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.
Welcome back mind-body students! Another installment of my Dana-Farber lecture is the video for this week. The topic? The five building blocks of our being!
Happy stretching, deep breathing, empty your mind, strengthen your energetic system, and evoke your spirit!
Hello mind-body students! This week is the first installment in a several week-long series of videos clipped from a lecture I have at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute back in September 2016. Boy, time flies!
The lecture was called "Mind Body - Tai Chi - Chi Kung: For Cancer" and was presented for the purpose of building awareness for and interest in my classes at Dana-Farber for cancer patients/survivors, and their caregivers.
At the beginning of the lecture I told the audience to do two simple (but very difficult) things for the duration of my talk: sit up straight and breathe deep!
Try to do both of those things as you listen to each of these videos over the next few weeks.
Happy stretching, deep breathing, empty your mind, strengthen your energetic system, and evoke your spirit!
Welcome back mind-body students! We are glad to have you reading again, and look forward to a new year of new blogs and new readers.
We have very exciting news! In late December, our blog was named one of the Top 25 Tai Chi Blogs and Websites on the internet by Feedspot, a popular blog reader and aggregator service. We're very honored to be on this list, and we hope to qualify again if they update the list next year.
This year we have big plans for the blog and for new Tai Chi courses on my Udemy profile.
On Udemy, you can look forward to Tai Chi courses about dealing with issues as varied as chronic pain, inconsistent sleep, lack of focus, asthma, and more! These courses will be short and sweet, focused around one or two very impactful exercises, and also including a handful of supportive techniques and practices.
On the blog, we have countless possibilities! Starting next week we will be posting small sections of a talk and presentation I did at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, which I hope will be helpful as an introduction to Tai Chi and Qi Gong health practices, and what they can help people accomplish.
After we've gone through that talk, we will be starting our first exercise series: Exercises to do in the car! Many people are so busy that they cannot find enough time to do energetic, exercising, and meditative practices during the day. But, many of these same people have little time because they spend a lot of time in the car. Thanks to a request by one of the blog's avid readers, we were inspired to do a series on how you can be healthier each time you drive!
By the time we're done with that, we'll probably be approaching summer time, and we'll see what else we have in store for 2018.
Happy stretching, deep breathing, empty your mind, strengthen your energetic system, and evoke your spirit!
As always, if you are a new reader, or a returning reader who hasn't checked them out, please follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. You can purchase my books and DVDs by following the links on this page, and you can find my Udemy video courses right here.
Happy Holidays mind-body students! This will be the final blog of 2017 (can you believe it?) and then we will take our winter break until late January. I hope everyone has learned a lot and benefited from all the content on the blog this year. We always do our best to pick exercises and blog topics that are as relevant as possible to the needs my students have.
Also, a big 'thank you' to all of our new blog readers! December saw a big increase in new subscribers, so I'd like to welcome all our new mind-body students!
This week, we are completing and compiling the blog series on Freeing the Skeleton with the Body Markers. To refresh everyone's memory, here is the introduction I wrote to the first installment of this series:
“The 12 Body Markers are a system that I have used for years to help teach my students both online and in my classes. They are designed to measure a person’s range of motion through all of their joints, using a scale of 1 (least flexible) to 10 (most flexible). In western health an wellness traditions, everyone seems to be able to measure strength, but very few people have a good grasp of flexibility. Even professional athletes often don’t know what the proper range of motion for each of their joints are. Many people are even unsure about what their personal level of flexibility is: usually under or over estimating it until they test it out.
To help address these issues, my wife (Ilana Rosenberg) and I are putting a book together that will feature an extensive guide to the 12 Body Markers to help everyone from average Joe to professional athletes avoid injury, recover from injury more effectively, and recuperate from training faster.
We’ve covered some of these Body Markers in the past on varies blog posts and our mini Office Exercise series. For this blog series, we will be focusing on the 9 Body Markers that measure a person’s flexibility, starting this week from the ground and moving up!”
From there, we covered the 9 Body Markers, moving from the ground up. First we did stationary stretches, and then we did moving exercises. Today, we will do a quick review of all of these steps, so you can easily move from one to the next.
Freeing the Skeleton with the Body Markers: Complete Series
Part 1: Starting from the Ground
We began the first week's post with an ankle stretch. This is a key stretch for improving your walking posture, your balance, and your ability to recover from foot pain. If you don't have the special foot rollers that I do, you can simply use the first step at the bottom of a set of stairs to do the stretch.
We moved on to the quad stretches, either the heron or the "seiza" sitting position. This stretch can release a lot of tension you might not know you have, especially those of us who stand all day for our job.
Lastly, we covered the hamstring stretches. Hamstrings are notoriously the tightest muscle in the modern body, not least of all because we spend much of our day sitting, and very few people do forward folds as much as they should. But not to worry! Now is your chance to start! Loosen up the soft tissue in your hamstrings!
Part 2: Abdomen and Back
In week two we were moving on up to the body with more stationary stretches for the abdomen and back. We did the groin stretch, both using a chair and using a machine. This stretch is key for athletes and "weekend warriors" to avoid injury during their athletic activities. How many times do you sports fans hear about a professional athlete being benched due to a groin injury? They are not fun to have, and they can take a while to heal because the area is where a lot of soft tissue and bone structure connect. Don't hurt your groin, do this stretch!
Next was freeing the hips with the classic hip extension posture against the wall, or free-standing if you want to work on your balance at the same time. Remember: your skeleton is designed for your knees to get right up beneath your collar bone in this position. If you can't get your leg that far up, you have soft tissue tension that needs to be worked on!
To close out week two, I showed you guys the chair twist (which you can easily do in the office), and the "five musketeers" for releasing the stress in your lower back. As the weather gets colder and more snow begins to fall (for my New England readers), keeping your lower back free and healthy is even more important. One wrong move with the snow shovel when your back is tight and you could be in bed for the next three days. Nobody wants that, so be sure to pay attention to your lower back and work toward that 10/10 flexibility.
Part 3: Arms and Shoulder Girdle
In week three, we reached the top of our body with static stretches, starting with the shoulders. The shoulders are a very complex joint, able to move in a huge number of different directions. To free all the tension that occurs because of that complexity, i showed you a set of four stretching postures, using a belt or rope if necessary, to release shoulder stress from every direction.
Next was a new technique I call "Three Postures for the Neck" that helps target one of the most tight areas in the upper body: the neck. With so many people looking down and computers and phones all day, it's no wonder our neck gets tight. Tight necks leads to headaches, walking issues, bad sleep, and a million other potential problems. Definitely do not forget to stretch the neck.
Finally, we did an oldy but a goody: the wrist stretch using the wall. This helps relieve tension in the firearms and hands, and is particularly good for relieving carpal tunnel symptoms, or avoiding them completely.
Part 4: Back to the Ground, in Motion
In week four, we returned to the lower body to learn several moving techniques that can be even better than static stretches at relieving certain tension. First up was leg rotations, which focuses on the knee and ankle joints. Use a chair for this exercise if there is any worry of losing your balance.
Then, we did another new exercise I call "kick backs" which help to release tension in the quads. First we start with small kick backs, bringing the heel up about halfway, and eventually we move on to kicking all the way back and touching the heel to the butt.
Lastly, we did a very advanced movement called the "windmill" to release hamstring stress. This one is not for the feint of heart! If you are not up to the task, don't worry! In the next installment, we showed a movement that can accomplish the same thing with much less effort.
Part 5: Moving the Core
We kicked this week of movements off with a new technique called "Swinging Leg." The side-to-side variation helps you get the best groin stretch, but the forward and backward technique can also release tension in the hamstrings (particularly the forward part of the swing). Don't forget to use a stick or wall to stabilize yourself while doing this. Being stable actually helps you get a better stretch while doing this movement.
Next was a fan-favorite: the Tai Chi Walk! This is a great whole-body movement, and even works the core and the back. But for our purposes in this series, the goal is to gently move the hips to release that soft tissue in the hips. Notice how you do a modified hip extension stretch at the top of every step!
To finish up week five, we did the Tai Chi move "grind." Grind looks like an arm movement, but experienced Tai Chi students will tell you it is all in the core, particularly the lower back. Make sure your belly button moves from side to side while you do the motion. If the naval stays in the same spot the whole time, you are doing an arm movement, not a back movement!
Part 6: Moving the Upper Body
Finally, we completed the series in week six with three upper body movements. We targeted the shoulders first, with my new "Swinging Arms" exercise, which you can do sitting or standing.
Then we moved our head like a pigeon does to gently massage the neck. Throw in some deep breathing here and relax the face too! A tight neck and face feed off of each other. If you can relax both at the same time, you will get the best results.
And to end our exercise routine, we revisited the "40% effort movements" I created for people suffering with arthritis in the arms and hands. These motions are a great way to release all kinds of tension in the elbows, forearms, hands, and even fingers.
And that is it! Talk about freeing the skeleton! I don't think there is a single bone we didn't touch by the end of our techniques.
It's been another great year, and I hope you all keep an eye out for the first blog post of 2018 next month. I'm excited to see what mind-body adventures the new year will bring!
Happy stretching, deep breathing, empty your mind, strengthen your energetic system, and evoke your spirit!
Still searching for a last minute gift for a friend or family member? Do they like exercise, meditation, health and wellness, or stress reduction? My online courses over at Udemy offer all of those things and more, and they are currently on sale! It is the perfect time to pick one up. Remember, setting up a Udemy account is totally free, so anyone can do it.
Is the person you are shopping for more old school? No problem. I have books and DVDs available on Amazon and YMAA. Some of these are also on sale, so hurry and pick them up before you miss out on the savings!
Happy Holidays!
Just one more week! One more week before we take our holiday break for the year. We've gone over how these body marker movements can release your skeleton from unneeded stress in the last two blogs here and here. We began with the lower body, then moved up to the core. All that is left is to gently move the upper body and we will have gotten to everything!
Moving Technique to Compliment Body Marker #7: Swinging Arm Rotations
This is a great movement to help you loosen up the entire shoulder girdle and upper body, but I'm still going to include two more movements you can do in addition to this to really release your soft tissue tension. A note on this exercise: sitting or standing is fine. Standing is not the "next level" of this exercise, because it has nothing to do with the legs. As always, I encourage you to stand if you can.
Moving Technique to Compliment Body Marker #8: Move your Head Like a Pigeon
This exercise also uses circular rotation to help you loosen up your soft tissue, but maybe not in the way you expect! The circles you do during this exercise are forward and backward, not left and right. Don't forget to relax your face and shoulders here! We don't need to add more tension while we're trying to get rid of it!
Moving Technique to Compliment Body Marker #9: 40% Effort Movements
I invented and tested these movements over the years with the help of my students who have arthritis in their arms and wrists. Pay close attention to the wrist movement that I do later on in the video. But don't skip the other movements! The finger movement especially can help to loosen the soft tissue in the forearms and relieve wrist tension.
That's all for this week! Next week we deliver the full "Freeing the Skeleton" guide, and then we're off for the holidays.
Happy stretching, deep breathing, empty your mind, strengthen your energetic system, and evoke your spirit!
The end of the year grows ever closer and we are just a couple blog posts away from our holiday break. But we aren't done yet! We still have a couple more blogs to go before we're done learning how to free the skeleton from being a prisoner of the soft tissue.
Last week we talked about moving the lower body to free the skeleton, and this week we are moving up! Up the body, that is. We are going to be doing some dynamic stretches and exercises for the core.
You may be thinking, "wait, what parts of my skeleton are in my core, and how would by core become a prison for them?"
That's a good question! Most people are worried about their core being too flabby, not too firm. But the core is much more than your belly. It includes your hips, your groin, your lower back, and even the area around your ribs and your mid-back. In fact, your core is the most important part of your body for both your organ function and your ability to move. Most adults who hurt themselves and lose mobility don't have injured legs, they have injured backs!
That's why, this week we are going to show you three techniques for releasing tension from your core and keeping it healthy.
Moving Technique to Complement Body Marker #4: Swinging Leg
Swinging the legs, without bending the knees, focuses the tension releasing power of the technique on the deep muscles that comprise the groin area. Remember to do this movement both side-to-side and forward-and-backward!
Moving Technique to Complement Body Marker #5: Tai Chi Walk
This motion is essentially the moving version of the hip extension that we did last week. The higher that you can get your knees, the better you will stretch your hips. Go nice and slow to get the most of the hip stretch, and don't worry too much about how many you do. We aren't looking for a leg strengthening workout, just a stretch!
Moving Technique to Complement Body Marker #6: "Grind"
This technique is a classic tai chi move that, when done correctly, is much more of a core and lower back movement than an arm movement. You should be getting a nice gentle twist and rotation in the lumbar (lower) spine when you practice this movement.
And that's all for this week!
Happy stretching, deep breathing, empty your mind, strengthen your energetic system, and evoke your spirit!
