When we first learn to come up to sit as babies, there’s an enormous amount of calibration that goes on. We don’t think about it once we’ve been upright for a while. Each developmental stage is fascinating in the way it prepares the way for the next. The very first movements of pressing and pushing … More Developmental Movements – part 2
When we’re babies, we spend a lot of time in the beginning on the floor. It looks like you’re not doing anything, but of course nothing could be further from the truth. On the floor is where you start to feel what’s yourself, and what’s the envirnoment around you. And we need to be able … More Developmental Movements
The end of the year is often a time to recalibrate, and make plans for the next. It can be useful to have some questions to focus thinking. I’ve put together a couple for you. What went well (2025) 1. Which moments of 2025 are you most proud of? 2. When things went better than … More Happy New Year
As musicians, we’re so good at listening to others, to our instruments, to sounds around us, but how good are you at listening to physical yourself? To your body?Any movement lessons require a level of listening that allows you to move, but not strain. This is especially important when we’re thinking about learning. When we … More Freeing the Neck
I’ve always loved owls. And the way they can swivel their head to see behind them in a moment. It would be very useful in lots of scenarios! As you probably know, an owl can turn its head 180 degrees because of the double jointed neck. And we don’t have one of those, which is sad. … More Would you like to have the turning power of an owl?
So often I hear people talking about muscle memory as if it’s a thing. Something where the muscles remember movements, and pathways, or levels of contraction. Muscle memory is a myth. It’s simply not true. There is no such thing as muscle memory. If it were people who had accidents and suffered injury to the … More The myth of muscle memory
Do you think of your neck as a separate, or as part of your whole spine? This week’s lesson is looking again at how you might stick out your neck, but from a different angle! We’ll be doing the lesson in sitting. The position change means you’ll explore different options of movement, gravity, and sensation. Your … More How Long is Your Neck?
It’s a phrase that has many meanings, of course, but I was thinking in the literal sense. Often when we spend a lot of time on computers, screens, or simply sightreading or reading, we take our head forwards in space, like a turtle. But it’s not designed to stay there! Our head is optimal when … More Are you sticking your neck out?
Draw a tiny circle in the air with your nose. As you do it feel which parts of you move along with it? For many people, the only thing that moves is the head and neck. If that’s true for you, it’s the signal that your neck is over isolated. You’re not using the support of the whole … More Do you know how to find out if your neck is stiff or uncomfortable because your spine isn’t helping it move?
Very often when people come to see me, it’s around pain in the shoulders, neck or back. Pains in the neck are a common problem! The neck is one of the many areas where the cure is often in a different place to the problem. What do I mean? The neck has 7 cervical vertebrae, … More Do you have a pain in the neck?
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