Listen to Founder Joseph Schwartz drop some wisdom as a guest on – The Movement Man – Stephen Braybrook’s Podcast “Movement Philosophy.” Listen here.
“In this episode I talk with Joseph Schwartz, the founder of Movement Mantra and the developer of The 5 Primary Kinetic Chains to find out how these chains influence movement and relate to emotions.”
Braybrook is a movement expert, author of The Evolution of Biomechanics, and creator of Brain-Move.
The limbic system is the master regulatory system of the body. Information is gathered from both the outer environment and the inner environment. That information, or inputs, are then collated and prioritized so that the process of homeostasis occurs on structural, physiological, and emotional levels.
The sensory apparatus of the body is under a constant input from the outer and inner environment. We are familiar with the five traditional senses: sight, sound, smell, taste,and touch. There are also an array of non-traditional senses. Our kinesthetic sense is one of these. Our balance sense, relationship to gravity, and proprioception are components of our kinesthetic sense.
There is an array of sensory inputs to which we are registering and responding. They can be categorized as tangible and non-tangible. The tangible senses would be our response to the five traditional senses and the kinesthetic senses. What about electromagnetic fields, barometric pressure, spectrums of light, wave lengths of sound, or cosmic energy? These are measurable influences even if we cannot consciously quantify them in our experience. Our subconscious mind is sure to have the capacity to respond to these inputs. Many people are sensitive to these influences. I get headaches when I travel next to big overhead wires and I can sense the weather changing in my joints a week before the event occurs. When I wear special colored glasses my brain function integration improves, and so forth. These are just a few examples of tangible sensory inputs. There is a vast array of non-tangible as well.
If we look at the image of the iceberg, about 25% is above water and 75% is below. The 25% is the tangible realm, that which we can quantifiably create context. The other 75% is where it gets really interesting. This is the mystery. This is the realm to which some people have access. This information is often regarded as psychic senses or the paranormal; for most of us, it is our intuition. These inputs are unknowingly affecting us 24/7.
It is in the non-tangible that limbic resonance resides. Empathy comes to mind as I think of a non-tangible. There is a connection to the earth, the plant and mineral kingdom, another living being, a fellow human being, and so forth. Resonance is vibration. The harmonics are able to mesh and respond to each other. How many times have we heard “I had chemistry with that person.” This is limbic resonance.
In the therapeutic context, it’s a matching of vibration. The intention of the practitioner is clear, connected, and confident while remaining neutral, receptive, and present. It is a wonderful example of mindfulness. When we have limbic resonance with our clients, vistas of new possibilities can present themselves. We are out of the technical application of our craft and engaged in the inquisitive creative side of our consciousness. This does not take away from technical capacity. Limbic resonance is complementary.
Today I’m sharing a recent conversation between a colleague and I regarding limbic versus cognitive behavior that I hope brings you some food for thought:
Some people find the holidays a stressful time of the year. Stress correlates to an up-regulated sympathetic nervous system. We often hear “take a deep breath” as an easy way to regulate.
Let’s reframe this slightly. To take a deep breath requires being in action. With an up-regulated sympathetic nervous system, we are already doing too much. Instead, let’s be the observer.
Imagine that that the breath is like a glass of water. When you fill a glass with water, the water fills from the bottom to the top. Conversely, when you empty the glass, the water empties from the top to the bottom. As you observe your breath, feel the inhalation expanding the belly, the lower ribs, then the upper ribs and clavicle. And as the exhalation happens, watch the breath descend in the reverse order.
Being the observer allows you to tune into the sensation rather than focus on accomplishing something. This subtle reframe has a profound effect on your experience in that moment. We can’t think our way out of a sympathetic nervous system response, however we can feel our way through as we navigate sensations.
Amy Maynard Buckles: “Being the observer allows you to tune into the sensation rather than focus on accomplishing something.” Love that! Why can’t we think our way out of a sympathetic nervous system response?
There is a long version and a short version to that question.
The short version is related to the mechanism of information gathered by the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). The limbic inputs, the sensory apparatus of the body, the five-traditional and the non-traditional senses communicate with the ANS. That information is collated and prioritized based on past experiences: our associations and hard-wired reflexives. The most relevant way that we can affect our ANS is through the sensory input of the limbic channels. This points to why breath work, aromatherapy, and the five tastes are such powerful tools that we can utilize to make change in the response to our environment.
Personally, I am most interested in the non-traditional senses. The information we take in from our environment, such as electromagnetic fields, barometric pressure, bioelectric energy, and so forth. There are unknown realms of information that we are experiencing and collating at an unconscious level. This spectrum of perception I find fascinating.
The tip of the iceberg analogy also works well here. Twenty-five percent of information is perceived consciously, while 75% of information largely goes unperceived by our consciousness. That is huge.
Buckles: Great explanation and info to share! I am curious as to your thoughts on how much of our conscious thoughts, with practice, could change the ANS response. Like in a panic attack for example. I understand that while focusing on breath, we are out of our heads and more into our body awareness. Which, would activate the PNS. To me, that’s not thinking. However, if we gain information about our environment, our safety, and other sources of input and responses…then we can consciously choose to think differently. Hopefully not only to prevent ANS distress, but also reverse or stop it.
“consciously choose to think differently”
That is a key to cognitive thought process.
Here is the big challenge to overcome: thought is chemistry. The Law of Adaptation says that the body adapts to its environment regardless of outcome.
Emotions are a specific cocktail of chemistry. We get better, more efficient at making the “cocktails” of our predisposition. Those chemicals require receptor sites to plug into. Over time we end up making more of that unique composition of chemistry to fill the receptor sites. Through adaptation, we become addicted to thought. Overcoming that requires conscious effort.
If our predisposition is to respond to a situation in a familiar way, reproducing those feelings becomes easier each time we have them. You can see this in people that have “knee jerk reactions” — these folks are quick to produce the chemical signature they are familiar with.
Some people have the disposition to do that kind of work on a cognitive level; change your thoughts and change your behavior. Others need stimulus from the other part of the brain, the limbic center. These are the people that do better at maintaining attention on sensation.
There is a loop in the brain and how we process our environment:
Limbic—>Association—>Cognitive
Sensory—>past or projection of future—>Ego or survival
Our ability to interpret the information of our sensory apparatus, and reframe from a place of being hijacked by associations that are interpreted by the ego, define our ability to cope.
The Functional Compass logo represents the potential of joint movement, articulation, and integration.
The directions of the compass, cardinal and ordinal, are movements that happen across sagittal, frontal, and transverse planes.
Next we have movements that rotate around a plane. These movements have a fulcrum or a midpoint in which the body’s orientation defines the movement. In aeronautics, the terms pitch, roll, and yaw neatly describe movement around a plane.
Pitch is related to the sagittal plane. Forward bends, back bends, and shoulder bridges are examples of the body having a fulcrum allowing movement around the sagittal plane.
Roll is related to the frontal, or coronal plane. Lateral flexion of the neck or side bending are examples of roll. Gate Pose in yoga asana is a favorite posture that uses roll as a means of getting deep into lumbar lateral flexion.
Yaw is related to the transverse plane. The rotary action of turning the head side to side and twists are good examples of yaw. The rotary action of the thoracolumbar fascia is a key component to the walking gait. Without the action of storing and releasing elastic energy through the thoracolumbar fascia, the musculature would be overworked.
When we move, the body doesn’t isolate a muscle or a specific plane of motion. The body integrates across multiple fascial structures, bones, joints and muscles. These integrations create spirals in the body as we move through and around multiple planes at once.
When I look at movement, I ask myself several questions. What do I notice is happening in the body? Who is engaged and is overworked? Who is not engaged and is underworked? Then through investigation, I discern what the structure needs to reengage the players that are disengaged. The Functional Compass provides a road map for that process.
All movement leads to adaptation creating compensation.
The law of adaptation: The organism adapts to its environment regardless of outcome. The nervous system does not differentiate whether an adaptation is beneficial or not.
I have seen several clients over the years, seasoned yoga practitioners, that had a similar root problem with different outcomes. The problem was a recruitment pattern with the toes. The instruction to “floint” the foot is to flex the toes while pointing the forefoot. This is also known as “Barbie Feet.”
Compensation in the toes creates global compensation patterns. These patterns occur along front and back kinetic chains. Kinetic chains can be understood as muscles that link together to create integration. When one muscle becomes inhibited, the chain is broken. This results in some muscles that are overworked, and others that are underworked. When the toe flexors become dominate, two different patterns can emerge.
Patterns of inhibition along the same kinetic chain as the toe flexors, along the front of the body are known as synergists. One client had pain just below her hip joint in the front of her thigh. The hip flexors were inhibited by her toe flexors. Every step she took exasperated the problem. Another client had pain in the back of her thigh. She had patterns of inhibition along the back of the body. This pattern is the functional opposite to the toe flexors.
There are other groups of people that have kinetic chain imbalances due to toe flexor dominance. People that wear high heels and/or flip flops are also high risk.
Whatever activity we regularly do, will unknowingly create undesirable movement patterns. Fortunately, undesirable patterns are learned behavior. Thus, they can be unlearned and replaced by a more desirable pattern.