DOING SOME MOVEMENTS

Doing some movements often necessitates a willingness to step outside your comfort zone and try new moves.

Sonam always says that “if it’s fun and interesting to the mind, a person will WANT to do those movements!”  If it’s dull and boring (like the treadmill…) or doesn’t feel good to do, the patient/person compliance will be low.  How many of us own a piece of exercise equipment that we rarely use?

“Baby steps are fine”.  We can change our movement habits one step at a time, and we needn’t be harsh on ourselves about doing it!

Sonam has training in and is a long-time practitioner of T’ai Chi Chu’an, Chi Gung, and Yoga. He liberally borrows from these and many other movement traditions when suggesting exercises for his students.

For anyone in chronic pain, the treatment principle is that when there is musculoskeletal misalignment, there is always pain. Once “designed function” is restored through specific movements, pain goes away because alignment is restored.

Because many of us lead sedentary lives, or our work routine actually fosters our misalignments (!), we need to know and practice a very individualized movement routine until tendons, ligaments, fascia, muscle and bone all are restored to their “God-given” locations relative to each other. Once this happens, then an overall conditioning program can be instituted including one’s favorite activities… sport(s), dance, Pilates, yoga, martial arts, etc.

The foremost misalignment that is seen at Ancient Universal Medicine is hunched shoulders with the head dropped forward and down (forward flexion). In our society we spend a great percentage of time at the computer (work space, video games, etc), which encourages this hunched posture! Over time, this misalignment impedes lung function, heart function, balance, and blood flow to the brain, as well as fostering a lack of self-respect and healthy self-love. 
 
Thankfully, there are many ways to make corrections with simple movements that are easy and fun to do, and that require no special equipment!

For extensive information on this subject, please consult Pain free: A Revolutionary Method for Stopping Chronic Pain, Pete Egoscue, Bantam, 2000. Sonam is indebted to Pete and the Egoscue Clinics for their profound insights.