Bodyarchitectura

It's important. Are you getting some in?

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Just take a moment to be in awe of our bodies...

Ian Robertson, 'mind sculpture: unlocking your brain's untapped potential'

These are great reasons for ANYONE to strength train, but I think a lot of women are afraid to lift because they fear getting bulky (you won't, unless that's your goal). This is for people who identify as women who will be experiencing peri--> post-menopause at some point in their life.

Oh and all those other things you like to do? It's all gonna feel easier.

💥Not sure where to start? Try working with someone 1:1!

▶️ if we want to feel out best as we age, we've all gotta do some kind of strength training
▶️ Especially grip and lower body work so we can be independent when we're older, and reduce the risk of falling/serious injury from a fall
▶️ Decreasing visceral fat (fat stored deep in the belly surrounding vital organs - different than subcutaneous fat), which decreases risk for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke
▶️ You should also be getting at least 100 grams of quality protein per day

Save and share, comment or DM with questions 🙃

"The incessant stream of impressions pouring into our consciousness through all the gateways of knowledge make modern existence hazardous in many ways."

Introspection provides an unquantifiable value to profound relaxation, clarity, discipline of mind, improved focus, and expanded self awareness - all of which positively impact mental health

Inward contemplation can serve as a means to achievement

How can you explore your own beliefs, your own ideas, your own emotional regulation if you don't sit with yourself? If you don't shut everything else off and just be? If you don't write about your thoughts? If you don't take time for stillness?

How can you quiet the inner chatter if you don't quiet the external chatter?

"protect your spine" is on my list of terrible things to say to clients.

Just help them breathe better, train the diaphragm unloaded and loaded

Teach them how to PRESSURIZE

With movement and without movement

Teach them to move and load their spine in all directions

And tell them to stop walking around like the tin man (the can analogy is only for helping you understand IAP, in reality, the spine is not rigid). Good movement is relaxed movement

💥💥💥Stability is dynamic (yes we can and should train in static positions to actually get the diaphragm to work better, but ultimately that isn't realistic, practical or transferrable to life's activities!!)💥💥💥

Telling them they need to protect their spine will make them more fearful of spine movement



Reposted from .architectura

Reflections on transition

Yesterday my friend asked me to come to one of her clients' sessions to consult on breathing and mobility. This client had recently had a hip replacement, but was still having some pain in her back and hip. We talked about some things like intra-abdominal pressure, what opening up space in the hip and back actually means, and did a number of different things to see what landed. We ended up successfully feeling some new things and will develop a plan to move forward.

This isn't to say that I have all the answers. No one does. But it made me take a step back and think about all that led me to this moment. That other professionals are looking to me to help. I never thought I'd be in this place. All the pain and tears and self doubt. All the ways I tried to talk myself out of staying on this path because changing careers in my mid-30s was crazy.

Who would listen to me, I pondered. Why would anyone take my advice..how can I possibly build a life in this world that was so different from the architecture career in which I was already immersed. What in the actual f**k was I doing??

But this transition has felt so natural in so many ways, albeit terrifying. It feels like my soul was already here, and it was just waiting for my conscious self to catch up and say, what the f**k took you so long?

For every single piece of knowledge I gain, there's an equal number of things I haven't learned, and then so much more I don't know. But each day, I embrace this unknown. I embrace my fear. I trust. I meditate & journal & try to hold myself together even when I feel like shattering.

I'm reminded of the Japanese art of Kintsugi...feeling like a piece of pottery that has been smashed to bits, but this new path has helped me be whole again, and all the cracks are filled with gold. Each moment someone feels relief, or joy, or safe again. Each day mends another piece

Transitions are scary. They can break you down. But smooth seas never made a skilled sailor. On we go. Learning, and breaking, mending. Repeating. Consistent. Steady. Surrender.

We flow.

Compressing the spine constantly will affect your breathing, it will affect the space between the vertebrae, it will affect how the pressure is distributed in your abdomen, and potentially caused pelvic floor issues, pain, Nerve issues, and much more

Don't misread this and think we can never go into pelvic anterior tilt and spine extension,

,👉but we should be able to move in and out of these positions as needed based on daily activities, and not just "live" there

the next time you're saying, oooh my back is sooo tight, consider how you're breathing, consider the tension that you're holding:

✅ Can you breathe into your low back? Lower back ribs?
✅ Can you stand up and keep your back somewhat relaxed?
✅ Can I feel breath expanding 360 around the rib cage and abdomen? Do I feel the breath going into my neck (you should not)
✅ Are you squeezing your butt and abs when you're going about your day (try to stay relaxed)
✅ Am I breathing through my mouth without realizing it? (You should breathe through your nose
✅ Can you feel pressure moving down into your pelvic floor? (Thats not a bad thing in a case of an overly contracted pelvis floor)

You don't have to know any specific exercises to make a big impact on daily tension. These are some basic check in questions to start with, and then when you're ready to take it a step further, reach out to a qualified coach to assess and assist because this can be quite complex depending on the individual

What are your thoughts?? Lmk 👇

The most common protocol for soft tissue injury is rest (yes, Internet, there are times when rest may be appropriate for injury, but mostly is over prescribed in soft tissue injury world)

👉BUT when you simply rest an injured tissue, it becomes ineffectual. Your body will "heal itself" by filling in the gaps with new stuff, sure, but that new stuff won't know how to be loaded, won't know how to transmit and absorb forces, will be the weak link in the chain.

🔥Tissues. Need. Load.

✅ To heal, to get stronger, to grow bigger and more robust.

Your brain is too busy trying to keep you alive. It doesn't have any energy to spare to just go in and heal your stuff the way it needs to be healed. 

You have to teach it. You have to exert intensity so your body knows how to reorganize the new cells that your body is laying down at the injured site. you have to teach it how to handle forces.

So when you simply rest until you're not in pain, those tissues are getting weaker. And when you jump right back into the same training/activity, it won't be able to handle it and will get reinjured. It's like telling someone who deadlifts 65 lbs to go lift 300. It's not going to go well. 

🧠 Next time you "throw your back out" or whatever (i say this because of how often i hear it), you better start actually training your spine tissues otherwise it will keep happening over and over.

Let's connect! Have you had experience with this??! Have you had recurring injuries?

No more of "keep your shoulders back and down" That 💩 is played out We used to think that this was in the name of "good posture," but we know better now!

If your shoulder blades don't move, your humerus (arm bone) can't move the way it needs to. 

🩻 We need a scapula that can move freely on the rib cage

👉 A big part of daily movement is walking, and as you swing one arm forward, the shoulder blade is upwardly rotating and protracting, and as the opposite arm swings back, the shoulder blade downwardly rotates and retracts. As you move your arm in any position, the shoulder blade has to move with it.

A scapula that moves freely is one that supports normal shoulder mechanics

And a scapula that can be free means a happy shoulder and neck. pinning it in one place all the time doesn't let that happen!

Have you heard this cue before? Lmk in the comments!

Adaptability is everything

Don't force. Shift.

Nor does the picture of a butterfly tell you it can fly. the universe is a scenario, as Bucky said often. an ever changing, dynamic experiential concept. We are all just pieces of Universe, playing our own complete game from beginning to end. We are all changing and shifting and moving on our own vibrations and frequencies. But all of our rhythms are in sync with Universe. 

Change is a continuous process that should be embraced, continually nourishing ourselves with our older versions. We do not destroy, but rather build upon.

we invite change as a stepping stone to a version of self we don't even know has the potential to exist. 

minimalism is in.

Do the most important things on your to do list first.

One of the things we're working on in Practically Zen is building systems to have more efficiency in your day to day life. This week's task was to "eat the frog"

This can help you stop procrastinating because we tend to put off the most difficult things, at least that's what I have done in the past, and still struggle with it sometimes

But spending your precious mental and physical energy, not to mention your most valuable resource, time, doing the hardest thing first will leave you with a sense of accomplishment and everything else that follows will be a piece of cake.

Eat your biggest frog during the time of day you have the most energy, when possible.

Have you experienced procrastination in dealing with difficult tasks? Let's connect in the comments 👇 and let me know your thoughts!

Movement efficiency is a huge subject

So is bio-tensegrity

But it's crucial to understand that you're more than just the levers, pulleys, and ramps that your high school physics class would have you believe

You're an elegant system of self-organization where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

Improving movement efficiency is about getting a variety of movements

It's about getting more of your "stuff" online to share more of the workload

It's about improving the communication of your tissues to your nervous system, not about perfection of movement

It's about understanding why compensations happen and why compensations are necessary for us to do human things; it's really only an issue if there's pain or it's inhibiting a person from doing what they want

If you want to go down the tensegrity rabbit hole, look at the work of Steven Levin, Buckminster Fuller, Tom Myers,Tom Flemons, Jean-Claude Giumberteau, Donald Ingber, and Kenneth Snelson

📷 The Corpus Museum exterior in Amsterdam

A few things to help out for busy folks

What habits have you found helpful for a less stressful morning? Let's connect in the comments! 👇

If it were easy and fast, everyone would make the necessary changes they need to make their bodies feel good.

They would make the changes they need to get their s**t together.

They would do the things they say they want but don't really have the desire to put in the necessary effort. It means doing things like cutting out alcohol, eating well, moving more, and going to bed earlier, getting your finances in order, etc.

Ya know, "adulting" or whatevs

Think about all the times you've started a sentence with "I want..."

Rome wasn't built in a day. The body, mind, and life you want aren't any different.

Consistency, dedication, and repetition.

Yes it's a lot of doing the same stuff day in, day out.

Put your adult pants on and get to work. No one is gonna do it for you.

We all need coaches. We all need help. We all need self care.

Strength, mobility, flow, breathing, meditation, self care, restorative movements. It's all here. Get strong, mobile, and chill.

I'm giving you a blueprint. I'm giving you all the components. And accountability. And support. I've got you.

This program is valued at $2,600 per month. But I'm giving it to you for $300 per month. If you've ever wanted to work with me, consider this your sign.

🔥 This is an investment in yourself 🔥

Discipline is the best form of self love there is, because you know you will always be able to do the things that make you feel great

DM me if you're on the fence, DM me if you're into it. If you're ready, there's a link in my bio. I'm only taking 10 people, so make sure you're on that list.

Let's do this!

It's not as complicated as you think

But it does take commitment and consistency

Good thing I'm running a course to help you with all of it.

Weekly accountability, help, troubleshooting, and community support.

Strength training, mobility, flow, meditation, breathwork, self care, decluttering & organization.

This course offers you structure, so you spend less time thinking and more time doing.

One time payment $900 for 12 weeks; $333 for 3 monthly payments. This course is valued at over $6,000!

It's seriously a steal!

DM me ZEN for more info

It can be difficult to manage all of these components.

But I'm here to help.

Allow me to guide you through the process of building sustainable, foundational systems to support your physical health, mental health, and environment.

I'm offering a 12 week course to help you create more spaciousness in your life while building these systems to organize your body, mind, and physical spaces.

Create foundational templates for physical strength, mobility, flow, cardio, meditation, self care, and decluttering the physical environment.

Link in bio for more info, or DM me with 'ZEN' to hear more about it

Let's go!

Showing love for myself has always been hard

I always found it easier to love outward, maybe in the hope that it would translate to compassion for myself. Never wanted to let myself be vulnerable in front of others, never wanted to expose the fact that I writhed with grief inside

Love is a difficult space to navigate...so many types of love, so much exists across the full spectrum of emotions within that container we call love.

But as I grow older, I can feel my hard exterior and interior shifting. Through all of my inner work, I can see a light.

No matter how good your relationship is with a partner, friend, loved one, those relationships are only as strong as the one you have with yourself.

My partner of ten years has taught me so much about love, acceptance, compassion, and learning to be graceful even in the times we stumble and f**k up. There is still much work for me to do.

I'm not perfect. No one is. But there is beauty in that humanness. There is perfection in the imperfect.

Today, and every day, Love on yourself. Cultivate the best relationship with your deepest YOU.

we are our own best company. We are our own best medicine. All the love we really need already exists inside of us. We just have to learn how to reconnect to it.

Tomorrow, February 9th, is the New Moon in Aquarius

New moons bring energy of reflection, of vision, hope and progress.

i invite you to reflect upon your last month, to dive deeper into yourself, and welcome change as not something to be feared, but a commodity that breeds opportunity for growth

Studying the self is not something mystical and magical, it is a simple process, often described with 'Narau', a Japanese word meaning 'learn', or a basic kind of studying like you would a language or anything else, letting ourselves be immersed in the uncertainty.

We start with the unknown. We begin as a person that is faced with infinite possibilities for our explorations.

Gestalt theory calls this the "fertile void." Zen calls it the beginner's mind. A simple curiosity without the need for definitive answers. A way to accept that which we do not know, so we can empty ourselves of preconceived notions and be receptive to new knowledge. A way to 'just be' and engage with whatever comes with the constant ebb and flow of the universe.

A habitual and continuous practice of turning inward and focusing the mind.

Light a candle, sit with yourself and your journal, and ask, "what new seeds am i planting for growth in the coming month? It's a divine time to reconnect with your intentions and realign with your deepest self

Into the void we go.

To simplify is to take out the extraneous. that which does not serve you. 

how can you simplify in all aspects of life? 

What physical objects can you live without?

What thoughts spiral within that do not serve your purpose?

What in your daily life could you take away to hold space to just "be"? 

When we clutter our physical space, our mental space becomes cluttered.

When our mental space is cluttered, we conceal our true natures and manifest in various forms as unskillful actions of body, speech, and mind. - layers upon layers of 

poisons.

Today marks the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, referred to as Imbolc, a pagan holiday. Celebrate this by sitting with yourself, journaling to the above prompts, and welcoming the idea of removing the unnecessary in all realms of life.

happy almost spring. 

As with anything, controlling your breath takes practice. 

It begins with awareness. By being aware of your breath, you learn to control your response to both internal and external stimuli. It is the way we move energy (Qi) through our bodies. The way we can connect to our deeper and higher planes of self. The wisdom of the universe lies within your life force. 

Breathing should be through the nose, steady and rhythmic, quiet and effortless. We see echoes of similar sentiments across many practices like yoga and taoism - taoist wisdom saying breathing should be diaphragmatic in nature, with full and complete exhalations, and "so smooth that the fine hairs within the nostrils remain motionless."

Your breathing is the most reliable indicator of our mental state. Awareness of your breathing is the simplest way to immediately change your state of mind and embody self-awareness.

The breath in your anchor to the present. Improved breathing can keep your mind clear, and your heart calm. On this New Moon in Capricorn, we can begin to breathe in a way that grounds and nourishes us. We are reminded to slow down, reflect, and connect to our inner wisdom.

But to truly unleash our full potential, we must learn to harness our breath:

✴️Try this breathing exercise:

-Sit up tall in a chair or on the floor

-Take a normal inhale and exhale through your nose

-Pinch your nose closed, holding the breath out for 2-5 seconds

-let go and breathe silently in through the nose, continuing to breathe normally for 3-5 breath cycles

-exhale and hold, pinching your nose for 2-5 seconds. Repeat this process for 4-5 minutes

Over time, we can increase the time for breath holding, improving our tolerance for carbon dioxide and increasing the production of nitric oxide. C02 acts as a shuttle for oxygen to offload into your tissues, while a higher production of Nitric Oxide allows blood vessels to open, further allowing oxygen to be taken up by tissues, blood, and organs, keeping you calmer and more clearheaded.

But this only happens with slow, light, effortless breathing. 

Take a moment of your day to try this exercise, and let me know how it goes!

Liberation of your spirit is to free one's self from preconceived notions, prejudices, and conditioned responses (reactions)...essential for understanding truth and reality

As a teacher of the arts, Bruce Lee had extraordinary talent. He often said, "a teacher is never a giver of truth; he is a guide, a pointer to the truth that each student must find for himself. A good teacher is merely a catalyst."

Since he himself would not wholly accept any particular style of martial art or philosophy, Bruce encouraged his students not to accept, without question, his teachings. His main message was to keep one's mind, attitude, and senses pliable and receptive to be able to think critically, and to lead you to harmony of mind, body, and spirit.

Be fluid like water, but remember to empty your cup to receive.

your nervous system remembers everything, even if your conscious self doesn't
your brain responds to and adapts to every single input
those inputs are reflected in the physical self
everything you do, every way you move, everything you say, everything you eat, how you sleep, how well you manage stress, your environment, your friends & family - all of it matters
living a lifetime filled with fear and anxiety will have an effect
living a lifetime filled with joy and happiness will have a different effect
physical-mental-emotional
bio-psycho-social
what's the story of your body?
Quote from the book "somatics"





Reposted from .architectura

Bodyarchitectura updated their address.