Check him out on Live with Regis and Kelly.

Did you also notice that after what appears to be a yawn… how relaxed he became? Of course you had to watch it in progress to see him show the response of relaxation.

When you’re at the top of your game or wanting to keep pace with younger talent, you’ll use any edge necessary, though in this case, Apolo is using nature’s process of a pandiculation…

And he may not even know about it, as most people don’t… but it doesn’t matter what it’s called since this is just like many natural processes we use without knowing why.

Healthy animals with spines use this little known process to remain agile, quick and strong.

They’ll practice a series of pandiculations first thing in the morning and periodically self-adjust throughout the day. This explains how well they can move and it serves notice to us what we may need to remind ourselves on a daily basis…

How well you move is up to you? Can you improve with age? I think so and though I was living in chronic pain for the better part of two decades… years later I earned only a couple of medals in my 40’s.

My secret training method… pandiculate of course. Now I’ve got some work to do to catch up with Apolo and the rest of the healthy animals.

Join us on Saturday afternoon for three hours of feeling the bliss that you can create by using your wonderful brain to move you in easy, gentle and novel ways.

Pandiculate your way to health and soar like an eagle again.

When you cross into the realm of using your cortical pathways to release brain chemicals …you produce relaxation and diminished physical pains and stress.

Instead of using techniques and methods, you can learn how to harness your awareness through a process most people have never heard of, namely the process of pandiculation via Somatics Exercises.

Can moving your self so simply and gently that it could boggle your mind be a way of out the misery? … the way out of the aches, the ongoing strains…

Your mind is very powerful and all you have to do is tap into this natural resource.

Come roll with us … Learn more here.

*Move with Less Effort*

A practice in moving easily is simply accomplished by dialing down your effort in moving.  Being more precise with your movements involves lessening your effort so your muscles work efficiently instead of shuddering with extra effort.

Noticing where you contract from or the area you are using during a movement may not initially be clear.  When you contract and shorten your muscles, take notice to the areas where your contract, the level of effort, the feeling, the sensations aroused or lack thereof.

As you contract your muscles, others are normally and naturally lengthening in response.  It’s not necessary to force the length, rather your observation of it happening, deepens your awareness and your coordination in what moves what and where and how it moves.

*Be Aware of your release*

If you can merely observe the release of your contraction, you’ll notice the resulting length is accomplished without force.

If you force the length, a signal is generated by your brain to re-contract the tissues afterwards.  Traditional forms of stretching actually produce tighter muscles according to the latest research.

To have the flexibility of a cat, the agility of a panther, and the ability to jump like a gazelle requires you to follow their lead.  Animals engage their motor cortex through the process of a series of pandiculations.

*First thing in the morning*

Since animals self-correct throughout their day, it would be wise once again to follow their lead.  When healthy, they engage the process first thing in the morning, every day.  There’s their key.

Who else is going to ready your muscles for you each new day? Animals are wise enough to do it first.  They are not checking the emails nor will you find a way to ready to yourself in your emails, unless of course, you happen to be receiving the Somatic Classes via email.

The natural process of engaging your motor cortex is always available to you… I know you have other things to attend to.  

It’s just a process and as far as I know most of us have the ability to engage in the process since it primarily activates your motor cortex, which has been called your highest learning center.

You can continue to learn and generate new brain cells.  Neurogenesis and neural plasticity perhaps becomes of interest as you age, unless you already engage the process everyday.  If you are, yoohoo, you’re way ahead of most people as the mass understanding of this process hasn’t reached them, yet!

Somatics is merely applied neurogenesis.

*Pay attention to how you move*

Practicing Somatics is a matter of paying attention to how you manipulate yourself in the field of gravity.  How you contend or float in the field of gravity is known to you by the signals your body generates.  You can become more One with the field of gravity.  No this isn’t airy fairy stuff, I mean you can continually fight gravity and keep kicking yourself in the pants, which would naturally lead to tighter hamstrings and a sore back.

*Use your self-correcting brain and mind*

The power lies in your brain to self-correct, adapt accordingly, merely by spending some time in your self.  When you practice the variety of movements which are offered in the Somatics classes or through your understanding and application of Somatics, your brain feeds off of these differentiated patterns to present you with possibilities of change in your habit of movement.

Your habitual and repetitive patterns lead to some of the negative results you encounter over and over.

*Differentiate your movements*

Differentiation provides an avenue to more integrated, more coordinated, more balanced and efficient movement itself.  You’ll know how, when, and at what speed, in order to move more cohesively.

So as I said, learning to move with greater ease isn’t easy, but it’s very simple once you get the hang of the process.  

The antidote for discomfort, pain, aches, soreness, etc, lies between your ears.

Engaging the process is not under your nose, it’s in it.

Since no two people have the same structure, let alone movement patterns, history of injuries, etc. we find ourselves subject to the very movement habits we’ve learned and continue to practice.

Without changing those patterns, you can just run yourself into the ground. Running or lifting more, doesn’t do anything to increase the intelligence of your movement. Challenging the diversity in your movement changes the nature of how well you can articulate your joints or move your spine.

Somatic Exercises work with your brain since your brain thrives on novelty. It’s in this novelty that we approach this system of movement with differentiation or diversification of your movement portfolio.

If you think of movement as a system, your brain needs different stimulus until it finally integrates the work or explorations of your movement into a more cohesive movement system.

Somatics moves into the specificity of your motor-sensory system so that you’re able to re-program your capacity and potential to move as effectively as you can.

At some point, you have to create and plan your movements, then you practice until they get stored as learned patterns… so you no longer have to think about it.

Think About this… if we stop playing in this natural realm of evolving our movement patterns, are we bringing the entropy and decline within ourselves at a greater rate? I don’t know but as children no one had to tell us to move. As adults, we are a nation of overweight, couch potatoes ever limiting our movements to a desk, office, room, automobile, sitting in front of a television set for hours at a time.

Your brain is getting wasted in terms of its capacity to grow via the motor-sensory system. You are putting the brakes on your own evolutionary process in terms of the revolutions of your joints, the movement of your muscles, and the usefulness of your bones.

How are you going to improve your movement portfolio?

You can’t get there by sitting there nor can you improve by repeating the same patterns over and over. OK, you could visualize movements or do them incredibly subtlety in the manner of many somatic traditions which focus on sensory awareness.

Each time you have to closely pay attention to your movements with awareness you are engaging the process of voluntary movement which is rather complex, though we may think we move in isolating ways, I beg to differ.

Look at how these muscles are grouped as a system.

This system and the overlapping systems need to used, refreshed, and rested appropriately for long term health. Injuries, the same posturing day in and day out continue to further your decline and decreases the value of your movement portfolio.

You can just keep moving the way you always have or you can pay attention to your movements with a keener awareness which affords you a glimpse into the many different ways you can manipulate yourself. If you don’t , your brain will just check out and leave the possibilities in the dust bin once again, leading to an eroding value in your movement’s funds.

Creating and recreating new neural pathways leads your brain towards health, vibrancy and it’s need to continue to learn. You’ve got 600 muscles which require their use.

Can you do it on your own? Yes, if you’re paying attention as you once did as a child by sensing your movements and being delighted by merely lifting your head off of the floor. It’s a shame and a sham that many adults can no longer even lie on their bellies comfortably for any length of time and just engage the cranium by lifting and lowering it comfortably a few times.

I often hear of the aches and complaints of why I can’t do this or that. After all, lying is nearly the same as standing in its relationship to Gravity. So if you go back to the well, that is on the floor and go back to the natural process, your brain will re-wire, re-adapt itself and you can continue your evolutionary process of well-being… who knows, you may even increase the value of your movement portfolio… otherwise you can remain sedentary, desk-bound, home bound, injury ridden and add to your own decay.

Evolve, Evolve, Evolve otherwise decay

However you can utilize your brain in a conscious differentiated manner so you can move unconsciously with patterns your brain is perfecting and changing…

There’s an obvious choice though many have abdicated at this level of self-care since the models around us seem to indicate we can’t do it for ourselves.

If you diversify your movement portfolio, can you imagine the wealth and vitality you can live with? Somatics, which uses a brain process in which you play with differentiated movement patterns, may be just the thing Fido and other healthy vertebrate animals do every day.

Move Well.

Since Brain Fitness is all the rage, Joint Health is paramount to moving that brain bucket and your skeleton around in comfort, otherwise, that compensated person you know will slide quickly towards degeneration and decrepitude – ouch.

Are you aware of what to do to promote joint health using yourself effectively? Who else do you know … flosses their joints? Somatic exercises are one avenue…

Much like a car which requires the oil to be changed and the joints to be lubed, your body requires this same type of maintenance so you can remain comfortably mobile and less squeaky and creaky. While you may take certain supplements to augment your health, did you know you can provide the nourishment your joints need by effective movement using your brain as nature intended?

Your joints respond to a great deal of neurological information like relating to the positions of the bones and muscles. The information gets reported along your spinal cord so you can adjust your angle, position, and speed of how you coordinate your joints as you carry yourself.

Your joints sit in a bath of fluid to foster better movement. This affords you the ability to move fluidly in response to danger or bodily threat.

Butter with your toast?

The integrity of your skeleton is essential to your well being, maybe even more so than all the complications you deal with as you age. Staying alive is one thing but can you move those joints around to get yourself to the fridge comfortably?

The wild animal who has a slow feedback system or a lack of joint integrity may not be able to keep up with the herd and most likely will get picked off along the way. If your joints are in a vulnerable place, then your muscles can contract reflexively to protect you – sometimes a good thing, unless you live in a constant state of protection.

Your joints have to be ready for action when needed and have the intelligence toward integrity. A lack of joint integrity can lead to, compensating patterns of movement with all sorts of lousy outcomes for you.

One of these may be the possibility of a dislocation which actually serves to keep your system going. Your joints will ring the alarm bells and the response to your brain is incredibly fast. Your engine will keep running, though you’re not going anywhere fast … you are still breathing, still alive…

An interesting relationship occurs between your muscles and joints. If your muscles are tuned down, then it’s possible your joints tune up in order to ready the muscles for action.

When you’re bedridden for some time, you’ll notice how your muscles atrophy along with a loss of your flexibility. If your muscles get overworked or get tired, the ability to maintain the joints integrity is compromised.

Instead, well-rested muscles are neurologically intact. These are muscles which release accordingly so the joints are ready for action in a variety of responses.

Did you ever notice when you do some extra vigorous activity, the next day your flexibility can be diminished, unless, you took care of yourself that evening or morning? In other words, did you floss your joints to take care of yourself and ready your muscles for the next day’s work or event?

We often think about our muscles and pay little heed to the joints, until they ache and take you down. Your joints may even tighten to protect you although you feel those sore, overworked muscles. You might think, I should have stretched… but as you know… stretching shortens the muscles, so why do that?

Is the “tightness” you feel something other than short muscles? Is it possible you’re feeling your body’s response to inactivity, over use, and/or possibly weakness?

Strong muscles are not necessarily short as weak muscles are not necessarily long. When your muscles are relaxed they can shorten for the strength output you need. If your muscles remain short all the time you may experience un-desireable consequences.

Weak muscles can shorten and not have the function they normally would have until the neurological signals allow for it.

Well, what can you do about it? How about flossing those joints in a very neurological way? You accomplish this with movements that work with the central nervous system in harmony with the muscular and joint systems.

Your brain can integrate movements through a cortical process which somatic exercises provide. In other words, you’re practicing Brain Fitness. Your results will be an agile body ready to articulate itself with a variety of options thereby giving your joints a well needed maintenance and improvement option.

Somatic exercises are not exercise in the normal sense since these exercises are highly specific to foster the brain’s ability to accurately sense the information and increase the coordination of how we move our joints, muscles and bones so they can all work together cohesively in the field of gravity.

Either gravity works for you or you live with a system of working against gravity and its repercussions.

Central nervous programming, is more important than cardiovascular or strength training according to author Mel Siff of Facts and Fallacies of Fitness.

Floss for your joints?

So if we took a little time to floss our joints via cortical pathways this give you the ability to learn and adapt accordingly… you’ll change yourself towards a more cohesive, better mover, with the natural side-effects of moving and being in less physical pain. The danger signals are now mitigated and will elicit themselves accordingly since now your joints are no longer compromised. You have the function and capacity to get where you want, comfortably… and you’re less likely to be toast on the food chain.

All it takes is a little practice. Heck, as long as you remind the brain within 72 hours, you’ll still have a good chance to continue your progress and keep your brain fit. By practicing a form of brain fitness, you can change the resting levels of your muscles so your joints will delightfully bathe and have the ability to articulate accordingly.

You can always try the somatic exercises and develop this sense of flossing your joints right now, right here.

Imagine yourself sitting near a quiet lake in the warm afternoon sun.

Experience Inner Calm and Feel your Pain, Tension and Stress melt away …

with Somatics… aka Pandiculation. Can you say that in public?

Forget about Stretching... Pandicualte your way to Health!

Increase your Awareness. Allow yourself to Relax with Ease. Quiet your Mind.

Feel for yourself, how movement can be as Effective
as stillness in this easy, moving meditative practice.

Sign up Today.

Saturday, May 2
1:15pm-4:15 pm

Planet Earth Yoga
418 N. 35th St.
Seattle, WA 98103

She couldn’t walk because of the hip pain and received crutches to help her walk…

So I had to scrap my plans on the class I was going to teach today. Devi was able to sit on the floor… it wasn’t easy for her…then I found out what she could do… and created the class from there… using one of the many Somatic Exercises…

… she listened to the guided instructions and was able to free herself from her hip pain? Do you think it’s possible? Do our brains have the ability to reset our nervous system so we can be more comfortable?

People who practice Somatics already know but you won’t unless you experience it for yourself. Now, she’s practicing her Somatics online and in the comfort of her home.

Please feel free to sign up for a Free Somatics Exercise class and find out for your self. Somatic Exercises use your brain so you can be fit in an instant. You can move well, it’s just a matter of learning how to effectively use the space between your ears.

P.S. It’s a week later and Devi went dancing again last night… and gave her crutches away.

Now a few weeks later and Devi’s right back where she left off. Watch her here.

Related Blogs

• doxa, High Expectations, and Heart Issues. « Roots Run Deep
• n0_means_n0 » Blog Archive » Best Colon Cleanse and Cleansing Detox Programs
• Tens unit instructions, Manual tens unit – Finance Article Directory
• Ritalin May Work By Enhancing Brain’s Dopamine | Psych Central News
• WCMA blog » Blog Archive » How “Male” and “Female” Brains Might Lead to “Male” and “Female” Art
• Katie Holmes Taking Suri to Dance Class | GirlsTalkinSmack.com – Celebrity Gossip Blog, TV, Fashion, Pop Culture & Movies
• Reader Topic: Getting Free Dance Lessons « You Dance Funny, So Does Me
• Dance Lessons and Dancing (Tue, Mar 9) : Real Worcester – Worcester News and Blogs
• Shake Your Booty This Saturday with The Raíces Cultural Center | moxieTODAY
• Katie Holmes & Suri Cruise leaving dance class : D*ana's Dirt
• Weight Loss Exercise Methods That Help You Stay on Track
• Researching American Culture «
• There is something good in every day » Blog Archive » 3 Tips To Perform Dance Aerobics
• Find The Right Fitness Classes For You At Bally’s Los Angeles Heath Clubs | Dr Article.com – Your Free Articles Directory
• » Hip Pain Symptoms
• A Link Between Low Back Pain and Hip Pain | Back Pains Cured
• Use The Power Of Crystals To Relieve Arthritis Pain | Health and Fitness – Article Fabric
• Yet Another Remedy For Hip Joint Pain | blueridgebeads.com
• ‘What Do You Think This Left Hip Pain Is?’ | Ask the Running Doc
• Articles highlight challenges, progress in nervous system cancers | BreakThrough Digest Medical News

Find out where Somatics is headed…And how you can catch the wave.

How is Somatics different than Stretching… same goal different process.

We’ve been lead to stretch in lots of our sports activities… you know … stretch your hip flexors, the hammies, the quads, your back, etc…

What happens when you stretch a muscle…

There are receptors in your muscles called spindle cells which are sensitive to stretch.  When you stretch your muscles, they send a message out to the spinal cord and back in to the muscles again.  Immediately afterwards, a message is sent to re-contract the muscle.  This is done quickly as a monosynaptic reflex, just like when you jar your funny bone, you’ll move quickly.

So when it come to stretching in the traditional manner, your muscles actually re-contract neurologically.

How Somatics is different?

First, you are doing the opposite of stretching.  In stretching, you are trying to stretch or lengthen a certain muscle.  In Somatics, you approach the muscle through a different process in order to gain length.   It’s like you having a mind tool to access.  The process is in your brain’s motor cortex and not in the spinal cord like stretching.

If we think of moving reflexively, I’ll call this a level 3 movement, from muscle to spinal cord and back to the muscle.  As you walk, this can be considered a level 2 movement, from your brain stem to the muscles and back.  This way you can do movements unconsciously and not have to learn again how to walk.

With a Somatics exercise, you are moving from your motor cortex, a level 1 movement, since it is this part of the brain which can create a movement in the first place.  It is the only part which can be used to change the resting levels of your muscles via your voluntary and conscious self.

Somatics is designed so you can regain control using your brain to decrease the output to the muscle which effectively lengthens it…  With greater control, your movements are more efficient since you are beginning from a more relaxed position.  Unless of course, you like to turn the light switch on when it is already on.

If your muscle is contracting, your brain stem is sending a message to have the output at a certain level, by sending out a message to have a number of motor units firing at whatever rate …  with Somatics you are taking control of the number of motor units that are firing in order to decrease the brain’s output to the muscle so it lengthens with chemicals generated in your brain-way cool-it’s like free drugs.  The good news is, this pharmacy is available 24/7 and it lies between your ears.

With stretching, the information only makes it to the spinal cord and not all the way up to the pharmacy itself, namely, your brain’s motor cortex.

So here we are, same goal, yet a completely different process so that at the end of this your muscle is lengthened… the joint near the muscle is not being pulled by the muscles that attaches to it and you move with greater ease and awareness.

Whenever you want to lengthen a muscle, you’d want to voluntarily contract the muscle and slowly decrease the contraction and allow for the muscle to lengthen.

With just a few reminders to the muscle, you end up with a muscle which is lengthened and now not “ready” to contract yet start from a more relaxed position.  This more mindful approach allows your brain to integrate and coordinate its actions, again it’s just a mind tool to use.

Your muscles are subject to either your voluntary or involuntary mechanisms.  Again, the pharmacy acting as the voluntary control and your spinal cord just sending the message to the muscle to be ready.  Would you rather be ready in a relaxed state or one in which your muscles are contracting to contract?

Somatics reduces the likelihood of injuries since stretching is now found out to actually weaken muscles since they are contracting and recontracting afterwards.

Sometimes it is hard for people to unwed themselves from the concept and practice of stretching like when people lie on their back and pull their knees in towards the chest to “stretch” the back… once again it may temporarily feel good yet you have actually set yourself up so your spinal cord will then re-contract the very muscles you stretched… maybe this is why you keep having to repeat this and hold on to yourself for any length of time.

Injuries being another matter also become exacerbated since what may have set you up in the first place is your muscles overcontracting so that when you tumble or get bumped off course and try to compensate with over firing muscles, oops you get the message with a slight mishap or two.  Your result is pain, discomfort, restricted movement, etc… sound familiar… don’t reach for the ice or ibuprofen yet.

Take it to the Bank

If your body is sending messages of being more relaxed then you are less likely to fall, less likely to hurt yourself, since your muscles won’t be working against you and you’ll have an ability to sense them more…  so you can readjust more quickly to get out of harms way.  And if harm is done, your able to get back in the game much quicker.  I am often amazed at how I keep getting older, yet recover much quicker.  Yep, I’ll take this one to the bank.

Besides, these Somatic Exercises are mindful tools using your brain to effectively handle the minor mishaps we encounter.  As a form of moving meditation, there are more benefits than can be derived from merely stretching.

You are engaged in a learning process whereas in stretching you are pulling and not really learning anything?  As you get the “how” of Somatics, you’ll discover how your brain changes the output as you sense your bodies ability with a finer appreciation of how you coordinate your movements… and if you watch most people stretch, they aren’t really paying attention, it’s just an unconscious act of doing this or that since we were trained without really knowing why other than it’s supposed to be good for us.

Hmm, don’t belive me, try it for yourself.  Then again I haven’t stretched in 8 years and I’m moving better than I ever have…and oh, the Fibromyalgia I was diagnosed with, is no longer an issue as I use my brain to produce output which has changed the very nature of the painful signals I used to generate…  Now it’s a pleasure to run, kick, jump… though I do miss the need for a hotub to recover…naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah…

Got Brain, Get Fit, in an Instant… Your Mind is the Tool.

Related Blogs

• Spindle Cell Fibrous Histiocytoma of the Fifth Toe: A case report «
• Brain freeze! Brain freeze! — Cute Overload
• Ritalin May Work By Enhancing Brain’s Dopamine | Psych Central News
• Futurity.org – Glaucoma’s blindness starts in the brain
• Intendix, The Brain Computer Interface Goes Commercial (video) | Singularity Hub
• Play Pinball Using Your Brain Power | Geeky Gadgets
• Refresh your mind using Brain Wave Vibration | Spiritual Center
• Lesions in brain or brainstem causing quadriplegia in children?
• The Power Of Your Atlas | Chiropractors Brighton | Chiropractors Hove
• Portland, Maine Chiropractor Offers Relief to Patients with Parkinson’s Disease | Press Release Maine
• Extremely Bad Advice: Breaking His Funnybone – The Ampersand
• Hammies vs Wolfpack: ugly wins are still wins! « Winter of (dis)Content
• Show the hammies some love with this exercise! | Inspired Journey Fitness
• Hills & Hammies and I like cupcakes « Samela Poo and the big scary Ironman
• Hockey Conditioning | Biking for Hockey Players | Off-Ice Training | KevinNeeld.com
• The Running Barefoot » Hip flexor
• Foam Rollers are AMAZING!!!! | Danica's Daily
• A question about hip flexors and kettlebells in the management of low back pain
• Wrestling and Injuries | What Is Wrong With The World Today
• Preventing Motorcycle Accidents and Injuries | Personal Injury