Embodied Anatomy

What is the best way to get to know the body from the inside out?

Written by Jacob Tyson, DPT - Physical Therapist, Yoga Instructor

While countless hours spent poring over anatomy textbooks in physical therapy school was helpful for learning the names of all of our internal structures, the most meaningful anatomy lessons have been on my mat, alone with my body and breath. Without complementing textbook knowledge with movement, there will be little relevance to real life. However, movement alone is also not enough- without having some background knowledge of the intricacies of our structural body, there may be blind spots in our awareness as we move through our day or move on our mat. This is why informed movement is so important- it can help one to avoid injury and move more efficiently.

Having a better sense of the biomechanics and anatomy of the physical body can help to improve mind-body connection and kinesthetic awareness by allowing us to move with intention and embodied intuition. For example, one might lack awareness that, unlike the hip or the shoulder which move in all planes, the knee is designed to perform sagittal plane movement alone, known as flexion and extension. By better understanding the structure and function of the knee, we can move the knee with intention, rather than trying to force it into a position that might be detrimental to our joint health. The same awareness can be applied to all individual joints, which we can integrate into whole body movement as well.

Through PhysiYoga Fluid: From Ground to Crown, I hope to share the anatomical knowledge I have in the context of a dynamic movement experience. These yoga classes will contain tidbits of relevant anatomy and kinesiology as we shine our awareness throughout different areas of ourselves. We will start to form an embodied understanding of how our parts move separately, together, and relation to our connection to the earth and to gravity. By starting from the ground and working our way up to the crown, we will learn more about ourselves, help to prevent unnecessary injuries, and develop the knowledge and tools to get the very most out of our yoga and movement practices.

I hope to see you on the mat!

The Elusive Obvious: How Better Movement Heals the Whole Person

How are stress, anxiety, movement challenges (e.g. balance issues, neurological disorders, musculoskeletal injuries), chronic pain, and even long-term symptoms of COVID-19 related to our approach at The Wellness Station?

At The Wellness Station, our clientele present primarily with issues of musculoskeletal pain, movement disorders, balance challenges, and various stress-related conditions. Our therapeutic approach is neuroplasticity in action, with the goal of helping people achieve their goals and live healthier, more active lifestyles. We provide movement lessons that emphasize working with one's body, rather than on one's body. These lessons help to establish and strengthen motor pathways that facilitate efficiency of movement and inner calm in order to move towards a more fulfilling and pain-free experience of daily life.

Our approach, based on the Feldenkrais Method and therapeutic yoga, helps to shift the autonomic nervous system into the parasympathetic state with all of the various organ systems working inter-dependently in a homeostatic, rhythmic flow. And thankfully when the body is more in a state of calm and balance, that systemic harmony allows for healing to occur in a variety of our bodies systems.

Our focus on decreasing the body's stress response (fight or flight) goes beyond improving movement and decreasing pain. Much to our delight, our clients often report that other health issues also improve, including sleep quality, gastrointestinal distress, memory and cognition, energy levels, and positive management of blood pressure and other heart-related conditions. While we do not claim to treat those conditions directly, research and our experience as healthcare providers can tell us that lifestyle choices- how well and how often we move, our ability to manage stress, the choices of what we put in our bodies, and our daily practices of self-care can have major influences on our mental and physical health.

For example, COVID-19 can lead to long-term symptoms including cognitive issues, labored breathing (dyspnea), pain with deep breaths, loss of smell and taste , and overall malaise. And all of the above create tremendous fear and anxiety about one’s present and future capacity for functioning well -the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system becomes over-stimulated, and fight, flight, or freeze characteristics prevail. By learning tools to regulate the nervous system through mindful movement and other daily practices, our clients develop the self-efficacy, knowledge, and wisdom necessary to combat or prevent the symptom manifestation of many diseases.

Coming full circle with the above health challenges, at The Wellness Station our emphasis on improving the quality of how we move, think, feel, and sense regularly resolves musculoskeletal pain, improves balance and movement difficulties, and also has many positive effects on the various organ systems.

It is wonderful to hear our patients report improvement with memory and other cognitive issues, high blood pressure and cardiac disorders, various gastrointestinal challenges, sleep quality, and expressing “I feel I have my life back again!”

In the words of Moshe Feldenkrais, we help our clients "make the impossible possible, the possible easy, and the easy elegant."

Just For Fun: Playful Movement to Nourish Brain and Body

According to “Kids Beyond Limits,” in the first three years of life, the brain grows four fold, reaching 80% of its adult weight. This increase in size is due primarily to an increase in the number of connections between nerve cells.

(Kids Beyond Limits: The Anat Baniel Method for Awakening the Brain and Transforming the Life of Your Child With Special Needs by Anat Baniel)

And, of course, a playful engagement with and in the world is a major contributor to the exuberance and thrill of child development.

How does this relate to we adults, wanting to live a life of spontaneity, joyfulness, and well-being?

When we live a life frequently engaging in movement of many varieties, done with curiosity and attentiveness, it stimulates our imagination, engages those billion trillion synapses in each of our brains, and provides a life of spontaneity and pleasure!

We look forward to seeing you in the four week Feldenkrais series with Paul Mcandrew, Just For Fun: Playful Movement to Nourish Brain and Body.