Squeezing Gluts

Dancing Smart Newsletter
March 31, 2006

Announcements

Registration is in full swing for the summer workshops, so fill out your registration form before April 30 th , to get the early bird discount! I've had a few questions about Sunday's workshop, so I'd like share some additional information about it.

I'll start by giving some background information. Like many of you, I have been overwhelmed with too many things on my plate at one time, and feeling like the only way to succeed is to work harder and longer. I always understood the significance of the mental game and needing to think positively about what is happening in life. Keep your eye on the goal, and other good suggestions. (I've got shelves filled with wonderful personal growth books.) AND STILL, the pattern of working hard, doing good work, staying optimistic, didn't seem enough to accomplish some of my highest dreams and goals. Can any of you relate? This led me to an in depth exploration of the basis of self-hypnosis and understanding that we hypnotize ourselves all the time by our beliefs and the things we say to ourselves. I found that the things we say out loud to ourselves are being usurped by the very critical quiet voice that says things like "sure you want to lose weight but you've never been able to lose weight easily before - you're doomed to carry the extra 20 pounds - after all, you don't have time to exercise the way you should. And on and on and on goes the list of reasons why you can't lose weight.

So what can you do?

I think everyone would agree that we are energetic beings. You create energy when you move, your food creates energy for your body, and thoughts have a measurable energetic frequency. What you think and your emotional response to what you think, lays the foundations to our behaviors. This means through our energetic systems we are creating our reality, either through conscious intent, or the default, through our unspoken or unconscious thoughts. Let me put it a different way; what you focus your attention on is what shows up.

How do you whether you are focusing on what you want or what you don't want? The short answer is by reading your body's constant energetic messages and making choices in guiding your thoughts - as well as using strategies such as tapping the ends of acupuncture points which interrupts the neurological responses that are part of our emotional patterns. As dancers we know how to monitor our body and it's feeling of ease or unease. What we will explore in the Sunday workshop is how to use your body/mind connection as a guide to moving much more quickly in the direction of your dreams and goals. It has made a tremendous difference in my life and I'm sure it can in yours.

Who would be interested in this workshop? Dance teachers or advanced dancers (over 18 years of age) who have big dreams and a strong desire to make changes in their life and feel that now is the time to do so. This will be a very small group - 30 participants max. I want to work with people who can commit to doing simple actions to create big shifts. This is not a self-help or therapy group. Therapy is interested in personal history, familial influences, etc. This is more like coaching, learning body-based skills and strategies focusing on where you are now and guiding you to where you want to go.

Interested? Please sign up at www.thebodyseries.com ! Contact me directly if you have more questions about Sunday's workshop!

Now onto the question of the week from Sheila....

Question of the Week

Deb's Answer

You are right that when you take the leg to the back in an arabesque or a tendu derriere the gluteals will contract as the leg moves. They also aid turnout as some of the fibers of the gluteals turn out the leg. The gluteals contract automatically as you move the leg behind you, no matter whether the leg is straight or bent in an attitude, etc. Because this is an automatic action when the leg moves to the back I don't think there needs to be any special focus on gluteal contraction.

What you are finding out now through your own experience, is when the gluteals are held in a chronic state of contraction the joints and hip area may begin to complain. For one, there are no muscles in the body that were designed to be always contracted (or turned on) Muscles were designed to turn on to create movement in their special direction, and then turn off when the movement no longer requires their assistance. (Or contract and release if we keep to terms that dancers use.) A muscle chronically contracted is much more prone to injury. It also creates an imbalance of usage in the group that it works within, and, can create an imbalance in how the bone is held in the joint if you have a chronic pull in one direction. The muscles around any joint need to work in harmony with each other, which in the case of the hip joint, helps to keep the head of the thighbone seated in good alignment in the joint.

Don't worry about keeping the gluteals totally relaxed, as that has negative consequences similar to keeping the gluteals always contracted. If the dancer is focused most on his or her alignment, then the muscles will work as efficiently as they can to create that movement. Remember, the brain sends an image or message to the muscles to contract or release their contraction. There is always communication happening between the brain and our movement. Dancers often get better results by imagining doing a movement effortlessly and easily, rather than focusing on a specific 'feel' of individually muscles. Our muscular sensing shifts and changes as often as the weather and our moods. Our muscles will feel one way in warm, humid weather, another when we are upset over finances or relationships, another when we are happy and excited. The goal I suggest for my students is to have adaptable bodies, which requires they have muscular balance, strong AND flexible.

 

Until next week!

Thank you for being a part my community!

Deborah

"Education is the key to injury prevention"

Copyright ©2003-2006 The Body Series. All Rights Reserved.

Deborah Vogel is a dancer, author, and master teacher who conducts workshops across the U.S. for both student and professional dancers. Her numerous articles on dance technique and injury prevention have appeared in Dance Spirit and Dance Teacher magazines. She is the Director of the Institute for Performance Studies and a faculty member at Oberlin College and the OC Conservatory of Music. During her years in NYC she co- founded the Center for Dance Medicine. Deborah makes her home in Oberlin, Ohio.