Why Resilient Movement?
Think of it this way.
Kale is good for you, right? And yet if you only eat kale, you might expect to get sick or at least be very, very hungry.
It’s the same with how you use your body.
Managing to do any single form of exercise, whether that’s yoga, running or cycling is great! And, each of these types of exercise only ask your body to move in relatively repetitive and limited ways. The muscular imbalances this can create can leave your body with movement hunger pains, diminish your body’s ability to respond well to the demands of your daily life and potentially even lead to injury.
Which is what happened to me.
After practicing yoga, and only yoga, for 10 years I started developing severe pain in my hips and lower back. I am a little bit of a recovering perfectionist and I’ve been lucky to have great teachers, so you can imagine that poor form was not the cause.
In order to understand why I was experiencing issues, (wasn’t yoga supposed to be a healing art?) I began a deep dive into anatomy, kinesiology and biomechanics. I started replacing yoga alignment with current, science-based knowledge, and top-down, directive language with critical thinking and inquiry.
As I began to vary my movement diet, first by necessity and later by choice, I began to realize how in becoming really great at performing yoga postures I had become a little less great at being a well-rounded, resilient human.
Practicing tree pose to improve your balance is a great place to start. At some point though, you’ll really just be good at practicing tree pose, and maybe not so great at maintaining your balance when the subway lurches forward or you have to sidestep a giant puddle.
On the flip side, novel ways of moving can also have a positive effect on what you already love to do, whether that is progressing as a runner or playing with your kids on the floor.
Resilient Movement is a holistic approach to becoming more aware, balanced and playful in how you move and live in your body.
