Standing Tall

August 30, 2016

In Ki-Aikido training, a simple test of balance – done with a firm push by the instructor on a student’s shoulder or back, serves as “no-tech” biofeedback about a person’s internal state: Stable posture correlates with a calm, clear mind that supports best performance; unstable posture correlates with distraction and/or distress and suboptimal performance. The same holds true off the mat; a calm focused mind in daily life not only results in clearer thinking and better communication, it also correlates with more…

Dizzy

July 31, 2016

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Balance Science

Why is it that dizziness happens in the head but makes us unstable on our feet? Blame the vestibular system – the sensory system that perceives our motion in space in relationship to gravity. The sensors themselves are located in the inner ear, but the information they provide is critical to perceiving and maintaining our vertical alignment with gravity as we move around in the world. And that matters for more than not falling down. Gravity affects every breath we take,…

Centering and Parkinson’s Disease

October 23, 2014

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Balance Training

Last Friday I had the privilege of co-teaching the Parkinson’s Disease Movement Lab with Pamela Quinn at the Mark Morrison Dance Center in Brooklyn. I shared the centering exercises from Ki-Aikido and we explored how an awareness of moving from center stabilizes balance. Participants were immediately able to make the connection as they experienced a marked improvement in their postural stability – whether sitting, standing, or walking across a room. We also played with the effect of centering on speech which, like balance, can be undermined in Parkinson’s.…

Neural Knitting

September 30, 2014

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Balance Science

In 1906, the father of modern neuroscience, Sir Charles Scott Sherrington, described the central nervous system as “an organ of coordination” that “knits together” the many separate systems of life into a solidarity – a coordinated response of the whole. Shin Shin Toitsu is the Japanese name for the style of aikido I have practiced and taught for over thirty years. Translated into English it means “heart, mind, and body threaded together as one.” The words echo Sherrington’s — the recognition not…