GARY WARD S WAKE YOUR BODY UP SERIES

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GARY WARD S WAKE YOUR BODY UP SERIES The majority of people who come to work with me say the same thing: Nobody has been able to help me to which I always

1 GARY WARD S WAKE YOUR BODY UP SERIES The majority of people who come to work with me say the same thing: Nobody has been able to help me to which I always respond Then it s a good thing you can help yourself I don t fix people - I help people to fix themselves This video series video will begin that process for you

2 MODULE ONE AND MODULE TWO ARE DESIGNED TO BE CARRIED OUT IN THIS ORDER MODULE ONE is your self-assessment and initial wake your body up programme MODULE TWO is where you get to build on the base foundations. Follow the rules Avoid being the person who needs to run ahead and take a short cut we find that in the therapy world, that generally doesn t end well for the user

3 INTRODUCTION Hello and welcome to Gary Ward s Wake Your Body Up Series. It will become a series of videos aimed at helping you 1) understand your body better and 2) learn to move your body better in fact, not just better but also in an appropriate way to encourage an environment for healing. I believe that your body has all the tools it needs to heal itself. Let s briefly look at this word healing. Healing is defined as: the process of making or becoming sound or healthy again We love the idea of healing and yet what we seem to lack is a process to do so. Healing is also not a magic word. What if we cannot heal because something is in the way? What if we cannot heal because of a pattern we learnt a long time ago? What if in order to heal we have to remove the blockages and change our patterns? I am of course talking about movement patterns. Patterns you have adopted throughout your life to overcome the challenges you have been presented with presented your body with over the years. Your own potential for movement is limited by the movement patterns you access unconsciously on a daily basis. What I mean by that is, that the way you walk is the way you walk, it doesn t change - It is a habit. The way you walk is determined by the motion available in each and every joint. Did you know that in a single footstep every single possible joint motion available to us in the human body should take place. That s an astounding amount of movement and is normally a shock for people to hear and difficult to digest. Allow me to put it another way. If you can not freely and cleanly access all joint motions available to you, in your own body, then the way you walk will be compromised. Your posture will be compromised and it is likely that the postural distortion you have unconsciously adopted could contribute to your pain and discomfort and repeating injuries. In our modern world we are subjected to treatment of the problem rather than investigating (and treating) the cause. If your problem exists because of the movement habits you have adopted through your life, and you changed your movement habits because of an injury (for example), then even if that injury doesn t hurt today it may well be a trigger for your current discomforts, pain and or repeating injuries. Over time, you can overcome unconscious movement limitations by reintroducing these challenging movements. First we have to discover what those challenging movements are. Second we try and work out if they are connected to an old injury in any way and third we access a few processes to restore the movements that we unconsciously avoid. The more we do that, the more likely we are to restore our original and intended movement patterns for life. It s a process that takes time, patience and commitment from you as you enrol in taking ownership of your own body. Ultimately only you can fix yourself; we recognise this happens through a process of reawakening your movement potential by connecting your body to your brain Your therapist is there to shine a light on the dark spaces that you do not know you do not know about! This video series is designed to do just that. This document also has assessment sheets and supporting literature for your investigation into your body s movement patterns Good luck Gary Ward

4 FLOW A natural order of the whole body s movement patterns. Flow is achieved when there is zero restriction to joint motion anywhere in the body. Improved Flow occurs as the number of restrictions to the body s movement patterns are reduced EFFICIENCY The ease with which movements are attained. An efficient system moves without effort EFFORTLESS Effortless movements are efficient. Effortful movements are inefficient. Joint motion limitations create an effortful environment for the body to operate in. ENERGY CONSERVATION The amount of effort used in your movement is directly proportional to how easy it is to move your joints freely. Limitations in joint motion increase energy consumed to achieve minimal motion. Freedom of joint motion reduces energy consumed to achieve minimal motion REORGANISATION Reorganisation occurs as your brain learns to access new movements it previously had lost or strategically chose not to access (due to say a previous injury) SAFETY In order to achieve a movement, the brain must feel safe in carrying it out. Feeling unsafe around a movement, the body will unconsciously avoid it and may have made strategic changes to feel safe again. Old injuries can still carry an unease about them, rendering certain pain free movements inaccessible AWARENESS You do not know what you do not know. So you simply always do what you do know. You move in a way that feels safe and that you are aware of. There are movements in your body and your life that you do not know you can not do. By becoming aware of these movements over time naturally begins to reintroduce overall joint potential and with that reorganise your whole structure YOUR GOAL Become aware of forgotten movements, have them feel safe to engage in so as to create an environment for the body to reorganise it s stance posture and walking posture, thus enhancing energy conservation in the system so it may become more efficient and access a state of flow

5 LET S GET STARTED There are two parts to this Wake Your Body UP series. Part one is the critical self-assessment process and basic introductions to movement. Part Two is how we build on this base foundation of movement by integrating the whole body further. It is my advice that Part One is regularly accessed to ensure that you slowly overcome the joint motions that you struggle to access. Over a period of a week or a month, you will either improve how you access these movements, or you will become really clear on the movements you struggle to access, while tidying other movements up. We call this process a check in. My invitation to you is to check in with your body on a regular basis so that YOU know what is going on inside of it. How many times have you been to a therapist and they assessed how every part of you moves? Never? That s right. It is not the done thing however, now, in this process you have a chance to do this for yourself. Right now, in your body, there are movements you cannot do. By accessing those movements on a regular basis, your brain will learn to access them again and begin to freely use them in your daily movement patterns. Repetition in a considered and organised way as presented in this series, will promote the re-learning of these movements. However some movements will improve some will not: it is these movements that should gradually draw your attention as being a potential problem in your body. That s when you can take them to a therapist and explain your current situation. SOME MOVEMENTS WILL IMPROVE SOME WILL NOT: IT IS THESE MOVEMENTS THAT SHOULD GRADUALLY DRAW YOUR ATTENTION AS BEING A POTENTIAL PROBLEM IN YOUR BODY.

6 INJURY HISTORY YOU ARE, TODAY, THE SUM OF ALL PHYSICAL EXPERIENCES WHICH HAVE TAKEN PLACE IN YOUR EVERY DAY LIFE First thing to do is reflect on the incidents in your life that may have had an impact on your body and which may be contributing to your current problems. Old injuries don t hurt, and thus rarely are they considered in the treatment space. We all want what hurts to be treated right? But what if what hurts is not the problem? A.T. Still, the founder of Osteopathy described all of these incidents as insults to your body. When you bump something or damage something significantly, your body adapts to accommodate it by altering it s structure. That new structure often fails to return to normal, even though the pain has subsequently gone away. Sometimes these insults live long in the body and a sprained ankle, for instance, that no longer hurts may need treatment today; it may need being taught to move well again so that the whole body can move well with it and take the stresses out of the body which only exist because of the body s previous adaptations So we should pay attention to these things, and start with writing them down. Write down what you did, what side of the body you did it to and when you did it. If you were to put them on a timeline, youngest to most recent, you could reflect on the EARLIEST insults to your body and also the most IMPACTFUL (or biggest) insults to your body. Some of the moments you find you struggle to do, may have more to do with these old insults then your current discomfort. Some may also be to do with your current discomfort. Regardless, by following a movement process such as this, where the intention is to reorganise your whole structure through movement, you will most likely find that eventually, this old stuff begins to show itself and require treatment. After all, we do want to eliminate as many blockages in the way that prevent us from healing from the inside out. Let s write down all of the things you have done to yourself and be considerate of what side of the body it happened on and when. We can they pay attention to the earliest things, the most impactful thing and definitely worth considering what hasn t been treated or considered in your current therapeutic processes.

7 INJURY HISTORY FEET & ANKLES LEFT RIGHT WHAT? KNEES HIPS PELVIS SPINE RIBCAGE SHOULDERS NECK SKULL

8 ASSESSMENT AND SELF-OSBERVATION I advise in the video that you document EVERYTHING. This is so that you can take note of, see and feel where your physical body is currently in three dimensional space and can look back and compare to where you will be in the future. If it changes and you choose not to document it now, you may not notice the subtle adjustments that can take place. POSTURE This tells us where we are NOW in three dimensional space JOINT MOTION This tells us what movements we can and cannot achieve within our current posture Take a moment to note the pains and discomforts in your body, note how big the area is, give it a number for yourself out of 10. Some people tell us they are still in pain, but as we enquire more closely we discover that the area that covered the whole back has reduced to the size of a golf ball this is change, positive change and should be celebrated! Be honest about where you are now and diligently follow the process in the videos take note of the information about patience, commitment and the time factor as you take ownership of your own body. Follow this process daily and over the days, weeks months, perhaps you notice it change as you look back over your sheets? LEFT RIGHT

9 FOOT PRESSURES Use this assessment sheet to determine where your foot pressures are today. Print several off and I highly recommend tracking the changes in your foot pressure, like a daily diary, every day as you work through this programme. As your foot pressures change so must your overall posture and as your feet enhance their movement potential, so must the flow in your body improve. We will soon have a Wake Your Feet UP video as well, let s the get the rest of your body AWAKE so we can get the best out of that one too Your foot pressures can help us determine your resting postural stance. Observing changes in your foot pressures is synonymous to observing postural and structural change. Follow the guidance in the video - As a reminder: Check the weight distribution between your left and right foot Check the weight distribution between the your heels and your forefeet Check to see if you have more pressure in one forefoot and the opposite heel or vice versa Note: You may find this challenging some people find it easier to mark where the pressure IS NOT. If this is you, then we will simply look to putting pressure back in the spaces where you cannot feel it.

10 POSTURE Use this assessment sheet to mark down your resting stance posture. Follow the guidance in the video to determine what you think is going on. If you are unsure, no need to make it up. Mark down what you know is happening. Also go with your gut, the more you think about it the more confusing it can be, so look at it once and right down your first thought. If it s not clear now, as we move through the process it is likely to change, and things will slowly become more clear. Again, it s another good idea to check in every day and keep a diary of your postures. Again the segments in your posture that stay the same and simply refuse to change should begin to draw your attention even if that segment does not cause you discomfort (and in particular if it has an old injury attached to it or in the proximity).

11 POSTURAL ASSESSMENT STRUCTURE FEET STRUCTURE PELVIS STRUCTURE RIBCAGE STRUCTURE SKULL STRUCTURE SHOULDER POSTURE Lower arched on left Lower arched on right Turned out more on left Turned out more on right POSTURE Anterior Tilt (forwards) Posterior Tilt (backwards) Hike on Left Hike on Right Shifted to Left Shifted to Right Rotated to Left Rotated to Right POSTURE Anterior Tilt (forwards) Posterior Tilt (backwards) Sidebend Left Sidebend Right Rotated to Left Rotated to Right POSTURE Anterior Tilt (forwards) Posterior Tilt (backwards) Sidebend Left Sidebend Right Rotated to Left Rotated to Right POSTURE High on left High on right

12 JOINT MOTION ASSESSMENT Use this assessment to record how easy you find it to access the joint motions I take you through on the video. Take note of the range of movement is it equal left to right? Take note of the quality of movement is it smooth and easy or juddery and challenging? Take note of any discomfort is it uncomfortable in one direction compared to the other? You can mark with a tick the movements you do well if you like. Personally and for the purpose of reorganising our whole body s structure, we really want to know what it is that you cannot do! So with that in mind I suggest marking with a cross, all the things that you cannot do. Own it. Be honest. Let s get to the heart of the matter. If you cannot do it cleanly or as good to one side as the other, or without discomfort then mark it as X. We would like to see a reduction in X as we go through the process. The X s that do not improve will gradually draw your attention along with the foot pressures that stay the same and the postural segments that also do not change. JOINT MOTION JOINT MOTION JOINT MOTION STRUCTURE: PELVIS Anterior Tilt (forwards) Posterior Tilt (backwards) Hike up on left & Drop on right Hike up on right & Drop on left Shift to left Shift to right Rotation to Left Rotation to Right STRUCTURE: RIBCAGE Anterior Tilt (forwards) Posterior Tilt (backwards) Side bend to left Side bend to right Rotation to Left Rotation to Right STRUCTURE: SKULL Anterior Tilt (forwards) Posterior Tilt (backwards) Side bend to left Side bend to right Rotation to Left Rotation to Right

13 FURTHER READING AND SUPPORT FIRSTLY YOUR COMFORT ZONE: Your comfort zone is the zone in which you are comfortable moving within or are able to move into without challenge. Most people attempt these movements inside their comfort zone rather than outside of their comfort zone. I would like you, on each movement, to visualize an invisible line, a line inside of which you are happy with the movement. To achieve greater success with the movements, I invite you to imagine moving just enough to get over that invisible line, to get outside of your comfort zone it s a space where you don t normally go, it s a space of learning for the brain and a space of opportunity for the joints and surrounding tissues. I m not asking you to go crazy outside of your comfort zone but just to keep pushing that invisible boundary, bit by bit, further and further away until you feel that the journey from one side of the movement to the other becomes equal, free and easy. Movement efficiency is a simple matter of finding the balance. When all of your structures can move freely and equally in both directions in each of the three dimensions of movement highlighted on the video, your body will naturally be moving back towards this balanced state. This is where a lot of the top layer problems I mentioned in the last can begin to resolve and may well begin to expose the real issue that you have been covering up for years. SECONDLY - CHECK IN AGAIN AND AGAIN : One simple movement exploration can be enough to change the original movements. So go through the process again, what changed? What stayed the same? Did you write it down? It s useful information for you and any practitioner you work with So: a. recognise where the edge of your comfort zone is b. begin to venture outside it c. access both ranges in a movement in such a way d. see what happens TREAT THE CAUSE NOT THE PROBLEM Imagine a world where you no longer went to your therapist and said I have constant back pain, please treat it. Instead you were actually in a position to say: My back hurts but I notice that I struggle to move this structure (say pelvis) in this motion (say to the right). Would it be possible to investigate that for me? At AiM, we never treat the problem, we observe the posture and the movement potential of the patient (which is what you are doing with the video), before prescribing a set of movements that restore the lost movement patterns (which is also what you are doing if you are following the video) then we sit back and observe to see what s changed, what s improved and what hasn t? We continue like this until the body has found centre this can take one session, or it can take months.

14 DO I NEED A THERAPIST? There are AiM trained therapists, but we do not train AiM as a single piece of therapeutic architecture that transcends all others; in fact we aim to give the knowledge and insight we can learn as a therapist a home. IN this way we can help the foot specialist and the hip specialist speak to each other and make sense of each others work Our trained AiM students may not wholeheartedly use AiM, it s true that many find it a challenge to implement and many prefer other modalities or ways of thinking. So please do your checks in advance of seeing an AiM practitioner to check that they will in fact be observing you in an AiM way. As you go through this programme, become aware of what it is that you can and can not achieve in your movements. Become aware of your foot pressures. Become aware of your posture. There is no need to try and change any of this, moreover we aim to influence it to change by having your brain (nervous system) experience all of the possible joint motions available in the body. As you do this, stuff in your body (muscles and joints type stuff) will begin to reorganise. As alluded to earlier, some things may be unwilling to change these I often refer to as true handbrakes in your system. If this correlates with an old injury or you simply experience raw movement limitations there, perhaps this is the thing to go and see your therapist about? I am sure he she will be more than happy to see if they can help you get that part of your body moving again. After that, it s back to the videos to re-assess what changes globally and to re-integrate this new movement back into your whole body, having all of the joints move together and simultaneously the ultimate experience for your brain and body. HOW DOES IT ACTUALLY WORK? To put it simply, rather than focus on the problem you are experiencing, what if we just focus on putting back the parts that don t work. Re-engaging in all those much-needed movements that have gone AWOL over the years? If you can t see the screen on a remote control, there is no point changing the led bulbs if the battery is missing. This video has you focus on what s missing and how to experience those movements again in a way that speaks highly to your brain so you may adopt them freely in your everyday movement patterns. SO IT WORKS LIKE THIS: Some people cannot rotate their pelvis to the left because they are already rotated to the left in the pelvis and some cannot rotate their pelvis to the left because their pelvis is rotated to the right! Some people cannot bend their spine to the left because they are already side bent to the left and some cannot bend their spine to the left because they are bent to the right! This means that all the muscles that are thought of as controlling a particular motion will be a combination of both LONG and SHORT around the joints. It also means that joints are either OPEN or CLOSED. Both open and closed or long and short can be problematic for the body.

By entering into the movements you cannot access, you encourage muscles to lengthen more, thus teaching them to react and shorten and bring the structure back towards balance.

15 By entering into the movements you cannot access, you encourage muscles to lengthen more, thus teaching them to react and shorten and bring the structure back towards balance. OR by entering into the opposite motions, you encourage muscles that were long to now shorten and vice versa the same outcome is of finding that balance. The magic happens, however, when you get to experience motion into both directions: when you give the joints every opportunity to both OPEN and CLOSE and for muscles to both LENGTHEN and SHORTEN. When you create this possibility in all three dimensions - as covered off in the video then you are truly working on either side of balance giving muscles and joints their best opportunity to do what they are designed to do; that is to move freely from one end range to another TIME, PATIENCE, COMMITMENT My final closing comment is to please remember that it may take time to unwind an ailing body, it may require help, it may require more than these videos and it may not. I am not about to guarantee life changing results, but I do recognise that for many that is a distinct possibility. The minimum I expect you to take away from this video series is an improved understanding of how you stand and the movements you can or cannot achieve. You may become aware how old injuries are simply plaguing you today (even though you thought they were dealt with). These subtle insights combined with integrated movement patterns, coupled with dedication to yourself, time for yourself and focus on restoring your own movement patterns in your own front room can make the difference today, tomorrow or in the future. Many thanks for taking ownership of your body Your body needs you GARY WARD Creator of Anatomy in Motion and the Flow Motion Model Gary Ward. Gary Ward PT Ltd. Anatomy in Motion. 2018

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