All posts by Elaine Belle

Peripersonal Space

Skeleton_At_Computer_1Have you ever considered the way a great athlete seems at one with what ever equipment they use, as if it were an extension of their arm or body? That’s because their brain considers it as such. There has been much research done on what is called your peripersonal space and how your brain interprets this. Peripersonal space refers to the space surrounding our body and which is within the reach of our limbs.

“In order to guide the movement of the body through space, the brain must constantly monitor the position of the of the body in relation to nearby objects.” This is from Body Schema and Multisensor Representations of Peripersonal Space By Nicholas P. Homles and Charles Spence.

Sandra and Mathew Blakeslee have also done research on this and have an amazing book out called The Body Has a Mind of Its Own: How Body Maps in Your Brain Help You Do (Almost) Everything Better.

Even though a lot of research is now being done about peripersonal space, I believe chi gong masters have been aware of this for millennia. In chi gong, this space is called “wei chi.” I think it’s interesting to note how important this space is to the health of an individuals in at least two ways:

Denise Aubin, medical chi gong teacher, says “all living bodies generate an external field of energy called wei chi. This field of chi protects the body from the invasion of external pathogens and communicates with, as well as interacts with, the surrounding universal and environmental energy fields.” For more clarification on this, click here.  Also, please go to Denise’s website and check out her classes.

The body mind work together. Too often, we get concerned with trying to figure things out with our minds. Generally, this causes additional tension in the body, sending the message of additional stress back to the brain, creating a negative feedback cycle. This is another way peripersonal space affects health.

Your body posture gives unconscious messages to your brain, impacting you on subtle but significant levels. When you are slumping over your computer or cell phone, your brain reads this as stress, and produces more stress hormones. Even though you may not be feeling anxious or depressed, you are giving your brain messages implying that there is a problem. Becoming aware of your peripersonal space can help you sense your posture, and what messages you are giving your brain. It is not about holding a posture that looks good; you need to take the time to align your body – brain.

Research shows that cortisol levels go up or down according to your posture, and that standing or sitting in an expansive posture decreases your cortisol level. For greater detail about this, here is a wonderful video that seems long but teaches you simple, short exercises to improve your body-brain connection.

I hope you find the websites mentioned above as informative and helpful as I did.

As we go in to the holiday season, take time out to allow your body to give your brain some positive input!

I think one of the best ways to re-align and slow down and connect to yourself is taking time (even 5 minutes) during the day to do constructive rest position.

For starting the New Year off right, the January newsletter will be on the lymphatic system, featuring Lucy Rush. Denise and I will be doing a workshop called “Rest, Restore and Realign” on January 13th. Click here for details.

Posture and Stress

Have you ever noticed how your posture changes with different emotions or with stress? In my personal experience, as well as what I have seen in clients, during times of stress or emotional reactivity our nervous system takes over. When we are frightened or upset, the shoulders raise up in the “startled response.” When the nervous system registers that everything is okay, our shoulders relax and calming breath replaces held breath.

With different emotions our posture and our breathing change. With fear we tend to pull in and breathing gets rapid; with anger we usually tighten and exhale more rapidly; with sadness we tend not to exhale deeply, holding back tears and tightening the whole body. Unfortunately unless we listen to our bodies and respond to the stress or emotional needs, our nervous system stays stuck and does not release. Too often this becomes a repeating pattern. For greater depth and understanding of the trauma this causes the body, go to the Somatic Experience website or read Peter Levine’s book,Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma.

The good news is that release and change can occur as we listen to our bodies. One’s body may need rest, emotional expression or in some cases professional help to unwind the trauma in order to once again have a regulated autonomic nervous system.

Sometimes spending too much time at the computer will put our posture out of alignment, creating stress on our whole body/mind system. Then add in emotional upset and anything can happen: pain, accidents, feeling of out of alignment in all areas or our body/mind/spirit.

Pain and discomfort are our body’s way of getting us to listen. The good news is that when you do listen, you can bring about change and learn more about your self and your body’s needs; you can work with your reactions rather than feel you have no control. You can learn to push the pause button and not explode or implode. This of course takes patience and willingness to change some of the habitual responses.

Finding some form of body awareness or bodywork that you can do on a regular basis to support the changes you want to make is very helpful.

The first step is finding the desire to listen to your body, developing that relationship of awareness rather than ignoring it, and learning to appreciate all the myriad of possibilities your body is capable of when you are aware and honor it’s needs. It does not have to be expensive massage or body work, you can do self massage and find CD’s or DVD’s that guide you through movements and awareness.

Of course having lessons of Alexander technique or other forms of body awareness is always informative and supportive.

Here are a few of my favorite suggestions for developing awareness:

1. Lying down in Rest position – lie on your back with support under your head so that your ears are in line with your shoulders your hips, your knees are up and feet flat and hip width apart. In this position you are supported and can relax and let your body lengthen and widen. Sensing any tension you can breathe into that area and let go. You can sense your skeleton and allow lengthening along the bones, releasing any holding in your joints. Let your breath take your ribs away from each other.

Click here for more details.  

2. Find a place to walk in nature, preferably one with lots of green. Being in nature is relaxing for the body, taking in the green color is soothing to the nervous system. Google Forest Therapy for more details and to see studies done in Japan regarding the benefits. Here is a link to an informative video about Forest Therapy:

3. Find ways to move your body that are enjoyable to you. This could be walking, dancing, lying on the floor and stretching. Finding pleasure in movement will encourage you to do it more often.

Here is a link to a great form of dance, 5 Rhythms which was founded by Gabrielle Roth.

4. I find consciously releasing held emotions from the body very helpful. Sedona Method is something you can do on your own and is very simple and beneficial.

Here is a link to free talks on releasing. (WRONG LINK)

Or, you can also Google “The Sedona Method” for more information.

5. Perhaps most important is to let yourself exhale. I find most people do not exhale fully, so taking time through out the day to exhale can make a big difference in stress level. It’s also a good thing to do when you are upset – remember counting to ten before you react to some upsetting moment? Add exhaling and the benefits increase.

6. There are many forms of meditation and meditation has been proven to reduce stress. Breathing through the Whole body: The Buddha’s Instructions on Integrating Mind Body and Breath by Will Johnson is a great read and gives one a deeper understanding of the body and breathing. Here is a link to his website: www.embodiment.net

All the best,

Elaine

Feet

Ah feet, how little attention we give them and how much they do for us. Since they are the support and foundation of our body and essential to movement, let’s give them some recognition.

What do you think of when you think of your feet? They are so Important to us but are often neglected unless they are hurting or needing new shoes.

For centuries women have been at the mercy of what shoe designers deem appropriate. (Most men have not had to go through the pains of high heels and super pointed shoes.) But the exercise and awareness is of course for all feet, no matter how big, small or what sex they are.

CLICK HERE if you just want to go right to the exercise.

For me and many others the level of comfort in shoes is perhaps the most important in making a choice of shoe. Luckily shoe manufactures are aware of this now. We no longer have to force our feet into too-tall, too-tight or too-anything shoes.

Who remembers when Birkenstocks and Roots hit the market? They were not much for the fashion world, but they did add much to promote comfort in shoes. Now there are many shoes available with both style and comfort. (My daughter and my friend Lee, both high hell–I meant heel–junkies would say high heels are comfortable.)

The latest rage in shoes is the “running barefoot” — the Vibram five fingers shoe. I have resisted these for some time; the thought of having no arch support with my high arches was not enticing. But I really liked the idea of getting my toes to spread. When I finally tried them, I felt how relaxed my foot and was I was sold. As Vibram says, “The more it looks like a foot the more it acts like a foot.” As many of you may or may not know, the outer toes are for support, agility and flexibility. The weight and movement is really meant to go through the big toe; I think that’s why we have that big fleshy mound on the bottom of the big toes. If the other toes are able to separate and aren’t all smashed together, then you have more support from them.

I do not think these shoes are for everyone. If you have flat feet or knee problems go slow and investigate what is best for you. There are exercises available for to improve and change your support.

Check out Body Control by Lynn Robinson & Gordon Thomson. Also Peter Egoscue has some great exercises for Flat feet and Ankles in his book Pain Free.

Unfortunately most people realize too late what not giving attention to the feet does. With bunions and other foot problems as we age, the most dominate thing that happens is less activity. I am not saying don’t ever wear high heels; some women love them and want that look (My daughter and Dear Ms. Lee wouldn’t be without them) But finding a balance and noticing what happens when you do wear those kind of shoes can help prevent problems later.

Regardless of what shoe are wearing, becoming aware of your feet through Alexander Technique, foot reflexology, and the following exercise will make a difference in your support system.

Foot Massage exercise:

As you massage your feet sense the bones, touch along the bone and feel the individual bones, do they feel pliable or hard and stiff? Follow them from the beginning of the toe out to the end. Do the toes tend to be stuck together as if they were still in a shoe or can you spread them easily? As you rub the bottom of your foot where are the tender points? You can check the reflexology chart and see what organ or body part that might relate to.

foot_reflexology_001

Waking up the feet and your awareness of them

 

Stand with your feet hip width apart, bend one knee forward and lift your ankle (your foot will be in the same position as if you were wearing a high heel.) Now roll slowly across the ball of your foot starting with your little toe all the way to the big toe, then reverse this so you are moving back and forth at least 5 or 6 times. Now pause and take note of any changes, sensations or awareness. With the same foot solid on the ground, imagine your lower leg is like a pencil and you are going to trace a circle on the bottom of the floor, moving your leg in a circle in one direction a few times and then the other. When this is done, stop and compare the side you have worked with to the side you have not worked with. Is there any change or difference? Did that bring more awareness to your foot, knee, hip relationship? Now repeat this on the other side.

You will want to be aware of your whole body as you are doing this exercise, maintain an upright spine and ease in your neck.

Please feel free you email if you have any questions. Thanks for reading and let me know if there is a topic you would like addressed.

All the Best,

Elaine

The Voice

“For the Alexander Technique doesn’t teach you something new to do. It teaches you how to bring more practiced intelligence into what you are already doing; how to eliminate the stereotyped responses; how to deal with change. It leaves you free to choose your own goal but gives you a better use of yourself while you work towards it.” —Frank Pierce Jones.

I wanted to start this month with this quote by Frank Pierce Jones because even though I want to focus on voice this time, this quote so accurately reminds us that the Alexander Technique is useful with any activity.

Alexander came to his technique via the voice. He became very frustrated with losing his voice while performing on stage. Many doctors tried to help but no one was able to alleviate the problem. At a certain point he realized no one could help him and he took matters into his own hands. Being a scientific minded person her decided that since he only lost his voice while he was performing he knew it must be something he himself was doing. His own actions were causing his difficulty with his voice.

He spent many years using mirrors and studying himself to uncover the problem he was causing himself. He realized that when he went to speak, especially when he was trying to project this voice out into an audience, he would take a large breath, sucking it in through his mouth, and pulling his head back down. This was causing pressure on his larynx. When he allowed his head to be balanced on the end of his spine he was able to continue speaking with our loosing his voice. He realized how clear and calm his body could remanin as he maintained that openness and support with the balanced relationship of his head to spine. He became a master in the understanding and maintaining alignment, in the use of good posture.

It made such a profound difference in his presence and stance on and off stage that others sought him out to learn how he made this change. He soon had a following from many walks of life. Doctors would send their most difficult cases, and consistently he was able to offer them help when nothing else would. He became very popular with the great thinkers of that time. John Dewey, Aldous Huxley, George Ellett Coghill, the Earl of Lyton to mention a few, as well as many doctors and philosophers.

When one understands his/her psycho/physical structure there is a deeper sense of integration of the organism as a whole functioning unit. One’s proprioceptive sensitivity is heightened thus improving posture and alignment.

Unfortunately most doctors are not trained in the knowledge of how to direct the use of the human musculature and skeleton and do not recognize the relationship between mis-direction (poor posture) and general function of the body. Changing your posture and the way you move can have huge impact on ones health. Many people, especially with increased use of computers, cell phones, TV’s, technology equipment in general, are not even aware of their posture, or their body until something starts to hurt. The pain is really trying to tell you there is something you are doing wrong, something needs exploring. But usually this gets “fixed’ with surgery, pain killers, not with common sense or understanding the body.

Now back to voice and suggestions. The following is an exercise from Glynn McDonald’s book, Alexander Technique: A practical Program for Health Poise, and Fitness. It will give you a better sense of your posture and how to support your body for more awareness as you speak. The exercise will give you more information about what you do when you are speaking and how to have more support in your body in general.

(Click Here to view the exericse)

Enjoy finding the support and ease within.

I appreciate any questions or responses.

Elaine

 

Navel Radiation

Hello Everyone. This month I am expanding on lasts month’s newsletter to help you find ways to increase your enjoyment of moving your body. Press here if you want to skip my explanations and information and you will go directly to the exercise.

As you know, research shows that the most important thing you can do for your body is to get at least 20 minutes a day of movement. Here is a fun, short YouTube video about the healthiest thing you can do for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUaInS6HIGo?t=40s&feature=youtu.be

 

The main point is to move. Researchers suggest walking is the easiest and best. I am suggesting ways to add to and this for those of you that are interested. Being aware of posture and use not only improves your muscle tone but helps your brain as well.

This month I would like to introduce you to Naval Radiation. I first learned of this while studying Body Mind Centering. Bonnie Bainbridge-Cohen work (http://www.bodymindcentering.com). You can also find it in Glynn MacDonald’s book Alexander Technique: A practical Program for Health, Poise and Fitness.

Navel Radiation is a way of moving your energy from your center (navel) equally to all the distal parts of your body. Distal refers to the points farthest away from the center of your body (from the top of the head to the end of the tailbone, from the bottoms of your feet out your arms to your fingertips). Energy usually ends up being felt primarily in the torso which then cuts off body connection to wholeness and a sense of alignment. When you understand how to have energy and aliveness equally in all parts of your body you will have more vitality. Understanding and sensing your distal ends as well your torso/trunk in an important start. This can bring in a sense of wholeness and a calming of the body/mind. With this awareness you will find any movement easier and more enjoyable. Your shoulders can relax and your body can feel long and aligned. The most useful place to start is with observation. Can you sense the bottoms of your feet, the top of your head, your tailbone, your fingertips? Do you have sense of the weight in your feet being equal? Or more on one side than the other? If you think about this does it bring a change? Using the image that you can move up your spine can add height. These are all small sublet movements, nothing big or forceful.

Start by standing against a wall with your heels touching the wall. Notice if your pelvis is tipped forward, or if your shoulder blades are touching the wall or rounded forward. Notice where your head is in relation to your whole body. It is often too far ahead or too far back. All this information can help you understand what you are doing that gives you support or what you are doing that causes misalignment and then pain. See insets from the book of Glynn McDonald.

You can imagine a starfish, all the energy radiating out to each distal point equally. Start sensing your naval and the connection of the center of your body to your head and the connection of your head and your tail, letting there be a lengthening along this line. Feel this line along your spine. Again, it is about embodying your muscular/skeleton system and letting yourself take up more space. Once you have that sense of your head-naval-tail connection, lengthening and moving up is easier. Now notice the connection of your naval to your right foot, then your left. Play with this for a while finding how the connection to one side supports the other, and visa versa. When you are ready add the movement of your arm. Start with one arm sensing the navel, and how the energy radiates out from the navel to the arm. When you do this there can be a widening in your back, thus giving you more support for your arms.

Exercise DVD Recommendations

If you like to work with DVD’s I have found one that is very well made and is 5 different workouts in 10-minute segments. Its called “Core fusion Body Sculpt.” You can get it by goggling Acacialifestyle.com. They pay attention to posture. The 10 minutes is fast and fun! Remember it’s all about finding something you enjoy doing!

I am available for sessions, or to answer questions and help you find what serves you and your health and fitness program the most. Call or email for a session, mention the newsletter and get a discount on your first session.

Until next month

The best to you all!

Elaine

Back To Work

Hi Everyone, Greetings and Happy New Year.

I thought I would start the New Year off by sharing some helpful tips on getting to know and understand your body, some useful exercises and hints for staying aligned and out of pain.

Having spent so many years studying and working in the field of body awareness and then working with the limitations of personal illness, I have often been frustrated with not being able to share knowledge and insights. So I decided to send out a monthly newsletter with simple exercises and ideas to explore.

As many of you may know I am finally back to work and would appreciate referrals. So please forward this to anyone you think would enjoy this and/or be interested in my work.

As we all know getting older presents many more physical challenges. Since we are looking for ways to age gracefully I thought I would add to your list of helpful hints.

Having awareness of your posture and use of your body will help this process of aging gracefully..

The good news is the bodymind is often very responsive. I say bodymind because body and mind work well when you use them together. Learning to think with your whole body helps regenerate the whole being.

The most difficult part is making the time and finding the discipline to make change a reality.

There several techniques, ways of understanding our bodies available to us at this time. My favorite is the Alexander Technique.

The Egoscue method can also be useful It is a collection of exercises that help remind your muscles and skeletal system how to be in alignment. There are different sets of excises depending upon your trouble areas. My favorite Egoscue teacher is Leslie Mullier. Check out her web site for more information: www.trialign.com. These exercises are even more affective if you apply them with Alexander principals. Actually anything is easier and more effective with Alexander Technique.

So finding a form of movement that you enjoy and will commit to doing is a very important first step. Doing any activity with awareness, not just exercise, will help your posture and alignment. It will also reduce possibilities of injury and pain.

Let’s start with awareness of our head and neck. Place one finger on your nose and one on the occipital ridge of your skull.

Occipital Bone

Imagine your finger is a pencil and draw circles with it, so you are initiating the movement from your nose. Now do the same with the occipital. You can think of writing your name with your nose, or occipital. Say yes or no. Having the awareness of the back of your head and tip of your nose and moving from there could give you more ease, less tension in your jaw. Once you have a sense of initiating the movement from you nose or occipital you can drop your arms and just move from those two parts as you. As you experiment with this be aware of your whole body, making sure your shoulders are relaxed, you are standing equally on both feet, or if you are sitting you can sense a balance of weight on both sides of your pelvis. (DON”T CROSS YOUR LEGS) This movement should be small, subtle. AS you are doing this movement (saying yes or no with your head, or writing your name in space) notice the feeling inside your mouth. Relax your jaw, your neck, your teeth, as you do these gentle movements you may feel more room in your mouth, less tension in your neck. And more awareness of your tendency to tighten up when its not necessary. It may also give you a sense of dimension in your body. Remember this is an exploration you are gathering information that could help you relax. As you go about your day see if having this awareness and moving from there lets you feel and sense more ease through out your body.

This exercise can be done lying down, just make sure you have some height under your heard a book or folded towel. You want your head high enough that your ear is in line with your shoulders; have your knees up so you can feel the bottoms of your feet making contact with the floor.

When doing this exercise use very small movements.

This is a good exercise to do at the computer. Taking a break to move is essential to aiding the process of awareness and alignment. If you are using your computer longer than an hour it really is important to take a break and move. Remember that old saying ‘if your don’t move it you lose it’! You don’t want to lose your flexibility. And if you have lost your flexibility the good news is you can regain it.

©Elaine Belle