Movement is life. Without movement there is no life. The basic philosophy of my work is to “move smarter not harder.” For the majority of cases I believe it is poor movement and our inadequate alignment with gravity that gives us our overall aches, pains, and physical injuries. I strongly feel that we can all improve our relation to gravity and space and our corresponding quality of movement regardless of where we are presently in our physical bodies, thereby accessing poise, grace and overall health.
Ease of movement within the human dynamic happens through organizing the nervous, musculoskeletal, and connective tissue systems so that we move with optimum efficiency. Poise and grace is always achieved when there is a harmonious relationship of these systems during movement. I believe that in an effort to create health, many people tend to overwork specific aspects of their movement in a manner that is inefficient for their particular body. For most of us, doing less but with more intelligence will organize these systems within our bodies for ease of movement and greater health. It is my intention to guide you in this process of finding that balance in your own body.
Intelligent movement that accesses poise and grace is movement that involves full coordination of the whole neuromusculoskeletal system.
We all must obey the law………. of natural variation. The law of natural variation posits that there is a difference between an idea and reality. In this video we see a range of ideas to enable humans to take flight. For each of these unique ideas, a great deal of planning and execution was required to build each given flying machine. The moment of truth in this endeavor is known as the test flight. As we can clearly see, these ideas were not accurate when applied to the phenomenal world. We all know that “the best laid plans of mice and men go awry”. We also understand that if you “fail to plan, you plan to fail”. Did you know that we all plan for each step we take when we walk? Our nervous system is designed to constantly predict on both a micro and macro level. When we take a step, we are predicting that the earth will be precisely where we place the sole of our foot. If instead we fail to predict the sub-stratum accurately, we must recover or suffer the consequences of a physical fall. Join me tonight at 6pm PST as a take I a closer look at our ideas, our ability to predict in movement and how to improve it. What impedes us from making good predictions? Do good predictors have better coordination than the rest of us? How does the past and present play into our ability to be good predictors? Join me tonight as I attempt to “keep it real” amid the ever-changing variables in the environment that supports us. Join my private FB group to attend the talk. https://www.facebook.com/groups/psychologyofanatomy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw_C_sbfyx8
“There’s no gravity in cyberspace” Sue and Russ This was the phrase we coined for the presentations that Sue and I gave at the 2019 38th Annual Conference of the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness in Oregon. The topic of the conference was “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”. The focus of our presentations were how humans now reside in an environment of ground, space and cyberspace. All species must adapt to an ever-changing environment. However, his change directed by humans to humans was extreme. Like I’ve stated, humans still have a hangover from adapting to the industrial revolution and then the information age abruptly knocked us wobbling bipeds off balance. How can we possibly remain centered and grounded when using a smart phone? Join me tonight at 6pm PDT as I provide an overview of our 2019 presentations. The phenomenal world helps to integrate our physical structure and coordination. Cyberspace and the barrage of the attention economy is designed to move us off center. How can we possibly stay embodied when we choose to travel in cyberspace? The information age came on in a flash and is here to stay. However, our bodies are very slow to adapt. We are all humans trapped in a specific moment in the evolution of a particular era in which we were born. How can we utilize this amazing invention for our own personal good and combat it’s deleterious effects to our bodies? Join my private FB group to attend the talk. https://www.facebook.com/groups/psychologyofanatomy
“Life is never unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose” -Viktor Frankl Join me tonight as I interview Sue Choi, the author of the new book “When Things Stick”. The focus of the book is how we can apply somatic movement and function to change old patterns that no longer serve us. Our neurons create patterns as we think and move through life. These patterns are designed to create more efficiency in our movement and cognition. However, many of the insults and injuries that we had to overcome in life created specific patterns that are not appropriate and create inefficiencies in our movement and thought. It is essential for our health and longevity that each of us better understands our unique patterns and how we can move through them. Join me tonight at 6pm PDT as we learn more about this topic from the author. Join my private FB group to attend the talk. https://www.facebook.com/groups/psychologyofanatomy
What is most crucial for human survival, air or gravity? Within the hierarchy of importance to our vitality and survival, I always considered the air that we breath to be the most critical. However, as we see in this video, gravity is also important. Our physical bodies have a primitive wiring which signals fear and is designed to keep us alive. We often fear objects in our environment (both real and imagined) as a physical threat. Our psychology is not directly affected by our fear of losing air or gravity……..or is it? Join me tonight at 6pm as I discuss some root fears that all humans have in common. I will also take a closer look at how gravity and oxygen can play a role in the “resting tone” of our stress. Our lives are threatened by our environment. The environment also sustains our lives. Tonight, I will discuss stress in its many forms. Often times our fears are intellectually sophisticated and are a consequence of our thinking. Other times our fears are primal. What’s the difference and how do these fears effect our psychology, anatomy and movement? Join my private FB group to attend the talk. https://www.facebook.com/groups/psychologyofanatomy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVZXBj9NowU
Does your outer expression authentically reveal your inner feelings? We are all influenced by our environment. The outside world shapes our behavior and the way we communicate. Our environment is paramount in directing our developmental process throughout our lives. Since we are designed as a social species, the humans that we encounter in our environment can facilitate or inhibit the expression of our inner feelings. There are 3 groups of people that we relate to each day that shape our attitude and growth: 1-myslef to humans in a formal setting 2-myself to humans that are my intimate friends 3-myself to myself Join me tonight at 6pm PST as take I closer look at how our different relations direct our personality and coordination. How does your communication change when relating to these three groups? Is there a personality and attitude that best matches my given environment? Are confident people better physical movers than those that are timid? Join me tonight at 6pm as I explore some of these variables and how we can utilize them for our continued self-learning. Join my private FB group to attend the talk. https://www.facebook.com/groups/psychologyofanatomy
We have all experienced life’s ups and downs. For those of you that have visited our studio in Venice Beach, this entryway is familiar to you. As you can see in this short clip, there is a pendulum expressing gravity and perpetual motion adjacent to a fountain that represents lift and flow. In every moment each one of us processes these environmental forces within our human design. This process includes both our anatomy and psychology. Like water over a rock, these constant forces shape us over a lifetime. How efficient is your strategy and execution in transforming these constant forces? How does your unique process shape your physical body and state of mind? Are these forces lifting you up or beating you down as you grow older? Join me tonight at 6pm PDT as I examine these forces and how we are designed to take advantage of this environmental supportive system. Our muscles can confirm gravity or lift us off the ground. Tune in tonight as I discuss how our attitude can affect our structure and how our structure can affect our attitude as we engage with these external forces. Join my private FB group to attend the talk. https://www.facebook.com/groups/psychologyofanatomy https://www.youtube.com/shorts/NPpshSW3bxM
Does your head float freely on a swivel or is it on lockdown? In this video we see all-time great sprinter Michael Johnson breaking another world record. Like each one of us, Johnson had a unique movement that is a result of our genetics, developmental process as infants and, in the case of pro athletes, decades of intense training. Johnson was known for his sprinting style of standing vertical as opposed to leaning forward. As a personality, he is an extremely focused athlete. Please excuse the poor quality of the video but at 26 seconds we get the front perspective from the camera. Can you see his head shift from side to side like it is floating without any friction? Our head carriage is paramount to good posture and movement. Our cranium is the only body part that includes all of Aristotle’s external five senses. It also contains our otolith organ and semi-circular canals which allows it to be free and independent from our gross body movement. Our cranium also includes the cortical and subcortical functions of our brain which include our coordination and psychology. As a result of this design, we can all have holding patterns of stress that lock down a free-floating cranium and impede our overall efficiency in movement. Join me tonight at 6pm PDT as I take a closer look at Johnson’s unique style. As always, I will compare and contrast how a free-floating head applies to the steps we take every day as we walk. We all have a left and right body half each of which works in harmony with the midline of our body. Tune in tonight as I take a closer look at the role the head plays in organizing our movement, psychology and anatomy. Join my private FB group to attend the talk. https://www.facebook.com/groups/psychologyofanatomy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHG5vB8hX4E
Please take a moment and allow the hypnotic flow of Roger Federer to sink into your bones. Once in a generation we are blessed with an athlete who profoundly expresses the art of movement in their given sport. Over the last few years we have examined several of these gifted professionals including Julius Irving, Ted Williams, Barry Sanders and Clyde Drexler. These athletes are somehow capable of moving with dynamic relaxation in midst of a hostile and competitive environment. For me, Roger Federer is on my short list within this realm of kinesthetic intelligence in sport. Join me tonight at 6pm PDT as I take a closer look at this gifted athlete. As I am no expert in tennis, I will focus on his overall poise and sequencing of movement. Federer has the rare talent that can combine an aesthetic expression with a highly efficient function which enables him to excel in the sport of tennis. How can we embody these attributes of ease, flow and efficiency into each step that we take as we walk through our lives? Tune in tonight to learn more. Join my private FB group to attend the talk. https://www.facebook.com/groups/psychologyofanatomy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=868qqiH0Fks