Friday 31 January 2014

Alignment and Movement:Biomechanics for the Non-Scientist

Morning!
So, I was lying in bed in the ridiculous heat lastnight and my energy level allowed me to press play/pause on my iphone. This gave me the enormous benefit of listening to an interview between fitness guru Ben Greenfield and Biomechanist and blogger, Katy Bowman.
Katy gave me a whole new perspective on how important posture is and mostly, being aware of our body in space - how we sit, stand, move and even lie down to sleep.

In her own home, Katy has booted out the furniture and instead, she and her two sons use bolsters, pillows and even an in-home monkey bar! Why? If you try sitting on the floor and standing up, you will find it is MUCH harder than plonking on a sofa and then getting up. It also encourages you to move more. Change position when you're sitting. Transfer loads from one side to the other.

This does more than get you a gold star in alignment and posture. It means you are awakening and using ALL the cells in your body. Nothing goes to waste from underuse and you avoid injuries from overuse.

I highly recommend that you listen to the interview - Katy is far from your whitecoat, technotalk scientist. She is fun and generous with her responses.
Toe separators
At one point, she talks of sleeping in special "alignment socks". The same idea is used in yoga to expand the toes out after spending ALL DAY in shoes that squish your toes together. Don't go the whole hog and wear them overnight to start. Maybe half an hour while you're reading or wandering the house. You don't need special socks. You can use those dividers that Kmart sells for next-to-nix in the beauty aisle to separate the toes for painting.

To the left, toe separators available at Priceline for $4.49

Ben says of the podcast:
-Why your alignment matters…
-The extreme importance of your “psoas”…
-Why high heels are destroying you…
-Why Katy doesn’t use furniture…
-Why standing can sometimes be a bad thing…
-Special socks you can wear at night to fix your feet…
-Why Kegel exercises may not be all that good after all…
-Why you shouldn’t suck in your stomach…
-How your boobs can be a biofeedback device (yes, I said boobs)…
-Why you should care about your earwax…
-What the best stretching and sleeping positions are…
-How we can get our kids stronger…
Without further ado, listen or download here.

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