The article proceeds into a detailed stress analysis of a forward dance step. Another article addressed to Scottish Country Dancers, with more general information on the application of closed kinetic chains to warm-ups. The focus of this article is on designing warm ups that better prepare one for actual stresses of an activity. These stresses typically occur with muscle loading and simultaneously in multiple planes, including rotational torque. We consider aspects of conditioning our core muscles and in tuning the loading of exercise to the progressive stages of rehabilitation.
Movement is human.
Unlike the static structural balance of trees, our balance and alignment are dynamic and ever changing. We possess the freedom to walk, run, bend, stand ,and sit at the cost of continual small muscular corrections. Beneath the gross volitional control of our movements and balance flow the neuromuscular patterns that we long ago learned and practiced until they became unconscious parts of us. This articles is a brief introduction to how imagery can be used to reprogram neuromuscular coordination and create alignment and balance without creating tension. It draws on the work of optimizing these functions developed by the lineage of ideokinesis instructors including Lulu Sweigard, Barbara Clark, Mabel Todd, Irene Dowd, and Eric Franklin.