Very well explained, thank you Debora. I have very tight hips flexors/quads myself, so the towel under the thighs worked like magic on me. Great cueing!
Hello my friend! Thanks for this. Loved, loved, loved not hearing the usual lift the belly, press the pubic bone :) front-body centric focus to "protect the low back." I also really appreciated the balance of front and back body radiating from the feet and the attention to what was happening below in the chain to facilitate greater mobility in challenge areas like the hip and pelvis. The work over the barrel and with the towel to promote the wheel-like action that has to occur in the hip socket was lovely. Head to tail relationship (like a pulley system) I also found to be a helpful thread. Question: Do you give preference to working on the barrel first rather than with the towel on the mat due to the likelihood that with front body tightness the mat forces the end range(s) you mentioned (even with the towel)? I feel like I could make a case for both, but wondered what your take was.
Deborah, I have to agree with Chantill and her observations. And funny, I was thinking the same question in regard to the usual quads. I will often opt for a quick tall kneeling chest expansion on the caddy to open the quads then knee stretch to further let them open, AND build in the sense of pelvis and rib cage suspension, so that same connection came be made on the mat or the barrel. What do you think?
Thanks, everyone for watching and getting involved. With regard to order of skill building. I believe that once you see and understand the interconnectedness of the skill building process you have more freedom to make choices depending on the given situation. For example, you might not have a barrel or caddy at that moment. It's not a linear process. It helps clarify why someone might be having difficulty or getting stuck, rather than just becoming another rule of how to do things. Someone might be in a mat class and that is their "prop" to help them stay with the flow of the class, or maybe you start adding in more quad stretching in the prone section or encourage a person to try and come early and use the barrel, or...if a towel isn't enough, you can try a roller or a small arc/barrel and they can just have it near by. The point is to use the connections to open the body vs. more strategies for "getting it right"