Center

Moving Living through your center

Even though most of what is discussed in this post has to do with movement, there is more to it than that- living through your center effectively also refers to the way in which we breathe.

Many of us take deep breaths and our bodies noticeably rise, whereas a correct breath begins and ends from within our low bellies.

In fact, there should be no visible upward change created as a result of our breathing unless of course we are under water where the breath quite literally controls our buoyancy, like a swim bladder in fish. In this case, simply maintaining your breathing is the easiest way to sustain time needed to tread water. Food for thought if you ever find yourself in such a situation- just lay on your back, tuck your chin towards your chest and focus on remaining calm while taking small sips of air in-and-out. The air in your lungs should be enough to keep you afloat with relatively no effort apart from maintaining steady breathing. Ditching your clothes also will help a ton!

I digress..

Combining low-belly breathing along with the below core activation suggestions, I believe you will find great improvements in your ability to maintain balance as you are fundamentally moving from a place of strength and confidence, especially when moving deliberately slow, such as during a stalk.

Consider the following..

The wisdom of toddlers

As life often surprises us in the most hilarious of ways, recently I have found myself seeking wisdom from toddlers and, most specifically, the unique way they project their belly outwardly when walking or simply standing on their two feet admiring something.

Chances are if you’ve seen them do this then you’ve also noticed their “buddha belly”; a noticeable protrusion in their center denoting an unconscious choice their body is making to better enhance the balance of its host.

The genius is that these toddlers are wholly unaware about the notion of sucking in their bellies to appear trimmer or have flatter abs; their belly is simply serving as a necessary “training wheels” counterweight to assist in maintaining better balance since their bodies haven’t developed the strength to handle prolonged movement or standing with the subtle grace adults have.

Why is this interesting?

Well, many of us are led to believe that it is important to have a flat stomach in our day and age of beauty and fitness and I am no exception to feeling this way. In fact, I often find myself- even unconsciously- “pulling my navel in” and am even instructed to do so for certain yoga poses.

So what’s wrong with pulling your navel in?

You’re giving up your core strength!

I have found that when my core is “activated” (at its strongest) that it is actually not pulled in at all, rather it is pushed out through my center (ie, against my belt buckle). In trying this, you may notice by gentle poke that the core muscles are hard and resemble more of a tree trunk when the core is pushed outward.

And conversely, I have found that when my navel is “pulled in” that I noticeably lose strength and balance; that, contrary to what I believed, my core is actually not activated at all, rather it is relaxed. For if it were activated, then I would feel core muscles pushing outward against my belt buckle; even gently poking the muscles in my core when it is “sucked in” betrays the strength that I am led to believe is there because the muscles feel noticeably softer and almost “off-duty.”

How can you activate or flex your core muscles while simultaneously pulling them in?

Don’t believe me? Try it.

Core activation comparison

Stand on one leg.

Suck your belly in.

Feel your strength, if there is any. Feel the wind. Feel the earth. Do you think a gentle push could knock you off balance?

Recover and repeat the process.

This time, push your low belly out against your belt buckle (or where it would be if you we wearing one).

Become aware of how grounded you feel. Feel the wind. Feel the earth. Do you think a gentle or even more forceful push could knock you off balance?

Squash the spider

When I was learning to ski, my instructor used to tell me to imagine a spider in my boot just in front of my shin. In order to keep my weight forward, he always told me to make sure to “squash the spider.”

After being told this enough times, it eventually became second nature and I have since kept my shins pushed against the front of my boot which has dramatically enhanced my skiing abilities since.

So, what am I suggesting?

Squash the spider!

Imagine there’s a spider between your belly and your belt buckle, or imagine where your buckle would be if you were wearing one and squash it.

This will likely be awkward or uncomfortable at first as you will struggle to both breathe fully while also pushing out at the same time, but give it time and be easy on yourself as you learn to make it second nature. In fact, your breathing will fundamentally have to change as a result because if you revert to vertical breathing (or breathing through your chest in an upward way), then you will lose your ability to push out from your low belly and continue squashing the spider.

So, it would seem the only way to effectively be able to continue “squashing the spider” and breathing at the same time is to adopt low-belly breathing.

Going further

Now that the basics are addressed, go even further by learning to open your hips and push your breath even deeper down into your low belly.

A good exercise for those with tight hips would be to find a set of stairs, take a seat, position your legs outward on the below steps and while keeping your back as straight as possible, push forward through your low belly as if you are trying to spill your “buddha belly” out onto the below step.

This will likely feel very awkward and you may even feel like you are simulating being a pregnant woman trying to breathe while transporting a ball of life within the low part of your abdomen, especially when you see women holding their stomach from the side when they are towards the end of their term and are clearly moving

Sumo

As a closing thought, consider sumo wrestlers and the way they carry their weight around.

If their sole focus is ensuring balance, strength and a low center of gravity to prevent them from getting pushed out of a ring, maybe it makes sense for them to focus a great deal on moving from their center.

• Core