Upcoming Classes {online & in-person}

Think of the Rock What’s Yours {Online} STUDIO like your favorite Yoga or Pilates studio, only you don’t have to spend money on gas, time in traffic, wear your best workout clothes or wonder if you forgot to put on deodorant. You get to experience the embodiment work in the comfort and convenience of your own home. {or office. or even on the go!}

 

~ Register NOW!  The Mindful Breathing Class

June 8 ~ July 13

The Mindful Breathing Class is a 4-Week Online Course designed for those who thrive in an Independent experience.

You know how important breathing is and how useful it can be to navigating life’s hiccups, but you may not have a practical way to access it when you need it most. In The Mindful Breathing Class you’ll discover simple embodiment exercises you can do any time, any place so you can keep calm and carry on.

Click HERE for registration details.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ Register NOW!  Your Essential Knees: A Personal Exploration of Knee Mechanics and Embodiment for Improved Performance

June 15 ~ August 3

You’d like to keep your original knees in healthy working order AND stay active for as long as possible. You’d like to have a greater understanding of how your knees work so you can play a larger role in maintaining their health. Your Essential Knees is designed to teach you – through self touch and exploration – about the basic anatomy of your knees as well as how to embody the movement of the bones that make up your knee joints – femur, tibia, and patella – and your meniscus.

Click HERE for registration details.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ Register NOW! The Mindful Guide Experience: Discover Your Inner Power to Embody Strong, Flexible Muscles Workshop at Studio Q in Laguna Beach

June 22

Learn how to embody the natural dynamic elasticity of your muscles so you can positively influence the quality of their function for improved strength, flexibility, and coordination. You will also learn how to relax your muscles and release excess tension to instantly increase their power without stretching. Very cool stuff!

For more information, contact Erika Quest 949.842.9400.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ Register NOW! Experience the Dynamic Power of Your Hips June 29 at Green Tara Yoga in Upland, CA

Discover how embodying the way your pelvic and femoral bones naturally interact with each other creates greater flexibility and stability. Learn science-based imagery skills to release excess muscle tension, improve hip function, and deepen your Yoga practice. Get a fresh perspective on how to cue hip movement for your students to better facilitate their experience and deepen their awareness. You won’t see {or feel} your hips the same way again!

To register, contact Doug Moss 909.827.9915

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ COMING SOON! 30 Day Embodiment Immersion Challenge

 

Check the Calendar for all online classes and in-person workshops.

 

 

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If it Feels Good, Do it.

I was having coffee with my good friend, Kirk Pynchon, a couple weeks ago and he was telling me about a wrist and forearm stretch he frequently does while working on his laptop {he’s a writer}. He said his writer friends like to make fun of him when he does it, but he didn’t care and knew I’d approve of his stretch because it “feels good”.

If you don’t know already, I’m a huge proponent of doing what feels good. If a movement, exercise or stretch feels good to you, I will fully endorse it.*

 

Be your own expert.

I admit I’m a fan of information sans frills or extraneous details {bottom line it for me, baby}, but with the superabundance {yep, a word} of workout and fitness experts blogging, we’ve become accustomed to getting bite-sized, narrowly focused advice on when, where, and how {or how not} to train our bodies: 5 Things You Should Never Do … 3 Things You Should Always Do … Top 10 Exercises for … you get the picture.

 

If you build your health and fitness regimen around sound-bite-sized rules without being aware of how your joints and muscles feel while moving, you’re missing out on a critical element that will enable you to reduce your risk of being sidelined by dysfunction or injury.

 

Being aware of how movement feels empowers you to make adjustments, modify or ditch an exercise altogether. You gain greater insight into what works for your body and reclaim expert status over your own health and fitness regimen.

 

What does “good” feel like?

If you’re not accustomed to noticing how movement feels, you may not be as quick to identify what “good” feels like. Don’t sweat it. All it takes is time and attention. Practice checking in with your body – engaging your biofeedback loops – before, during, and after doing an exercise or stretch.

 

Don’t confuse feeling good with feeling familiar.* Your default movement patterns might feel like home to you, but they’ll also require more muscular energy and effort, slowly wearing down your system.

 

Lots of good begets better.

The more often you choose to embody what feels good, the more good you’ll embody. {that sentence might make more sense in my head}

 

Bottom Line is – {in the words of one of my teachers, Eric Franklin} “Practice makes permanent.” So practice doing what feels good. And don’t make fun of Kirk’s stretching.

 

Share your insights.

What do you think about doing what feels good? Students – has your trainer ever asked you how it feels to move? Teachers – how often do you encourage your students to engage their biofeedback loop?

Research shows we learn best with and from our peers, so please share your insights below.

 

Do you sit a lot? How would you like to feel good when you have to sit? Register for The Mindful Sitting Class ONLINE today!

 

 

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Ugly Shoes and Dead Cats. Or Why Curiosity Matters.

People think Vibram Five Finger shoes are ugly. And they are. I did a Google search and came up with 138,000 articles referencing how heinous the shoes are. But {I believe} their ugliness contributes to their popularity as much as the science behind them. Why? Because their bizarre design makes them stand out. Each time I wear mine, people comment on them. I wore them to the DMV and had two law enforcement officers ask me about them. I wore them while hiking and had preschooler point them out to his mom, who asked me how I liked them. No matter where I go, inevitably someone stops, does a double take, and then asks me about my ugly shoes. Because they are curious about them.

When people ask me about my ugly shoes, I tell them how comfortable I find them to be, how my knee and hip pain disappeared after I began running in them, and perhaps where I bought them. Curiosity is a conversation starter, the beginning of engagement, and ultimately leads to discovery.

 

Dr. Bruce Perry, an internationally recognized authority on brain development, states, “When we are curious about something new, we want to explore it. And while exploring we discover.”

 

If you want to improve the way your body works, you first have to be curious about how your body works. How do your bones articulate with one another? How do your muscles feel during movement? Self discovery can put information into context so it has personal meaning for you, creates deeper understanding, and enables you to apply the information in a way that’s most useful for you.

Would you like to improve your knee and/or hip joint function? Get curious and try this:

1. Stand with your legs a little wider than your hips.
2. Grasp your left femur {thigh bone} just above your knee.
3. With your shoulders and breathing relaxed, slowly bend and extend your knees, feeling for the movement of your left femur in the horizontal plane {think internal and external rotation}. Can you feel if your femur is externally or internally rotating during the downward phase of the movement?
4. Continue to bend and extend your knees 5-7x while feeling for the rotation of your left femur.

Notice the impact of your discovery:

1. Move your legs so they’re closer to hip width apart and allow your arms to hang at your sides.
2. Compare the sensations you’re feeling in your left leg to that of your right leg- Notice the level of muscle tension in your left {embodied} leg versus your right.
3. Stand on your left leg and raise your left arm overhead. Notice the way your bones are organized, how easily you balance. Do the same on your right leg and compare. Which side is functioning better?
4. Stand on your left leg, raise your left arm overhead, and do a small knee bend. Notice how well your joints and muscles coordinate your movement. Do the same on your right leg and compare. Which side is functioning better?
5. How do you see this new embodiment discovery impacting your exercise or every-day movement?

 

Bottom Line – Vibrams need to be ugly. And curiosity may kill a lot of cats*, but they’ve learned important lessons … which hopefully they carry into their next 8 lives.

 

Share your insights. Can you think of a time in which you learned something valuable through curiosity and discovery as opposed to formal instruction? Do you like to learn things “the hard way”? {which really should be termed “the smart way”, right?}

Research shows we learn best with and from our peers, so please share your insights below.

 

Are you a Rock What’s Yours Insider?

Subscribe with your email address {up top, right} and you’ll receive a complimentary shoulder embodiment exercise to release excess tension and realign your shoulders. As an Insider, you’ll also receive my e-newsletter with a Weekly Imagery Tip and exclusive offers on online classes, in-person workshops, and one-on-one services.

 

*No cats were harmed in the writing of this blog post.

 

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