Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/329694
I t p a y s t o b e A B M P C e r t i f i e d : w w w. a b m p . c o m / g o / c e r t i f i e d c e n t r a l 49 Bend with arms reaching. Sit as before, and begin to bend while reaching your hands out on your table, as if working with a client (Image 2). Again, be sure to start bending from your hip joints; keep your back in a neutral position. Make slow and small movements, and make sure you are truly bending from your hip joints and not your back. Feel lower body support. Sit as before, bending and reaching forward from your hip joints. Bring your awareness to your legs and feet. Do you sense the weight increasing in your feet as you bend forward? Continue to bend from your hip joints, feeling how your legs and feet can help support your weight and your forward movement. Now, just for comparison, bend and reach forward, but this time bend from your back (Image 3). Notice how your body responds to this kind of bending. Do you feel more effort in your back? In your neck and shoulders? Do you feel a restriction of movement in your arms? How does bending from your back influence your breathing? Now, return to bending and reaching forward from your hip joints. Do you sense less effort in your back? In your neck and shoulders? Do you feel more freedom of movement in your arms? How does bending from your hip joints influence your breathing? Bend while turning. Bend again from your hip joints and begin to reach your hands toward the right side of your table (Image 4). As you bend to the right, your left foot can help assist the movement by pressing into the floor, directing your movement to the right. Do you feel your weight shift a bit to your right side? Now, reach toward the left side of your table, bending from your hip joints. As you bend to the left, your right foot can help assist the movement by pressing into the floor, directing your movement to the left. Do you feel your weight shift to your left side? Begin to alternate, reaching toward one side of your table and then toward the other side. Continue to make these movements until they feel comfortable to you. Practicing these simple but effective movement lessons will not only help in situations where you need relief from standing, but will also increase your overall bending awareness when working and in everyday life. Barb Frye has been a massage educator and therapist since 1990. She coordinated IBM's body mechanics program and authored Body Mechanics for Manual Therapists: A Functional Approach to Self-Care (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2010), now in its third edition. She has a massage and Feldenkrais practice at the Pluspunkt Center for Therapy and Advanced Studies near Zurich, Switzerland. Contact her at barbfrye@hotmail.com. 3 4 2 BODY AWARENESS