  Robert Schleip is in it and Rolfing is well represented.  The graphics are incredible–you really get a sense of the fascia living inside you and a sense of awe for its role in your life.  The video is in German, but the subtitles are clear…

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Fluff Your Fascia

Fluff Your Fascia

In previous posts, I’ve written about re-framing our fitness regimes to target fascial conditioning.  I haven’t meant to imply that stretching, strength-building or cardio approaches to fitness are not worthwhile, but rather to emphasize that the type of movement that specifically restores dehydrated tendon and other tight regions of fascia requires a specific approach. Fascia needs to stretch and rebound—to bounce; that’s what keeps it juicy and healthy…

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Stop Chasing Pain Interview

Stop Chasing Pain Interview

Here's the podcast conversation I had with Dr. Perry Nickelson of stopchasingpain.com.  What a congenial host and interviewer!  I really enjoyed speaking with him and felt free to go off on tangents, which seems to be my way of attempting to paint the whole picture…

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Fascia: Your Natural Posturizer

Fascia: Your Natural Posturizer

You may have gathered that I like Pilates, yoga and dancing for my personal fitness and posture maintenance. But here’s the thing–both yoga and Pilates train muscle tone and muscle flexibility, but don’t directly address the fascial system.  Scientists have only recently become interested in fascia, so there’s much learn about keeping this pervasive part of our bodies healthy and resilient enough to last a lifetime…

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Dancing Fascia

Dancing Fascia

The idea for this post came to me while I was dancing. It also grew out of a conversation I’d had a few hours earlier with one of my spiritual mentors, Dunya, about a workshop given by Robert Schleip that I had recently attended. Robert is one of the foremost researchers on the nature of fascia…

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