Body Mind & Spine Align

Ankle Tendons and Knee Joints: Notions of the Ocean Help Release Tight Tendons Around The Ankle Granting Better Support for Knee Joints and Hip Joints in Footwear for Any Sport in Any Season

Healthy joints, elastic muscle tone and more powerful movement become ingrained in the body by performing Pilates exercises or yoga or any movement-oriented exercise regime or sports while using mindful imagery. This can include imagining a sensory experience you haven't yet had that someone else describes to you or by re-imagining an experience you've had in the past. Whatever the seasonal weather happens to be in the city you reside in, you can re-call a beach experience with the elements of sun and very particular way packed sand feels under your feet -or softer sand behind your heels.  

Creating elasticity in the ankle tendons in the front of the foot leads to being able to access the muscular tone attached to the back of the leg and the stable hip bone structure that helps to support your spine. Because these ankle tendons are so small and because we tend to stand up by pulling these tendons tight rather than allowing them to fold in, we lose the ability to access the strength of the larger muscles higher up.  

Elasticity in these tendons, because they are small, is accomplished primarily through mindful imagery - by what you envision in your mind while you are having to use those tendons. People don't realize that not locking the knees has more to do with accessing the leverage of the powerful part of the foot behind the ankle: the heel - but that levering the heel has to do partly with releasing the tight ankle tendons. There is a letting-go involved, but sometimes sensing softening insn't enough to release a part of the body that is tense and gripping. You have to make subtle space in the ankle - thinking of what's both in front of the ankle and behind the ankle. You have to think of your foot as being more of what you can't directly see - the whole substantial area of bone and cartilege of the heel.

 

Try this: in a sitting position, cross one ankle over the other knee. Using the fingers of both hands, move the front of the foot back and forth without pulling the tendons back to flex as you may be used to doing when you perform certain exercises. Using the hands to help you move the front of the foot, now look at all of what comprises the part of the foot behind the ankle: the heel. 

Now continue to use one hand to help you release the tendons in front of the ankle that actually extend all the way into the toes. Think that these tendons can always flow out the toes and never do they have to pull back tight over the front of the ankle joint. With your other hand, use your fingers to draw the heel back away from the flowing-forward front foot and down away from the ankle joint. Realize you are creating spaciousness in this ankle by letting go of what is tense and overworked - the tiny tendons in the front; while at the same time you are accessing a levering force - a leverage in what is underused and less familiar to you because it's the part of the foot you can't see on yourself usually.

Realize that the heel has movement capacity to draw back - not just pull up into the achilles tendon and the calf or push down away from the calf - but that the heel can softly but definitely draw back behind the ankle as long as the tendon in front of the ankle are flowing forward out the toes. You can think that the heel can hinge away or hinge back from all of the rest of the foot and lower leg.

Start to sense this whole heel as substantial - not thinking of the heel as just the tiny part that is under the achilles tendon, but an entire sphere or ball shape that has the capacity to lever. This is a crucial capacity or quality of subtle movement to develop and enhance so that you are able to call upon it when you are in a standing position or when your foot is encased in any kind of shoe, be it a sports sneaker or a high heel - the heel must become a force of leverage for you to connect to the power of the hamstrings up to the sits bones, because then the weight of the pelvis can drop softly down on to those sits bones. This is pelvic stabilization: not just strengthening a supportive muscular connection, but developing relationship between a tiny part of your body granting access to a more-supportive part.

So now when you stand, you won't be standing up overusing the tiny tendons in front of the ankle. So now when you have to bend the knees to perform a lunging exercise or squats at the gym or chair pose in yoga class, you can initiate from the substantial force of the drawing-back heel or the heel leverage or the "heeling."                                                                                                              

 This is what a mind-body connection is: using and trusting your imagination and mindfulness as an asset to your body that trumps muscular exertion to affect the way you stand, walk, and exercise in ways that are not possible by trying.

Using imagery is the way in which you will make the most profound, sustainable, and long-lasting changes to your body...

    

  

If you tense and overuse the tendons in the front of the 

ankle because your high heels push you forward into the balls of your feet and toes, 

or

if you run by overusing the tightened tops of your feet because you are thinking of lifting and lowering the foot to get you where you are going, 

or

you pull the toes back into a hard flex when exercising because you think you have a "no pain - no gain" attitude towards getting stronger. 

    

 

you will needlessly deprive yourself of the hugely supportive power of the 

heel

which connects to the powerful back body muscles:

 hamstrings, glutes, and lats.

With Backbone and Wingspan Foot Function for Spinal Support principles, mind-body connections are forged using the back-body posture connections that employ the use of the heel.

In order for the heel to come into play to direct the entire line of backside connections which support the spine, the tendons on the front of the ankle must be released.

Use sea, surf and sand imagery to help release these tendons while performing bending movements of the ankle, knee, and hip or even when you have to sit at your desk for long periods of time. These sensory images from the beach experience are often very vivid sensory experiences that everyone has had and can recall.

The images are helpful because as the tendons are released in the front, you can expand the heel in the back and begin to avail the body of the skeletal stability of the sits bones and the muscular support of the powerful hamstrings along the back of the leg and the lat muscles on either side of the spine which will allow you to feel the empowerment of being "laid back" even when you believe you have to "sit up straight."

Now as to notions of the ocean that can help you to soften those tendons, and assuage those tendon's "tendency" to grab and grip.......

I spent ten days this summer on an island in which my intentions were to rest, write, and study how the sea related to my feet.

I thought that I would take pictures of my soles above the undulation of gentle waves coming to shore on a day when the surf was not so rough.

I found that it was the retreating surf that helped me better under-stand my feet. 

Can You Dig It?

Try the following, whether you are lucky enough to be going to the beach on a winter's vacation or 

even if you have to imagine the last time you had the waves lapping at your ankles.

   

When you bend the knees, rather than the bend coming from a forward movement of your  knee-caps,

feel that the knee bend comes from expanding through the back of the heel.

The deeper you bend, the more you have to soften the tendons so that you can create a fold in the front of the ankle.

The retreating surf helps with this softening and folding:  

the water rushing back to the sea creates a flowing force in the front of the ankle that can  help to ease and crease those tendons, and the water will dig out the sand underneath the back of the heel.

So then the next time you are riding your bike,

and your hip flexors get tight,

see if you are also grabbing the tendons

in the front of the ankle.

Next time you take yoga, and you are performing a lunge with a deep-knee bend,

and your muscles on the tops of your thighs are screaming,

or

the next time you have your feet on the   

Pilates Reformer Footbar

try releasing the tendon in the front of the ankle by

envisioning the retreating surf flowing over your feet, and

being drawn forcefully back to the sea. 

In releasing the tendons in the front of the foot, you will be availed of the expansion of the heel, which will connect to the hamstrings, sits bones, and the backs of the hips. All of these forces: hamstrings, sits bones, and the backs of the hips are the paired places in the back body area which are on either side of the line of the spine.

In this way, the Heels, Hamstrings, and Hips provide support for the spine.

Of course this imagery can also work for you whether you are wearing

sneakers, stilettos, or any kind of shoe and

whether you are dancing, jogging, or waiting for the bus.

Speaking of sea and wave imagery, my practice and teaching have been greatly influenced by my teacher, Elizabeth Andes-Bell,

who uses many nature-oriented images in her class and her other teachings.

For my next post, I will write about another way to discover notions of the ocean in relating how Elizabeth's weblog

Everyday Sacred and her writings about Standing Waves

has influenced my body and being.

 

Backbone and Wingspan Websites:

Teachings about how the heels & soles connect to the spine:

Foot Function for Spinal Support & Pain Relief:  feetforfitness.com

Recovering Feet & Back from High Heel Pain:   highheelhealing.com

 

Teachings about how triceps-lower traps-lats supports the spine:

Integrated Back Strength & Spine Support   backboneandwingspan.com

 

Founder and Teacher: Herald  info@backboneandwingspan.com

New York City  212-647-8878

 

Backbone and Wingspan®

www.backboneandwingspan.com 

Backbone and Wingspan LLC

 

Related articles

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For Foot Pain When Wearing High Heels Here's A Downward Dog to Save Your Own Tired Dogs

Release Foot Pain from Wearing High Heels and Tone the Legs at the Same Time

Da Vinci Drawing of Vitruvian Man Re-Versed - Exploring Perceiving and Utilizing the Human Body from the Backside Part One of Three

This famous da Vinci drawing is perhaps the most recognized rendering of the human body known to people around the world.

It's sometimes called Vitruvian Man because it portrays the human body in a perfection of proportions discovered and detailed by the architect Vitruvius who used measures of the human body for constructing buildings.

 

 The proportions:                                                                                    

4 fingers constitute one hand width
4 widths of a hand constitute one foot 

6 widths of a hand constitute one arm or yard
4 yards constitute the height of a man

There's great detailed and illustrated information on the

Geometrical construction of the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci

on the website: World-Mysteries.com

The proportions rendered by da Vinci in this drawing which is based on  the measures of  corresponding body parts put forth by Vitruvius have great potential effect on people: the way we feel a sense of ease and belonging within a building or the deeper senses of beauty that bring forth feelings of oneness and clarity and purpose from works of art.

But because da Vinci renders Vitruvian Man from the front,

the drawing doesn't show the spine.

The body's beauty in corresponding proportions can be related to spaces in which we live and work and also works of art that inspire and empower us.

But from the standpoint of function that will get you through a day at your desk, a long plane flight, or dancing all night, you really must have a sense of the back body that supports the spine.

I'd like to propose a different perspective on the da Vinci fully frontal frontal image that isn't based on proportion, but perception.

It's a big belief of mine that helping people change their perceptions of themselves is really primary to teaching

 

them how to strengthen the muscles that will support the spine.

 

 

What if we performed a vitruvius reversal and portrayed the human body from the backside?

 

This could be called:

Vitruvian Man With a Wingspan

 

Expansion of the Back
Grants
Extension of the Spine
Grants
Empowerment of the Body

When you learn how to:

Expand the back
Which is like a wingspan

Then you experience how to:

Extend the spine
Which is the veritable backbone

Ease & Empowerment
Go Hand in Hand

Working the wingspan wide
to free the backbone through

Eases the pain in the overworked neck and shoulders

while at the same time

Empowers the muscles that are in proximity to support the spine

 

It is my mission to relate these back-body support-for-the-spine principles that have been worked out in me through years of teaching many people how to better use their spines. I wish to help change people's perceptions of themselves as having powerfully supportive backs as well as freely expressive fronts.

Most of my days of teaching are spent sitting behind, kneeling behind, or crouching behind people's backside bodies to help them sense the power of the muscles in their back bodies: hamstrings, lats, trapezius, transversus - and to help people sense the stability in the bones of the back body: sit bones, scapula, sacrum, tail bones, occipital points, heels.

I hope to help you in relating these words and putting forth these images to offer a change the perception of yourself in order to start to sense the powerful places that will support your spine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the next part of this series of posts. I will show photographically and also elaborate and detail more specifically in words which muscles and bones of the back body support the spine. I also wish to show you how from a percerption of oneself from the backside, it is much more simple to understand many pain-free and powerful ways the muscles work. 

Thanks so much for reading! Comments most welcome here!

Herald

Backbone and Wingspan® founder and owner

and author of Body Mind & Spine Align

can be reached at 212-647-8878

Email: herald@backboneandwingspan.com

See the Website: Backbone and Wingspan

Backbone and Wingspan LLC

Da Vinci Drawing of Homo Quadratus Gives Insight into Accessing Perception & Power of the Body from the Backside Part Two in a Series of Three

 
  With Backbone and Wingspan and it's emphasis on:

 Integrated Back Strength & Spine Support

 You Will Become Body Conscious...

 in a newfound way that serves all movement, postures, & senses of well-being...

 
Much of this new consciousness arises from getting in touch with supportive places in the body which we are unfamiliar with because these places are located in the backside of the body...

   The da Vinci drawing places Vitruvian man

      inside of both a circle and a square... 

     This da Vinci drawing is also known as

   Homo Quadratus  

   which means literally in Latin: Man and Square

   but can also be interpreted as "perfect man" as

   in regards to the perfection of proportion.

 

 

 

 

 

Homo Quadratus can also be

interpreted as a man or human

functioning from four quadrants

 

However, Vitruvius also brought out the potential empowerment and stability that comes from working from the triangular approach:

Vitruvius stated: "One has to know that when spreading one's legs the space between the legs is a equilateral triangle."

There is detailed information about both da Vinci's notes that accompany his drawing of Vitruvian Man - and Vitruvius' text describing correlating measures of the human body at:

The ratio's in the drawing

So in order to work from the back body in four quadrants that equally support the spine on all sides, it's very helpful to tap into the truth of the revurring three's in the human body:

There are:

Three Curves of the Spine: Lumbar-Thoracic-Cervical

Three Joints to the Arm: Shoulder-Elbow-Wrist

Three heads of each triceps muscle connecting on to each shoulder girdle

 

It's a Triangle that Connects Triceps to Traps to Lats to Sacro Iliac

 

The triangle formed when both sets of

triceps connect into the lower traps

Learn

to 

Use:

Triceps
Traps
Lats

Scapula
Humerus

Triceps has three heads
The muscle wraps back and under the scapula
Releases the shoulder & then the neck
Connects into the powerful lats and lower traps
Lats wrap all the way down to the sacroiliac joints on either side of the pelvis 

The triceps should not be cut up or ripped because then they cannot connect to the          larger muscles that empower the back body: lats, lower traps, and transversus.

Learning a way to work the arms into the back

Assists with many exercises and movements:

Pull ups or chin ups
Hanging from a bar
Holding handlebars when biking 

Keystroking computer posture
Subway Straphangers

Carrying a Baby or Picking Up a Toddler

 

With this wingspan way of

working the arms, improve:

Golf Stroke

Squash Racket Swing

Tennis Ball Serve

  

This is one of the signature exercises of

Backbone and Wingspan® which is pictured and detailed to more specific degree

on one of the pages of my website

Check it out to see all the benefits of working the arms from this wingspan of triceps into traps into lats

 

Also check out this video (just over 2 1/2 minutes in length) to gauge the

benefits of releasing a stiff neck, tight shoulders, and upper back tension.

See live the kinds of hands-on support I provide in a one-on-one session.

Witness how she uses her wingspan to hover and fly her spine instead of

having to hike herself up from her shoulders as she arches and lengthens.

This is the triceps wrapping back to the scapula which creates the wingspan.

 

Thanks so much for reading! Comments most welcome here!

 

Herald

Backbone and Wingspan® founder and owner

and author of Body Mind & Spine Align

can be reached at 212-647-8878

Email: herald@backboneandwingspan.com

See the Website: Backbone and Wingspan

Backbone and Wingspan LLC 

Discovering Your Core Strength in Working from the Back Body through Understanding the Power of Three: Third in a Series Reversing Da Vinci's Homo Quadratus

I was recently interviewed regarding my back body beliefs & core strength

within the Backbone and Wingspan approach to exercise & movement

by Ingrid Skjong for an article on the website Well + Good NYC

 "Is the back the new core?"

In the article she talks

about how this work

"gives you practice at

stabilizing your shoulder blades,

redirecting your breath

into your lower ribs, and

extending your lumbar spine down through the sacrum."

 

Very often in writing, we use three adjectives or three phrases

to describe something in detail.

 

The power of three in our way of detailing a process or a circumstance actually comes from what is present in the composition of our bodies. It's most obvious and most core-oriented when you think of the spine and the way it is composed:

 There are:

Three Curves of the Spine:

Lumbar-Thoracic-Cervical

 

When you stabilize the shoulder blades, you free up the cervical spine or neck.

When you breathe into the lower back ribs, you free up the thoracic or mid-spine,

When you extend the lower vertebrae down thorough the sacrum, you free up the lumbar spine.

 

What I have learned in more than a decade of looking at people from the back side, is that empowerment comes first from a change of perception.

Because we see and perceive ourselves and each other from the front side most often, you have to use sensation and imagination to connect to the back body places that support the spine and help you get to the core strength.

 

This is what my fascination for attempting to reverse the perception of the famous Da Vinci drawing has come from:

if you see the body from the front,

the tendency is to perceive a torso with arms and legs sticking out from it.

But if you see the body from the back side,

it is more clear and more possible to perceive a spine with arms coming from either side off the spine like wings and

the legs coming off either side of the spine like the haunches on a horse.

The power of three is more prevalent here:

one central spine with

two arms arising off of it from either side &

one central spine with

two legs extending off it from either side.

 

Just the idea of "core" implies something central - and something that is central would have something on either side of the central thing as well as  something above & below the central thing.

Finding this central spine in you is what first and foremost grants you access to your core -

then the core extends the lower center of you down into the ground &

                           suspends the upper center of you out the top of your head.

Threes within the three's:

I wrote in the previous post which is part two of the three, about how there are three triceps heads which attach to each scapula or shoulder blade.

This begins the action which grants wings which come off of either side of the thoracic spine and serve to suspend it off the lower spine & legs.

 

There is this same power of three in the hamstrings which connect up on to each sit bone:

there are three hamstrings on each leg, and when you connect them up to each sit bone, they serve to support the lower or lumbar spine.

So you have three in that there is one spine

supported by a pair of legs and

                            a pair of arms, 

  and you have three in that there are

three tricep heads and

three hamstrings

which are what connects those pairs of arms and pairs of legs

to that central line of spine.

 

 

 This is why the back is of utmost importance

to supporting the spine, 

much more so than the frontal abs -

which many people just pull in to

try to support the deep-underneath spine.

 

 And if you're interested in toning those hard-to-tone areas of

the undersides of the arms or the upper sides of the legs,

you really must get in touch with the truth of using

the triceps-to-scapula  and the hamstrings-to-sit-bones connections!

 

Thanks so much for reading!    Comments most welcome here!

 

-    Herald   

Backbone and Wingspan® founder and owner

is the author of Body Mind & Spine Align

 

Herald can be reached at 212-647-8878

      Or by email:

      info@backboneandwingspan.com

  or herald@backboneandwingspan.com

 

See the Websites: Backbone and Wingspan

                             and High Heel Healing

Backbone and Wingspan LLC

 

Backbone and Wingspan: Spines in Flight

Backbone and Wingspan® focuses on the bones of the back, not all of which are the obvious vertebrae that comprise the spine - albeit the backbone.

 

 

 

 

It is my mission within each and every session to create a true learning experience within the exercises we may perform for strengthening or the stretches we may perform for releasing tightness and tension.

I'm really here to relay experiential information that can change the way you perceive your body as opposed to giving you cues for how-to-do or adding a tip or two while you move.

Backbone literally implies possessing a sense of the spine but figuratively, in a way that translates to your physicality,

 

Backbone connotes a mutual feeling of both ease and empowerment.

 

 

 

Backbone is a great facility and freedom in the expression of oneself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are several other bones along the backside of the body

that serve to support the spinal column and

thus give full access to the entire line of spine and

grant a true sense of both ease and empowerment -

 

 

these other bones along the backside are

 

the scapula,

 

the sit bones,

 

and the sacrum.

 

 

 

 

The scapula are the wing bones, and dropping into the musculature underneath the scapula

(the triceps, the lats, the lower traps)

ultimately gives one

the sense of being winged.

 

 

 

In The Power of Myth 

Joseph Campbell states, 

"The serpent bound to the earth, the eagle in spiritual flight - isn't that conflict something we all experience? And then, when they amalgamate, we get a wonderful dragon, a serpent with wings. All over the earth, people recognize these images."

I had a revelatory moment one day in my teaching while relaying to a student that the quality of the spine moving through space is an undulation. 

I remembered someone telling me that the spine is a serpentine line.

You'll discover and experience all the ranges of motion of the spine within your study

with the Backbone and Wingspan Integrated Back Strength way of understanding your body:

Rounding the Spine           Arching the Spine               Side Bending the Spine

 and      Rotation of the Ribcage while Unwinding or Spiraling the Spine

 

 

I put together that serpentine comes from serpent.

I realized that when I chose Backbone and Wingspan, without knowing it, I had given my business - and my beliefs about the body - a mythological name.




Backbone and Wingspan
is a spine that has the capacity to feel flight.

- Herald

Backbone and Wingspan®

Founder and Owner

is the author of this

Body Mind & Spine Align Blog

as well as 

an alternate website & blog about

Foot Function for Spinal Support:

FeetForFitness.com

Heel & Sole for Foot Pain

 

 

Herald can be reached at 212-647-8878

Email: herald@backboneandwingspan.com

      or:     info@backboneandwingspan.com

Call or email him today for info about the movement classes he currently offers.

See the Websites: Backbone and Wingspan and High Heel Healing

Copyright and Trademark: Backbone and Wingspan LLC

Related articles

Spring Forth into Summertime Stilettos or Sandals: The High Heel Recovery Clinic Principles Serve Your Feet In Any Shoe

For Foot Pain When Wearing High Heels Here's A Downward Dog to Save Your Own Tired Dogs

"Power Sitting" Posture - How to Sit Pain Free for Hours!

 

With

Backbone and Wingspan unique movement methods you develop a liberating

"Power Sitting" Posture!

 

 

The New Integrated Back Strength and Spine Support website provides movement-oriented exercises and stretches that relay principles of support for practical utilization in posture that serves long periods of sitting that many people endure. 

 

The "Power Sitting" Posture Clinic held in July of 2009 hosted a great group of people interested in really learning the elements of stability that lead to both support and freedom.

I wish here to relate some responses to the feedback questions that a few attendees of the clinic responded to.

I wish to put forth the responses as well as some reflections from myself and the other practitioners as a refresher for those who attended this clinic or the one we had previously in May.

*****************************************************************************
 

What is it that attracted you to a clinic named "Power Sitting" Posture?

 

*  This is how I spend my entire day -

       sitting at my desk or sitting in meetings.

*  The realization that poor posture dictates

       my sitting and standing.
 

*  I spend way too much time sitting,

     and am always interested in how to improve my posture.

 

****************************************************************************************

One practitioner voiced the intention underlying the "Power Sitting" Posture clinic:

"I think the strength and difference between our workshops and others is that we are approaching the sitting-at-a-work-station issue from a movement standpoint rather than from a static positioning.

Ergonomics is the study of human use and most medical and ergonomic clinics deal with the passive set up of the individual, and the movement of their inanimate objects (computer, desk, mouse, arm rests, etc.).

With our intended goal of providing information and the experience of the moving and sensing self, our attendees gain useful ideas for being in their work places more comfortably."

The thing to understand here is that posture is not positioning or holding, and that your body adjusts to the needs of your work.

 
In working with lunging exercises for hip pain relief and 

stretches for release of hip flexor muscle tightness 

it's important to relate the foot to the pelvis when working with the legs:

 

while also relating the hand to the shoulder girdle when working with the arms:

   

These videos show the workings of upper part of the back body

which frees tension from the shoulders and neck and upper back

that can become clenched and painful from sitting at a computer

Participants in the clinic explored this in learning how to move the arms and upper body to reach (imaginatively) towards the phone, or file cabinet, or stack of papers using the pelvis to perform the movements.

   ************************************************************

What changes in your body do you feel from the time you arrived to now?

• I feel that I am standing on my feet.
• My neck feels much more relaxed.
• I feel that I have been put through the rigors of a workout and
• I feel more aware and proprioceptive
• I feel taller and straighter
  

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

Which of the images related to you during the movements were helpful?

 

 

"Breathing through the "gills" - great image"

":

Use the image of breathing through the sides of the ribs as if the ribs are fish gills .

This image helps people to refrain from too much chest and belly breathing.

 

 

 

)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Breathing into the sides of the ribs helps to expand the mid back,

so that the muscles there -

the lower trapezius and lats

can be activated.

 

These back muscles are very supportive of the spine. A better supported spine means release of the overworked neck and shoulders muscles.

 

Sitting a long day at your desk, you may not be able to perform a big stretch, but you can certainly take moments to breathe into the sides of the ribs.

Pictured above is a Pilates exercise in which breathing into the ribs is essential

so that the arm movement comes from the power of the back and not the shoulders.

 

The Foot Function for Spinal Support & Pain Relief Website

for will show you the detailed the information you will receive

and then you'll be able to take the information you get in reading and trying and

applying the body-mind and heel-to-hip-to-spine-to-core information

into any other exercise or sports program you currently pursue.

That's the true value!

 

Herald, Backbone and Wingspan founder and owner

is the author of this Body Mind & Spine blog as well as

Heel & Sole for Foot Pain which focuses more extensively

on the feet, especially for women who wear high heels.

 

Herald can be contacted at

212-647-8878 or through emailing 

info@backboneandwingspan.com  or

herald@backboneandwingspan.com

 

 

Related articles

For Foot Pain When Wearing High Heels Here's A Downward Dog to Save Your Own Tired Dogs

Spring Forth into Summertime Stilettos or Sandals: The High Heel Recovery Clinic Principles Serve Your Feet In Any Shoe

Healing from Pain in High Heels - a Testimonial on the Pilates-Based Approach

 

 

Our High Heel Recovery Clinic has received an amazing rave from an attendee from our very first clinic around this time last year in our studio in NYC.

Our approach combines elements of Pilates and other movement-oriented exercise.

If you are interested in future clinics,

please comment on this post, or email tim@backboneandwingspan.com

******************************************************************************************

Name: Megan Forlines 

 Age: 20

 

I took the How to Walk in High Heels Clinic with my Aunt Sue this past spring. I have always loved high heels, but could never manage to walk on them for more than an hour before taking this clinic.

***************************************

 

 

This clinic really helped me to be able to walk in heels, and I could feel the difference immediately while still in the clinic!

The clinic was not only extremely beneficial, but fun as well! Since the clinic I have been able to finally take the  city by storm and walk around in my heels without wanting to switch to flats.

                                  ********************

 

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The way I learned to carry myself in the clinic has allowed me to wear high heels all day and not even feel them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Just this past Thanksgiving my Aunt Sue was so impressed that I was able to wear 6 inch high heeled boots the entire day, and even managed to go on a hike in the woods in them! Although I don't recommend going hiking in heels normally, I was actually able to do it and not kill myself!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This clinic has

really helped my posture and

I am now able to carry myself in heels and

look confidant and great doing it!

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I would highly recommend this clinic to anyone woman who wants to be able to buy great heels and actually be able to walk in them.    

- Megan Forlines

 

Thanks so much Megan!

Hope you still are pain-free in any height of heels you choose! - Tim

 

Read an article in which Megan is interviewed and quoted by CNN.com Health reporter Madison Park. Here's what she said about her the successful experience in using what she learned in the clinic:

Women risk snapped ligaments for shoe fashion

Quote from the article: "She took a high heel recovery course that trains women to walk in heels. Tim Driscoll, founder and director of Backbone and Wingspan, a New York studio, started the class that incorporates Pilates-based exercises."

Tim teaches at Mind Your Body Fitness on the Upper East Side in Manhattan and also at Contour Studio in Bedford Hills.

Backbone and Wingspan®  212-647-8878

www.backboneandwingspan.com

tim@backboneandwingspan.com

Call or email Tim for information about the next clinic, or if you live beyond the boundaries of Manhattan or Westchester, Tim is happy to send you a free PDF of an exercise called Suspension Bridging! Just email him!  tim@backboneandwingspan.com

Core Strength as a Rooting and Wrapping Phenomenon - the Complimentary Functions of Psoas and Transversus - Heavy Lifting and Snow Shoveling to Cycling and Pilates Roll-Ups

Herald of
Backbone and Wingspan®
relates a personal core story:

when a surgical experience brought about backbone building and wingspan

widening out of necessity.

 

In reading this you can most readily relate my experience to when experts advise you to bend your knees and use your legs when lifting heavy boxes or shoveling snow. When they say to "use your legs to lift," they really should be more specific in identifying that you are involving the deep support of the psoas, which is a core muscle connected to the legs. You can see this in two previous posts about the psoas. So to learn how to protect your back when lifting, read here in detail about how the psoas and transversus muscles work in a complimentary way, but also see the posts about the psoas and lesser trochanters to see how the core relates to the legs.

 

I had abdominal surgery seven years ago resulting from a ruptured appendix. Because it was ruptured, and not merely punctured, the surgeon had to cut my belly through all the abdominal layers, or actually through the layer of connective tissue that all four abdominal layers are attached to. The incision stretched from above my navel to almost all the way down to my pubic bone.

 

After eight weeks, I went back to work, and had to begin again the bending over that I do for my clients in order to best attend to them.

I knew that despite my frontal abdominal layers not fully having healed, I could rely on my psoas.

 

My psoas had not been severed with the surgical incision because the psoas is attached directly to the lower vertebrae and thus is underneath all of the abdominal organs.

I could also still access the horizontal fibers of my transversus which also had not been cut because the transversus comes off of the lumbar vertebrae from the backside of the body.

I had to really focus my mind to go deep and root with my psoas -  spread wide and wrap with my transversus. I had to root my lumbar with my psoas to stabilize those vertebrae, and wrap wide to either side off my lumbar with the horizontal fibers of my transversus in order to bend. In order to arise from a bent over posture, I did the same: root first to stabilize, extend, and ground, and then wrap around to arise.

They say that injuries can be a gift, and that is true in my case.

There was no way that I could pull my abs in from the front to bend and unbend from the waist. I had to be more mindful to rely on deeper and three dimensional connections. There was no way I could pull my belly in. I had to find different elements to embrace.

Embracing is a notion and an image I now use often with my clients when working with them. Whether it be on the Pilates reformer or trapeze table, whether it be core strengthening, muscle toning, or healing from injury, the wrapping embrace is what centers someone to work deeply and safely.

Getting to the root notion

Embracing the wrap motion

There are two sets of musculature that comprise

the root 'n wrap core.

The psoas and the transversus are muscles connected directly to the large lumbar vertebrae, which are the bones needing and contributing to the most stabilization in the body.

Stabilization is not holding or bracing.

 

 

This is an important notion to em-brace: the lumbar vertebrae need support, but these vertebrae also contribute to support. The lumbar spine, when directed in an extension down through the sacrum and out the tail, engages the force of the psoas rooting into the inner thighs.

 

The psoas is a rooting core, and

the transversus is a wrapping core.

The lumbar is extension, and

the transversus is expansion.

The psoas is a central force. The transversus is a cylindrical force.

So the image-oriented actions are to root and wrap; the complimentary directional forces are central and cylindrical.

None of this implies pulling in, although the abdominals do deepen when using the complimentary rooting of the psoas and and wrapping of the transversus.

 

The embracing notion of the transversus is that it expands from the back, and  then wraps around to the front. It's like when you embrace someone, you don't shove your front up against the person - you widen your arms, and then encircle around the person's body. This is what you do with your own transversus abdominis: you encircle yourself cylindrically - it's a self-embracing action and sensation.

Get More Core! Feel More Floor! Get Grounded! Get Centered!

Herald teaches specific deep core-strengthening work 

as well as back-strengthening for spinal support and foot function.

Call Herald at 212-647-8878

or email him at  info@backboneandwingspan.com

Backbone and Wingspan®

 

www.backboneandwingspan.com 

www.feetforfitness.com

www.highheelhealing.com 

 

Deep Core Strength is Accessed Through Activating the Psoas - Inner Thigh Junction on the Lesser Trochanter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The psoas is an enormous muscle attached in six strands on either  side of the front of the lowest six vertebrae, from the lowest lumbar vertebrae to the lowest thoracic vertebrae: L5 L4 L3 L2 L1 and T12. 

 

 

*

There are six strands on each side, so it is actually twelve strands of muscle making up the psoas-lumbar relationship.

 

 

*

I love that there is this number, twelve, intrinsic to our deep core because of how that number relates to the months of the year, the twelve disciples, twelve tribe nations, twelve astrological signs, twelve making up a dozen bagels or eggs or twelve inches to a foot.

 

 

*

Twelve is prevalent in our social structures because it is in our deepest structure of support in the body.

 

 

 

*

Below is an amazing rotating digital display of the three-dimensional aspects of the psoas from www.dipity.com/timeline/Psoas-Muscle :

 

 

 

The psoas is attached directly on to the front of these six lowest vertebrae, meaning that these strands of psoas are underneath the abdominal organs as well as being much deeper than any of the abdominal muscles since the abdominal muscles stretch over the organs.

Thus the psoas is essentially the deep core, not to imply that the abdominals aren't important, but just to make a distinction between what is deep spinal support and what is more outer support for the abdominal cavity's contents.

There is what I consider a cylindrical core, made up of the transversus abdominis, which is attached to either side of the back of the lumbar vertebrae.

But in my view, and in my experience with my own body and in guiding and witnessing my clients, you can't utilize the three-dimensional wrap of the transversus without the psoas stabilizing the lower vertebrae.

The psoas must be directed as a rooting force, so that the transversus can be expanded off of the extended lumbar vertebrae and become a wrapping force from back to front.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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In addition, the place where L-5 and T12 meet, which is where the extending curve of the lumbar subtly changes into the opposite curve of the thoracic, contributing to the serpentine line of the spine, is often referred to as the lumbar-thoracic junction.

So essentially, your true deep core extends from one important spinal junction down to another important muscular junction.

When I hear myself describe this connection to a client using the term junction, I cannot help but think of a television show from my childhood, Petticoat Junction, which is about the people who work in a place where trains come in and connect to other trains.

This may seem silly, but watch how the train winds down the track, and imagine how you have this deep core muscle that is attached to your spine, and how it winds down to the inside of each of your legs.

 

 

 

Sensing your lesser trochanters as junctions could be akin to sensing deep pathways of transport from your legs to your spine and your spine to your legs.

 

Maybe I have this perception because I go underground to transport myself everyday in the subway, which winds me through the city from station to station. There are certain stations that are junctions where you can transfer and make a connection to another train, such as Columbus Circle where you can go from the 1 Train to the A Train. 

 

The lesser trochanters, which are little nubs, can also be perceived as hubs on a winding deep subway-like line in terms of transferring from the spine to the legs and the legs to the spine. The lesser trochanter - inner thigh - psoas junction is  like the Columbus Circle of your core. When I look at a subway map, I cannot help but be reminded of the charts I've seen in fitness studios that show the winding pathways of the nervous and muscular systems.

*********************************************

 

 

 

You can also see the relationship between

the psoas,

lesser trochanters, and

the lumbar spine in

three-dimensions in the book,

Anatomy of Movement

 

 

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What's Lesser is More in Accessing the Deep Muscles that Are Your True Core

This Pilates Iconoclast post explores the accessing of core strength and stability with

three key elements:

Psoas
 Inner Thighs
 Lesser Trochanters

 

 

 

The lesser trochanters are small nubs of bone high up on the insides of the femurs. These little nubs are where the lower portion of the psoas muscle meets up with the inner thighs.

The lesser trochanters are the sites where the singular force of the combined lumbar spine and the core, which are central, split off into the paired central forces of the inner thighs.

Because the inner thigh and psoas are each connected to the lesser trochanter, the site where they meet is sometimes referred to as the psoas - inner thigh junction.

 

 

The psoas essentially connects the spine to the legs through it's connection to the inner thighs on  the lesser trochanters.

This is a very important connection to understand, tap into, and utilize because it is the relationship between

the psoas and inner thighs

which gives the body the potential to sustain a powerful support for the large lumbar vertebrae.

 

If you are working your abs

without sensing the relationship

of the psoas between the spine and legs,

you are mainly working the outside stuff,

and probably tightening your hip flexors.

 

 

 

 

 

When the lumbar is extended and stabilized with this psoas -inner thigh connection through the lesser trochanter,

the floating ribs which begin right above the lumbar spine, can then expand back and wide by breathing deeply into the lower lobes of the lungs.

This expansion of the lower back ribs in turn gives access to the lats and lower trapezius, and then in turn the upper spine will be more free.

 

 

 

This psoas - inner thigh connection also gives a powerful facility to the legs,

relieves the overwork of the quads,

and grants muscle toning potential to the tone-challenged area of the upper inner thighs.

 

 

 

What's more, when the lumbar spine is extended and stabilized

using the inner thighs, psoas, and lats,

then the deepest abdominal layer,

the transversus abdominis,

has the most potential to expand and wrap

from back to front efficiently.

 

 

 

  

Again, the lesser trochanters can be described as little rounded    protrusions or nubs of bone on the inside of each of the femurs.

It is interesting that these tiny nubs nestled so so deep and high up on the insides of the legs could be so intrinsic to core strength.

But there are so many ways that the core can and should be utilized for support, that it really shouldn't be a struggle to call upon the core.

Elusive connections are attained more mindfully, and with subtlety.

 

 

Most people are more aware of the greater trochanters 

because these larger-than-the-lesser nubs are on the

outsides of the femurs,

and because the greater trochanters

can be sensed through touch.

 

 

 

 

  

Greater just means

that they are bigger,

not that they are more important.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, this greater and lesser relationship is testament

to the beautiful balances within the body's ever-amazing design!

 

 

 

It's interesting to realize 

that the lesser trochanters align down to the big toes and

the greater trochanters align down to the little toes.

It goes greater to little on the outside line of the leg

and lesser to big on the inside.

 

 

 

 

You really can't touch the lesser trochanters.

 

 

 

The phrase "you can't touch this"

resonates on a literal level in that

you cannot palpate the lessors.

 

 

However, I also consider this "can't touch" phrase figuratively,

as in the MC Hammer Rap Song "You Can't Touch This."

Hammer's version of the phrase implies something so astonishing that it can't be "touched,"

that is, it is without parallel.

Watch the video for this song, and witness how facile Hammer is with his femurs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In terms of the "can't be touched" quality of the lesser trochanters, it's not just that you can't find them with your fingers.

It's that the vital connection between the inner thighs and the psoas that occurs on these lesser trochanters is essential, and actually, crucial to employing a truly deep core connection.

In my estimation, regarding the various muscular and skeletal relationships

that add up to accessing core support,

 this lesser trochanter - inner thigh - psoas relationship

really can't be touched

in that it is an unparalled central connection.

 

 

Backbone and Wingspan®

at Mind Your Body Pilates Lexington Avenue @ 90th Street

and in Bedford Hills at Contour Studio

Call Tim at 212-647-8878

tim@backboneandwingspan.com

www.backboneandwingspan.com

 

Making Waves in Other Ways to Sense the Relationship Between the Feet and Spine for Pilates, Posture, and Pain-Free Movement

The approach to Pilates exercise using the methodology of

Backbone and Wingspan in Manhattan

whether on the trapeze table or the reformer includes using imagery to forge the kind of mind-body connection that:

enhances free spinal movement,
accesses deep core strength,

and

encourages the person studying here to be able to use the imagery for

sports, stretching, exercise, and posture
performed outside of the studio.

Imagery is what creates
 

the most instantaneous and most sustainable changes in the body despite our tendencies to doubt or even dispel subtlety.

  
In a previous post I wrote about one type of wave 

and it's potential effect on the feet and spine:

ocean waves that roll on to the shore are immediately

drawn back into the sea where they emerged from.

There is a great informative force in this element of surf.

The retreating surf can be used either actually or imaginatively to help you to better understand how you connect to the supportive power of the heels in the back body by releasing the tendons in the front of the ankle.  

You can see with your eyes as well as feel with your feet the waves of the sea,

but there are countless unseen waves

that affect our lives in every moment:

thought waves, brain waves, cellular waves.

 
If only we could trust that the thought waves we send from our minds into the  universe and from  our minds into our bodies have the unquestionable ability to be helpful to understanding and empowering ourselves.

The way that we unquestionably trust that when we press send on our cell phones that the signal goes through and gets us connected can get us connected in our own physical bodies as well.

Learn to trust that your imagination is key to your everyday postural support:

If your back and feet are killing you while standing in stilettos at a party, or while you're waiting for the bus, or while you're jogging along the sidewalk, it is awkward to have to remove your shoes, and implausible to be able to lay down on the dance floor or your host's carpeted foyer or on a street corner to perform some stretching exercises.

But you can, in any social scene,  sport or exercise endeavor, send thoughts of softening to the toes, top of the foot, and front of the ankle as if the gentle rushing of the ocean's retreating surf were washing back over the tops of the feet.

This softening of the entire front of the foot (everything extending in front of the ankle) gives you the wave energy forward in order to be able to advance in your steps

But the body works in balance:

It is most efficient, and you will find the most ease, freedom, and power to your steps:

if you can imaginatively extend a wave energy also with your heel,

even with your feet still in your heels..........................

 

This imagery would be appropriate for partying all night, 

for marathon running, 

for performing the challenging chair pose in yoga,                                    

as well as for practicing roll up exercises

on the Pilates trapeze table here at Backbone and Wingspan.

At this time in the course of human development, it seems that people really wish to believe that their thoughts can change their life circumstances.
 
 Hence, the enormous mainstream popularity of The Secret, but also   
  
             Law Of Attraction by Esther and Jerry Hicks  

Manifest Your Destiny by Wayne Dyer 

Think and Grow Rich  by Napoleon Hill

Each of these books and their authors

explore various avenues towards

using thought to bring about desirable life changes.

There's More on the Shore than Meets the Eye:

Water Waves

 Emotional Waves

Electromagnetic Waves  

Light Waves  

Sound Waves     Shock Waves

 Standing Waves

 

"On the atomic level, all phenomenon vibrate as standing waves.

Standing waves appear with finite boundaries. Our bodies, organs, cells, etc. are standing waves…..

The four elements: Earth, Water, Fire and Air are archetypal standing waves, meaning they are types of arcs in the face of the wave." 

                                                     - Elizabeth Andes-Bell

 

 When I first explored standing waves a year or so ago through the writings of my teacher, Elizabeth,

and her weblog 

Everyday Sacred

I thought of the image of my upright spine as being a wave that extended out from above my head and also extended down from below my feet, as opposed to a rod that was constrained in my body.

 

The emotional wave that  washed through my body from imaging this thought of my spine as a wave in two directions led me into a transformational experience.

You can read about it if you like by clicking on to the link above for Everyday Sacred.

Even though I had not been to the ocean in months when I read Elizabeth's writing and commented on it during the month of March, I could recall the sense of oceanic waves that I had experienced in times before at the beach, and I could re-imagine the ocean waves' effect on my spine.

This is a key element of what I would like to put forth to you:

your thought of sensory feelings that you have experienced previously or that you can imagine experiencing are empowering to your body now in this moment.

Backbone and Wingspan

Founder and Teacher: Tim Driscoll

New York City

212-647-8878

Pilates

 

Tim teaches his unique support-for-the-spine, posture, and core methods at:

Mind Your Body Upper East Side Manhattan

and Contour Studio in Bedford Hills

 

Call Tim at 212-647-8878 or

email him at tim@backboneandwingspan.com

to inquire about his availability and special introductory rates!

Backbone and Wingspan®

www.backboneandwingspan.com 

Backbone and Wingspan LLC