Muscle Lengthening

From page 95, 96 of "The Protean Body"

http://www.amazon.com/Protean-Body-Rolfers-Human-Flexibility/dp/0060905522

Another cultural myth is that body movement occurs only through the contraction of muscles. the logical corollary of that dogma is that the lots of movement, especially the strenuous movement required in sports, means lots of contraction. From that standpoint, body use tends toward deterioration, hardening, and shortening of the soft tissue, because the joints are constantly being pulled together and distorted.

Ida discovered that body movement can also occur by lengthening a muscle. For example, it is possible to learn to move one's leg so that the quadriceps lengthen in concert with the psoas's lengthening and dropping back toward the read wall of the belly, to rotate the head without shortening the muscles of the neck, to lift the forearm without shortening the biceps. I said to Ida one day. "How in the hell can you raise your forearm without shortening your biceps?" "Watch" she retorted. She lay a man down on a table, instructing him to move his elbow straight in the and out from his side. We all observed that the muscles did indeed shorten. She began to work on the fasciae of this arm and shoulder. Ten minutes later, when he repeated the original movement, there was no contraction. The elbow was moving by the lengthening of the tissues -- in both flexors and extensors -- in the upper arm.

The actually explanation of this kind of movement is still unclear. But there seem to be three states of muscular activity: (1) a state of balance, tone, or rest; (2) a state of contraction; and (3) a state in which the muscle lengthens and falls back toward the center of the body -- e.g., the biceps lengthens and falls back toward the humerus to raise the forearm. The latter kind of movement is not easy to come by. It begins to happen in the later session of Rolfing,and with structural patterning, but i takes a good about of time, awareness, and change of mound to build that kind of movement into one's habitual uses of the body.

The consequences of the shirt to the third kind of movement are radical. imagine how many times a day you stand up and sit down, how many hours you spend walking here and there. Every single time you engage in those activities you have shortened you body and consumed energy in the shortening. You have been contributing to the deterioration of your body moving in the earth's field. Now imagine a shirt where all this movement involves an initial lengthening of connective tissue. Each time you move you are increasing the ease in your body, enhancing the flow of energy. Movement, rather then perfect passivity, becomes the nourishing source of the the body.

Spine and disease mapping

In the Chiropractic realm the understanding is that there is a correlation between the state of the spinal cord and the level and different kinds of disease that are displayed throughout the body. Here is a chart outlining the connection between the vertebras and the different kinds of ailments.

References:

http://www.northvalleychiro.com/how.html

Mingmen - Life Gate

The Ming Men, "Gate of Life" is an essential part of traditional Chinese physiology. In Chinese martial arts there is a huge emphasis on keeping the life gate open during all movement and it is where the Yang energy originates and projects outwards. The location of the Ming Men is in the lower back between L4 and L5. What usually missed is the the life gate is located in the front of the spine. 






References :


http://www.indyspinemd.com/Normal/index.asp


http://www.traditionalhealtharts.com/papers/mingmen.html

Homolateral/Contralateral movement and intelligence ?

Homolateral and Contralateral are Developmental Movement Patterns.

Homolateral Movement (Body Half) is an asymmetrical movement of the upper limb and the lower limb on the same side.

Contralateral Movement (Opposition) is a diagonal movement of one upper limb with the opposite lower limb.

Homolateral Movement correlates to the movement of reptiles

Contralateral Movement correlates to the movement of mammals

From a developmental aspect, and if you subscribe to the notion that mind body are connected and that the way we move and the development of our intelligence are one, then Contralateral movement is a higher developmental stage.

Often when we learn something new that pertains to movement we will start with homolateral movement and then move to contralateral movement. This is whey you might see kids start to crawl in a homolateral movement first (moving right arm and leg together) and then develop into a Contralateral movement.

The higher intelligence is contralateral, and if we block this type of movement, or spend most of our day to day activities in homolateral behavior then we are not aligning ourselves with the way nature developed us. In a way you might say that we go back, we become more basic. Unfortunately when you look at the way modern society lives you can notice that we mostly have homolateral movement. Sitting in front of a screen and going to the gym all comprise of homolateral activities. Advances movement such as dance, martial arts, yoga all involve contra lateral movement. However this also includes walking. Walking is a contralateral movement pattern, and so it's really not necessary to do complex exercises as long as you walk.

Walk more you'll feel better and you'll be smarter

here is a reference to some basic cross over exercises

http://www.feelingfree.net/batteryproblems/crossover.htm

Refereces :

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Whole+Brain+Exercises+Get+Your+Whole+Brain+Working+for+You-a01073927971

http://www.feelingfree.net/batteryproblems/crossover.htm

http://www.stolaf.edu/depts/dance/faculty/anthony/courses/Modern-Dance-Language.htm

http://wires.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WiresArticle/wisId-WCS36.html

Breathing through the molars

Having a tight Jaw is very common. The jaw is also highly connected to the hip, so when the jaw is tight, the hip is tight and the whole body is not at ease. There are many exercises to relax the jaw, but this one is one you can do often, and easily.

The way to do this is to imagine as if you are breathing into the back of the mouth where the molars are. You breath through both sides, basically imagining that you nostrils are actually back there. What this will do is force you to pay attention to the big jaw muscles, relax them, and incorporate micro movements while breathing. A loose jaw is not a static jaw but rather a fluid jaw. The micro movement will gently massage it throwout the day.

In the image you can see both the Masseter and Temporalis muscles. see if you can notice both when you breath.

References :

http://www.massagemag.com/News/massage-news.php?id=7215&catid=1&title=research-tmj-related-to-hip-pain

http://ssop.com.au/blog/uncategorized/temporomandibular-joint-disorders-tmd-and-headache/