CORE STEADINESS

Wherever you are right now, whatever your life looks like at the moment, the chances are, there is a requirement for steadiness.

To be able to stand on the rocking bow of the boat and to be able to make moment to moment adjustments in relationship to all that is happening.

This theme of CORE STEADINESS is one that I have explored in many forms, most particularly with Donna Farhi and her teachings will never grow old. They are teachings that never fail to resonate with my needs and perhaps they will to yours too.

 

Donna offers four simple principles that state:

  1. When we think of the core - culturally this often translates to an idea of something being hard held, but really core steadiness is not about holding on tightly, it is more about being responsive and able to make moment to moment adjustments in relationship to the environment.

  2. When we shift our awareness from the moving parts of the body to the non moving parts of the body, often what is allowing the moving parts of the body to be coordinated, is that we are maintaining some kind of steadiness or stillness somewhere else, and in this case the focus will be maintaining the neutrality through the core body.

  3. When we move on the mat, and also through life, we may want to consider only extending our limbs as far possible in relationship to what our core can support without falling apart.

  4. To re-balance and strengthen the core, we don’t need to do clever and virtuosic things, instead we can simply practice movement in a way that is very precise, utilising simple and subtle movements as a way to bring our awareness to our deep core centre.

And my invitation to you all is to bring all of these principles to mind both in your practice and life. It is a life long enquiry but one that can completely revolutionise the way that you approach your practice, it turns down the ‘over-efforting’ and turns up the inner lights of awareness. My experience is that when we practice in this way, the body may become more relaxed, the breath more easeful and the mind more centered.

 

So let’s put this into practice and see how it feels.

Here are three movement explorations with a variety of applications for every day life

 

Breathing Practice with sound vocalisations

  • Find a comfortable seated position

    Notice & observe your breath

  • Wrap your hands around your rib cage & notice how it moves as you breathe

  • In each of the following sound vocalisations notice what you feel with your hands, notice where in the body you feel the sound and notice how you feel afterwards

  • Take a normal inhale and on the exhale make a AAAAHHHH sound. Repeat x5

  • Take a normal inhale and on the exhale make a PPSSSSSSS sound. Repeat x5

  • Take a normal inhale and on the exhale make a WHOOOO sound. Repeat x5

  • Now inhale through and exhale through the nose, observe how your breath makes the gentle sound of the sea

  • Does the breath invite any suggestion of movement and if so what does that feel like?

All Fours

  • Bring yourself to the floor and come into a table top position

  • Gently warm up the spine by circling the tail bone and moving in any way that feels good

  • Pick the right hand off the floor and notice how the weight shifts

  • Now pick the left hand off the floor, then the right knee and left knee. Notice what happens when you change your levels of stability

  • Now pick the right hand and left knee off the floor and notice what happens in your body, where you feel the tension and where you feel the ease

  • Switch sides and explore this for a bit

  • Now start to reach out into space with one arm and the opposite leg

  • Pay attention to the desire to over extend, instead focus your mind on the body and breathe and allow your movements to have a steadiness and ease to them

Standing & Walking

  • Bring yourself to stand and notice what your connection to the floor feels like

  • Bring weight onto your toes and notice where your attention goes

  • Bring weight onto your heels and notice where your attention goes

  • Shift your weight side to side and notice where your attention goes

  • Pause

  • Bring your weight onto your right leg and gently bend the left knee

  • Bring your weight onto your left leg and gently bend the right knee

  • Put the two movements together

  • Perhaps you notice your arms naturally wishing to join in and perhaps you notice that it feels a bit like walking

  • Continue and allow yourself to explore reaching and extending out into space

  • What would it feel like to walk into a tree pose and what would it feel like to take a walk around your space?

AS ALWAYS NOTICE WHAT YOU NOTICE

Each of these explorations can be supportive as part of a warm-up aspect of your movement practice, and support both structured and formal movements as well as more improvisational movements.

Perhaps when you practice in this way you may speak to an intuition or a trust in your own bodies suggestion of movement.

Remember that the most advanced practice is one where you adjust it to suit your own needs in the moment, maybe you choose to get stronger or more gentle. You choose, you decide.

 
Charlotte Douglas