Stand Taller. Move Freely.
Disclosure: Some links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Whenever I’m working with a client who has mobility issues, tension or pain, I’m aware that there are really three elements that contribute to that condition. The first…
The body is a surprisingly vibrant lens through which to view culture. Since culture is comprised of humans — including their bodies — it’s impacted by them, and vice versa. In language, for example, we can see the body reflected in idioms like “a pain in the neck,” “the weight of the world on your…
A few months ago, I was helping a client untangle tightness and pain the neck and shoulder region that we traced back to long days spent nudging a computer mouse back and forth. When said client asked me how to prevent the same problem from returning, I shrugged and suggested, “Get a job as a…
You may not know this, but I can feel shock in the body. It’s different than a tight muscle. It has a different quality in the tissue. Tight muscles are receptive, grateful for release. Shocked muscles feel rigid, petrified. And isn’t that what we say? I was petrified? So maybe feeling free in your life…
Our culture loves to spotlight the mechanical roots of our painful symptoms. “Your hips are tight because you sit too much.” Maybe. Sitting does flex the hip for long periods of time and can result in shortening of the muscles. But flexion is a protective gesture. When you’re threatened, the instinct is to guard your…
Get out your measuring cups and we’ll play a new game Come to the front of the class and we’ll measure your brain We’ll give you a complex and we’ll give it a name Andrew Bird I’m so tired of people being measured, in every way. Beauty, brains, height, and — yes — posture. We’ve…
Many of my clients have joked over the years that they’re going to come in and tell me they have an ache in their shoulder, and I’ll rub their pinky toe or something to make it disappear. It’s not untrue. Our medical system perpetuates a separatist model of the body — one in which each…