‘Feeling the calm at the center of the cyclone.’ ‘Feeling the stillness within motion.’ These are some of my favorite metaphors for how dance can feel for me.
Think about it: most movement does not seek to “stabilize” but rather to move though space, whether the motion is small or large. It’s important to develop balance, sensitivity and control in place, like doing dance adagio movements that mostly stay still around a planted standing foot, or “stabilization work” on a boss ball or some such. That will not be enough to develop coordination skills for moving through space, which is a different use pattern, IMO.
I am not working ‘scientifically’ here, though it may sound like that. I am trying to express the feeling that showed up for me in the course of ‘discovering’ or uncovering what had already been going on for me and probably most “movers”.
I’m working with the large Gym Ball to help people explore eccentric muscle contraction, but also while going off-center in movement. I feel that this more than many things I have come up with helps develop the sense of staying ‘centered within the movement’ in a coordinative sense.
This is as usual a work in progress. Stay tuned.
I was limping on a really sore hip this morning on the way to breakfast next door. I’m in OKC, which means I am literally sleeping in the office, which is situated adjacent to the chiro clinic’s exercise equipment. I got back from Joey’s Cafe and started doing the very same twist-with-resistance exercises that I offer up to clients. Instant relief! This is how I am able to offer so much prescriptive exercise: long practice with putting myself back together during 25 plus years as a pro dancer, and, more importantly, taking those concepts to a new level to rehab the late-middle aged body of a former pro dancer.
Working with a client recovering from a car accident this morning. In addition to:
1. easing spasming muscles, her painful nerves hyper-sensitive from tethered fascias and inflammation in her neck, and holding on for dear life around her liver and psoas;
2. adjusting joints, especially ribs, clavicle and sternum area, jammed by the impact from the other car, coming from her right, and the seatbelt, ( which did a lot to ease the nerve pain in the area),
3. easing holding in the nerves and fascia long the IT bands,
we had to look at awareness enhancing movements that could give her back a sense of wholeness and connectedness throughout her body. It had felt like ” hips and shoulders were cut off from each other,” she said. Her gentle rocking of her hips forward and back, more and more subtly, while I contacted fascias at the front of the transverse process of her neck, she reported a sense of “ebb and flow” though her whole body (and I helped by easing phrenic and vagus nerves and probably more that I didn’t know). This allowed her to functionally uncouple gripping of the hips in relation to her shoulders and neck, and helped her re-establish her ‘full-body sense.”
After we got this connection, deep work on the fascia of her ribs was “soothing” all the way into her neck and throat area, where a lot of irritation and pain has been showing up during her daily activities.
Lots goes on in this Rolfing® Structural Integration, Rolf Movement® stuff!
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Rolfing in Boulder, LLC Receives 2015 Best of Boulder Award
Boulder Award Program Honors the Achievement
BOULDER August 12, 2015 — Rolfing in Boulder, LLC, Robert McWilliams Certified Advanced Rolfer™ and Rolf Movement® Practitioner has been selected for the 2015 Best of Boulder Award in the Alternative Medicine category by the Boulder Award Program.
Each year, the Boulder Award Program identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and our community. These exceptional companies help make the Boulder area a great place to live, work and play.
Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2015 Boulder Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the Boulder Award Program and data provided by third parties.
About Boulder Award Program
The Boulder Award Program is an annual awards program honoring the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses throughout the Boulder area. Recognition is given to those companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value.
The Boulder Award Program was established to recognize the best of local businesses in our community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to recognize the small business community’s contributions to the U.S. economy.
SOURCE: Boulder Award Program
CONTACT:
Boulder Award Program
Email: PublicRelations@awardcontact.org
URL: http://www.awardcontact.org
Robert McWilliams Certified Advanced Rolfer, Rolf Movement Practitioner’s photo.
Robert McWilliams Certified Advanced Rolfer, Rolf Movement Practitioner
Integration of…
who you are,
where it all comes together,
what you are looking for,
when you feel more in synch,
the why-emerges,
doesn’t matter how.
Rolfing® Structural Integration and Rolf Movement Integration are a means.
When you feel tired…
-of being in chronic pain, like plantar fasciitis, tennis elbow, low back pain
-of feeling like your body is “older” than it should be, with neck tension, tight shoulders, tight back, tight hips, tight ankles and more
-when everyday movements feel more clumsy and difficult than previously, and you just want to feel more like “yourself”.
Definitely consider seeing me ( if you live close enough in Boulder or Oklahoma City): when you want results in fewer sessions; for clear suggestions and feedback related to fitness and movement awareness practices to deepen gains made in Rolfing® Structural Integration sessions; to feel freer as well as more grounded.
This is a worthy investment in your ability to function and enjoy life. Let me be your ally!
