Have you ever discovered a forgotten serving of gelatin in the back of your refrigerator? Not brick hard, but intractable. Now imagine that substance inside your body surrounding tendons, ligaments, bones, muscles, holding them firmly in place. This is much the case with the blocks that keep our bodies from moving as they did when we were very young.
Old, dried gelatin
Our bodies are composed to a very high degree of collagen, the basic substance of connective tissue, which technically includes blood, bone, tendon, fascia and much more. In its most fluid state, collagen is the inner sea that fills all the spaces between everything else…the living matrix. Nutrients and waste move through this fluid to support cell life. So do the messages that initiate healing, that notify the entire system with critical information. In that very fluid matrix the messages travel at speeds way beyond what nerves can deliver…speeds like the fastest electronic superconductors.
But reduce that fluidity and the matrix cannot perform as it is intended. Think of someplace in your body where you can no longer move fluidly. Perhaps it is a stubborn shoulder. Raise your arm, elbow bent…with the bicep against the side of your head behind the ear, slide the hand around behind your head to the opposite jaw (keep your head vertical and turned 45° toward your hand). Can your fingers reach the corner of your mouth, or the middle? How about squatting all the way down with your heels on the floor? And so many more limitations that we gradually learn to live with. But we were designed to be able to move in these ways and started life (most of us) with that capability.
What happened? In a lifetime there are many possibilities…accidents, illness, misuse, and habits can all play a role as we gradually ask less and expect less from our bodies, chalking it up to “old age.” But it is not only seniors who experience these limitations. It can even be from overdeveloped body-builder muscles which are only asked to move in flexion in small ranges. Are we stuck with these results forever? Many of our blocks and limitations can be reduced and even eliminated if we return the matrix to a more liquid state.
Back to that dish of gelatin…what would you try first? I would set it in a bowl of very hot water and watch it liquefy. So how can you build heat inside your body? Movement and pressure. Remember high school physics. A really good massage can cause movement and pressure, but perhaps not in all the places you need it and maybe not as effectively as you can by moving your body in the right way.
Small, very slow, rotational, and widely varied movements (such as the Organic Stretching® principles produce) within and around the joints and throughout the body have that capacity. Gradual, tiny stretches of the fabric of connective tissue can help return the matrix to a more fluid state allowing more movement bit-by-bit. And even more important…you can regain better circulation of blood, lymph, and those critical messages that regulate and maintain the health of the whole system.
Author’s note: This has nothing to do with the Jell-O® product, but I loved the title. Eating gelatin will not give you Jell-O® joints.
I remember a day in 1978; I was 37, long an adult who contained my movements to normal daily routines of driving, teaching at a university, and appropriate exercise…running and weights. I was on a beach in Southern California with three men friends…sizable guys…when someone started a sand fight. We rolled, ran in wild patterns, and scrambled in a pile. I thought how crazy I was…these guys could trample me, but I was having more fun than I could remember. I felt ten years old and totally free. The only reason my grin did not spread all the way across my face…I would have a mouthful of sand!
My body listening to its inner guide and playing
Every bit of my body was alive, and today I understand a great deal more about what actually happened inside. About giving myself permission to move in any way my body wanted to move. About what my body knows that my mind cannot fathom.
Have you watched very young children as they play in a free environment…without little chairs and rigid furniture to conform to? How about a pile of kittens or even adult animals? Think of the large apes swinging in the trees or tying their bodies in knots as they reach for a remote itch. Our bodies long for that forbidden level of movement long after it has been “trained” out of us by family, school, church, society, the military, and advertising, etc.
These body-directed movements produce vital changes inside…increased oxygen through the circulatory system, improved cleansing of wastes in little-used parts of the body (brought on by our limited range of motion in daily life), stimulation of the piezoelectric effect which has the potential to stimulate the stem cell system (including the embryonic level) for all its healing power, and not least increased range of motion to engage long dormant parts of the musculoskeletal system, opening constrictions and delivering life and joy. With so many benefits why do we procrastinate starting our personal program of movement?
There are numerous movement systems that have evolved to give us the permission to move as we did at one and two years of age. Organic Stretching® is such a system, built on a structure of principles to guide the movements, producing positive results for countless people. It is the teaching system I developed from a background in The Wallace Method, a pain management program created by Heather Wallace.
Deane Juhan, author of Job’s Body: A Handbook for Bodywork and Touched by the Goddess: The Physical, Psychological and Spiritual Powers of Bodywork and TraegerWork® Practitioner/Instructor (CEU certified), wrote the following review for my video Organic Stretching®: The Principles and Movements:
Pat Henry’s DVD, Organic Stretching, is much more than just another how-to offering of poses and procedures. It is a dynamically exploratory invitation to sculpt your own yoga and to develop the strength and flexibility that are unique to you. Well thought-out and innovative examples of stretching movements are, of course, presented (with aesthetic beauty, I would add), rich ideas for getting started in the evolving of your own personal practice. But more importantly than that, Pat’s purpose is to lead you beyond the imitation of asanas and protocols, into an organic unfolding of your own body’s needs and capacities and your own individualized path to vitality. Very like Trungpa’s groundbreaking Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism in spirit and intention, Organic Stretching cuts through imitative discipline and opens the door to the celebration of your own idiosyncratic being and its expression–like no other’s–in your own joy of movement and self-development.
Give your body the Gift of Life, February 17 – 19, when I will be offering the Organic Stretching Weekend Workshop for the 2012 season at Inkarri Vallarta, a lovely meditation center easily accessible by bus in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The course includes ten hours of instruction over the weekend with convenient daytime classes and a copy of the video. For a full description and details, including a map, see the event page.
Pat Henry’s DVD, Organic Stretching, is much more than just another how-to offering of poses and procedures. It is a dynamically exploratory invitation to sculpt your own yoga and to develop the strength and flexibility that are unique to you. Well thought-out and innovative examples of stretching movements are, of course, presented (with aesthetic beauty, I would add), rich ideas for getting started in the evolving of your own personal practice. But more importantly than that, Pat’s purpose is to lead you beyond the imitation of asanas and protocols, into an organic unfolding of your own body’s needs and capacities and your own individualized path to vitality. Very like Trungpa’s groundbreaking Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism in spirit and intention, Organic Stretching cuts through imitative discipline and opens the door to the celebration of your own idiosyncratic being and its expression–like no other’s–in your own joy of movement and self-development.
Deane Juhan— Author…Job’s Body: A Handbook for Bodywork and Touched by the Goddess: The Physical, Psychological and Spiritual Powers of Bodywork
TraegerWork® Practitioner/Instructor (CEU certified)
Organic Stretching™ is an improvisational exercise form. You will never repeat the patterns you do from one session to the next. This creates the freedom to follow the lead of your body, to move as and where you need to rather than replicate the movements of a leader. It shares both the joys and challenges of other extemporaneous forms…music, theater, dance, and even just living your own creative life.
Jazz...the heart of improvisation
I used to call a friend of mine a “jazz cook.” He never used a recipe, but created by the seat of his pants…a little of this and a little of that. We usually first think of jazz or modern dance as examples of improvisation, but almost anything can be approached improvisationally. It is getting off the beaten track, throwing away the guide book, winging it, following your muse.
Aside from the freedom offered, what additional benefits can come from doing things in an improvisational way?
Stimulating intuition…improvisation is most often spontaneous, done without measuring and calculating the outcome and relies instead on the properties of the right brain/inner knowing to develop creative responses
Increased creativity…improvisation is usually built on a body of skills and knowledge that oversteps strictures on structure allowing flashes of pure creativity to use those tools in totally new ways
Empowerment and confidence building…with the permission inherent in improvisation to say “yes” and follow a totally new path we find we can
Developing playfulness and freedom from the inner critic
Expanding personal limits…with the absence of prescribed limits we establish new expanded zones of comfort
Meeting an inner guide…in the absence of an external model to follow, we can find our direction within, not a voice speaking to us, but more like being drawn toward something from deep inside
Improvisation also offers certain challenges to both teacher and student. These very challenges are often the source of the benefits, but it still requires a strong sense of commitment to stay with the practice until one breaks through to experience the freedom of moving to your own body’s rhythm and message. Among the possible challenges are:
More time and effort…first to gain the skills and then to learn “how to” use them without a strict format
Developing awareness and focus…improvisation requires effective observation to respond to opportunity
Taking personal responsibility…the results are totally in the hands of the improviser
Shifting control…most improvisation comes from an instinctual response more body centered than mind, by-passing thought centered reactions
Developing personal criteria…with no established strict format, composition, or script the improviser also creates the measurements for progress
Recognizing opportunities…learning to see/hear/feel the opening to respond and participate
The time and commitment required to prepare for improvisation is well worth the effort. Any artist, performer, or free-expression participant will agree that “you are never more alive” than in the improvisational mode with every nerve twitching for an opening to respond.
Photo credit: TenaciousR
The long-awaited (for me if not for you!) moment has arrived…my video Organic StretchingTM: The Principles and Movements can now be ordered as a DVD or for download to buy or even to rent. See the Store for a short clip, content, video information, and details for ordering.
The health benefits of stimulation and movement deep in the connective tissue system, that I and my students have found possible through Organic StretchingTM, can include increased range of motion, reduction of pain, and fluidity of movement.
Searching for new limits
In this video, I present the principles that tell us how to move and the basic movements used in OS through easy-to-follow demonstrations. Using these, you are encouraged to explore on your own, allowing your body’s internal knowledge to guide you for the maximum benefit. It will be different from anything you have done before.
Enjoy the adventure!
