Lifestyle Choices

There is more health and beauty through natural movement than you will get from vigorous aerobic exercise alone. For no matter how far you run, no matter how fine an athlete or dancer you are, unless your muscles and joints move freely through the full range of motions possible for them you quite simply won’t feel fully alive. Neither will you have full freedom of locomotion nor will you get the complete enjoyment of your sensations.

The body is the medium of experience. Everything you do—walking, writing, playing, working, making love—you do through its movements. In fact, all life is made up of the action of living flesh and muscle on moving joints and bones. These movements are composed of finely controlled positions and motions. When your joints and muscles are supple and mobile your body remains free, glowing, alive and highly resistant to stress. To get it that way, unless you are a child or unless you happen to be gifted with exceptional flexibility, you need to teach your muscles to stretch to their limits and encourage your joints to move fully. (more…)

Most women become aware of the poor condition of neglected muscles when a strain occurs, but there are various tests you can run on specific muscles to find out how strong and resilient yours are. One in particular probably gives more indication than any other of how susceptible you are to back pain. It is used by one of Europe’s top back experts, who taught it to me. And it is particularly useful for women after childbirth.

Lie flat on your back on the floor. With one hand stretched out and fingers together, press the tips of the fingers against the center line of the abdomen at the navel. Now raise your head off the floor. If the rectus abdominis muscle (the long, flat muscle on the front of the abdomen) parts, allowing your fingers to press easily into the abdominal cavity, then your abdominal wall is definitely not strong enough. (more…)

Other things contribute to back troubles too—like poor nutrition, which results in stored waste in the tissues and the accumulation of fat, which puts far too much strain on heavily taxed muscles. You shouldn’t sleep on a bed that is too soft either—it won’t give enough support to your spine

and there is always the danger of hanging on to muscle tension left over from the daytime or putting too much of an unnatural curve in your spine during sleep. But you needn’t go out and buy an expensive orthopedic mattress. A simple, firm mattress on top of a board will do fine. (more…)