Where to Start- Ground Zero
In our modern world, many of us have a busy “Worker Bee” body and mentality. What we see is a hypervigilance to work which tenses our bodies and brains and we have a hard time returning back to a resting state. That resting state is where all the neurological, chemical, physiologic resets occur and it is very important we can return back to that level! It is important that we are able to balance activity with non-activity or doing and non-doing.
In order to move, function and maintain homeostasis, the brain is constantly looking for feedback from the body. There are twice as many sensory nerves as there are motor nerves because the body is curious about itself. Our perception of where our body is in space (proprioception), our awareness of internal sensations (interoception), our perception of input from outside the body (exteroception), and our sense of moving body parts (kinesthesia) are important sensory aspects of what and how we are moving.
Oftentimes, that sensory information gets dulled, or altered for various reasons. This can create an altered perception which distorts or changes our movement. When we are first starting out, we want to pinpoint those aberrations and work towards correcting them through proper boundaries, being honest about our limitations and preparing the body correctly. The approach is a respectful one, rebuilding trust within ones’ self.
Unwinding is the process of undoing those sticky patterns and downregulating that overactive body. It has an overall calming effect on the nervous system and overall melting effect on the tissue. When we bring the body into that relaxed state, or ground zero, that is the fertile place where we can start to make changes.
Using various props to facilitate the unwinding process such as a ball, band, foam roller, or weights really helps give the person the external stimulus that heightens input going back up to the brain. We use these props to give us greater awareness of certain parts of the body, making the motion more easeful, removing constraints, emphasizing where we need more power to come from, maintaining our alignment.
Unwinding helps us come out of our daily postural patterns and helps reset the length of muscles. Helping ourselves to return back to our “home base”. The body is very creative and highly adaptive, so we want to ensure that our daily postural habits (such as sitting with our head forward in front of a computer) are not becoming permanent, and we can bring ourselves out of them by reinstating proper alignment.
Unwinding is also another way to stop any damage and let things heal. Whenever we get injured we want to manage pain and inflammation, not provoke it. We want to promote healing with adequate time and boundaries and equally value the entire body in the process.
Lastly, we cannot overlook the emotions and how they play a major role. For example, fear of pain dictates how we use our body. We have to retrain that response out of our system. If the response is to lock-down, compress, stop motion from happening, we have to override that pattern and repeat, until a new pattern is formed. Unwinding includes this emotional component of releasing some of those feelings and is a process of instilling confidence back in. We want to be in control of our body which means we have to reinterpret safety. Safe, confident movement will help instill greater trust which helps us feel overall better.