About FlexAware®

The Story of FlexAware   |   x The Science of FlexAware

The Science of FlexAware

1. Some basic facts of anatomy, physiology, and neuroscience.
2. Insights into the way very young children learn to walk and outgrow crawling.
3. Learning, sensing differences, and the brain.

1. Some basic facts of anatomy, physiology, and neuroscience.

Gravity is constantly pulling everything toward the center of the earth. Resisting gravity requires effort. It is therefore useful to think of relaxation and comfort in terms of gravity. When moving efficiently - when, for example, sitting or standing in a balanced, neutral position - the weight of the head, shoulders, trunk, and so on, is supported by the skeleton, not the muscles.

Every skeletal muscle attaches directly or through tendon to two or more bones, crossing some joint or joints. Contracting the muscle pulls those bones toward each other. In order for the bones to move, some opposite muscles have to lengthen. When moving efficiently, opposite muscles have relatively equal low tone.

This logic of opposite muscles applies also to breathing. Breathing occurs through the action of many muscles, not just the diaphragm, working in opposite groups for inhaling and exhaling. Every muscle that attaches to the ribs can assist breathing or interfere with it. Holding the breath is a sign and a cause of stress and excess effort. When moving efficiently, breathing is easy, continuous, nearly effortless.

Every act at every moment involves the whole person. The brain and nervous system constantly coordinate all the muscles while monitoring every sensory receptor, particularly those that detect the position of each bone and every joint. Movement is mostly coordinated by the brainstem and cerebellum, areas of the brain that evolved millions of years before the neocortex. The neocortex is the center for language and the other symbolic processes that are unique to humans, that define human consciousness. The neocortex, however, is rather slow, with only limited capacity to control movement and modify habits.

Learning involves doing something new and sensing some differences from the old way of doing. Neuroscientists have known for more than 150 years that it's easier to sense differences when stimuli are less intense. Learning to move more efficiently therefore requires reducing effort and enhancing awareness.

With learning and experience, there are changes in the muscles, bones, and other tissues. The brain and nervous system are especially adaptable. Neuroscientists use the term "neural plasticity" to describe that adaptability, which has been clearly shown with brain-imaging technologies. Changes continue to occur in all tissues as long as one is alive.

FlexAware applies these facts by:

1. Educating people about the skeleton, gravity, and the logic of efficient movement.
2. Integrating stretching and strengthening, never focusing on any individual muscle.
3. Increasing mobility throughout the trunk for easier breathing.
4. Emphasizing comfort, awareness, and learning.

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2. Insights into the way very young children learn to walk and outgrow crawling.

Very young children learn through a spontaneous, self-directed process of exploring and imitating. They are guided always by comfort and motivated mostly by curiosity. And 99.99 percent succeed in learning to walk.

The process is more play than work. They succeed without relying on textbooks, teachers, schedules, or deadlines. Young children are learning all the time.

They're also moving all the time, rarely still except when asleep. Young children are much more flexible than adults and, for their size and weight, much stronger. They have more stamina and recover more quickly and completely from stress, illnesses, and injuries.

They spontaneously align with gravity. That's evident in the way they walk, and the fact that they can sit comfortably without any back support, even for extended periods. They move efficiently, with muscles throughout the body working harmoniously. Watching a very young child, it's easy to see that, for example, muscles at the hip joints participate in turning the head or reaching with one hand.

(What happens to that ease and spontaneity? As we grow, each of us develops habits of straining, stiffening, and holding our breath; those habits are most evident in stressful situations.)

FlexAware applies these insights by:

1. Facilitating comfort. Everyone moves at his or her own pace, fast or slow, making movements that can be large or small, but are always within the range of comfort while gently expanding that range.
2. Encouraging curiosity about gravity, the skeleton, and how muscles throughout the body participate in each movement. (That curiosity helps increase the range of comfort.)
3. Avoiding judgment. There's no specific right way to do these exercises. (But there is a wrong way: If something hurts, it's wrong.)
4. Emphasizing the process, not focusing on goals or achievements. Feeling good is more important than looking good. Besides, feeling good also looks good. Efficient movement is elegant, graceful, a pleasure for the individual doing it and for anyone who's watching.

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3. Learning, sensing differences, and the brain.

Recall a time when you were carrying a heavy object, say a box of books. If someone adds or removes a few pieces of paper, it's impossible to sense the difference. However, if you were carrying only one piece of paper, you would detect the change in weight from adding another piece.

That fact is extremely important for learning and healing.

You might try this experiment: Get a bunch of pennies, paperclips, or other small, light objects. With your forearm in the air and horizontal, not resting on anything, turn your hand so the palm is up. Place one penny on your palm. Sense the weight by gently lifting and lowering it a bit. Add another penny and sense the weight. Can you detect the change? Of course you can. Do that again. And again.

After 16 pennies, few people can detect the differences; with 40, no one can. If you want to make this experiment more interesting, ask a friend to add or remove the pennies while you keep your eyes closed.

Increasing weight means less ability to sense differences. Stated more formally: the ability to sense differences is inversely proportional to the intensity of the stimulus. This is true for all sensory activity, not just weight or effort but also vision, sound, taste, and smell. First described in the mid-1800s by E. H. Weber and Gustav Fechner, this fact is called the Weber-Fechner Law - a "law" because it's universal, with no known exceptions.

The Weber-Fechner Law helps explain chronic pain - and why exercises and medical treatments often provide only partial or temporary relief, and are sometimes counterproductive.

To understand that, intentionally contract the muscles in your upper arm, flexing the biceps. While keeping those muscles contracted, repeat the experiment of sensing the weight of the pennies. How is this different than before? Does the extra effort alter your ability to detect weight?

When muscles are tight and working hard, it's not just the weight of objects that becomes more difficult to detect. It's also harder to sense discomfort, irritation, inflammation, or other early warning signs of tissue damage. In many cases, consequently, the damage worsens over time and with repeated use, such as occurs with exercise.

Inefficient movement is a primary cause of musculoskeletal and stress-related problem conditions. In other words, back pain, bulging or herniated discs, damaged knees or hip joints, arthritis, tendonitis, fibromyaligia, carpal tunnel syndrome, TMJ, headaches, and so on, are symptoms of different ways of moving inefficiently.

For outgrowing pain and problems, it helps to know the Weber-Fechner Law and apply it intentionally. Reducing effort is essential for learning to move more comfortably, skillfully, efficiently. This is true regardless of the specific pain, problem, or injury, regardless of whether it's chronic, intermittent, or seems to be totally random. This is true also for emotional or psychological problems. The Weber-Fechner Law is a way to understand that mind and body are inseparable.

People of any age and health condition can learn to move more easily. Arthritis, back pain, and other age-related or "degenerative" problem conditions occur after many years of moving inefficiently - and are reversible, at least partially and sometimes completely.

FlexAware applies these ideas by:

1. Educating people about the importance of reducing effort and seeking comfort.
2. Starting slowly, minimizing effort to enhance the ability to sense differences.
3. Increasing speed and effort only gradually, comfortably.
4. Encouraging everyone to learn, explore, and play.

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