movement

To Rest, To Renew, To Refresh

January 17, 2018 By John Du Cane

“Taking time to rest, renew, and refresh yourself isn’t wasted time. Recharge. Choose what energizes you.”—Melody Beattie

When we are addicted to exercise, taking time off can seem like a guilt-inducing betrayal. We can get real antsy sitting on our butt, rather than pushing the envelope physically, day in day out. We drive ourselves to accomplish something—anything—and of course the quest for the endorphin rush is never far from our minds. This drive to exercise is laudable. The drive to tear our body down without giving it time to restore itself—not so much.

Remaining resilient in our recovery requires a delicate toggling between the vigorous and the gentle. Too much, too often can result, too easily, in too little, too late… We hit the wall, we get hurt—and if we are not careful, our exercise program grinds to an unseemly halt. Self-care in recovery is a two-way street: make physical gains by challenging our systems. Then reward ourselves with a restorative healing process that will help consolidate those gains. The older we get, the more time we need for that restorative consolidation.

We inflict benign damage on our muscles to prod them into adaptive strengthening. Excellent! It’s a sort of induced, temporary state of vulnerability intended to reduce our longer-term vulnerability. That’s show biz… As guardians of our own recovery, we just need to be hyper-alert to our tendency to overdo it—and put ourselves potentially at risk.

So, the restorative movement today is mostly mental:

Stand in a relaxed posture with knees slightly bent and arms held slightly away from your sides. Take a long, slow inhale. As you inhale, use your attention to have the sense you are pulling energy through every pore of your skin, deep into your bones. Feel your entire body expanding, as if you were an inner tube being pumped up. Then exhale very slowly, sending the energy back out in all directions. Feel your body contract on the exhale. Repeat for at least ten iterations. Do as many more repetitions as you feel to.

This is a very powerful and wonderful practice. It’s a treasure. Practice it to know it and feel it… Your recovery will thank you for the care and attention!

I am taking the time to restore my energy, body and being by relaxing, resting and breathing.

The Healthy Shakes

January 9, 2018 By John Du Cane

“The taboo against full ecstatic expression of the human body is nothing mysterious or difficult to understand. . . . The oppressed find that shaking is a medicine for the suffering of the human spirit. It sets them free and opens the doors to the kingdoms of bliss. The shake comes as a great liberator to people in poverty, powerlessness, and suffering.”—Bradford Keeney

Might we still have some “bad juju” trapped in our unsuspecting flesh? When any of us suffer deep insult, the trauma of it can get trapped deep within the tissues. Those of us in recovery invariably have a heavy history of past trauma—and we are particularly susceptible to its insidious creep when unchecked… That trapped trauma can become a health time bomb if not addressed and released.

It might be a rape. It might be a mugging. It might be a surgery. It might be vicious verbal abuse. It might be a bad beating from a maddened parent. It might be a drug overdose. It can be anything that bludgeons us with a hard hurt.

That trapped trauma is ready to trigger when the button is pushed. Sometimes the trigger causes incremental bouts of micro-dysfunction. But sometimes the trigger causes a veritable firestorm of dysfunction—or the onset of serious disease.

Unlike other animals, most of us humans have lost touch with a remarkably effective, instinctual way to release from our trapped trauma. The birds know how to do it—and do it. The dogs know how to do it—and do it. Gazelles—they do it. You name it—they do it. Except for most of us—we mostly don’t do it.

What’s this forgotten “doing”, then? That would be a Shaking practice. Spontaneous shaking practices are an essential element of many shamanic traditions and other indigenous cultures. From ancient Chinese Qigong shaking, to the ecstatic shaking of the Kalahari bushmen, to the haunting shakes of the Native American tribes, to the Shakers and Quakers—the tradition runs on. However, the healing power of that shaking has not often been well articulated…

“Shaking out the spirits”—as it can be called—helps us to get out of our heads and gently start releasing those traumas within. Because it’s a slow, easy process and nothing is being forced, there is little if any chance of things going awry. We won’t necessarily know what has been released when, but you can trust that the magic is at work.

But most of us cerebral humans are too scared of losing control to shake it all out. We like to harbor our fears and hurts—and keep them stewing away beneath the surface. Out of sight, out of mind perhaps, in the short run—but with a heavy price to pay sooner or later when the jail break happens!

Here’s your Shaking practice for today:

Stand in a relaxed posture. Close your eyes. Feel your body for a minute, scanning yourself with your attention from top to toe. As the mood takes you, start to shake your hands, then your arms, then your shoulders, then your torso, then your hips then your legs. Let your head gyrate and bobble of its own accord. There’s no right away, just keep shaking and shaking and shaking some more…

Continue for a few minutes, ten minutes, or even longer—until you feel complete. You may well feel wonderful surges of energy when you stop, a buzzing, a delightful tingling. You have just introduced yourself to the healing power of ecstatic shaking… Enjoy!

It feels so, so, so good to shake away my cares and troubles for the day!

My Dear Spine

January 5, 2018 By John Du Cane Leave a Comment

“Look well to the spine for the cause of disease.”—Hippocrates

What are we in recovery, without our support systems? We learned through bitter trial and error that handling our challenges alone could be a perilous choice. Loneliness can dog us into risk. A compassionate group of friends can maintain and comfort us when we struggle. Without a good support network, we can “lack the spine” to overcome our obstacles. With a good set of friends, we can have the backbone to face any adversity with confidence and resolve.

Now friendship, of course, is a two-way street. Reciprocity is a must. We give to be given to, in a spirit of natural kindness. And so it is with our once-in-a-lifetime bodies. Care for our body, that it cares for us. Which brings us to our all-important spinal column—our literal support system for carrying us through our world. For just as friendship taken for granted can become friendship lost, so a disregard for our spine can lead a cascade of issues. A cared-for spine will return the favor with a calmer nervous system, greater vigor and reduced discomfort. Let’s love our spine so it may love us back…

Here’s a fun, simple movement to release and enliven our spine for today:

Stand with knees slightly bent and the arms at your sides. Swing your arms round to the left side, turning your waist in the same direction, while sinking your weight into your right leg. Reverse and repeat to the other side in a fluid, super-relaxed manner. Breathe softly. Continue for twenty to thirty reps each side. Have a hint of a smile on your face.

It feels great to have reconnected with my spine today—so we can heal ourselves together.

My Body, My Art Work

January 2, 2018 By John Du Cane Leave a Comment

“The human body is the best work of art.”—Jess C. Scott

It’s helpful and healing to think of our bodies as ongoing works of art. We are all creators of the flesh that carries us through life. We can choose to further refine the natural beauty of our bodies through graceful movement, toning exercise and the infusion of energizing breath. We can be proud of our creative play—and delight in our ever-changing shape and form.

All too often though, our recovery is bogged down by shame and self-disgust at what we perceive as our ugly bodies. We despair at the state of our physical beings and would prefer to hide rather than display our “goods”. This can be a risky, slippery slope for those of us in recovery. A self-defeating cycle of revulsion can tempt us to medicate our distress. An attitude shift of acceptance can change all of this in a heartbeat. Let’s take the art work we have in front of us—and today take a step to making it stronger and more appealing. Let movement and breath be our medicine…

A fine body needs a fine pair of legs to present itself on and to move around with confidence. Let’s work on those all-important pistons today—with the Full Bodyweight Squat!

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Cross your arms over your chest and squat down as low as you can, preferably below parallel and eventually with your thighs touching your calves. Keep your knees from bowing in by aligning them with your feet. Keep your back as straight as possible. Come back up and lock out your legs and hips completely. Squeeze the muscles in your legs as tightly as possible for a second, relax and repeat the squat. Inhale and hold the breath as you descend. Exhale as you ascend. Do ten repetitions—and feel the energizing rush to boot!

I am proud to be recreating my body, each day anew, as an ongoing work of art.

My Body, My Temple

January 1, 2018 By John Du Cane

“Treat your body like a temple, not a woodshed. The mind and the body work together. Your body needs to be a good support system for the mind and the spirit. If you take good care of it, your body can take you wherever you want to go, with the power and the strength and energy and vitality you will need to get there.”—Jim Rohn

Yes, it’s that time of year again when those pesky resolutions rear their heads—clamoring to be fulfilled. And no resolution clamors harder than the Fitness Deity. Her temple is a mess. She cries at her neglect and disrepair. In our hearts, we know we owe her. For who wants to worship at the altar of dirt and clutter?

Yet those of us in recovery often shudder when we feel forced from our procrastination into the challenge of change. “We’ve seen this movie before”, we think, “and we don’t like how it always ends.” Our terminal uniqueness can make us squeamish in the face of what we see as an inevitable decline into failure and disappointment.

Well, let’s resolve to take a different approach to our fitness for this new year. Instead of jumping in hog-wild—and flaming out within a couple of weeks, let’s do what we know to do best: take it easy, one day at a time, with our fitness goals. Let’s start by acknowledging the essential beauty of our body, the temple—and begin to care for it, one small cleansing at a time. Slowly and gently, let’s clean away the crud to reveal the beauty beneath…

Release The Neck

Want to get your first day of this New Year off to a fast start? Then nothing much beats releasing the tension in that stiff rod which links your torso to your head. When we crimp the hose, the cleansing, nurturing gush becomes a miserly dribble. When we crimp our necks, there’s less fresh, oxygenated blood getting to that hungry brain of ours—and the brain can’t signal back its healing messages to the parts that need it.

One of the very best ways to release the neck, is through this simple movement:

Turn your head to the left as far as you can without pain, keeping your head level and your shoulders down and still. Now, turn your head slowly all the way to the right. Inhale softly through the nose to the left, exhale softly to the right. Do from ten to twenty rotations in each direction, depending on your comfort level. That’s it!

Oh, by the way, don’t worry if you hear some snap-crackle-and-popping as your neck rotates—your head’s not about to fall off! It’s something called crepitus, created when air releases within the tissues. Perfectly ok.

I am excited to have started cleansing my body, my temple—with this one simple action for the day.