Small, round, and narrow, the multifidus lengthens in spinal flexion (fetal-C curl) and therefore increases its strength when standing neutral. When the psoas and multifidus, both intrinsic muscles, are fully understood, the use of the primal movements (arcing and curling) are recognized as beneficial,

Keeping your attention focused at your hip sockets, initiate movement at the hip socket, allowing one foot to glide along the floor. The pelvis stays centered and stable and remains part of the torso—only the leg extends. As the leg lengthens, notice sensations along your back. Any shortening in the low back (to accommodate the extension of the leg

Good positioning always includes a: Stable pelvis (see Chapter Three, Centering the Pelvis) Centered joints (see Chapter Four, Connecting to Bone) Released, supple psoas (see Chapter Two, Engaging the Psoas Muscle) Anchoring

A living system, we do not mechanically breathe; rather, we are breathed. Like a vacuum that, when unencumbered, fills with air, we do not need to make ourselves inhale because as a living organism we are breathed. Unconsciously

It is important to know that the CRP is a safe position and therefore what emerges is not in response to the position but is energy stored in the memory of the tissue. Knowing that nothing in this moment is causing one to feel angry, fearful, or sad helps to distinguish and understand that these feelings, thoughts, and images are conditioning and t

When the pelvis is not balanced and good skeletal positioning is ignored, a seated or standing hamstring stretch, for example, does not activate the hamstrings but engages the iliacus and gluteus maximus muscles, which in turn pull on the SI joint ligaments.

Most of what is called aging might be more accurately understood as a process of drying. The juicy, plump psoas, through time, lack of movement, and lack of support, dries and shrinks. As the psoas dries, it begins to shorten. The image of a bent-over elderly person represents the dry, shrunken psoas. When understood from this perspective, the idea

No other species limits its movement of expression or exercise to one muscle group. No mammal except for the human performs abdominal crunches. All life moves, unless compromised and injured, with integrity and full expression.

Anchoring, including pinning the navel to the spine and tucking the pelvis, loses not only the visceral sense of volume, but also jeopardizes the responsive spine under the vise of control. In contrast, sensing the distribution of weight as it passes through the tensegrity of bones and buoyancy of tissue keeps the core released and supple.