There are 33 joints in the feet! All of them should be somewhat mobile. However, most of our shoes and man-made surfaces over which we walk limit the movement of the feet themselves. As a result, the joints of the feet become stiff and "sticky". The mobility of the feet can affect both how we use the parts above them (knees, hips, etc) and how well we balance and adapt while walking on uneven surfaces. In this class we run through numerous exercises designed to mobilize the joints of the feet and develop better coordination for balance. Enjoy!
Finding the coordination to stabilize the core as you move your hips will not only save you from strain in the lower back and develop better hip flexibility, but it will also give you better balance.
We spend so much time sitting in modern society, that unless we are very mindful, it is easy to fall into a habit of consistently tucking the pelvis (also known as posterior tilt). This can cause and exacerbate certain issues with tight/short hamstrings, the core, the pelvic floor, balance, hip mobility and more.
In this class we'll identify what a neutral pelvis is in relationship to the parts that surround it and we'll explore some exercise/correctives to help bring the pelvis to neutral.
When you know where your pelvis is, you'll be better able to move the rest of the body better without overtaxing your lower back or losing support from your core.
Often as a consequence of the amount of sitting we do, our hip muscles have a bit of trouble stabilizing our thigh while standing, walking and performing other dynamic motions. As a consequence, many of us tend to experience an internal rotation of the thigh. If this happens consistently, we may compensate with a turn out of the feet, and we may experience knee strain, lack of balance, etc. In this class, we'll work on establishing hip rotation to help us find more stability and ease in our movements. However, looking at the kneecap isn't a very reliable way to determine your hip rotation because the kneecaps can be pulled to the side of the knee joint due to an imbalance of tension on on side of the quadricep muscles. A better measurement is the back of the knee or "the knee pit".
Finding Parallel feet or getting your feet to point forward is a way to find better hip engagement, and to decrease stress on the ankles and knees. In this class we explore how to measured neutral alignment of the feet and how to coax your feet back toward that alignment especially if you've spent years adapting toward other positions.
Using an everyday household item such as a broomstick, dowel rod or your favorite walking stick, we'll explore moving all our parts: from shoulder mobility, to balance exercises, hip work, and foot exercises.
Finding stability and extension in the hips while learning to use the backside of your legs to drive the leg backwards in order to propel your body forward. Like an oar paddles a canoe.
Putting your hands on the ground and carrying some of your weight with the arms is common with many natural movements and exercises. However, when the load is great, it is easy to skip over tense and underused parts of us, and it is difficult to see the details of our movement and learn how to develop better muscle use and stability. We can practice many of the same movements by taking the load off and putting our hands on the wall. The wall is a great place to use your arms in varied ways and it is also a great place to practice using and moving your hips.
Learning to stand with a vertical leg where there hips rest over the heels is an important alignment cue to help release the tension of the fronts of the thighs and knee joints, to engage the backside of the legs for better balance and walking, and it helps load the bones of the hips and legs for greater bone strength. This adjustment also helps create a vertical body all the way to the head.
Learning to stand and walk with the ankles at pelvis width apart is an important alignment marker that will help us to find better hip strength. Developing this as your neutral stance will keep the feet, ankles, and knees healthier as well. It also helps to load the bones of the legs for better bone strength.
Limited mobility tends to cause parts of us to rotate away from the tension. So our feet turn out, our thighs rotate in, our pelvis tilts causing our spine to flex when we go for deeper ranges of motion such as in squats. This class is a look at all those rotations and how to bring them back in alignment for better movement of your lower half.
Equipment: chair, block, half dome, strap, tennis ball (optional). The ability to balance can be affected by overly tense (or shortened) areas of your body. This class is an exploration of stretching and mobilizing your feet, shins, thighs, hips and then learning how to stabilize your balance.
This class is an exploration of instinctual resting postures as illustrated by a physiotherapist, Michael Tetley. The premise is that our modern life lacks the pressure deforming movements that would occur if we lived in nature without the modern conveniences of soft, cushy couches and beds. The movements caused by putting pressure on our bodies, which is the same reason we get massage, can help relieve tension, increase lymph movement, and even reset our spines. Here we'll explore some of those instinctual resting postures and add some stretch and restorative exercise to them in a sequence of movement flow
Immobility and tension in the hips can pull on the spine whenever you need to move on the legs thereby putting unnecessary wear and tear on the spine. AND not knowing how to keep the hips stable when the spine needs to move can keep the tissues of the trunk stiff and unmoved. So in this class we look at the difference of moving the spine and hips both together and separately. EQUIPMENT NEEDED: Block (or book or blanket) and a strap.
The habitual positioning of our body (mainly chairs) and the shortening of the muscle lengths that result from it can lead to strain and tension in certain areas when we do the simplest action of laying down on the ground. It's why people often report neck and back pain while laying down. In this class we'll look at how to realign our posture and how to iron out all those kinks so that we can elongate to our fullest length while laying down.
A look at how alignment can help us move more of our body in our physical activities. This class will focus on the common yoga pose, downward dog. We'll see how limitations in our ranges of motion are causing us to avoid moving certain joints and how using alignment markers can help us get more movement and strength overall.
