Body Works

I am not a mechanic. I will never be a mechanic. I do know how to drive a car and I do it on an annoyingly regular basis. I am a good driver too! I am still not a mechanic.

I have a car that I drive every day and I don't need to be a mechanic to do this. There are times when I take it in for an oil change and they find all kinds of other, expensive issues, that I might like to be a mechanic, but otherwise, I do not need to be a mechanic to drive my car.

However, I have discovered that the better I understand how my body works, the more successful I am when I ask for something from it. And, please note, I said "how MY body works". This is an important point. I happen to think that the human body is an amazing, beautiful machine capable of a delicious variety of executions, but I realize that not everyone may not feel so mesmerized by the subject. If it is YOUR body you wish to affect, then that becomes a different story.

You want to lose weight. You want to gain weight. You want to run a marathon. You want to swim 25 laps every day. You want to become an elite gymnast. You want to become a fit 40 year old woman. You want to remain a fit 47 year old woman. You want to become a more fit 52 year old man. You want to become a fit 35 year old man. You want to become Strong. You want to become Flexible. You want to become Agile. You want to become Stable. You want to become Mobile.

The more you know about YOUR body's way, the more power you have to reach your goals.

The Body's Way is our ideal. Open Gray's Anatomy and you'll see The Body's Way in visual. The Body's Way is the schematic. It tells us how we are put together and how we are to use our parts. The Body's Way shows us that we have muscles and joints so we're built to move. Sitting still for long periods has adverse effects on the way we feel (stiff, sore, fuzzy-headed, etc) so we should move often.

Going back to the mechanic. I have made it abundantly clear that I do not need to be a mechanic to operate my car, but it is to my advantage to understand how my body works in order to operate IT properly and achieve my goals. We are all generally built with the same stuff - give or take a male or a female! The really cool stuff is uncovering how WE do things our own way.

I know my body better than anyone!! I just have to be willing to listen.

POINT: After living, dancing, playing hockey, racquetball, soccer, volleyball and softball in my body with my particular disposition (I tend to be recklessly competitive) my body is no longer the ideal. I have muscle imbalances from many years of doing what came more easily. I have scar tissue from injuries and surgeries. I have premature wear and tear from a body that has been over-used and abused by careless useage. Emotional issues also leave their marks on how I move and how I use my body today.

All of that said, knowing this gives me the power to consciously heal in one particular area. That may mean waiting to begin something or going slow and being gentle. Knowing that my quads and glutes are strong, but my psoas is tight reminds me not to overdo the movements that my strong legs like.

This gives me the power to personalize. This gives you the power to personalize. The power to choose your goal and understand in a new way, how to realize that goal.