Ikigai (生き甲斐) is a Japanese concept referring to something that gives a person a sense of purpose, a reason for living. Japanese have basically a word for any concept that in other languages requires lots of words (except German, obviously). The term compounds two Japanese words: iki [生き, meaning ‘life; alive’] and kai (甲斐, meaning...
Author - Brian
When this writer was a pre-teen living in southern Africa, coming from Connecticut, he was astonished to see people comfortably carrying heavy loads on their heads.1 This was more common than seeing things carried in the arms. This was so novel a sight that it may have imprinted his interest in manual and movement therapies – how can the...
John Upledger’s concept of the “Still Point” is a central element in craniosacral therapy, a form of alternative treatment he developed. This concept is based on the idea that the body possesses a natural rhythmic movement within the craniosacral system, which includes the membranes and fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord...
Our ability to move is governed by non-conscious stimulus-response patterns called reflexes. Although some of the responses are learned, there is a vast amount of involuntary, automatic engagement of our bodies in our actions. As we do not willfully engage with these patterns it is somewhat difficult to get a sense that they are even present...
The mission of manual and movement therapies is to improve the functional/structural performance of the human (or other animal) body. Often these modalities orient to alleviating pain, but goals including enhanced athletic performance are commonly encountered. Similar to how modern medical practice is “siloed” – where...
SafetyFeeling secure is fundamentally opposed to feeling endangered. Without the presence of potential dangers, our sense of security would be meaningless. Protective instincts have evolved to a point where the responsibility for being alert to possible threats can be entrusted to certain individuals whose primary role is to watch for dangers...
Understanding the complexity of the mechanics involved in Tensegrity structures, which appear similar to mechanical principles employed in nature, is challenging. In this post, a simple, reduced tensegrity structure is mathematically modeled to present the type and degree of complexity of the tools utilized to analyze these systems. The underlying...
INTRODUCTIONThis post collates materials not directly associated with the focus of this blog – materials clarifying manual and movement therapy outlines and guidelines. Deviating from this theme, this post presents developments and concepts this writer is curious about and interested in following and is presented here within this formulation...
Inhabiting a sphere mostly covered by water makes prime real estate something of an issue. One method we have utilized to address this constraint is adding additional stories to our structures. Initially, we transitioned between levels using ladders, utilizing the biomechanical attributes our ancestors evolved to navigate the forest canopy. At...
Our sense of self rests upon a multilayered morphology that evolved from a single-celled organism into a potentially multi-planetary species. Each more complex evolutionary layer rests upon and is supported by an underlying more ancient morphology that experienced success within its surroundings1. Each of these layers has unique characteristics...