Two things...

Hold yourself up in a pushup (or plank) position and lift up each hand or foot in turn. Turn over so you are facing the sky by threading one leg underneath the other and (slowly) bringing the opposite hand over the body to the ground. Don't allow the body to sag or lift in the middle too much - try to keep the back and hips in a straight line.
 

Lie down and lift the body using only two points of contact with the ground. The further apart the points of contact are, the more strength will be required (and developed). You can always cheat by putting one foot (or hand) on top of the other, or brace one arm on a leg or the other arm.



Smile...

Breathe, Move and Relax

Tim..

Flow finding for Humans

Lie on the floor and try to move each limb as far as you can away from your body. When you reach the limit of each movement, try to return by a different path than the one you took to reach that limit. Try to find new movements each time - and try starting from face up, face down and on each side.

Remember to breathe, and play with the movements that are sticky or tight as well as those that are supple and loose - don't strain or jerk, and don't hurt yourself.

Smile.

You can always apply more load to your tissues by raising one or more parts of your body off the floor.

Lie down and raise the body so that only one part of the body (usually the buttocks are easiest to begin with) remains in contact with the ground and the rest of the body is raised at least a little bit. Slowly move so that a different part of the body makes contact with the ground and the original part is raised instead. A simple way to begin exploring this idea is to make a circle all the way around the body in one direction and then the other.  Cheat as much as is necessary - assist yourself to do the job, but do it honestly. Try to challenge yourself to practise the work cleanly and recognise when you're cheating because you are being lazy rather than cheating to be capable of doing the work.

Remember to breathe - remember to smile and as always- don't hurt yourself.

Tim..

Waking up
I don't know about you, but I don't like my alarm much when it goes off in the morning. It's not its fault - I have the rather excellent piano intro from Moscow Art Trio's 'His 33 Years In the Village of Karacharovo' as my alarm sound, it always makes me smile. I hear that some people out there are full of vim and vigour first thing in the morning - I am just not one of them. Here is a practice that helps me to get things rolling in the space of time between the f@#king alarm going off and when I have to get up…
First thing, just lie there breathing for a little bit. It's early, sleep is hard work, it takes time to recover. Feel for any particular areas of tension where maybe the body was squished during the night, maybe you did too many (or not enough) pushups the day before, maybe you just slept funny (or maybe you stayed up too late because of unmentionable extra-curricular activities).

Remembering to continue breathing, start to move just a little bit, bring some ease and relaxation to any of those tight areas you just noticed. After a minute or two, you can move on to something that resembles stretching. You know that first big yawn of the day? That's there to give you some impetus to move, and breathe, and relax. Have a nice big yawn, get some air down into the parts of the lungs that are still asleep. Stretch out the arms, maybe wriggle the hips around a little to ease into the lower back, maybe roll the ankles around a bit… Keep breathing… 

Most of us like to rub the sleep out of the eyes and this is a good thing to do about now. In fact, the same idea applies to the rest of the body, too - particularly any areas that are still a bit tight or sore after the breathing and moving. Give the face and head some attention, remembering there is skin under where your hair is. it's particularly good to also play with the ears a bit - pinch them, rub them, pull on them, wiggle them around some… If you can reach, it's great to wake up the skin all over the body by doing the same all over - rub, tap, pinch or just touch in some way all of the skin you can get your hands on.

(Especially if you're not alone?)

Now that even the skin is awake, it's good to get ready to get up. Russian health practice teaches that the accumulated stress of years of 'cold starts' damages the body and this can be avoided if you take the time to wake up as described above before you get up. The last and possibly most important step is very simple, and very effective. I often ask my patients to use this practice when they get up after an acupuncture or bodywork treatment, because it helps with the adaptive stress of going back to the 'real world' after being nice and relaxed.

Breathe comfortably and naturally, then hold one of these normal, natural breaths and hold it for as long as you can -no gulping for extra air, no need to take a huge breath, no need even to look at a clock or anything like that. Just a normal breath, and keep hold of it. No need to even count - in fact, it's better not to try and 'break a record' or compete for time - just take one breath and keep it until you're actually done with it.

You may notice that you feel like you want to move, or pull in some extra air - or even, let some out. Or give up altogether - remember, character is revealed when no-one is watching. The 'uncomfortable' phase of this one held breath is the important part. The uncomfortable phase here is the part that changes the body and psyche the most, and the longer you can enjoy one held breath, the more positive change you get out of it.  If you feel a panicky or truly unpleasant sensation, or the world starts turning black from the bottom up, smile and move more slowly. Of all the ways to cheat here, the least bad is to let a little air out.  If you do manage to pass out, you'll start breathing again when you're unconscious - and you're already lying down…

When you need to, let go of that breath and take a few more to get back to easy, natural breaths. Then-

Get up. Remember to lead the movement with the breath. The breath should start slightly before the movement, and the movement should finish a little before the breath does.

Now you're awake…
And standing up… Go eat something and get ready for the day.

As always, don't hurt yourself -  if you have some kind of lung or heart trouble that means you shouldn't hold your breath - Don't. Remember to relax and smile…



Tim..

Fingers and Toes...

Thread your fingers through the gaps between your toes and wriggle your toes around. First wrestle fingers against toes so that fingers win, then toes against fingers so the toes win. 

Play with the sensitivity and strength of individual parts of the hands and feet, and how they change the practice.

Feel for any pulses between the contacts of hands and feet.

Smile -

Basic Sotai exercise #1

Sotai is a system of bodywork developed in Japan by Keizo Hashimoto, which is kind of like 'Japanese Energetic Physiotherapy'. The goal of this work is to find the body's natural, balanced and comfortable position and use.


The Practice:

Without shoes on and preferably barefoot (or in toe socks), kneel on the floor and raise the body a little so you can switch from resting on the tops of the feet (the insteps) to resting on the balls of the feet and the toes. Spread the toes a little - cheat if you have to and use your hand to spread the toes...

Once in position, rest the 'sitting bones' (ischial tuberosities) in your bum on your heels and relax for a second. Run your awareness over the body to locate and loosen any tight areas or muscles.

Then,  exhale (or inhale) and rock the hips slowly to one side and back to the centre on the next inhale (or exhale). Use natural breathing, not too slow and not too fast- the breath should both lead and contain the movement (start the breath a little before and finish a little after moving). Once back to the centre, switch to the other side.

Continue the breathing and rocking for a minute or so, before relaxing and giving the feet a little massage.

This is pretty much the only case where 'if it hurts, it means you need to do it more'. I find that this practice strengthens the feet and supports their function, and is immensely helpful for back problems (particularly the lower back) - it also seems to have a kind of 'warm-up' effect, preparing the body for activity.

As always, don't hurt yourself - if something feels wrong when you practise this practice, come and ask for some advice, and I'll be happy to advise... (Remember, English is a stupid language that makes no sense...)

One or two minutes a day (morning and night if you think of it) makes a huge difference - eventually you'll probably get all the toes on the floor in this practice, which is a nice sign of progress...

When it hurts - Smile...

Enjoy,
Tim..

Turkish Get Ups

This is one of the simplest, yet most complex resistance exercises that a person can do. I recommend using different weights to provide the resistance - if you have some injuries or problems to deal with, use a light weight (in the order of 3-5 kilos) - if you want to build strength and condition your body more strongly, use a weight of about 16 kilos for blokes, 8-12 kilos for girls. I've seen it done with a 75 pound weight, held vertically above the hand, but that's a long-term commitment...


Simplest exercises using the whole body are best, and this is one of the kings of the category.


Stand and hold the weight above your head in one hand with the arm fully extended.
Start breathing (in or out) and slowly lie down, keeping the weight above your head and the arm fully extended.
Then get up, keeping the weight above the head and the arm fully extended and continuing to breathe.


That's it.


The breath should lead the movement, and contain the movement. This means that the breath begins before the movement starts and finishes after the movement finishes. Nothing should make any noise when it touches the ground. This will ensure that you don't jar or bruise yourself on the floor.




There's a concept in Russian conditioning that there are always many ways of using the same simple exercise.

In the beginning and to build health, use your muscles.

As you continue, reduce the muscle and start relying more on the connective tissue and the breath.

To learn efficiency and effectiveness, use more breath and your bones to hold you up until there is only breath and bone left in the movement- your muscles will fail, but your bones and your breath are always there.

Working really, really slowly (make an exercise last a minute- 30 breaths up and 30 down) brings emotional and psychological factors into play very, very quickly, and builds strength and a healthy humility. 


Some ideas for variations:
Get down and up in one breath (out on the way down and in on the way up or the reverse)
Get up and down on only one inhale or exhale
Get down, switch hands and get up
Five breaths down, five breaths up
Try not to use any muscles at all on the way down (and up)

Have fun and remember to smile.

The 49

This is an exercise I have adapted somewhat as an adjunct to (and compensation for) Iron Body/Iron Palm and grip strength training from the martial arts.  I have found it to be really great for building wrist and hand strength and mobility, as well as rehabilitating the body after wrist/hand injuries or 'pre-habilitating' the body so it is less pre-disposed to being prone to injury in these areas in the first place.

I was taught 'The 49' as basically the same movement - a forceful 'flicking' of the fingers from a loose fist out to fully extended and spread apart (place your hand on a table and move the fingers as far apart as they will go without lifting them off the table to see the end position), repeated 7 times in 7 positions.

Slowly and loosely shake the hands and wrists to loosen them up and prepare them for working before you begin.

1- arms in front and bent (forearms parallel to the floor)
2- arms above head straight (perpendicular to the floor or slightly in front of the head)
3- arms behind body straight (wherever you can get to)
4- arms down at sides straight (I think this is easy enough)
5- arms out to the sides straight (level with the shoulders)
6-  one arm up, one down
7- the other arm up, the other other arm down

Then do some slow loose shaking of the hands and wrists to loosen up again and spread the synovial fluid around in the joints and lubricate the tendons and ligaments. The whole sequence takes about a minute.

This can be done statically (holding the arms in one position for the 7 flicks) or more dynamically (arms reaching their final position as described at the same moment as the full extension of the fingers). It is nice to start with the static version, then move into more dynamic work.

It doesn't really matter where exactly the arms are placed for this exercise, 'The 49' is more just  a mnemonic device so you remember to do 'a big bunch' of the flicking movements under slightly different conditions of load on the arms, circulatory stress, range of motion and to ensure a good balance of different stresses.

What is important is to fully extend the fingers away from each other on every flick.



Enjoy the movement, breathe, relax, smile and feel free to come up with your own variations (just make sure the fingers go all the way apart on each flick). Once a day is plenty for this exercise and you will most likely feel some fatigue and a little effort in the forearms from doing it, but as always when you do this or any exercise I describe, if something hurts, stop doing it.

Does Blogspot's email posting work?

Let's try it and see...


and- it does work!

Now I can blag from wherever I happen to be.

As long as the mobile signal is good...

Square Breathing

Use a rhythm, either external (like your footsteps while walking) or internal (like your heartbeat) to keep time and breathe naturally for a little while - take only as much air as you need and try to breathe out a little more than you breathe in. Feel for the small pauses between the breath in and the breath out and try to make the whole process very smooth and un-hurried.

Then use the count to expand the pauses between breaths so that instead of feeling 'breathe in;breathe out', you breathe in for 1 count; hold the breath for one count; breathe out for one count and hold your breath for one count. Then repeat.

Again, take only the air that you need and try to make the whole process smooth and un-hurried. Breathe in slowly and for the whole count. Breathe out slowly and for the whole count. After the hold on the out breath, you will find it difficult, but breathe slowly and smile.

Your count could be five steps, or ten, or twelve; or it could be 3 heartbeats, 9 heartbeats - some people count in prayers or affirmations, some people use a count of twenty flat-out running steps.

You can make this as challenging or as easy as you want to - some counts will feel more comfortable than others, and sometimes you will feel that you can increase the count; sometimes not.

If you try some long counts (lots of steps or heartbeats per breath), you may find that you begin to feel anxious or panicky. If this happens, smile and slow down...

If the world starts turning black from the ground up - smile a LOT and consider reducing your count.

Don't be fanatical, try to act normal- and have fun with this. It should not be a chore - if it's not entertaining, or becomes difficult, revert to natural breathing for a while...

The most important part is to pay attention to how you feel inside.

Them Crooked Vultures at the Hordern last night

Fantastically entertaining show - we sat at the back because I was tired (long day building IKEA furniture) and thought it was kind of lucky that Josh Homme is sort of double-sized, it meant that it seemed we were closer..

The crowd got a little lost in some numbers - John Paul Jones came out with some electric bouzouki/oud sort of thing and played what I thought was the coolest track of the night, but all the confused, stationary heads in the crowd looked like they were having trouble counting to 9 - they couldn't keep up...

As always, Dave Grohl did a great 'Animal' impression (I think we may both have watched too much Sesame street as kids) - and some really nice touches, some double-sticking a la Gene Krupa (and a lot of snare-off work, again, a la Gene Krupa) - Josh's guitar tone was awesome, and I think he's accidentally turned into a 'real singer' over the last couple of years...

All in all - a very entertaining show, but possibly due to my lack of familiarity with the material, it was more a really entertaining show with great bits, rather than a great all-round show.. I did like the love song Homme dedicated to Jones...

It's just a shame Dave wouldn't let them play any encores..

Another Try this Today - Fake Yoga for freedom and mobility

Put one hand, or foot, or knee on the ground and try to move as far as possible away from that body part. Make sure you don't jerk or strain the body- do move slowly, and wherever possible, remain in each position for a couple of relaxed breaths. To discover additional movements, try to shuffle into a new position rather than jumping or lifting the body. Treat your joints like porcelain - don't grind or crunch them into the floor…

To explore this idea, you can begin lying down, to take most of the strain off the body and foster a feeling of safety and security.

Sinus Arrhythmia

One very common clinical finding I come across during a physical examination is a phenomenon called Sinus Arrhythmia (SA), also called Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA) (but as RSA is already used as an acronym for Responsible Service of Alcohol and for Rivest, Shamir and Adleman, I won't use it here)- This is a finding in which the heart rate speeds up during inhalation and slows down during exhalation.

Recent research has suggested this is a normal physiological response, and indeed, it is more commonly found in children and in the very fit. The slowing down of the heart rate during exhalation is due to the nervous system switching into a momentary state of parasympathetic (3 S's - Sleep, Sandwiches, Sex) dominance, as opposed to the commonly known sympathetic (Fight or Flight) dominance.

There may be any number of reasons why this occurs, and research is still continuing, but as SA is something I try to reduce whenever I find it, I'd like to put forward some of my ideas on why it is so common (and why I treat patients to reduce it when it is present). The Chinese Medical model considers most arrythmias (and many other cardiac problems) to be the result of either obstruction or deficiencies in the energy that supplies the heart and the 'Upper Heater'- Metaphorically, the upper chest is considered to be the uppermost of a system that the Chinese term the San Jiao (3 Energisers/Burning Spaces or 3 Heaters) and the San Jiao is considered to exist in the 'Cou Li', the spaces between organs, the interstices. The Upper Heater is somewhat analogous to the mediastinum, the pleura and the linings of the airways in the lungs, along with the 'bag' of the pericardium.

The nervous system functions that regulate the heart rate are very easily modulated by acupuncture treatment. Commonly, retaining one needle in a point called Lung 9 (Taiyuan) for a period of twenty minutes or so is enough to reduce the severity of SA, and generally only a few repetitions are needed to eliminate it completely. Taiyuan is considered to be a point that boosts the energy of the Lung channel (acupuncture meridian) and of the Lung organ itself, as well as removing obstructions from anywhere in the Upper Heater. Other points can be added to assist with this regulatory function, depending on the patient's constitution and presentation.

I surmise that the 'problem' here (not that SA is anything to be really concerned about in and of itself) is that many of us are walking around in a permanent, slight state of sympathetic nervous system over-excitation and dominance. When the parasympathetic nervous system kicks in during exhalation, the difference between sympathetic and parasympathetic dominance is very pronounced and noticeable, often even to the point where the pulse speeds up a lot during inhalation, then seems almost to stop for a couple of beats' worth of time, before starting again.

Interestingly, it is fairly common to see patients (myself included) who display a quite pronounced SA when stressed or exhausted, but none at all when rested or when they feel energised.

To check for yourself, simply find a pulse anywhere on your body (usually the carotid artery in the neck is easily found) and feel the rate for a few breaths. Once a 'normal' rate has been established, take a deep breath and let it out. If you feel that the heart rate speeds up during inhalation and then slows down during exhalation, you have most likely found a Sinus Arrhythmia (which is nothing to worry about- take a few more breaths...).

If you do find this phenomenon occurs for you or for someone you know, consider how you feel generally. If you feel perfect, full of energy and free from any nagging complaints (and you are quite or super-fit) then your SA becomes simply an indicator of being in fine health, with a nice sensitivity to your blood chemistry. If you feel otherwise, then maybe it is time to consider adding some light cardiovascular exercise and possibly some acupuncture treatment to your maintenance schedule. It is our job as healthcare providers to set up conditions so that your body does the best possible job of maintaining itself in perfect balance.