Movement

Your spine is more than just a support structure for your body—it’s the central structure that houses part of your nervous system, which relays information between you, your body and the external world. It plays a crucial role in your physical, mental, and emotional well-being. That’s why taking care of it through regular movement is vital. In this post, we’ll explore the importance of spinal movement, how it impacts your body, and how you can incorporate simple yet effective practices into your daily routine.

The Role of the Spine:

Within your spine, you’ll find the spinal cord, responsible for relaying information between your brain, other parts of your body, and the outside world. Within the spine you will also find Cerebrospinal Fluid, which not only plays a role in cushioning your spinal cord for protection, but also plays a key role in nutrient delivery and waste management. When your spine moves, it’s not just the bones that are in action. You’re also stimulating the spinal cord, which helps prevent stiffness, and ensuring that the cerebrospinal fluid flows freely, enhancing nutrient delivery and waste removal from your entire nervous system. Just as we brush our teeth and shower daily for hygienic purposes, our spines need daily movement to maintain their health.

Additionally, the spine is made up of 24 individual vertebrae, allowing for a wide range of movements, including flexing forward, extending back, bending sideways, and rotating. This incredible flexibility is no accident—the spine is designed to be the central pillar of your body. Your shoulders and hips are attached to it, so if your spine becomes stiff, the rest of your body will feel the effects. Limited spinal mobility can hinder activities like running, swimming, dancing, and any other movement involving your limbs.

Man practicing floor locomotion pattern balancing on one arm

Benefits of Daily Spinal Movement:

Dedicating just 5 to 15 minutes a day to spinal movement can lead to significant improvements in various aspects of your well-being, including:

Mood swings: Reduced tension and stress can lead to a more balanced emotional state.
Energy levels: Improved circulation and movement can give you a natural energy boost.
Sleep quality: Decompressing your spine can help you unwind and sleep better.
Breath: Spinal mobility can enhance your breathing by freeing up your chest.
Bodily tensions and discomfort: Regular spine movement can alleviate tension and prevent discomfort in your back and other areas.
Back pain: Keeping your spine mobile and strong can help prevent and reduce back pain.
Physical capacity: A mobile spine allows for better overall body movement, making you more capable in physical activities.

Getting Started with Spinal Movement:

A fun and eye-opening way to work on your spinal mobility is to learn the Spinal Wave. Though it may seem simple, there are many variations and steps to mastering this movement. Here are a few tips to help you build up to a fluid spinal wave.

1. Understand the Spine as Individual Units:

The spine is not a single, rigid unit but a series of smaller units that should move independently. A great beginner exercise to build this awareness is the Spine Wall Peel.

2. Differentiate the Three Major Parts of the Spine:

Cervical Spine: Runs from the crown of the head to the clavicle.
Thoracic Spine: Runs from the clavicle to the last rib.
Lumbar Spine: Runs from the last rib to the tailbone.

As you work on these areas, you might find that some parts of your spine are easier to move than others. This is a valuable observation. Stiff or painful areas often result not just from physical limitations but from a lack of awareness and connection between your mind and body.

A great drill to practice and enhance your spinal awareness is to work on Spine Peels of each section.

Cervical Wall Peels

Thoracic Wall Peels

Lumbar Wall Peels.

3. Create a Continuous Wave-like Pattern:

Once you’ve built some awareness and control, you can begin creating a continuous wave-like pattern through your entire spine. This can be challenging, but using the wall and your phone as feedback tools will help. Spend 2 to 5 minutes each day practicing this movement.

Here is how to get started on your Wall Spinal Wave (shown by Ido Portal founder of the Movement Culture)

Conclusion:

Moving your spine is one of the best ways to keep your nervous system relaxed and nourished, as well as ensuring that the rest of your body functions properly. Regular spinal movement can release stress, increase energy levels, and enhance your physical capabilities.

We’d love to hear about your experiences with spinal movement! Let us know if you have a spine movement practice, and share your thoughts with us.

Cheers,

Sebas

Movement Practitioner & Host of Casa Kandamy

This kind of spinal articulation is something we practice daily at Casa Kandamy. Contact us to learn more about what a stay at our Movement Coliving Space is like.

We often think we need access to a gym, a personal trainer or train multiple hours a week to improve our health. Although these are useful tools, they are not the only ones. I’m here to present a free and more accessible alternative, and the main tool we use here at Casa Kandamy.

We can improve our health without a gym or trainer by altering the environments we spend most of our time in, like our home or work space. How do we do this? We tweak everyday tools that often go unnoticed in these spaces, to our advantage so that they promote more movement. Things like our mattresses, lounge areas, and desks to name a few.

For example, instead of having your mattress high off the ground, you could remove the base of the bed and simply have your mattress directly or slightly off on the ground. Similarly, you could do the same with your sofa and you can even take it a step further, by placing cushions and mats on the floor so it's more comfortable to sit or lay on the ground. The idea here is to have these “tools'' closer to the ground.

Another area that has huge potential for more movement is our work space. The office space is synonymous with the desk, chair, and desktop. Sadly, most people in this area spend the majority of their time sitting in the same position. This is an issue because your tissue will begin to tighten and weaken, this is what leads to back pain, headaches, and breathing issues. These days there are innovative and creative alternatives to solve this sedentary problem.

The standing desk is one of them, as well as, an alternative desk that brings you closer to the ground (Check out Limberlife.co desks, we were inspired by their work to user their desk models here at Casa Kandamy) The benefits from these desks comes from changing your position and posture between sitting on the ground all the way to standing. This allows your body to MOVE through different positions. As a result, your body is constantly exploring different angles, ranges of motions, and positions which prevents one body part or parts to atrophy

Additionally, having an area where you can hang from such as a bar or a set of gymnastic rings will have a profound change in your body. While you hang you will decompress the spine and hips. All while, also strengthening your grip, forearms and shoulders. The benefits of hanging go well beyond just physical, but we will discuss these in a future blog entry.

Ok, so why do these alternatives work?

Your body is designed for a wide range of movement, we are the most versatile movement creatures of Mother Nature. In the present day, our environments are poor with movement, they actually promote LESS movement.

But if we alter our everyday environments just slightly, like I mentioned above, we go back to more patterns of movement that our bodies have done for centuries. Suddenly everything changes!

When we have to reach down to the ground to lay on our beds or sit on our sofas, we have to pass through a wide range of motion in our spines, hips, knees, and ankles. How many times a day will you repeat this pattern a day, and how many minutes a day will you accumulate in those deep positions? It’s difficult to say exactly how much, but I’m certain it will be more time than the one you spend in the gym trying to mobilize and strengthen your hips, knees, etc…

Opting for these changes will create an adaptation because you accumulate a lot of time in different positions, far more time than the one hour or two a day you spent in the gym or with your trainer. We focus not on those two hours (at best) but rather, we focus on the other 23 or 22 hours of the day we spent doing other daily activities.

This method of altering our environment to encourage more movement is exactly what Casa Kandamy was created for. Our beds are low on the ground, our lounge area has cushions and mats from organic materials so we can lay and sit on the ground comfortably. Our dining table and co-work space is low to the ground and just a few feet away we have monkey bars and a few sets of rings for hanging.

To be clear, we don't want to discourage training, we actually want to encourage more movement. But don't overlook the power the environment has on your health, start simply by observing if your environment is encouraging or discouraging movement in your pass-time. Every meal, night's sleep, day of work, or friends visit, we believe, is an opportunity to drastically improve your health.

Let me know what you think!

Unlocking Your Body’s Potential: The Importance of Daily Spinal Movement