First product release: Cloud Pillow and 2kg Indian Clubs (Pair)

As announced previously, we will now be distributing a small range of health and fitness products.  All items have been used and tested by us, and since we have found benefits from their use we would also like to share them with others.  This has mainly come about due to requests from clients and friends enquiring about recommendations and tools/aids to help them with their own health and fitness. 

 

The first product in  the range will be metallic Indian style clubs for shoulder strength and mobility.  I am a big fan of clubs for shoulder mobility, strengthening and coordination.  They are great for training the entire shoulder girdle for prehab/rehab and are ideal for overhead athletes and martial artists.  The rhythmic nature of club swinging aids with blood circulation, relaxation and sleep as well.  We will only offer the lighter weights to begin with, starting with a pair of 2kg clubs for $50.

The second product we will be bringing in is a postural sleeping pillow to encourage proper spine and neck positioning.  I’ve tried many pillows in the past but despite their claims and price tags have not found one that I would recommend.  Now I have.  Simple, yet effective.  I’ve had this full size pillow a little while now and find it very comfortable as well as offering different positions for your body depending on your current situation (just look at the shape of it)  Again, we will only bring in the entry level model to begin with.  $45 for a postural sleeping pillow which I have dubbed the ‘Cloud Pillow’.

Prices are for the products only and do NOT include postage and handling. 

Please contact us via email: dominic AT alignbreatheconnect DOT com to place an order.

 

We are in the process of finalising two other postural/alignment products that we are still trialling so check back for more information.

Just scratching the surface

It’s interesting watching beginners new to a craft/art wanting to learn it all and thinking if they only work ‘really really hard’ it will happen in x years/time.  Meanwhile the experts who have been practicing their craft for at least twenty years watch on bemused, knowing that they themselves are only scratching the surface after twenty years and are still just beginners. 

 

I’m preparing material for teaching which has lead me to this pondering. 

I always think of this great quote which sums it up:

“After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.”

― Nelson Mandela

 

The path of learning is long but rewarding and it requires determination and perseverance.  You must walk it not knowing how deep it runs but trusting their is more if only you look and wish to go further.  That may explain why your teacher or your teacher’s teacher has been practising for 40 years, or even 60 years or even longer, and still they are learning more and developing as an artist.  You may not see it whether it is alignment, breathing or connection because your ‘eyes’ are not developed enough to see.  If you are a student then you are a teacher.  If you are a teacher then you are also a student.

More reasons to walk more

The BBC’s take on purposeless walking.

For space

For inspiration

For creativity

For patience.

Among other things

 

And Stanford University agrees.

 

Exciting products coming

Through my own practice as well as working with clients I’m finding that a little reminder here and there can be invaluable in finding and restoring our alignments.  So it is with great pleasure to announce that I will soon be distributing  a few simple, affordable but powerfully effective postural aids within Australia.  Check this space for details.

The breath as a mirror

“Those who live well are clear and open, calm and serene, with minimal selfishness and few desires.”

So now that we’ve started to pay more attention to how we breathe, let us consider how it can serve as a mirror. 

The emotional and psychological aspects of a person are often reflected in their breath.  Notice what happens to your breath when you are excited.  What about when you are angry? Frustrated? Anxious? 

What about your everyday breath?  Perhaps your body is telling you something.  Only a very small percentage of human communication is verbal so you may well be telling yourself and others something that you do not even know you are broadcasting.  Tune in to your body, your breath and let the healing begin.

The breath can serve as a powerful tool for you to begin to see what is really happening in your life. 

Remember, the breath should be as above: clear and open, calm and serene.  Which can only be achieved if the real you is clear and open, calm and serene. 

The breath is a mirror.

What is yours telling you?

Patient & perpetual practice

I’ve been turning my attention to breath work lately.  It’s the most overlooked, yet most powerful component of my work.

It seems that it is just too subtle for most people to understand and practice.  Just because you can breathe doesn’t mean you are doing it efficiently or sufficiently for health and wellbeing.  Survival maybe, wellbeing maybe not.

I could be wrong but if your back, belly and rib cage do not move together when you breathe then the good news is that you have room for improvement.

The first step is just to be aware of where your breath goes, what it feels like physically and emotionally.  Only from awareness can change occur.  Awareness before change.

 

The other thing with breath work is it can take some people a looong time to pick up because it is just so subtle.  Hence the need for patience.  And yet you can practice every breath of every day.  Perpetual practice.

 

But first you have to develop awareness.  How you breathe, where you breathe, how it affects you.  So pay attention for just a few minutes each and start to heal yourself.

You start with your foundation

Doing a little well is better than doing a lot poorly.

“The time you devote to building a strong foundation will enable you to take giant leaps in the future while many others are heading back to the starting line to fill in the gaps. Practice of the basics will naturally evolve into intermediate training.”

Continued practice will lead to even higher levels.

But it all begins with a strong foundation.

I always use the pyramid analogy.  Which is the most important block?  The first one, because everything else rests on top of that.

 

Align Breathe Connect.

Embody your practice

“The nature of your questions will change as you put in the time doing repetitions of the technique. You’re only asking because you haven’t put in the time to practice your repetitions. If you put in the time, not only will your questions be answered by your practice but it will also change the very nature of your question.”

 

Stop thinking with your mind and feel it in your bones.

ABC – Adventurous Brave Creative

Today I had an unexpected day off. So I took that time to reconnect given the rather busy schedule I’ve had the last little while.

Besides my practice I watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.  And that is where the title of this post comes from.

Adventurous Brave Creative. ABC.

 

Adventure is going into the unknown.  Of facing your fears.  Adventure is not just seeing going into the Himalayas.  Or jumping out of a plane.  Adventure is really a start of mind.  Of doing something. Of going into the unknown.  The mountains within are much greater than the mountains without and exploring them are a lot more rewarding.  Think about how many people choose to tune out rather than tune in to their own bodies?  They choose to live their lives in their heads because often they are afraid of what they might find if they go looking in their bodies.  So they tune out.  I invite you to take this journey into your own body and reconnect with yourself and your life.  Be adventurous with yourself. Trust in yourself.

 

Be brave.  Have the courage to take the hardest step.  The first step.  It’s just like talking to that girl you’ve always liked.  Or quitting your job and chasing your dreams.  Have the courage to be who you want to be.  Havethe courage to face up to any pain, restrictions or blockages within your body. Have the courage to just allow yourself to feel into your body.  Often our psychological hangups manifest themselves within our bodies.  Tight body parts are often due to tightness in our psyches.  You can address one to address the other.  Read that again.

Yes, you can try to physically release your body but if you find the source, the mental blockage, and dissolve that then you may notice the body release too.  They are one.

 

Lastly we come to Being Creative.  It’s doing things differently.  Changing your point of view.  Changing your focus.  I invite you to try this with your next movement practice.  Don’t focus on the weight or the outcome but find a way around the obstruction rather than being caught by the perceived problem.  Think of the Gordian Knot.  Sometimes the best way to untie something is to cut through it with a sword.  Being creative can also be simply changing your habits.  If your habits have lead you somewhere that you may not be happy with then the best way is to address those habits.  Can’t expect the same action to lead to different outcomes right?  And yet that is what most people do.  So face your habits and try a different approach to life.

 

Are we starting to see that training and the ABC method is more than about the physical body?  Training is a microcosm, a laboratory, a distilled and simplified version of your whole life.  When people come to me asking for more physical strength sometimes it’s really inner strength that they want.  When they come to me with fatigue or lack of energy, it’s really reconnection and grounding that they are after.

 

ABC. Adventurous Brave Creative.

 

The many facets of connection

I was challenged today to come up with my understanding of connection.  And I realized Connection can be many different things.  Of course there can also be DISconnection when these conditions no longer exist.

 

First there is the connection between different parts of the body.  We want to be connected when we move.  For example, when we squat we don’t want to raise the head first or the bum first but everything together.  When we walk we want the foot to be connected to the calf to the thigh.  That is the explicit connection I think of due to my background but there are also other forms of connection.

 

Connection can also be within our bodies, what some call mind-body connection.  This is also the biggest disconnect I see.  Our reliance on our eyes and visual system (think the proliferation of the internet and television and watching sport etc) encourages us to experience with our eyes alone but what about the other five senses (including the body sense, what people call proprioception)?  This is why when I ask someone where the sensation is they cannot tell me.  Because they have already lost touch with their own bodies.  Things like academics and books encourage us to live in our heads but remember the video I posted earlier on ‘Why do we have a brain?’.  Well we need to stop living in our heads and ignoring the rest of ourselves.  A big disconnect occurs here with the ‘no pain no gain’ crowd.  Pain is a signal from your body that something is not quite right and should be heeded.  Pain is not, as some describe, weakness leaving your body.  These folk need to see a strongman who said that they should pay him $1000 and he would hit them over the head with a baseball bat.  Win win then right?

This disconnect with our own bodies is also seen in emotional and binge eating when we eat because we are bored, we are sad, lonely, etc.  The eating is an outlet not for sustenance but which serves a different purpose.  A purpose that we are not meeting in our lives.

 

There is also connection between our paths and who we really are.   When we follow our hearts we are probably tuning in and connecting with our real selves, the centre of our being.  But when we let societal or other pressures dictate our lives then disconnect occurs.  Like artists who are coerced one way or other into being scientists.  Or athletes who feel they have to be business people.  Teachers who become lawyers or accountants because that is what they feel they should do rather than what they necessarily want to do.

 

Connection can also be between ourselves and the task at hand.  Disconnect is when we try to do ‘two things at once’.  When we eat in front of our devices be it tv, tablet, smartphone, computer, or even when we are too busy talking to someone else to truly taste our food then we are only eating the menu.  When we go through the motions and tune out then we are also disconnecting with the task at hand.  If you are ‘meditating’ but only running through your day in your head then you are also disconnected.

 

Connection can be between ourselves and the environment.  Drive anywhere and you can see people crossing the road whilst so immersed in their phone communications that if it were not for the aware driver, then they would have been run over.  They are not aware of their surroundings, a big problem in the martial world.

 

Connection can be between ourselves and another. When we find something in common or share something with someone else then we are connecting.  But when we lose touch with someone or consciously shut them out then we are disconnecting.

 

Connection can also be to time, to the moment.  Paying attention to what is really happening in and around us.  Many people are afraid to be alone or by themselves and get bored easily.  That is only because they are not paying attention.  So many things are going on.  If only they could see with more than their eyes.  Learn to be rather than just to do.  We are human BEings after all.

 

Lastly, connection can also be awareness.  Connecting with any and all of the situations above, awareness of ourselves, our bodies, our surroundings, etc.

Connection as awareness.  This is probably the most powerful meaning of connection.  Especially if we want to change something.  If we want to get somewhere the most important thing to do is to first know where we are, yet too many people focus only on where they want to go.  You need both.

 

Awareness before change.

It’s as simple as ABC.