Rethinking Effort

An intense societal pressure to perform drives our North American culture: bigger, better, faster, higher, more, again and again and again. There is little room for error and no room for rest. With all kinds of electronic gadgetry, people are potentially available to others every hour of every day. Individuals are pressured to be experts in their work and finances, to be fantastic parents raising fantastic kids and to be actively involved in their local schools and communities. People schedule an impossible number of activities into every day and when a free moment appears, more things to do quickly fill the void.

The pressure to perform has squeezed its way into our understanding of physical health as well. The picture of physical health fed to the public over the last several decades speaks mostly to measurable cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength and stamina, combined with balanced caloric intake. Over the years, a healthy active lifestyle has been largely replaced by the repetitive flexing of isolated muscles in a gym or fitness class setting. For those who carve the time out of their busy schedules, most will attack their physical play time with a particular intensity - wanting to sweat, burn calories, fatigue the muscles and generally flex, flex, flex to a fit and healthful state in as little time as possible.

Traditional fitness plays an important role in the sphere of overall health. However, if the equation for physical health is reduced to nothing more than energy burned always being more than or equal to energy consumed, then the bigger picture is lost. What goes on in the rest of the body when we attempt to burn the most possible energy in the shortest amount of time - time and time again? Are we creating effort where there could be ease, tension where there could be flow? Consider this: how many people do you know who regularly get less than 8 hours sleep a night, or suffer from restless sleep or insomnia? How many people do you know who suffer from frequent joint pain and stiffness? How many people do you know who just cannot seem to stick to an exercise routine? Can our approach to physical activity have a part in any of these questions? Perhaps a more holistic view of fitness, taking the relationships between all of the body's systems into account could offer us more support for our whole lives.

Many of the activities people choose in their pursuit of fitness, and the way they attack these activities can potentially promote a sympathetic (fight or flight) response in the body. Combined with other stresses in life, it seems possible that working out this way on a regular basis could contribute to a state of sympathetic stress over time. Under stress, the body loses resiliency (more lost resiliency than can be explained away by the aging process). Musculoskeletal dysfunction and injuries, immune system depletion, hormone imbalances, digestive stress - all of these are indicators that the body is regularly working beyond its capablity as a whole, and moving into stress. There is mainstream medical evidence that suggests that chronic sympathetic overload can have serious consequences for every system in the body. What can we do about this? Good nutrition and adequate rest certainly play a part. I also believe that training in a physically mindful way can help us embody our experiences for more health benefits over the long run.

Imagine a world where it is possible to create strength, stamina and agility without the kind of willful effort many people are used to imposing on themselves. I am not talking about the fabled fluff of infomercials: "Ideal fitness in 3 minutes a day!" No. That's still just fluff. It is true that in order to grow (stronger, smarter, more flexible) we have to ask more of ourselves than we are currently able to handle easily. I am simply suggesting that it is possible to redirect our sense of effort into working in a more mindful and sensory way. To begin to find "the zone" more often in our physical experience - that integrated state where everything seems to move smoothly. It is still possible to work on the edge, in order to challenge oneself, without bracing the body and forcing oneself onward. It simply takes attention, and a sometimes little more time. With time though, it feels BETTER.

I believe that the foundation for a more holistic approach is breath and a true connection to the body's core (not just strong abdominals!). Through those connections, it is possible to release tension in the body that is not serving a purpose. Free up inefficiently expended energy to allow yourself to move more easily, able to take on a new/different load. Play with the idea of softening your strength and strengthening your softness. Dissolve tension and muscle density into flow. When you want to bear down to find strength, challenge yourself to resist compression and reach out instead! You'll find a different kind of intensity to satisfy you. Train the body in a balanced way - not too much of any one thing. Don't forget to play! Establish relationships to the world around you - physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. Movement practices like yoga and Pilates can offer a gateway to working the body in this way, but it is possible to find even while training for a marathon, playing hockey or playing with the kids. Perhaps, if we can begin to adopt this approach in our own bodies, we can start to slow down and find balance in the rest of our lives as well.

My challenge to you for the New Year is this: look for ways to balance effort, intensity and drive with mindfulness and sensory awarenss in your physical pusuits. Be present in your body and observe what is going on in the moment. Make choices regarding your training based on what is really there, not what you wish was there. Feel your edges. Are you hanging on by the skin of your teeth and the sheer force of your will? Mental toughness is one thing. Integrate it with physical smarts and your body will love you for life. You may find that in relating better to your own body, the rest of your world is a little easier to deal with too!

"Core Stability" - What Does It Mean and How Do I Get It?

Core stability. These words are tossed around easily these days: common "jock talk." But what do the words really mean? A strong core enables a stable pelvis and spine. Yes.... But what is the core? Strong abdominal muscles? I have worked with many wonderful people who have beautiful, "ripped" and rock hard abdominals, but who have back pain due to a lack of spinal/pelvic stability. Okay - perhaps core training involves more than simply strengthening abdominal muscles. How do the pelvic floor muscles fit in? The respiratory diaphragm? The back muscles? Simply "tightening those abs" may not be enough...

In most fitness and medical circles, the body's inner core musculature is commonly accepted to be made up of four structures: the respiratory diaphragm, the transversus abdominus, the lumbar multifidus and the muscles of the pelvic floor. When this inner unit is strong, the pelvis and spine are generally fairly well supported. This is a good thing; but is it the whole story? I believe not. In my experience, coordination and balance are the key. Strengthening the inner unit within an inch of its life may actually be a hindrance, if it is not strengthened relative to the actual load/movement needs of that particular body. As much as external bracing can hinder mobility in a body with a weak core, bracing of the inner unit can immobilize deep structures leading to dysfunction of a different kind. The trick is to find the balance of strength and mobility that creates the least amount of stress on the body as a whole.

In her article, "Recent Advances in the Assessment and Treatment of the Sacroiliac Joint - Stability &The Role of Motor Control," physiotherapist Dianne Lee describes joint stability as: "The effective accommodation of the joints to each specific load demand through an adequately tailored joint compression, as a function of gravity, coordinated muscle and ligament forces, to produce effective joint reaction forces under changing conditions. Optimal stability is achieved when the balance between peformance (the level of stability) and effort is optimized to economize the use of energy. Non-optimal joint stability implicates altered laxity/stiffness values leading to increased joint translations resulting in a new joint position and/or exaggerated/reduced joint compression, with a disturbed performance/effort ratio." (Vleeming, A. , Albert HB, van der Helm FCT, Lee, D, Ostgaard HC, Stuge B and Struresson, B)

Based on this definition of joint stability, I think that any exercise program with a goal to create core stability must include the following:

• education of the client as to the specific components of the inner unit and its relationship to other structures, increasing both intellectual and felt-sense awareness;
• identification of client's current stabilizing strategies, and a deconstruction of inefficent patterning;
• strengthening, coordination and well-timed activation of specific muscle groups, in relation to each other, in various movements, leading to ease of motion in the WHOLE body.

The really interesting part about creating this kind of training program is that it is not a linear process. The pace of each client's progress will be different as each one encounters his/her own challenges to awareness, balance and strength. One cannot safely deconstruct inefficient postural/movement patterning until the client has something better to take its place. Helping someone to find their way to real core stability is an exciting dance where the persistent and curious usually find their way. There is no instant fix... just an intriguing process whereby the body becomes better and better equipped to handle itself in the world.

Come Home...To Your Body.

As we head into an often busy and stressful holiday season, with our world in turmoil and our lives packed with stuff, here are some words to keep in mind...

"To come to our senses, both literally and metaphorically, on the big scale as a species and on the smaller scale as a single human being, we first need to return to the body, the locus within which the biological senses and what we call the mind arise. The body is a place we mostly ignore; we may barely inhabit it at all, never mind attending to and honoring it. Our own body is, strangely, a landscape that is simultaneously both familiar and remarkably unfamiliar to us."

Jon Kabat-Zinn

"Coming To Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the WorldThrough Mindfulness"

Feel your way home....

Why do we move?

"There is nothing like heading out into the forest for a run at the end of the day." I've heard these words from so many people, and I've said them myself. You head out into the woods where it's quiet, except for the rustling of the trees and the rushing of the water through the creeks and rivers. There seems to be a blanket of calm all around you... and you run.

Your breath full in your lungs, your joints finding their way through the kinks of the day until they feel fluid and lubricated. You feel your muscles working hard as you hit the uphills, running free on the downhills. You hit your stride and with it comes a kind of peace. Your body, your heart, your mind and your environment. You push yourself, just enough. For this moment, there is nothing else. Just you. Moving. Breathing. Being. Now.

"When I don't dance, the rest of my life just doesn't work as well." This one's mine, although I'm sure I share it with countless others. You head into the studio... spend some time just feeling your body as you warm up. What are the possibilities for today? You coax the body into movement, encouraging the more reluctant bits to join in. Gradually, the body comes to life from the inside out. You move through class, bringing all the pieces into cooperation with each other until it seems possible to fly. You move with the other dancers in the room, all of you breathing, sweating, reaching for more. The incomparable ecstasy of a really deep stretch, the exhilaration of a new lift and the strange sensation of moving in contact with someone you haven't danced with before... that foreign intimacy that is at once delicious and terrifying.

You dance. And whether it's a good day or a not so good one, you are there, doing your thing. You can pour your heart and soul into that dance, feeding it with everything you've got. You lose yourself in the movement ... no past, no future just that moment of expression. And come out feeling transformed.

Pure, focussed, physical intensity. Invested with every ounce of heart and spirit. Whether you're dancing, running, skiing, riding... it doesn't matter. When you're really moving, there is no time for trivialities - your movement demands your undivided attention. Right. Now. The air you breathe takes on a whole new priority. You notice every sensation, and you relate to your world in a different way than you do the rest of the time. And, for that moment, nothing is more important. Moving, breathing, living. Now.

I don't know about you... but THAT is why I move.

"Recto Talo Stare" : The Ankles and Feet as Gateways to Fluid Movement

Over time, anyone seriously involved in movement has likely investigated core stability, postural alignment, breath support, and neuromuscular coordination to one degree or another. Balanced integration of these elements can introduce fluidity and ease into movement where overt muscular effort might otherwise be present. In recent years "core training" has become a trendy buzz-word in the fitness industry. However, "core training" does not necessarily translate to fluid, organic movement. Often, core stability and postural alignment are addressed only in relation to the body's trunk; with little concern for how that body will relate to its environment once it moves to standing. All the best training in the world will fall flat if there is dysfunctional patterning in the transfer of weight from the thorax through the legs and feet to the ground. Since the feet, in a standing position, are the body's contact with the ground, and since the ankles transmit weight to the feet from above - let's have a look at possibilities for optimizing the relationship between these important structures.

The efficient transfer of weight from legs to feet hinges, quite literally, on a bone called the talus. The talus articulates with the tibia and fibula (lower leg bones), as well as with the calcaneus (heel bone) and the navicular bone in the foot. It acts simultaneously as a hinge joint with the tibia and fibula and as the keystone for the longitudinal arch of the foot. Interestingly enough, even with its dual functions and responsibilities, the talus has no muscular insertions directly upon it. Instead, it is supported by ligaments and moved by the structures around it. Weight descending from above must be placed properly on a well-aligned talus. From there, the muscles of the lower legs which have attachments on the bottoms of the feet and the muscles in the arches of the feet themselves can participate as needed for stability and propulsion. In order for the talus to adequately perform its role(s), balanced functioning of its surrounding structures is essential.

One of these structures is a muscular "sling" which guides weight from the lower leg onto the talus, helps to support the arches of the feet and participates in plantar flexion of the foot. The peroneus longus muscle makes up the lateral aspect of this sling. The peroneus longus originates from the upper lateral shaft of the fibula. Its tendon then travels down the outside of the leg, under the lateral malleolus, under the foot to the cuboid bone and across the sole of the foot to the first cuneiform and inserts on the base of the first metatarsal. With its journey from outside to inside, the peroneus longus connects both the lateral (weight bearing) and medial (propulsion) sides of the feet to the lateral sides of the body.

The inner component of the sling is made up of the tibialis posterior. The deepest muscle in the calf, the tibialis posterior arises from the upper back of the shafts of the tibia and fibula, and from the dense membrane between those two bones. It drops down the inner back of the leg where its tendon runs behind the medial malleolus and inserts under the foot on the navicular bone, with minor attachments to the cuboid, lateral cuneiform and metatarsals II - IV.

Now that we have identified this sling... What do we do with it? Let's look at some fundamental movement, and examine how we might use this pair of muscles. The ankle joint (tibia, fibula and talus) is a hinge joint. Its movements are described as plantar flexion (extension) and dorsi flexion (top of the foot toward the shin). Since both the peroneus and the tibialis posterior are involved in plantar flexion of the foot, we'll start our investigation there.

In plantar flexion, the narrow part of the talus moves into the "pincer" created by the ends of the tibia and fibula; meaning that the ankle will be somewhat unstable through this range. The ankle is comparatively stable in dorsi flexion, since that movement causes the widest part of the talus to move into the pincer. Given that structural reality, is there a way to increase stability in plantar flexion? The gastrocnemius and the soleus (major calf muscles) are considered primary muscles in plantar flexion. They are certainly important - but they are not enough. The achilles tendon, which attaches these muscles to the heel, inserts only on the calcaneus. Plantar flexion initiated purely from this perspective can leave the foot vulnerable to inversion and adduction due to the shape and movement of the joint created by the talus and the calcaneus. However, when the support of the peroneal/tibialis posterior sling is added, the stability for the ankle in plantar flexion is dramatically increased. The sling participates in modifying the shape of the pincer - tightening its two sides and effectively solidifying its hold on the talus in plantar flexion. Through their attachments on the plantar foot, the sling muscles also tend to support the smaller bones of the longitudinal arch, and the mid-foot, improving the ability of the feet to absorb shock and transfer weight smoothly.

Try this!:

Sit upright on a chair, legs hip width apart, feet flat on the floor. Feel the sitz bones reaching into the ground as the crown of the head lengthens toward the sky. Empty the legs. Open the soles of the feet into the ground, feeling the contact points at the heel, and under the 1st and 5th metatarsals. Maintaining the contact points on the soles of the feet, visualize the sling much like a stirrup; supporting under the arch of the foot, with muscles pulling up on the inside and outside of the calf.

Feel the balls of the feet gently spread out on the floor as the sling lifts a hanging heel off the ground. The thighs will continue to feel empty, and you may feel that as you lift the slings, the sitz bones drop deeper toward the ground. When lowering the heel back to the floor, control its descent using the same sling muscles, and your connection through the feet to the ground. You may notice that when you move the ankle in this way, the mid-foot becomes more stable.

The trick now is to take this new perspective into weight bearing movement. This image is very helpful in the context of Pilates legwork on the Reformer. Not only can this strengthen the feet and lower legs, in my experience it is useful in aligning the legs as a whole. The tibialis posterior shares a myofascial track with the adductors of the legs. Through this relationship, the whole inner leg is activated, and the medial knee tends to find support without having to focus specifically on the medial vasti muscles. As the whole inner leg is activated, in length, an intriguing influence is exerted on the body's core through the continuation of the "deep front line" myofascial track into the pelvic floor and beyond. I have observed in my own practise that people are much less likely to hyperextend the knees when working with this focus.

Athletes can take the classic calf stretch and rise (standing with toes on a stair, heels stretching down, pressing through feet to rise up) and work with the same focus. Taken into standing, the body seems to balance itself more easily over the feet. Taking this focus into gait can facilitate greater hamstring activation and a better proprioceptive connection with the earth. So... Maybe those Romans had it right. "Recto Talo Stare" - Stand tall on your talus. You'll find greater ease of motion, and a stronger connection to your core in gait.

Pilates Mat Classes

Tuesday, January 10, 2006 - Tuesday, March 14, 2006

7:15 - 8:15 pm; 8:15 - 9:15 pm

A series of one-hour classes in core fundamentals and Pilates mat basics with instructor Susannah Steers. The Pilates method works to organize muscle systems in the body to support and move the bones easily and efficiently. Working to develop a base of dynamic stability, these classes will enhance participants' understanding of postural alignment, breath support and fluid movement. Concentration on the body's core strength will facilitate spinal support and mobility, and breath will be used to nourish movement. For more information, or to register, contact Bonsor Recreation Centre.

Bonsor Recreation Centre

6550 Bonsor Avenue

Burnaby, BC

V5H 3G4

(604) 439-1860

Please note that while Pilates can be an important tool in managing chronic pain and rehabilitating injury and dysfunction, these mat classes are not suitable for anyone suffering from spinal disc problems, osteoporosis, whiplash, concussion or other conditions affecting the spine/head. For best results, people dealing with these kinds of structural issues should begin their Pilates experience with one-on-one training.