Diagonals: Natural human movement

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A gentle, slow lesson coordinating the four corners of the torso using the geometry of dots on the shoulders and hips linked with lines. There is no holding of the knees or lifting of the head, just folding in many directions. This lesson helps you track where you are in space as well as organize the torso for better walking, sitting, and standing. Plus, it unwinds tension across the back as you fold and unfold along the natural human diagonal.

Many of my clients love the way the triangles inform their self-image. They get to sense where they are in space more clearly.

Similar lessons with gentle folding:
121 Magic back lesson, coordinate hips and shoulders (one of my favorites!)
338 Gentle folding to increase choices
344 Lifting four corners

This lesson improves walking by inviting the diagonal shifting from side to side that we make as we swing our legs and arms, except it’s very, very slow and attentive. Almost like a meditation on your back as it presses and lifts.

For a similar lesson, see:
344 Lifting four corners.

This lesson clarifies the long diagonal with long arms and legs. It’s a basic elucidation of this vital human pattern. Try going for a walk after this one and feel how you move across the diagonal.

In this lesson you lift the long arm, then leg, then arm and both the back and front. Then you connect diagonals in many ways. It’s similar, but not the same, as the next one. As you practice this pattern over and over, you can reset long-held muscular patterns across the back and become much more efficient as you move throughout your day.

I love, love, love this lesson because it feels even on both the front and the back, and it’s slow and yummy, even though you are, no question, using big muscles to move your trunk.

These lessons evoke the developmental stage of babies as they organize the trunk to move the limbs. Before we can refine motor control, we have to figure out how to relate to gravity. Most adults forget this fundamental skill because nuanced motor control in the limbs makes us look “intelligent” when the bigger muscles of the trunk require just as much refinement. We feel it when we’re disorganized: It shows up as fatigue in walking, sitting, and standing. Try this lesson to feel easy movement across the trunk.

This is a similar lesson that focuses more on timing and muscular precision. Once you get this detail down, your movement will be vastly improved.

This lesson combines the diagonals with attending to your breath, clarifying the pressure along the diagonal line, and elongating from the middle. Plus, much of it is done in your imagination!

You will feel longer and taller and stronger—not because you “worked out,” but because your muscles are better organized.

Finish this lesson see-sawing along the diagonal while focusing on breathing and elongating.