sympathetic/parasympathetic

We know that nerves tell muscles to move bones. But that is just a physical component of the nervous system. There is also an emotional side to the system as well. It is constantly working to maintain harmony in the realm of fear worry and safety. The Fear response plays a large role in our movement and postural capabilities. The main action of this response is flexion, so we return always to the psoas, the body’s main hip flexor. Any time we are involved with the sympathetic nervous system, the psoas will be involved, which is a fine thing as long as the journey into fear is balanced by an engagement of the parasympathetic system.

Here’s an example of a healthy interaction of the sympathetic (excitation)/parasympathetic (relaxation) systems. On a hot summers day you walk outside and your internal body temperature begins to rise. Your sympathetic nervous system notes this changes and instructs your sweat glands to go to work. As you begin to sweat the internal temperature begins to cool. As soon as it reaches the desired temperature the parasympathetic gets involved you stop sweating. This happy interplay is constantly going on in your body.

What concerns us is when something creates an imbalance between these two systems. This imbalance can register emotionally, posturally, energetically- but it will always involve the psoas. And such an imbalance, when it becomes chronic can lead to us getting stuck in the sympathetic system.

Level It

We are trying to learn to level three very important structures in the body. Three main boxes of weight sit above the legs: The pelvis, the rib cage and the head. We teach people that these structures are meant to be level. If and when they are level the deeper functions of the body can and will start to work better. It can be simply stated but it is a complex thing to achieve.

Our muscles all have an ideal length, tone, and home, called the Ideal Resting Length. We reach adulthood with our muscles developed in a certain way but that doesn’t mean they have been built in an optimal way. We set out to change that, developing muscle balance and tone through the whole body. When the above mentioned structures are brought to level, the muscles can begin to adapt to keep them there.

The IT Band

The IT Band, or the ilio-tibial tract, as it is sometimes referred to is a major issue for many people, especially runners and dancers. I'll be posting more on this in the coming months but for today I wanted to share what is for me a new insight. There are so many things in the body that we can accomplish muscularly in an effort to improve our strength, posture, and performance. The more I work with with this special part of the body's anatomy the more clearly I am realizing that it can only be helped be correcting our bony alignment. Only when the legs are in their proper place below the pelvis will it be possible to bring happiness to the IT Band.

In the Beginning

My work with walking began because as a yoga teacher I noticed that people would come into my studio with poor posture and movement patterns. They would do yoga for an hour and a half employing stellar form and alignment, and then leave class only to walk back into all their negative patterns. Something about this wasn’t right and I set about to find a way to help people take yoga off of their mat and into daily life. In doing so I realized that this could work for everyone, even people who did not have an urge to exercise.

It has been my experience that people simply don’t know how they operate. Most clients that come to me are experts in something and could probably talk at length about their given field. But very few could tell me exactly where or how their head is supposed to sit on top of their body. This is amazing to me as your general health has a great deal to do with how your head sits atop your spine.

The understanding of the body’s mechanics is a key component of our ability to change our posture. If you knew that your foot was meant to fall in a specific way and were able to feel that falling that way felt right and seemed to take stress off of your legs you might be willing to do it. There are many ways to learn. Once you know how something works intellectually you will be able to start to change and adapt your patterns immediately. That’s why a general understanding of anatomy is a key part of my walking program and an important tool in the effort to age gracefully.

The Arches of the Pelvis

An arch is a curved structure capable of spanning a space while supporting significant weight. When you have two pillars that fall towards each other and in the middle of those two pillars falls a keystone, we have an arch. The keystone of an arch is a stone or in our case a bone, that is thinner at the bottom than at its top, therefore wedging itself strongly into the pillars.

In the pelvis, there are three functional arches. I should say there are two arches and a buttress. The first arch is the two hip bones with the sacrum as the keystone. The second arch is the two pubic bones with the pubic symphysis as the keystone. Third arch, which is technically a buttress, is the pelvis falling into the two legs. Why it’s called the buttress is because there’s an angle here where the femur turns and the neck leads into the head of the bone

Let’s say we have an arch in space; if I put 20 pounds on that arch, it’s a strong arch. If I put 100 pounds it’s actually a stronger arch. The more weight you put on it the better. But what if I put that weight on it on an awkward angle? If the weight is at the front of the arch, the arch wants to tilt backwards, if the weight is to the back of the arch, the arch wants to tilt forwards. Only when we place the weight right on top of the arch are we going to find that proper distribution of weight.

That is why we need to get our legs under and our head over our pelvis. When the butt is tucked under too much there is no way the weight of the upper body is falling evenly into the arches of the pelvis. The weight falls behind the arches forcing the thighs further forward. When the legs are situated directly under the pelvis as per their design, energy transfers directly through our bones into the earth.

Is Your Head On Straight?

What is your head position right now? Are you looking straight ahead? Is your head turned slightly or tilted so that you are actually looking down at your monitor because the muscles of your neck are short and your head is tilting backwards ever so slightly. In all positions- standing, sitting, walking the head should be level with the ground. More specifically the eye sockets should be level so that you are looking straight ahead.

The position of the head and neck has far reaching affects. I might not be referring to you when I say that the back of the neck tends to shorten and tilt the head up slightly. But as you start to become aware of walking and posture you will see how many people live in this physical reality.

Tilted head syndrome affects so many things. Lets start with the nervous system. By shortening the deep muscles of the upper neck that connect the skull to the spine the nerves that help your body balance excitation and relaxation are impinged. Specifically, the nerves that affect relaxation are prevented from flowing freely. Your sinuses, which have no specific function (except maybe to lighten the weight of the head), are much happier when they are level. The vocal cords are most resonant when the chin is level to the ground. The releasing of the chin allows for a softening of the vocal ligaments, freeing them to resonate clearly. Try it. Listen and try to spot the moment that you go from resonant to nasal. As soon as the head begins to tilt we move into the nasal register and lose the clarity of voice that is available to us. Your sub-occipital muscles, the muscles connecting your head to the spine at the back are the command and control center for the spine. They work with your eyes to give guidance to movement and balance. If they are shortened as a result of this same head position, the relay of information is impeded and the effects move all the way down the spine. A tilted head affects the free flow of breath through the nasal passages.

Through these examples we start to get a clearer picture of why we carry so much tension in the neck, shoulders and lower spine. To reverse this process you must first become aware of it. Spend the next few days try to become acquainted with the position of your head as you sit, stand, and walk. After that the first step is simply to visualize the back of the neck getting longer. This is a long process that starts right now.