What A Privilege

Recently, I was asked to see if the Integrative “I” Band could help the posture of a 99 year old woman.  What a privilege?  She had such enthusiasm and a twinkle in her eye.  Her posture is rather bent from an accident, but I started from the root of the “I” Band action–the breath.  A full breath actually exercises the inner human tube and encourages upright posture.  At this stage, the band gives passive resistance, so the “breather” can feel the expansion of the ribs into a contact point. Watching this woman breath fully into her torso was remarkable confirmation of this basic action as a part of the root of health.  How many breaths do we take in a day?  How many opportunities do we have to exercise the interior of our body?  How many times could we reset to neutral spine?

As she added the action of extending one arm at a time, I could see the importance of creating the extension from the action of the breath and in a measured way, so as not to lose focus on the subtleties of the inner connection.  Over and over the emphasis on developing movement from the core to the extremities–never the other way around.  It takes time to build a new habit, but core stability and integrative movement is a meaningful outcome for longterm wellness.