Because breathing is automatic, we don't always notice HOW we breathe.  Becoming a better breather is key to oxygen delivery, nervous system regulation, core movement and stability.  If the diaphragm is not moving well neither is the ribcage or the core canister.  You have got to move it to use it!​

• Core Breathing
• Oxygen Advantage
• Buteyko Breathing

Our posture is created by our emotional states and how we move and present ourselves in the world.  Become more aware of unnecessary tensions that are affecting our postural state.

• ​Feldenkrais Lessons: Posture for Life
• Alexander Technique: 5 tips for standing posture
• Katy Bowman of Nutritious Movement: Lower your risk of injury with proper alignment

I am sharing a home program circuit of some of my favorite moves to decrease tension in the back.  The emphasis here is to release the back extensors through breath, positioning and recriprocal inhibition (contracting  the abdominal flexors to relax the back extensors).

We live our lives in automatic.  How can we bring more presence to our lives in order to optimize nervous system signaling and therefore appropriate cues for the health of each system of the body.  

• Understand and tend to the nervous system: Predictive Processing -Why expectation matters for movement and pain, Befriending your nervous system (50% off right now!),  Learn to repair your nervous system.
• Mindfulness and Stress Reduction: Online programs with Tara Brach, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction
• Lifestyle Habits: Be True- Discover your core values and live your life on purpose (if you go to SoulSalt's IG page you can find the Black Friday/Cyber Monday code for 50% off),  Hire a Wellness Coach

I have been reading the book, My Grandmother's Hands by Resmaa Menakem.  This book "is a call to action for Americans to recognize that racism is not only about the head, but also about the body.  Menakem introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide and takes readers through a step-by-step healing process based on the latest neuroscience and somatic healing methods." Quote from the back cover of the book.

​I have been taking time with the second part of Menakem's book, which is titled "Remembering Ourselves".  He says, "The place to begin the all-important healing of trauma is with the body.  Your body.  Each of our bodies."  He provides body and breathing practices to get to know, experience and understand the body.  I have been enjoying these practices and have incorporated some of the ways to settle into a movement practice.  The movement sequences shared below bring in novel ways to move the spinal chain and mobilize the joints.  "Sometimes trauma energy can get stuck in the joints," Manakem states.  The momentum and rotations can help to release the energy and reduce the tension along the kinetic chain. 

Link to Anatomy in Motion's, Wake your body up!