Brain-Based Ankle Circles

A Harvard study recently demonstrated that exercise helps build immunity.   (Click on the sentence to read the study). At a time like now, it’s important that everyone do what they can to stay strong and healthy and studies indicate that staying active helps.

MOVEMENT IS LIFE!!!

Dr. Cobb of Z-Health built a brain-based system around movement and I have to agree with him; a lot of problems can be solved simply by moving.  Besides, we were made to move. Our nervous systems were built to perform and survival of the fittest begins with movement.  Let's move that body!

A body at rest tends to stay at rest so we have to make a conscious effort to move.  Personally, I always feel better once I get going.  99% of working out is showing up for the session!   That’s where my training can help you!  In neurology, little things add up to big things.  It’s the same with movement; little movements add up to big things.

Let’s do ankle circles today.  These are awesome for foot and ankle mobility. which is essential in any fall prevention program because the ankle is the first joint to come in contact with an uneven surface.  The more flexible the ankle, the less likely a person is to get injured.  If the ankle is used to bending and twisting in all directions, there is less risk of injury if ankle is twisted during life activities.

Brain-based ankle circles are different.  These are not the regular, boring ankle circles that you do without paying any attention to what you’re doing. You know what I mean, when the instructor says, “let’s do some ankle circles” and you sit there and look around the room.  That's the WRONG WAY TO DO ankle circles. 

I want you to stay engaged. Activate your brain.  In order to do that, you have to pay attention to what you’re doing AND how you're doing it!  The brain loves stimulation so it helps if movements are novel (new) and somewhat challenging.

Follow along with me and let’s do some ankle circles.  3 in each direction.  3 different foot positions.  

Stay engaged.  

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Your Tongue and Stress Relief

The brain controls everything we do; all our thoughts and actions begin in the brain.  The brain's response to stressful times, like we've been living since Covid, is a tensed, forward-flexed posture with hormones of the sympathetic nervous system running rampant.  Prolonged exposure to cortisol and adrenaline has a detrimental effect your brain, body and bodily functions.  The longer we're in this fight/flight mode, the worse effects on our nervous system.

We need to calm down however that is often easier said than done. To counterbalance the sympathetic nervous system, the parasympathetic nervous system which is our "rest and digest hormone system" needs to be consciously activated.   There are simple ways to activate areas of the brainstem that activate this calming, necessary balance in our life.

The vagus nerve is the focus for calming the brain and body down.  I wrote a blog about humming as a way to activate the vagus nerve and calm the nervous system down.  There are breathing drills to stimulate this system and here is one of my favorite ways to activate areas of the brain to calm you down.

The tongue is powerful connection to the brain.  Where you place your tongue can have a significant impact on your balance and tension level.  Swallowing activates nerves surrounding the vagus nerve and because neurons that wire together fire together,  swallowing activates the vagus nerve.

Another benefit of swallowing is the activation of the insular cortex.  This is the fifth lobe of the brain and is involved in emotional connections to physical body, aka how you 'feel' in your own body. Times of stress can leave you feeling 'disconnected' from your body, from your life.  This is when you need to activate your insular cortex.

Swallow.  Trust me.
Smiling activates the nerve next door to your balance nerve.  Smiling can improve your balance which is probably needing some activation as well.

If you want to know more about the insular cortex and the power of smiling, my book will be ready soon!

Follow along with me!  Cheesy grain and swallow.
Be safe.  Stay engaged.

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Brain-based Shoulder Rolls

I recently wrote about and demonstrated how to do shoulder rolls to reduce neck and shoulder tension that might be related to the stress of  Covid19 isolation.    Shoulder rolls are great to improve the brain's mapping thereby reducing stress (the better the map, the better the movement).

So I trust you've been practicing the rolls as needed to loosen yourself up throughout the days. 

Because I'm encouraging you to stay engaged, I want to show you the advanced version of the shoulder roll, the camshaft.  This is a shoulder roll with the arm extended in front of you.

This is hard to do.  This requires more brain activation to keep the arm straight the entire time.  Think about moving the shoulder blade as if you were doing a shoulder roll.

Enjoy.  Stay engaged.  

Stay well at home.

Watch and then follow along with me!

Improve Balance and Reduce Shoulder Stress

I don't need to tell anyone that life is stressful right now.  We're navigating uncharted waters; not knowing what the future holds is traumatic.  It's stressful and we all respond to stress differently.   Some people get busy physically, some get busy worrying, some get upset emotionally while some can't  get any motivation to do anything.

Regardless of how you cope with stress, tension builds in our muscles, specifically in the neck and shoulders.  The trapezius is a reservoir for stress tension making it painful to turn the head and shoulders slouching forward in surrender.

If you are tense and worried, let's roll those shoulders.  Sit in lengthened spine and follow along with me, three rolls in both directions.  Do this throughout the day.  

Shoulder roll with me for stress relief:  

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Hidden Secret: Jaw Exercises for Better Balance

In order to be balanced and stable, you need to have a stable midline.   The spine is the midline.   Your  jaw is also along the midline.

The jaw is powerful activator of the brain because it is innervated by the trigeminal nerve, the largest of the twelve cranial nerves.  Moving the jaw activates areas of the brain responsible for increased backside strength.  This increased extensor tone improves balance and stability.

Why It's Important to YOU:  Increased backside strength makes it easier to stand up from the chair and easier to stand up straight.

Follow along with one of my favorite jaw exercises.
Get that jaw moving to increase midline stability and extensor tone.
Try to do these at least once a day, everyday.

I would suggest 3-4 times per day if you're unstable and have poor posture.

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