Rami's Blog

Like the Yin-Yang, Eastern Martial Arts and Western medicine are two halves of a whole. My mission is to preserve the ancient mind-body tools and pass them on to you.

 

Isolating the Joints: Beginning with the Upper Body

Hello mind-body students!

We have had a few months now of blogs that were full of science, studies, and lectures. This is all good stuff! But I know that many of you blog-readers are most interested in the simple, 5-minute videos I do that show you a mind-body technique that you can start practicing that week.

It's been a while since we've had one of those, so this week, we are going to have one!

This will be the first video in a series of videos about isolating the joints. Isolating the joints is a key part of any mind-body practice. If you cannot isolate the joints you should move in each exercise you do, you will unconsciously move in other areas of your body. Doing that will prevent you from achieving the full benefit of the exercises you do.

Isolating the joints is also an excellent way to practice both the body and mind blocks of our five building blocks of being (the other three are breath, energy, and spirit). By focusing on a particular joint (or group of joints) in the body as you gently move or stretch, you are practicing both a body technique and a kind of meditative mind technique.

As I mention in the video, the more building blocks you can add to each exercise and technique you practice, the better!

As always: happy stretching, deep breathing, empty your mind, strengthen your energetic system, and evoke your spirit!