Monday, June 13, 2016

Do You Know Where Your Pelvis Is At?

With the right help, finding your pelvis can be easy.

At Meta Mvmt  we believe that muscles ought to engage when you move, however, for most of us our movements are not fully linked up to our nervous system and this creates poor neuromuscular movement patterns and posture.  

When you walk your counter balance muscles help keep your body upright to maintain your gait cycle.  If a counter balance muscle doesn’t engage when it’s called upon, then it can distort the whole structural system thus putting more compression, pressure and tensional forces in areas of the body that aren’t designed to handle that stress.  

Meta Mvmt uses a Functional Movement Screening from Craig Leibenson, to access your poor movement patterns and postural misalignments.  When your movements have support from our muscles, then our performance increases, load distribution is spread well and our counter balance and tensigrity system can work more efficiently.  

We use basic exercises to see if you have the correct muscle firing order, like the in the Pelvic-Up exercise.  In this exercise many people feel it in their back or hamstring, this is a sign of poor muscle firing.  

The Pelvic-Up, is a great exercise that mimicks gait and hip extension. Gluteus maximus is the primary muscle for hip extension.  So the question is, does your gluteus muscle actually activate in a Pelvic-Up?  What percentage?  Both sides? Often times a pelvic imbalance can create a muscular imbalance and may create further dysfucntion during any movement while standing, sitting and walking.  

Do you know where your pelvis is? Probably not and  that’s why we need postural assessments from skilled individuals.   

We combine many philosophies together to find balance vertically, horizontally and diagonally to ensure good balance, counter balance and functional sensory motor integration which creates neuromuscular efficiency. 


Visit METAMVMT.com today to find out where your pelvis is.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Feeling Your Organs


By Wendy Woods
02-07-2015

With a tone of disbelief, my client asked me the other day, “How could she feel her organs?”.  She thought is was just a woo-woo thing and I clarified that it was quite possible.

First of all we have receptors in our body that allows for us to create a “Body Map”  or a sort of GPS system of were we are in space both internally and externally.  Using our GPS systems is how we can sense our parts within a whole system. This is done through sensing receptors located throughout the body including the organs spaces. 

Baroreceptors or pressure receptors allow us to glean relationships to our parts and create detailed maps of spacial relationships within our body. 

The diaphragm is one of the main pressure changers of the body and triggers our ability to be more aware of our parts via internal pressure changes.  As we take a deep three dimensional diaphragm inhalation our internal organs, located just underneath the diaphragm, can easily move/glide up to an inch and more in an healthy individual.  This is true on the exhalation as well.

Practice creating a body map of your organs by using diaphragm breathing.  It may help to have a general visual of where your organs are so that you can feel and better create your map. If you are new to sensing your body it will take some time to feel it again and you may need a coach to guide you. Also, a racing mind and distracting environment will inhibit your ability to concentrate on the subtle changes occurring internally. So set yourself up for success by chooses to do your awareness practice in an environment that facilitates your concentration.

This is one of the first steps in helping to reduce stress on your organs, creating a relationship with your body and creating a personal health care program. 

So before you go popping some pills for your Kidneys, check to see if they have space to move a glide with your inhalation and exhalation. 

    

Friday, July 5, 2013

Stretching and Fascia

We commonly relate to stretching as a muscle based practice.  I invite you to consider that there are other tissues of the body that have the ability to stretch and benefit from specific stretching practices.   All your tissue are plastic and have the ability to stretch, change and move, including the bones.

Fascia is considered to be the main tissue that holds the structures of the body, not the muscles and the bones.  Fascia is a system in itself similar to that of all the other major systems like the cardiovascular, endocrine, GI.  If you were to remove all your fascia it would still look just like you because it holds everything together.  I have heard it thought of as a structural "one-sie", by Marc Drobnick.

The most profound thing about fascia is that it is everywhere in the body and can move, change and communicates.  Becoming aware of the feeling of fascia is one of the first ways to sense the interconnectedness of all the tissues that form you. If you move one part of you all other parts will be effected.

The idea of moving and stretching more than just muscle is common place in practices like Yoga and Qigong/Tai Chi.  The view of the body is expanded, instead of emphasizing muscles, all the tissues of the body are concentrated on and have a relationship to one another.

Tai Chi movement or Yoga poses can be specifically effecting an entire energy meridian from head to toe. When you do a forward bend you effect the entire backside of the body as well as the Kidney channels that are embedded in the fascia.

Bing Lee, Tai Chi/Qigong Teacher in Denver Colorado explains that the energy meridians are embedded in the fascia and if you move the fascia you move the energy. If the fascia is not moving the energy is not.

Fascia is a system that is well known to all physical therapist, massage therapist, craniosacral therapist, personal trainers, and hopefully doctors.

by Wendy Woods




Monday, July 1, 2013

How to Create a Lasting Exercise Routine and Enhance your Performance



Imagination is a powerful force that enhances your performance of anything you do especially exercise.  This has been known by top athletes for years.

If you hate working out and dislike how your body feels afterwards, than it becomes less likely for you to workout again.

Studies show that when you associate a positive feeling with an action it is more likely for you to choose that action again.  We associate feelings with actions.

Freud first spoke about this neuroplastic idea in 1888 but today it is referred to as Hebb's Law.   Freud theorized that when two neurons fire simultaneously, this firing facilities their ongoing association.  Freud emphasis that what links neurons is their firing together over time (neurons control movement). Neurons that fire together wire together.

You can improve the way you feel about exercise by recalling a very positive memory during your workout that results in a palpable feeling in your body or even make you smile. Then take on that next exercise while maintaining that good feeling.

This is why imagination and feeling that you like your workout, during and after, is important factor in maintaining and creating a healthy lifestyle.



Thursday, June 27, 2013

Is Technology A Distraction?

Imagine this:

True Story. You are in the middle of a a great workout and you are just about to start your box jumps.

Anonymous
is standing in front of the 2 1/2 foot box, he is getting psyched up and just as he starts his leap his phone rings.  It distracts him just enough so he is not able to get his feet onto onto the box and in mid flight his shins crash into the box and his body folds over the box.

My friend who shared this will remain anonymous and was able to laugh at his scrapped up shins in the end.  And of course he realized that he needed to pay more attention.

So the answer is YES, techonoly is a distraction.






Friday, June 21, 2013

Sustainable Fitness


If we loose the ability to bend over and garden then we loose the ability to eat.  Yes I know most people get there food from the grocery store.  However, as the food quality standards change, so will our ability to meet our nutritional needs.

The ability to do Primal Movements allows a person to be able to sustain their life by giving them the strength to grow and harvest food and take care of daily chores essential to being able to live and sustain their life.

Primal Movements are defined as movements that up sustain us from infancy throughout our lives.  They begin as reflexive responses in utero and develop into well coordinated complex movement patterns that are the foundation for giving us strength, function and good body mechanics.


These Include:

1. Rolling Over  2. Crawling  3. Squat  4. Push/Pull  5. Reach/Grasp  6. Lift/Carry 7. Stillness/Yield

Qualities Needed:

1. Endurance  2. Strength  3. Recovery  4. Focus

***Note: there is a wrong way to do these above movements


Friday, June 14, 2013

Common Daily Activities That Can Become an Exercise

Common Daily Activities That Can Become an Exercise
by Wendy Woods

I love my profession because my regular exercise program is still a part of my daily life routines.  This was true for folks that lived before gyms and desk jobs too.

People say "Oh you can't get a workout from cleaning or doing house chores!"  This couldn't be more false, especially, if you are using good body mechanics.  Using good body mechanics educates your body and increases strength and function every time you do the movement.  The problem is do you know when you have an opportunity to increase your fitness ability.

7 Daily Opportunities for Exercise:

1.  Sit to Stand
2.  Pick Up The Sock
3.  Carry It
4.  Get up From The Floor
5.  Roll Over
6.  Reach For It
7.  Stairs

Most of us overlook these important 'transition movements'.  Instead we drive, use our arms to stand, lurch or throw our bodies in our attempt to "take the easy way out" and lose our ability to perform the daily movements with good form.

One of the first things I teach my clients is how to sit down and stand up in a beneficial way, increasing longevity and decreasing possible injury over time.

Awareness Practice- How do you get into your car?