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Shamrock Shuffle Team EVOLVE – We have THIRTY people on our team! Well done recruiters. 
Saturday, March 10
Rendevous at 9:15am – Fun Run begins at 10am
Meet at the McPhee Indoor Track at 9:15am this Saturday. Bring your warm layers, hat and gloves…you will receive your long sleeve shirt as a team member when you find me/us at the indoor track. For those of you who want a guided warm-up, I will lead. Feel free to bring family members and friends – they can register the day of the event if they’d like although they may not get a shirt….depends on the supply.
Bring cameras and then send me your photos in an email for our blog and facebook documentation. Thanks in advance!
After the race, feel free to do what you’d like. Some people have already made plans to meet up with friends or to have breakfast together. Let the support and camaraderie continue and live well.
See you Saturday!
Cheri
Viscoelasticity: a material or structure exibiting both viscous (like honey) and elastic (like a rubber band) properties.
Our bodies have a viscoelastic property. If we take a certain posture and hold that posture for long amounts of time, the nutrients and fluids in that structure are slowly wrung out, and the surrounding structures start to adopt this new place as a sort of ‘home base’. We begin to move that way more often because that’s what our structure knows now to be familiar, comfortable and seemingly correct.
Below is content from OPTp, the company I order Franklin Method products from frequently. I enjoyed reading this article and it directly applies to what we do each day at the studio – inhibit movement patterns and postures that can’t serve us efficiently and relearn better, more healthy ways of moving. This concept can apply quite nicely to psychological process of behavior change as well. Learning takes time, focused attention, and personal relevance – but it IS possible.
Read on to figure out what “creep” is all about. Then get your move on so you’re literally feeding your spine and discs by pumping nutrients in and out of those structures. Happy spines need dancing and movement!
Enjoy ~
Slumped. Hunched. Slouched. Stooped. It’s surprising that with all the health information we’re bombarded with, awareness for appropriate lumbar care often takes a back row seat. Postural neglect is common; for most of us, it’s an everyday occurrence. Sitting habits, in particular, are very difficult to change.
My note: I think postural habits can change dramatically, quite easily when working with a great facilitator – especially a Franklin Method Educator.
Healthy Habits
In the absence of major or obvious trauma, many neck and back pain sufferers report that their musculoskeletal pain develops for “no apparent reason.” They forget the consequences of long-term habits. Sustained postures and movements play a crucial role in predisposing a person to musculoskeletal pain.
Lordosis
Lordosis refers to the natural curve, or hollow, in the low back that typically occurs when one stands but is lost when one sits. It is a healthy feature of the lumbar spine. (Again, my note: sitting with the sit bones (ischial tuberosities) as the foundation can help alleviate this problem. We can sit poorly, or we can sit well – start with awareness and see for yourself.)
Slouched sitting posture (forward flexion) is the opposite of lordosis. The consensus of biomechanical and clinical research studies suggests that forward flexion in sitting has long-term detrimental effects, including cumulative intervertebral disc degeneration.1
How can we avoid flexed postures while sitting?
During forward flexion in sitting:
Intervertebral discs are compressed anteriorly. Intra-disc pressure increases.
Fluid is expressed. This dehydrates and deprives intervertebral discs of nutrition, which already have a very limited capacity for repair and remodeling due to their
avascular nature. The natural resistance of spinal ligaments is
gradually reduced. Spine is weaker and more susceptible to injury.
Creep
Take a moment to recall that notorious home improvement project. Do you remember the episodes of pain after prolonged bending? The slow recovery? Chances are, you’ve had first hand experience with creep.
When constant force is applied to a collagenous structure (like intervertebral discs) over time, fibers slowly rearrange while water and nutrients are squeezed from the tissue. The gradual alteration in shape is called creep.
Creep is not permanent; however, the rate of recovery can be very slow. Sustained flexion of the back and neck promotes creep and leads to a structurally weak spine, susceptible to injury. This is common in certain labor-intensive occupations, such as roofing and stonemasonry. Let’s not forget occupations involving prolonged slouching at an office desk!
Creep fundamentals:
Intervertebral discs slowly change shape.
Change is not permanent but rate of recovery can be very slow.
Common for back-intensive occupations and slouched sitting postures.
Tips for Spinal Health
MOVE often and in a variety of ways! ~ My note. 
Promote Awareness. Inform yourself about efficient postural strategies.
Drink water to keep things moving and fluids flowing – literally by hydrating more!
See you soon for your next Franklin Method lesson or Yoga practice.
Cheri
Angie – Great work stepping up today and trying something new – and you liked it! I love how the other woman was observing your progress, and complimented you. Keep moving and the steps keep becoming clearer.
Thanks for inspiring another person in your live to move with you.
Live well!
From Angie – Enjoy her words of reflection and encouragement!
So here is my story… if you want to use it for evolve wellness you can, but you sure don’t have to!!
I have been a slouch lately as far as working out goes. We had our first group workout on Tuesday and it was kind of a eye opener for me anyway. (She mentioned her abs were satisfyingly sore from our group session!) I have a 30 minute drive home so lots of time – I use it to sort my thoughts out. What I came up with is that I don’t want to go back to where I was and I have to run with that decision and make it (her health) happen. I can’t sit around waiting for someone else to make it happen…. I have to get up off my butt and move and make good choices about what I use to fuel my body.
I really want to climb and I can’t become a stronger climber sitting around. The next morning I woke up and I was pondering how can I inspire someone else? I would love to inspire others just as I have been inspired by the people that I workout with and my trainer. I called my sister and I asked her if we could help each other work out. Maybe meet in my home one day a week and meet in her home one day a week and go to a class one day a week!! She was on board right away. We were going to try Zumba, but I don’t feel very comfortable dancing so I called her back after I found a class called Live Wires (geared toward older people) I have not hit 40 yet so I am not in that category! We both thought it sounded like something that we wanted to try out. We went and to my surprise, I really liked it. Doing something like this is totally out of my box. I don’t care to workout with lots of other people around and I am not very coordinated and the mirror in the front really has to go!!!
I wore my “evolve wellness” shirt and after some getting used to the steps and what we were doing and where we were going a older lady next to me said “Hey, I think you have Evolved”. This was at the end of class!! I am planning on going back to Live Wires next week as it is a good way to start my day…it is something different, something out of my comfort zone, way out of my element.
Thanks for sharing Angie. Inspiring!
Cheri
Before I begin talking about my studies with the Franklin Method I must tell you one thing. I am working from the cafe portion of Whole Foods here in Boulder, CO…and they are playing Brandi Carlile. Heaven. Now I will blog before my lunch break is over and back to class I go.
We are studying the foot and ankle joint in such detail, and finally connecting the dots from the pelvis and hip all the way down into our foundation. Our feet. The counter spirals we learned early on continue to flow down through the knee, through the lower leg bones (tibia and fibula) and flood into the ankle, foot and out through the toes. Our amazing structure has such integrity, beauty in it’s design and I am beginning to embody it like never before possible.
When we practiced the sliding, rolling movement of the ankle joint I experienced such a roundedness on my right side – a blessing after literally years of working toward balance and at least a felt sense of symmetry in my lower body. My partner and I both noticed how dramatically the right side of my pelvis dropped, settling my acetabulum over my femur head with ease, healthy weightedness, and integration. I am practicing daily, not just by choice but also through the several hours a day in class, and look forward to bringing this home with me. I wonder how related the ankle injury I had my freshman year of college is to now the living experience I have in my body. I know they are connected, and part of me believes that my talar and subtalar joint movements have been inhibited since then, thus changing the overall function and integration of my right side. Brilliant stuff, this Franklin Method. Embodying function in one area of the body will flood function, ease, and joy into all surrounding structures.
Embodying function improves function.
What do you imagine possible in your structure today? What are you practicing for yourself lately?
Go. Move. Practice and embody.
Live well,
Cheri
