Let’s move in all ways!

Our spine was made to move in 6 directions: Flexion, extension, lateral flexion, and twisting. 

This past month as the weather became warmer and my options for movement exploded (as I love to exercise outside) it got me to think of all the ways our body was meant to move. 
Many of us don’t move like our ancestors did. We have invented a lot of machines that save us time, but also keep us from using our bodies in so many different ways. 

I was talking to another yoga instructor and she was telling me about a Yogi who is in his 70’s and can hardly walk, but he can get into any of the ashtanga yoga poses that he has practiced for the past 40 years. That’s all he practices, thus other movements are difficult.

I was on my bike ride and saw a gentleman get off his bike and he walked just like he was riding his bike - bent over at the hips and unable to straighten up to walk.  I was wondering if he only bikes.

When I trained for the marathon, all I had time to do was run, I rarely stretched, I did a little core work, and each morning I woke up in pain.   

Our bodies are amazing machines! They adapt to the movement, or non movement, that we do each day, but watching and hearing these stories reminded me to move in all ways.  

Take the stairs, walk, bike, run, tennis, pickleball, swim.

Practice yoga to move from the floor to standing, balance, breath work, meditation.

Practice pilates to strengthen the core & small muscles we don’t use in our heart strengthening cardio.

Strength training to build bone density and muscles.  

Take a look at your movement throughout your day and see if you are moving your spine in all 6 ways.  Can you rise from the floor to stand? Are you standing with head over ribs, ribs over hips? Can you stand on one leg? 

I get it! That seems to be a lot of time in a day!  But I promise, I do have a lot of ideas to make this time efficient-feel free to reach out!

Enjoy your summer outside with all the movement it offers and move your spine in all ways!