Creating Space in Your Body
You can do all the exercise you'd like, but if your body doesn't have space to utilize your efforts, you're likely wasting time, energy, and money while accumulating aches, pains, and frustration.
Many people don't realize that the reason they aren't getting the outcome they want when exercising isn't because they need to do more, but rather, they need to make more space in their body so that their muscles have the opportunity to participate.
Tightness steals function and creates blockages and weaknesses in your body, throwing function off the tracks.
No space to move = no space to move.
Or awkward movements in an effort to work with the space they have been given.
Stiffness also equals weakness. If you don’t use them, you lose them, and we have a lot of them and unfortunately, we only use some of them.
It’s the lack of space that causes aches and pains, injury in your body. When muscles don’t have the space to move, they atrophy and stiffen. They become tight and weak.
Those bits of stiffness can not only pull your bones out of alignment, but they also make it difficult to fully access all your parts, they aren’t able to “pull their weight”, creating compensations in your body.
A lot of your discomfort is rooted in tightness and weakness.
Once tightness and weakness are addressed, proper function, rhythm, and timing of muscles can be restored and discomfort eased.
It’s a seemingly simple concept, right?
Stretch more and bye-bye back pain! However the truth of the matter is, is it’s much more difficult to apply this concept of making space in real life. Perhaps another reason why many shy away from good old fashioned stretching.
We all know it’s important, yet we fail to incorporate and prioritize stretching, or making space, as I like to say, in our daily routines.
Nobody wants to stretch. Period. They just don’t.
We make time to be active, to meditate even, but not to stretch or create space.
It’s hard to make the time to sit in discomfort, because let’s be honest, stretching can be quite uncomfortable at times, not to mention, a little dry. And who wants to do that?
(Me! 😉 Once you feel the benefits you can’t turn back.)
And the stretching you learned as a kid, folding in half tugging your body towards your toes, which can be quite uncomfortable, isn’t what your body needs. In fact, stretching without awareness can often times make things worse. Like anything, there is a technique that must be learned.
For many, when they come see me at the studio, our time is spent first on making space. If clients do not have the space for the muscle to function, the muscle won’t be accessible to them.
Results will remain far off.
It’s like trying to dance in a small box, not fun. You need space to move your arms, to jump about, spin twirl, and leap! Not be confined. Your muscles are the same. They like their space, think about Dirty Dancing, “this is my dance space, this is yours.”
It’s amazing to see what happens when we create space, connect mind and body, and focus effort.
Results.
Strength can be built, function can be restored, but it all starts with making space, creating awareness, connecting mind and body, and then practice. Lot’s of practice creating new pathways of function, letting go of old, dysfunctional routes created by your body as an attempt to function despite key players being absent.
Our bodies are highly intelligent. They really try to make things happen for us despite not being given the tools they need.
This is why we fall out of alignment, loose function, have injuries, chronic pain, etc… it’s our bodies way of trying to “figure it out” on their own.
No support from the user. Or, misguided and misunderstood support.
When we do not address dysfunction in our bodies actively, our bodies will effort to do it regardless. And a lot of the time, regardless of their best efforts, this creates more problems.
Here is one example… when I was 12, I tore my meniscus. Since there was “no crying in gymnastics”, I did nothing to treat it for a year. But my poor little body had other plans. She wanted to repair what I was ignoring, and so she tried. Her effort resulted in a a cyst the size of a walnut in my knee where the tear was.
Safe to say, we should lend a hand when our body is talking to us.
(To read more about my journey in listening to my body, check out this post: Multiple Solutions.)
I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to get to know your body, how it works, what it needs, and so forth. Not only to hear what your body is saying, but understand how to support and address the issue. Even if that means you need outside assistance.
Nobody says to do it alone. Especially me.
I will always be a fan of help. I can’t even begin to count the number of people that have helped me achieve the level of relationship I have with my body today.
My body awareness is the result of a team effort. I am not a one-man-show.
All bodies are unique. All bodies require a slightly different routine. The steps aren’t always exactly the same and the order in which they are learned can vary.
What is the same, however, is the general pattern of the way we we live life. Sure, we all have different lives, but for the most part, we are pretty similar.
Most of us use the computer, cell phones, drive in cars, sleep in beds and with pillows, sit for long periods of time, stand for long periods of time… you get the picture. Throw in an active lifestyle, a laborious job, and raising small children.
We all have chronic repetitive movements. They may vary life to life, body to body, but the patterns I see remain.
The work lies in how we break those patterns and create new ones.
Your body is truly magnificent. It carries so much potential to heal if given the time, space, and support to do so.
So, the next time you feel like you aren’t seeing the physical results you want from working out, try making space instead. And if you don’t know how or don’t know what it means to truly make space, come see me if you’re in the area, or find a wonderful human that can help you do the same thing in your local area.
Taking 1:1 Iyengar sessions has been immensely helpful in my practice of making space.
Another fantastic way to help your body along in creating space is to compliment it with great body work or massage. The two together can yield amazing results. Why I love working with a manual physical therapist and a talented massage therapist. The manual tissue work is so very important and can’t be overlooked.
It’s a big part of what helped me realize that space is key.
I’m not a fan of adjustments and personally haven’t had a chiropractic adjustment in 7-8 years.
My body didn’t enjoy being jammed into to places. Especially with out learning what to do with the space once it was there or why the space was taken away in the first place.
Movement education is so important.
I firmly believe in taking your time with manual work, tissue work, body and movement education. Learning how to break your patterns in movement and create new ones.
It’s tempting to opt for a 15 minute appointment to get “snapped” back into place, but I implore you to look beyond that quick fix. There is no such thing.
When your body has the space and you are able to sustain that space because you’ve educated yourself with the right team of people, your body will adjust on its own. And the adjustment will likely stick much longer. And eventually, it will hold, or be pulled out of alignment less frequently.
On that note, buy a massage gun. I use mine daily. It’s the best investment I have made for myself. It’s not a gimmick or a trap, unless you buy it and leave it in the cabinet. Daily use, even weekly use of your massage gun will help so much.
Final bit of information in hopes to really seal the deal in inspiring active educated stretching or creating space, in your body.
If you have a problem with you low belly, activating those deep abs, it’s because you’re tight. Your abs don’t have the ability to function properly. And this is likely accompanied by a tight back, even if intermittent, amongst other tightnesses/weaknesses like your glutes and groins, to name a few.
In order to access those low abs, you need space!
Find an excellent practitioner in movement to help educate you on making space. It’s not simply stretching, it’s actively participating in your stretching accompanied with education and breath work.
The breath is key.
Topic for another time.
I work 1:1 with clients daily in Newport Beach, Ca. If you’re in the area, come see me! I also offer movement mentorships for certified teachers.
Email me at vas@eso-livewell.com to learn more and book a sessions.
Even one session will be impactful, I guarantee it.
If you have any questions, leave them in the comments!
