You Look the way you Move!!!

An excellent blog post by Circular Strength Training coach Bao Tran (to find out more about Circular Strength Training, visit www.rmaxinternational.com or if you live in Sweden, check out CST Coach Ola Lindblom's website: http://professionaltraining4u.com), who notices a very interesting connection between the way we move and our mental state:

"On a very rainy Friday night over Japanese Yakitori at NYC’s St. Mark, I had a chance to listen to the thoughts and feelings of Ms. Yin Yue, professional dancer, celebrity trainer, and one of Tracy Anderson’s top instructors. Over our Japanese comfort food and beers (well I had beer and she didn’t), she mentioned one of Tracy Anderson’s beliefs about fitness, which was very similar to what I learned from Coach Scott Sonnon.
Dance and fitness Trainer to the stars like Madona and Paltrow, Tracy Anderson www.tracyandersonmethod.com believes that “you look the way you move”. When I asked Yin what she meant by her statement Ms. Yue gave me an example from her discipline of dance. A Hip Hop dancer wouldn’t look like a professional ballet dancer because they move differently which in turn reflects their mental state. Likewise a ballet dancer wouldn’t look or think like a Hip Hop professional dancer.
Interesting…
Her comment made me reflect deeply about my own potential for flow, athleticism, health, and fitness. How is my current training program changing my whole appearance, mood, and brain? This is a really profound idea which many fitness enthusiasts rarely consider while exercising.
How many times do you think gym members are reflecting how their choice of exercise is changing their movement potential, brains, and holistic being? Not many but I am going to help you change that right now.
I was not thinking about bodybuilding per se when I meditated on Tracy Anderson’s belief. I can see how and why body builders adopt a rigid mentality based on their choice of exercise. While their training does effectively build muscle mass it also builds an invisible prison for their joints and connective tissues. Ask a professional body builder honestly if he or she feels healthy and pain free. Yes, the “no pain-no gain” mentality is the reason why you look the way you do.
Many people like me who got hurt from Body Building and who got jaded when it didn’t help me improve my martial arts game return to and explore the health and fitness alternatives such as dance, yoga, martial arts, and much older strength training systems than body building such as sports, gymnastics, Olympic lifting, clubbell athleticism, and kettlebell training.
What do these health and fitness alternatives has over body building?
What is the missing secret ingredient to health and fitness?
Movement sophistication.Yes, the missing key is movement, which is the key to health, longevity, and optimal performance. Anyone who has been researching the marvels of neuroscience can see the connection between movement base training and wellness. The human body has evolved and is wired to move multi-dimensionally and dynamically until it dies".

You can read the rest of Coach Tran's post here: http://fit2flow.wordpress.com

Before you go there, have a look at this video of Feldenkrais method practitioner Ruthy Alon exploring spiral movement to raise herself from a lying down to a sitting to a standing position. The video commentary is just as interesting: "Your individual, unique way of moving reflects not only the level of wellness, but your entire personality, the way you see yourself taking a place in the world", claims Alon. Well, what do you think???