At this time of year, you hear a lot about New Year’s resolutions. This year, I was happy to see a lot of people saying “New Year’s resolutions don’t work.” We all know that’s true from personal experience, but these folks were referencing a growing understanding about how learning and skill-building take place. Most of what we now know about how the nervous system works flies in the face of changing through the strength of your willpower alone. ...
Frozen shoulder is one of those terms that people accept with resignation and it seems like a plausible explanation…until you start to poke around in your own nervous system. If you’ve ever been told you have a frozen shoulder, I urge you to look a little bit beyond the (overly) simple mechanical explanation. Obviously, I’m not diagnosing your shoulder from a YouTube video, but I just want you to ask a few more questions and try these two experiments: ...
In just ten minutes of head-to-toe movement, you can get rid of stiff joints in the morning. What’s the secret? There isn’t one really…you just have to move every single joint. Z Health exercises for joint mobility give you an easy template to use to get this done, though. Check out this example of head-to-toe joint mobility: The metronome-like quality of the music got me. Sorry! You know why I like metronomes. ...
This year, why not persuade your friends and family to be a little healthier and move better? I know that’s always a tricky area to wade into, so I’ve picked out a few things below that will help anyone become better educated about movement and inspire them to act (or trick them into it, depending on how you look at it!). Check them out: The Perfect Shoe If you ask me how many pairs of Vivo Barefoot shoes I own, I would ask you if you mean for just wearing around or for tai chi or for formal occasions. I’m only kind of kidding… ...
Even if you have cultivated a daily practice that takes you into deep relaxation, it’s helpful to have a set of stress reduction techniques “that work in 5 minutes or less.” You can pull these out during the day when you have a few minutes of downtime. If you are busy and really stressed out, these relaxation techniques can prevent your stress level from going through the roof. Try them and let me know what you think. ...
Soon after I took over as the director of Brookline Tai Chi, we were hosting Bruce Frantzis for a Circling Hands seminar. In the most basic version of Circling Hands qigong, you make a vertical circle out in front of your body, with your palms facing each other, focusing on smooth breathing, continuous pumping, and evening out the circle more and more with each pass (no corners or edges!). In this seminar, Bruce was weaving meditation into the exercise and the goal was very simple: as you extend your arms out away from the body, you bring your mind into your body as much as you can. As the arms come close to the body, you send your mind out. ...
And they’re all in pain! When it comes to the aches and pains of moving around, you might be in pain from your day job, your vigorous exercise routine, or even a mindfulness practice that doesn’t involve any movement. Ever wonder why? The reason is exactly the same in each case: in your pre-conscious mind, you are basically trying to outsource your own movement patterns, from a body part that should be doing the job, to one that’s willing to, even though it isn’t designed for that job! ...
The next time you go to class, watch out for these 4 practice partners. While they all start out with good intentions, if you hang out with them too much, you’ll get sucked into their quirky habits and slow down your own progress. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! 1. Checklist Charlie Checklist Charlie is the tai chi student who is forever stuck in his own head. Every time he practices, instead of feeling his body, he recites a list of stuff he is supposed to be doing. For most people, “soundtracking” your way through the form is a legitimate learning phase, but Checklist Charlie is stuck there forever. ...
Check out the updated “Code of Practice”. These are the rules you need to follow to make sure your practice is energizing, nourishing and rewarding in the long run. You must follow these rules 100% to the letter, unless you think that kind of rigidity violates either #2 and/or #4. Let me know what you think. Did I miss anything?
Check out this advice from Jack White on why you should limit yourself with formal constraints if you want to be creative. The lesson here for anyone who does tai chi, qigong, or meditation is “stick to your form”. Inside the limits of the form, you’ll find vastly more inner space to explore than you ever would in free-form movement.