Extension: Foundation of a strong back
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Basic extension is, as you can tell, fundamental to all human movement. It keeps our spine upright, our ribs over our pelvis, and our head on top. It’s possible to over-do it with the muscles and strain thinking that “more is better.” Make small movements and honor when your spine stops moving. As you increase your options in how you do the movement, the range and ease will get better.
If you strain, you’re just teaching yourself how to tense, which you already know how to do. Practice being extra kind to yourself.
I love these lessons. I feel flexible, tall, and powerful when I do them.
This lesson expands on the previous experiment by looking more closely at how the limbs connect through the back. There are lots of slow, small explorations to refine how you use the back muscles and bend forwards and backwards to leverage the floor. You’ll feel taller, lighter, and find walking easier after this!
A wonderful complement to this lesson is 328 Drumming the knees, below.
This is a sneaky, effective lesson. Lying on your front, forehead down, you slide the chin across the hands. Then you flap the elbows like wings. There is a lot of comparing hoisting vs. levering in your arms and shoulders. That way you can tell when you’re using your whole self and when you’re straining and umphing.
It's oh-so-tempting to strain in extension lessons. Do not. Make small iterations and your nervous system will thank you. If you don't believe me, test the lesson by doing one-tenth of what you can do. I mean it, one-tenth. Now see if it has an effect.
Your brain is a refined, sensitive instrument. You are training the brain because that is, after all, what controls the muscles.
This lesson will also help your shoulders find a neutral hanging spot as you find out how the arms connect to the spine.
This is a slow, detailed lesson, almost lazy in how you increase the activation of the back to swivel up the spine. Feel the bones pick up link by link. Again, don’t do anything that causes strain. Although you do use big muscles, consider using the appropriate amount of work for each movement.
For more like this, see:
78 Low back strength, tilting legs on stomach
80 Arms frame head
317 Tilt legs to come to sit from belly
9 Tilting legs on stomach to locate your center
This lesson is the best ever for a cool, wow, a-ha moment. It seems like it’s not possible at first to do what’s asked, then you realize how much your spine and pelvis can adapt to the question of the legs.
I used to come back from my training and say, “Check out what you can do with your hips!” and get everyone at dinner parties in my tiny New York apartment on the floor.
For similar lessons, see:
Amphibian lesson #5 in longer series from trainings
210 arms, shoulders, pelvis turning intro and advanced
Drumming the knees is a great way to find out who clenches their jaw when the strong muscles along the back are activated. Notice what you do with your jaw in this lesson. Find out if the back can activate strong muscles while you breath easy and remain soft in the jaw.
This lesson is helpful for sitting upright with effortless ease as you reorganize the pattern in your back by rolling your pelvis around your fixed legs. I give this lesson to many people with “hunchy shoulder syndrome” or people who feel they need help sitting upright.
A wonderful complement to this lesson is: 220 Twisting with head fixed, also with lots of rolling the pelvis around the legs.
This lesson creates a nice swivel of the trunk as you swivel to perch on your bent elbow. Once you get the balance and the sequence of the eyes, upper trunk, and leg, it can become effortless. It’s one of those lessons that reminds me how balance and organization trump force.
I call it “getting more bang for your movement buck”: you get more power when your muscles are not busy hoisting up your bones all the time. Why not make life easier and lever your skeleton with easy elegance? Then your big muscles can do other fun stuff!
Tip: Do not let your elbows collapse. The triangle shape of the arm remains intact as you lift the head and lean on your hand. Many people collapse the arms at first and wonder why they can't make sense of the lesson. Keep the arms “framing” the head and it will make sense.
For more like this, see A strong back in Mobile spine and pelvis.
“Learning is turning darkness, which is absence of light, into light. Learning is creation. It is making something out of nothing. Learning grows until it dawns on you.”