…And you will look kinda sexy too! But first, you will need to slow down. I’ve just completed my first ever full day meditation retreat (it’s never too late to try!). Even though I’ve had a personal meditation practice for many years I have never done more and a 1/2 day sit. I had one major revelation: all my life, I’ve been terrified to slow down. It does not make intuitive sense to me as a solution to any problem. When I watch my own videos, I often freak out at how long it takes me to say something, and how many times I seem to need to slow down in order to express myself properly.

And of course, six minutes is way too long for and educational video on youtube, according to all the experts! And yet, this is just one 10th of what I wanted to share with you. For the rest, you have to come to your FREE first Mobilignment™ class by emailing me for the link!

But just for today, I invite you to follow my on this journey…slow down, breath, watch this video, and see if it helps your poor stiff lower back, pelvis, and breathing.

Your pelvis, as a whole, is a round, bowl-like weight bearing structure all the way around its circumference. Most anatomy geeks I know emphasize the sacrum as the main weight bearing joint, but that’s not the whole truth. Yes, you can see how thik the sacrum is, and it makes sense that the weight of the head and torso passes through that gorgeous arch down through your legs. But your pelvis has an arch in the front as well, and it’s got a lovely little cartilage cushion there to help you out if you will only use it.

Weight, and force, passes through the femur bones, hip joint, and pubic bone in the front as well as the sacrum in the back. You can see it clearly here:

If you have a sore or stiff sacrum, or if the muscles around it are often braced, it could be because you are not allowing the weight to shift side to side through the pubic arch. I ought to know, because I’ve worked with so many students before and after hip replacements who are really holding on in the lower back to prevent what their whole body knows will be painful: weight passing through the hip joints!

I’ve been through this myself because of some wear and tear on the cartilage in my own hip joint. What has been surprising is that my pain decreases when I allow the pubic arch to move! I think that’s because there is less pounding into the hip joint and less bracing when you allow the weight to travel all the way around this bowl. This is true in walking, as demonstrated in the video, or in running, and especially in dancing.

Being able to allow movement at this pubic bone point has also increase muscle tone in my belly (a la Pilates) and freed up my breathing tremendously. Enjoy!

Image: BodyParts3D/Anatomography web site: http://lifesciencedb.jp/bp3d/?lng=en. Located at: http://lifesciencedb.jp/bp3d/?lng=en. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

Enjoy today’s new body learning 110%…because tomorrow, what you learned today will probably change. It still happens to me, and honestly I’m happy when it does because it’s called neuro-plasticity and it’s actually good for you! Come to your first Mobilignment™ morning class for free (just email me to get the link) and I’ll prove it to you.

I attract anatomy geeks in my practice because I love them. We understand each other and can spend happy hours geeking out on anatomy. Many of my students are body workers or experts in their own right, but even so there is a deeper thirst for the unknown, the new unexplored territory. Our body never disappoints. It’s like New York City – you try to visit all the different neighborhoods, but it’s so big, by the time you get back to a place you explored a couple of years ago, it’s all different!

In this spirit, I’d love to share a recent discovery that I’ve had around the structure of my shoulder girdle that I hope will debunk the idea that rounded shoulders are bad. People. Look at the shape of your ribcage. It’s round. Look at the shape of your shoulder blade, which wraps around your ribs. It’s round. Even the bones are round! You couldn’t make them flat if you wanted to.  Furthermore, your collarbone does not cover the width of the front or your chest, it instead ends a bit early, because your shoulder blade wraps forwards around your ribs to create your shoulder joint and the collarbone meets about 1/2 of an inch or so in from the widest part of your back.

It feels really good to find the little space between your collar bone and your shoulder blade with a hand, and to really let that shoulder blade slide forward so you are not wasting effort pulling your collarbone back and compressing that amazing, beautiful joint.

I knew this information intellectually, but when I started to investigate I found that I was indeed pressing my collarbones back, causing unnecessary tension in my shoulders, mostly my trapezius, which wraps around the body like a cape…perhaps more about that next week.

You can try it like this. With your right hand, locate this space between collarbone and shoulder blade. With your left hand, now hug your right arm. You’ll notice that if you fully engage your left hand with your right arm, your trapezius will let go,  your shoulder blade will slide forward, and it feels really good! Enjoy playing around with this in movement too – just knowing that the collarbone is not the shoulder blade, they are two different neighborhoods.

 GO HERE TO SEE GIL HEDLEY’S RECENT VIDEO OF THE UNWINDING HEART

Dear Dancers at heart,

Today is the day that the United States celebrates Martin Luther King’s birthday. Dr. King was not just a “leader” – he was connected to a radical and profound movement that lives on. He was one articulate leader among many, many beloved and connected activists.

When I think about what my life, my body, and my heart would be like without the life of Dr. King…..ach. I don’t want to think about that. I take time on this day to celebrate his radical vision for a life of abundance and dignity for all people, for the abolition of the caste and class inequality in the United States, for global justice and an end to colonial wars. For me, the joy of doing the work that I personally feel needs to be done outweighs my own perfectionistic tendencies. So what if things are really bad out there? So what if it’s an endless task that will never be done. What else is there to do? At the same time, I struggle with a tendency to overwork myself that can undermine every vision, every project that I give birth to.

Because of this tendency, born in the traumas of my childhood, I think I can safely say that the Alexander Technique saved my life. Yes, its founder was a white man raised in a colonial culture, a working class man who strived to succeed in high Victorian society and was willing to associate his work at different times with some disturbing ideas like eugenics  (like many other “human potential” movements.) Still, F.M. Alexander came up with a very special perspective on our embodied intelligence that saved my ass. I can’t disavow him, I’d rather see him for who and what he was. If there is one thing the recognition of the power of habit has taught me, it’s that my own thinking can be extremely distorted. My flaws may be on display next!

Even Dr. King had work to do around his own limited thinking. You can learn here about the attempted censorship of gay folk like Bayard Rustin as an example. Even Mr. Rodgers had work to do – he also suffered from homophobia, which you can read about in this excellent episode of The Moth, in which Officer Clemmons tells his truth. I’m still glad that Dr. King and Mr. Rodgers did their work.

So, maybe don’t worry so much about doing things perfectly. Do them with heart, be vulnerable, and the mess will work itself out. I’m going to bare my heart today and tell you that it’s taken me a lifetime to build a business that is more aligned with my core values, and I could only have done it in community. Here is a list I’m working on – I dream this kind of world:

– One that is more people centered and less materialistic and status oriented (The Experimenters Union is a non-hierarchical teaching & learning platform that supports the discovery of a teachers unique voice, and soon it will be opening up to all certified bodyworkers and embodiment educators!)

– One in which I do not contribute to violence against other living beings

– One in which wounded hearts and bodies have places that they can heal (I’m now offering both private and community based options for my work because both of those are important for healing)

– One in which profit and the accumulation of wealth is not placed above human life

– One in which everyone has a home, an education, and enough food to eat

So what if there is more work to do. Today, I need the joy of directing myself towards a higher plane, standing with my feet in the mud and mess, unwinding and rewinding my heart, spinning my blood,  I wish you a very happy Birthday Dr. King!