Journey to the Flexible core – Article for Complete Yoga Magazine

Journey to the Flexible core  – Article for Complete Yoga Magazine

What is the core?

The core is a buzz word that is often used in Physical therapy, Fitness or Pilates training that is said to improve day to day posture, encourage pain free posture, prevent injury and enhance physical fitness.  The key focus is to develop  a  girdle of strength,(often referred to as the Pilates “powerhouse”) between the ribs and the pelvis by co-contracting  the deep abdominal Muscle called the Transversus Abdominus, the Muscle of the Pelvic Floor, the diaphragm and the deep postural muscles of the spine to develop a strong trunk to hold us upright..  However, it was during my training as a life/business coach, that I began to realise that the core goes beyond physical training.  That it is less efficient when worked in isolation and is much more efficient when integrating mind, body and spirit.  An efficiently working core is about a balance between flexibility and control in both mind and body.  When teaching movement I noticed that clients moved better the more self aware they were or the more self aware they became and that everyone’s level of awareness was different.  There seemed to be a strong relationship between the mind and body and how the one influenced the other. This meant that how we think, feel and behave influences our movement and by changing the way we think we  can change the way we move or by changing the way we move we can change the way we think.

In my earlier days of teaching Pilates it was the Transversus Abdominis, the deepest abdominal muscle that was given a great deal of attention and it was this muscle that we began to focus on by using language like “zip and hollow”  “engage the transversus” “pull the navel to spine” and “close the ribs to the pelvis” not realising that by focusing on the front of the body and using language associated with effort and strength I was actually tightening, shortening and weakening my spine.  I was focusing on the outer rather than the inner being and began to feel tight and tense in my neck and shoulders by overworking and over cueing the core. The turning point for me happened through my training with Polestar Pilates UK in 2005 who encouraged the practice of Somatic movement principles like Feldenkrais and the Trager Method.  Somatic meaning the whole person, mind body and spirit.  Moshe Feldenkrais one of the Somatic movement masters developed his Awareness Through Movement method based on his experience and practice of Jujitsu and it seems that most other Somatic movement pioneers based their principles around similar Eastern Martial Arts practices.

Yoga refers to, Chakras and Bhandhas, unblocking to  allow energy to flow in the mind and body , in other Eastern philosophies it’s about balancing yin and yang, or learning to harness and direct  Chi, it’s about quietening the mind and being present in the moment.  It’s about being and becoming rather than doing and achieving.  All these principles are based on awareness and a higher consciousness.  The awareness is heightened when the mind, body and spirit are interconnected.

So although Eastern Practitioners of movement may not refer to the “core” the way we know it, they were masters at identifying where and how it worked.

How do we experience it?

Body Sensing BQ is a method of experiencing the core with “effortless effort” by tapping into the body’s own intelligence or BQ  using Tom Myers Anatomy Trains, effective communication techniques and movement inspired by Yoga Pilates, Feldenkrais and the Franklin Method.  Tom Myers is a soft tissue expert who developed an ingenious and very clever way of looking at Anatomy by looking at how “everything connects to everything”.  Similar to the Chinese Meridian lines but describing instead the Myofacial lines (muscle and fascia), the “glue” that holds us together.  He explains how the elasticity of the muscle and tissue or facia creates a structure that suspends our skeleton and when in balance this structure moves easily and efficiently.  The best way to describe it is like sheets of muscle layered on top of each going from the outermost to the innermost layer.    It’s Tom Myers’ use of Yoga Postures to describe the Meridian Lines and his interpretation of the “core” that completely transformed the way I looked at the body.   Instead of an isolated group of muscles of the trunk, the core becomes a 3 dimensional structure occupying space within the deepest layer of the body, from the arches of the feet to the tongue and from the “heart centre” to the fingers and what was even more significant is how little muscle strength is required for core control.  The effort is in the awareness of aligning and organising the body so that it moves with ease and efficiency.  It becomes “core control” versus “core strength”.  It becomes a body that is flexible and strong versus tight and weak.

It’s about aligning the body so that the top half seamlessly connects to the bottom half, connecting the rib cage to the pelvis.  The Thorocolumbar junction, (the heart centre where the Rib cage ends and the lower spine continues) is   where the diaphragm, the solar plexus, adrenal gland, Psoas (muscle that joins the spine to the thigh bone) blend and connect. It’s where breathing meets walking, emotion, feeling, sensing and digestion.  It’s where we often block the spine and channel of communication.  The “core” lies at the heart of this junction influencing the state of our mind, our emotions, our physical and spiritual being through the condition of our “breath” or “prana” or “chi”

So what about the core and Yoga?

Yoga is about integrating mind, body and spirit, to develop awareness and greater consciousness and is a great example of the core in training.  Meditation, breath awareness, centering, grounding, emotional awareness, energetic sensation,  awareness of our relationship with the earth and gravity are all vital for core health.   Doing Yoga is very different to feeling and being in Yoga and it’s the sensing feeling self that easily taps into the intelligent body to connect “everything to everything”. Often people who end up with an injury whilst “doing” Yoga are not aware of their intelligent body and their core connection, they lose that spinal alignment that connects the top half to the bottom half or like people who “do” Pilates often tense up and forget to “let go”.   The more you let go both physically and mentally the better control you have. Natural whole body breathing allows the diaphragm to move through its full range massaging the internal organs and facilitating movement with rhythm and flow.  In Natural breath, the whole body expands in its entirety front back and sides from deep down in the abdominals. There is freedom of movement with no holding in.  The trunk in natural breath contracts automatically when the diaphragm deflates upwards allowing the abdominals to sink back.   The language used to describe the sequence of breath suggests their meaning i.e.;  Inspiration to breath in  can mean to inspire, to create , to be open, to energise and expiration can mean to expire, to end, to let go, to release, to give in, to surrender.  We see this in breath patterns in Yoga.  A backbend is facilitated with an inhalation that expands the entire spine and ribs opening up the vulnerable front line creating space in the joints of the hip, lengthening the abdominals and opening up the heart centre and throat whilst maintaining length through the back line or spine.  The forward bend works well on an exhale. On a releasing breath to decompress and open the veterbrae of the spine.   Here are a few guidelines to work the core efficiently in Yoga

• Pay attention to the breath and work with its intelligence.  Feel how the body “wants” to breathe when you go backward, forward and sideways.
• Maintain length through the entire length of the spine with every posture from the back of the head to the tailbone – Become more aware of feeling and sensing this from the back of the body rather than the front
• Become aware of the core of the shoulder girdle and pelvis using the natural bone rhythms in the body.  When the arm bone spirals outward the collar bone widens and the shoulder blade slides down and wraps around the rib cage.  Try this in downward facing dog. The rhythm of the thigh bones work similarly for widening and opening up the hips in standing postures.
• Set your bodies intention – how would you like it to move before you move
• Be aware and present to the sensations in your body, if a movement feels uncomfortable or awkward acknowledge and change it to feel better.