Stretching exercises have to be seen to be understood…not read in a book! That has been my response to all who have asked me to write a book about Organic Stretching™. The only way to share this program with those who aren’t near my studio in Mexico would be in a video. I dreamed of this video for several years, and now…here it is! Enjoy this brief clip from the filming session we did with HBOSS Entertainment in June at the Vallarta Botanical Gardens. The 45-minute full video will be available very soon by download as well as in DVD form. Watch here for announcements…best if you subscribe for an email update.
Organic Stretching™: Principles and Movements leads you through demonstrations of each principle and each movement that underlies the program with commentary on how to approach the work. In three improvised sessions, I invite you to follow me as I follow the guiding voice of my body and describe for you the movements that I am making.
A short clip from the video….
This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. The information provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended as diagnosis, treatment, or prescription of any kind. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with your physician or other qualified health professional before adopting or changing any exercise regimen. The decision to use, or not to use, any information is the sole responsibility of the viewer.
Part 1…
We seldom pay attention to the bodies we inhabit until they no longer do what we want them to, or we finally acknowledge there is something that hurts…most often it is lumbar, neck, shoulder, wrist, hip or knee. What happened? It seems like overnight, we are no longer in the same body.
When did the change begin? And why?
For some of us, it began with a birth defect. Not every birth defect is a highly visible condition. I discovered only a few years ago that my high-arched feet…”Oh, look what beautiful dancer’s feet you have!”…are considered to be a birth defect. I found that the eight serious sprains I had experienced in my right ankle, two in my left, and three knee injuries on my right leg (the first at 10 years of age) are normal for people with high arches. We don’t have the stable base of a foot in solid contact with the ground. Problems with that knee plagued me until just a few years ago.
Nothing ergonomic here...posture, height, mouse
Injuries play their role. It is more than the site of the injury…which usually gets immediate attention. What is overlooked are the tiny misalignments all over that can result when a body is thrown in a fall, a car accident, or by a heavy blow. Often, these misalignments are so small that we barely notice that they restrict us, until possibly years later.
Back to School with all of our Books
Our social institutions and rules play their part, too. We are popped into little chairs at an early age for hours at a time, when what our bodies want (and need) to do is be able to move freely. How we sit, stand, walk, behave at the table are prescribed by our society. Often what is acceptable behavior restricts a full range of motion needed for a healthy body…”keep your knees together; that’s not ladylike.”
The work we do, how we play, the furniture and equipment we use every day all can affect our bodies. Today there is more attention paid to ergonomics in the design of tools, chairs, cars, many of the items that we use, but far from all. Repetitive motion injuries such as carpal tunnel can result from poor equipment design, poor posture, and poor use of the body…not taking breaks or stretching periodically to relieve tension.
Culture plays its part as well. Of course, historically there were atrocities committed in the name of beauty, role and position…the bound feet of China, for example. Those extremes are not so obvious today, but there are other pressures. The demand for excellence at school pushes youngsters in many places to haul heavy book bags back and forth to school every day. There is growing concern that these bags are damaging young, growing backs and bodies. In France, they were banned 1995, allowing not more than 10% of the child’s weight. Heavy shoulder purses are a standard part of most Western women’s lives, throwing the entire system out of alignment. Could this lead to the high levels of scoliosis I see in my classes? Living up to the role assumed by many men as provider and family leader, can be seen in their carriage as they lift their shoulders to gird up for the job and don’t let them down. While it is changing now, in very recent generations, young girls who were tall did everything to appear shorter leading to many skeletal problems. And those with large breasts hid them between curved shoulders. A lifetime of these postures leaves deep marks in the structural and connective systems.
Years of practice to control her neck, shoulder, wrist to create beautiful sounds, but at what price
And finally the subtle print of emotional pressures on the body. The attempt to become invisible by shrinking and drawing the head and chest in. The bully’s swagger and defensive body language. The response of the body to raised voices, angry situations, or threats that ignite old injuries of the psyche. All of these response patterns are carried in the structure as tension that misshapes the body’s natural form and movement, becoming a part of our identity.
The trained eye can see in a body and the way it moves, its history, joy, sadness, lifestyle, traumas—what it has done or not done and perhaps where it has been.
Those are ways we each have come to live in the body we posses. But there are more chapters to this story…the internal processes at work and avenues to regain free movement.
Photo credits: Neeta Lind, mia3mom, and Darin Barry
I met Heather Wallace, the creator of the Wallace Method (the pain management therapy whose principles form the basis for Organic Stretching™) just five months after I had begun dancing Argentine tango in 2005. Both of these unique forms became a passionate core in my life. At this point, I cannot imagine one without the other.
First, I began as a client on Heather’s table as she worked on old injuries which had become limiting, now and then painful and a part of my life. Not something I thought about all of the time, but none the less there to restrict me. Under her care I gained a flexible body with balance and the capacity to move freely, allowing me to fully enjoy the dance. After becoming certified by Heather, I went on to implement her lessons in a teaching method for individual practice, Organic Stretching™, and discovered how much these two disciplines shared.
A moment of perfect connection
Unlike other dances done in an embrace, tango is improvisational. Anything is possible at any moment…it calls for surrender to the leader’s mark and to the distinct characteristics of the dance. Even without hearing the music, one can see the tango in the shape of the bodies, the flow of the movements, the obvious connection between the dancers. The impetus transmits from the music, through the floor and passes from one body to the other as the dancers move as one entity…separate roles, distinct movements but inextricably unified.
In Organic Stretching™, the teaching challenge came in drawing students into the improvisational mode intrinsic in the work, rather than giving them a structured routine to follow. Like tango, the work is a communication in the moment…only now from the core of the body. It requires learning to listen to the body and allowing it to move as it needs to, in order to unlock the twists and knots (acquired over a lifetime) in the connective tissue structure.
A perfect connection with myself
In studying Argentine tango, we learn and try to perfect tiny pieces that become passages in a dance, maybe happening only once in a lifetime in that particular pattern…spontaneous but controlled by the principles of Argentine tango. It is the identical process in Organic Stretching™; one begins to move, with no idea where the movement will go, and allows the body to lead the pattern by following the OS principles and trusting the direction.
Both produce a physical euphoria as the urge to control what is happening slides away and the music, the inner body knowledge, and the connection between bodies or within one body takes over. I use one to prepare for the other and both to experience completely the potential of my body.
I teach Organic Stretching™ in my studio in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle twice a week and in monthly weekend workshops in my studio and at Pura Vida Spa/Rancho el Limon between Ixtapa and Las Palmas. Each month, I offer a free introductory class for people curious or interested in knowing more about this unique system. See the calendar for dates and times. I am also available to present a workshop in your area. Contact me for details.
Welcome to my studio in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, a small fishing village on the coast of Mexico near Puerto Vallarta. To further enhance your visit there may be typical neighborhood sounds included…chickens, dogs, birds, horses, Mexican music…at no charge.
Organic StretchingSM is an improvisational method. The movements illustrated by this video are only a fraction of the possibilities available, but the viewer can gain an idea of the principles that guide the program and can begin to feel the way in which Organic StretchingSM works on the body.
This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. The information provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended as diagnosis, treatment, or prescription of any kind. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with your physician or other qualified health professional before adopting or changing any exercise regimen. The decision to use, or not to use, any information is the sole responsibility of the viewer.
With a successful launch of the new weekend workshop series for Organic StretchingSM (at Pura Vida Spa in November), dates for January 2011 have been released…January 7 – 9 at the Pat Henry Studio in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle (near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico) and January 14 -16 once again at Pura Vida Spa/Rancho el Limon (also near Puerto Vallarta).
This brief video provides a glimpse of the work we do in both classes and workshops. It looks so simple…almost like nothing is happening, but inside each body there are profound, gradual shifts. Each of the five sessions (2.5 hours) in a workshop explores a new aspect of the principles that guide the work and the ways we move.
Following discussion, the coach/leader guides students in a session employing the new information. From that point each student begins to practice on his own using the guidance of the body and input from the teacher to move deeper into the connective tissue system and begin to experience movement in the restrictions gathered over the years.
HOW DOES A WORKSHOP DIFFER FROM CLASSES?
Twice-weekly classes of an hour each focus on one aspect of the program and over ten weeks students gain an understanding of the overall system and can feel changes slowly evolving. Personal work between classes can make this even more effective. However, not everyone manages to maintain a personal at-home program, making class even more important. Classes also feature partner and group work that takes us even deeper into the structure.
In a weekend workshop, all of the material is covered over two and a half days allowing students to build one concept on top of another while it is still fresh in both mind and body. As an improvisational system, body memory is the primary goal. The more quickly we move from mental control of our movements to being able to let the body lead our movements the more rapid are the changes. A workshop, however, is only the beginning. Time spent in classes and personal work are necessary to move a body back to a healthy state or to gain a level where maintaining healthy joints is possible, but the concentrated workshop structure can help “kick-start” the process.
Many people have been interested in taking Organic StretchingSM classes, but they don’t live near the studio or are only in the area on a holiday. The weekend workshops are a great way to experience the program in a compressed way and to gain a beginning understanding to allow them to do some work on their own…while they wait for teachers to develop in their home location.
Pat Henry Studio is located two blocks from a public transportation line out of Puerto Vallarta. It is a sweet, little fishing village with many nice restaurants for lunch on Saturday and Sunday and a terrific Sunday market a short walk from the studio.
Pura Vida Spa at Rancho el Limon (an organic ranch) is located between Ixtapa and Las Palmas in a verdant valley nestled between the mountains northeast of Puerto Vallarta. They offer overnight accommodations and spa services by arrangement. Organic lunches are available for purchase by day spa users.
For more information see additional posts on workshops and classes, and call or write with any questions.
