Two Steering Wheels on the Same Ship
Christine Ruffolo Alternative Title: Perception, Control, & the Two Halves Unlike the human brain, which has been trained to believe that effort leads to progress, the body whole-heartedly leans toward efficiency. Consider the simple act of standing on one leg. What you imagine is based on your experience of that being an easy […]
Spinal Intelligence
Jenn Pilotti Alternative Title: The Literal Link Between Brain and Body. Have you noticed how noisy the conversation around the body has become? On social media, we’re told we need to regulate our nervous systems. That cortisol is bad—except when it’s essential for health. That strength training is non-negotiable—but only if your spine […]
The Mechanics of Left-Side Counterbalance
Amelia Chan Playing the violin requires the two sides of the body to work together asymmetrically. Developing a strong sense of this cross-body dynamic often resolves persistent technical issues. These exercises reveal technical gaps for players at every level. They highlight a fundamental truth: bow arm agility relies on left-side body opposition. Whether you […]
A Means of Diving into Yourself
Matea Sedlacek How plugging your nose and inhaling and plugging your nose and exhaling can help you notice what you can and cannot access: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Matea Sedlacek (@matea_sed) Creating a restriction for a similar effect that feels different: View this post on […]
Daoism & the Involuntaries (Part 1): Background
Dare Carrasquillo Alternative title: Story, State, Action Model for a Collapsing Mythology (part 1) Index of articles related to Story, State, Action model can be found here. This is in conversation with my 2023 year of the dragon article on Daoism, Degrowth & Decolonization. Hi. I’m going to assume you know some things […]
Unsticking the Stuck (With Your Very Own Hands)
Samantha Faulhaber A solo offering on unsticking and freeing up the body for movement. Playing with epimysial grooves can help speed healing and increase energy in the body. I learned epimysial grooves as Sen Lines in traditional Thai massage training with Rose Griscom of the Institute of Thai Massage. Thai practitioners say that there […]
A Primer for Self-Massage
Samantha Faulhaber Self-massage for good health – I’ve included self-massage in my recipes for self care videos many times over the years, including this one: I included as a bonus in a hip mobility course, and this one from a shoulders course collaboration with the excellent Brian Nevison, with cupping! Yet to […]
Feeling vs. Forcing
Tasha Louie There always seems to be an exercise that you should be doing to feel a certain way and achieve a certain thing, isn’t there? If you think it’s going to give you something specific to feel or gain by the end of learning all the progressions to learn how to do […]
When Your Only Company Is a Mirror and Music
Nadia Genois I had recently promised myself to create more opportunities to dance, improvise, to have these moments that are generally revitalizing but that too often escape me because of fatigue or laziness. Yet it is a pleasure that I have discovered in recent years, to improvise to give yourself permission to be in […]
The 3-Phase Repatterning Stretching Cycle
Dave Wardman The last essay served as an introduction to the art of repatterning stretching: its lore, heuristics, principles, aphorisms, and more. It was largely theorum. This second essay in a series of ‘class essays’ [essays designed to aid people dive into the repatterning stretching more fluidly] is more of the ‘applied theorum’ flavour. […]
Programs Vs. People
Brandon Chien Why most exercise programs suck. Because people change from day to day, and their needs will vary all the time. We are not robot automatons, even though sometimes we try to treat ourselves like machines. Our brains crave certainty, and decide that having an “exercise routine” is the best way to get […]
Pausing to Feel, Telling Stories
Samantha Faulhaber View this post on Instagram A post shared by Samantha Faulhaber (@shamanicsam) (Note the comments.) The solution to telling stories… View this post on Instagram A post shared by Samantha Faulhaber (@shamanicsam) Discernment: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Samantha […]
Medicating with Movement
Jenn Pilotti I am having one of those weeks, a week where a lot of the people around me are upset, or anxious, or depressed. A week where there is a sense of heaviness encompassing the people I interact with regularly, which makes me feel like I am being held down under a thick, […]
Wiggle Class
Samantha Faulhaber View this post on Instagram A post shared by Samantha Faulhaber (@shamanicsam)
What Compels You to ‘Do’?
Christine Ruffolo The idea for this post first came in the summer of 2021, down time for most teachers here in the States. When you have a secured income (our salary is split evenly between the twelve months), and are given the gift of time and freedom of what to do with that time, […]
Guest Post #6 – Toward a Useful Physical Education
David Zundel We have widespread ill health. And in the US 42% of us have become obese. PE didn’t help most people. Entertainment, porn, and sports show us buff physiques to consume. We prominently reward athletes. And advertising sells us convenient food. We train people to external direction. Our received ideals of fitness come from military preparedness. And […]
Any Joint, Any Stretch, Any Time
Sam Faulhaber
Barriers to Relaxation
Brendan Lea
Deconstructing Care
Christine Ruffolo Everyone thinks they know how to care. They know what it looks like, and so, they know how to replicate it. What they care about is their reality, their axis of being. It is both their benchmark and their goal. A stagnancy by which to improve upon means doing more and trying […]
Meaningful Sentience
Jason Round Sentience is the capacity to have experiences, that is, conscious states. How do you feel when you move? We can be so focused on movements and disciplines, on physical practice and goals and defining ourselves in relation to them that the feeling of a body in and of itself – even […]