“Core Stability” - from my point of view
The term, core stability, is used by many exercise regimens these days. Does the concept have value? Well, to me, it does… a bit.
To me, core stability is a quality that the core attains and maintains NOT by being directly strengthened by any particular exercises but rather as a result of MOVING already existing tension within the body to new places and RELEASING it from its current location. No direct strengthening is required to develop what I would call “core stability.” Direct strengthening can cause freezing or fixing of breathing, of the shoulders, of anywhere in the core, which no self-respecting organism, which we should be, would want.
People who have been on this site, even for a short time, should know my simplest image, Calm Up and Tense Down. That image already states that you are not actually “getting rid” of any tension nor are you purchasing any calm from anywhere else. You are using your current unnecessary and inappropriate tension, moving it, and turning it into “intention.” Simultaneously, you are taking that which is at ease in your body, maybe even flaccid, moving it, and turning it into “calm.” Try the simple image exercise for a moment and you should sense what I mean by tension becoming intention as it moves downward. This intention is not specific, like “I am going to buy an apple at the store” but it is a “readiness” of sorts. If you have “calmed up” as well as “tensed down,” you are experiencing increased “core stability,” calmness and readiness. (And, more than before, you are grounded and up at the same time.)
Here are some other simple-to-explain images that will also increase core stability without involving any direct strengthening. Act out as well as imagine the instructions within each sentence separately. Wait for a moment for any effect you might experience. Then go on to the next sentence/exercise:
Sit while imagining that you are standing.
Stand while imagining that you are sitting.
Tip your head down while imagining that your head is tipped up.
Tip your head up while imagining that your head is tipped down.
Clasp your arms around your chest while imagining that they are spread wide open.
Spread your arms wide open while imagining that they are clasped around you chest.
If you do not rush through this exercise but wait and allow some shifts that “want” to take place in your body to do so, you will see that a certain RELEASED “core stability” develops in your body… that is not fixed or frozen. Rather, the gracefulness in your movements eminate from the edges of your body (what I call the dorsal-ventral seam) and move inward and around your body only as far as is necessary. What is not needed in a movement remains stable… and in the “stable,” at rest.
As always, I would love to get any feed back… except spam.
March 24th, 2010 at 9:48 am
Below I have attached part of an email I received with some comments and suggestion from a reader who prefered to indirectly post them:
G’day John,
I often stop by your web site to remind myself of your imagery techniques and ideas - and I would post a comment on your blog if I wasn’t so paranoid about internet security. However, apart from wishing to thank you for a very informative and helpful site, I wanted to comment on your recent post, ‘Core Stability…’
I found the principle of moving a body part in one direction while thinking in the other quite easy to grasp with some, almost immediate, sense of release… especially in the neck area (tipping the head down while imagining it tilted up). I was quite easily able to transfer this imagery to all my moving parts with some success… eyes looking left while thinking them right; arms held high, while imaging them flopped down etc. I was able to feel a whole lower body release-and-tense sensation while imagining my legs swinging as if on a playground swing while sitting still. Perhaps these suggestions might be useful to others?
May 17th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Hi John,have just come across your PRI web page, what a revelation. I did your lamb and egg exercise in a meditation. and ended up being the lamb, protecting an egg, and also being the egg and feeling safe in the arms of life. It was awesome for me, as I have an anxiety problem. Also the exercise of moving my body in one direction while thinking the opposite, helped me enormously. Thank youx
May 17th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Rita,
Thanks for your comments. Keep on exploring to see what works for you and what you learn. Also, feel free to ask here or email me privately with any comments or questions that might come up. My drawings aren’t perfect nor are my imagery directions. So miscommunication can occur.
Cheers,
John