Today we are going to be talking about one of my favorite phrases: more core. What does it mean, why is it so important, especially right now in this holiday season? The core is important for controlling, harnessing, and moving energy within the body, and the holiday season is one of the most important times to maintain your inner energy.
What is the core?
While most assume it’s just the abdominals, the core is truly a channel and conduit of renewable energy. It is the area of our body which houses our life. The core is important for controlling, harnessing, and moving energy within the body.
Why is the core important?
The core will allow you to move and breathe with ease and depth of breath, and without recognizing this, we do a disservice to most all functional and fitness practices. A stronger core also helps keep your stress levels lower–think about it, when you pay more attention to your breath, your cortisol levels are more controlled.
What do you do?
If possible, lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Feel the imprint you are making on the floor. Take a few breathes in, and place your hands on the tops of your pelvis, with your fingers angling toward the pubic bone, and your thumbs near your navel. Pull all of this together as you exhale. When you have no breath left, pull that feeling down towards your back. Can you feel that sense of energy spreading?
Deepen by pushing into your feet and pulling your body up into a low bend.
Try this:
Put your hands on your hips and imagine you are holding a basin filled with water. Tip your pelvis forward, and notice what is happening in your back body and your front. Repeat and tip your pelvis backward. When you tip forward, your abdominals should become softer while your back muscles tighten, and the opposite should happen when you tip your basin back.
This is to give you an idea of the relationship between your lower back and abdominals. Neither should be chronically tight or weak.
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