Spiders, space and tensegrity

Can Spiders spin a web in space?

NASA ran a competition for school children to suggest experiments that could be done in space, and this question won.

So NASA sent a spider and lots of flies up in the space shuttle.

At first the spider created very messy webs but just as Robert the Bruce noticed the spider tried, tried and tried again, and eventually created working webs in weightless conditions- isn’t that amazing.

I discovered this incredible fact at the Smithsonian air and space museum in Washington DC. I had taken a few days holiday after attending the 1st Biotensegrity Summit and 4^th International Fascia Research Congress and on my last day decided to avoid the center of town and stay close to the airport and this ‘overflow’ museum in Dulles hit the spot. I was totally blown away by the scale of the building and the exhibits, which included a space shuttle! In one of the exhibit cases was this story about the spider.

Why am I telling you this?

Because the concept of tensegrity explains how the spider could build a web in space.

It’s appropriate that I was in Washington because tensegrity sculpture is celebrated at the Smithsonian Hirshhorn museum. Also, it was in Washington that Dr. Stephen Levin put the concept of tensegrity and living architecture together and invented the area of science called Biotensegrity. Dr. Stephen Levin was honoured at the 1^st Biotensegrity summit and spoke about his ‘eureka’ moment. 

What is tensegrity?  Buckminster Fuller created the word tensegrity out of two words tension + integrity, inspired by the sculptures of Kenneth Snelson. 

In Stephen Levin’s own words (2009)

” Tensegrity structures are omni-directional, independent of gravity, load distributing and energy efficient,hierarchical and self-generating. They are also ubiquitous in nature, once you know what to look for.”

A Snelson tensegrity model, The Needle, stands in the gardens surrounding the Hirshhorn museum, it is elegant and light in construction. The compressive elements float in the air, supported by the tensional elements. It satisfies both the eye and the intellect, I can see why Stephen Levin was so fascinated by the structure; you cannot tire of its simplicity.

Dr. Levin was looking for a reason why along with dinosaur footprints we do not find tail marks. The tails of dinosaurs are very long and the absence of tail marks means that they must have been held clear of the floor at all times. From his musings the concept of biotensegrity was born.  The concept explains why geese can fly with their necks stretched out long in front of them. –and a spider can spin a web in space????

In the earths gravitational field life uses ground force. Ground force opposes the gravitational downward force to provide tone tension and stability. Our bodies, along with every other living structures, continually negotiates these two forces using the biotensegrtiy concept, but what happens when ground force and gravity is taken away? When man first went into space one of the ways the body reacted to weightlessness was to lose some of the compressive structure, in particular the bones, and astronauts returned with varying degrees of osteoporosis. Subsequent space missions introduced weighted exercises to counter this side effect of weightlessness.

So how did the spider spin a web without ground force and gravity? Well at first it didn’t, the spider had to work it out.  A true tensegrity model is self supporting, it can be picked up, turned, compressed and still return to or maintain it’s shape. I doubt the web could be called a true example of biotensegrity because it needed to be attached to something, however the spider can. On a micro level (cell) and macro level ( whole organism) the biotensegrity concept explains how space is surrounded and stops the cell....Organism from collapsing in on it ‘self. In a body it creates space for organs and liquids. It explains how Fascia (connective tissue) can both connect and separate and provide sliding layers, protecting delicate structures like blood vessels during movement. This was beautifully demonstrated by Dr. Jean-Claud Guimberteau. At the congress he screened a 2 hour video revealing what fascia looks like in a living body, his beautiful pictures are a masterpiece of patience and skill and show just what the ancient anatomists missed because they did not have the technology to look inside a living body. Now we have the technology we cannot ignore what we have found.

As movement teachers we can use this new understanding of structure and anatomy. Understanding biotensegrity and the fascial system is now within easy grasp. Biotensegrity explains how we can hold yoga poses such as Warrior 3, the same biotensegrity model explains how we can use Pilates machines to achieve seemingly effortless movements which are difficult to do on a mat. The idea that this bodywide force transmission system, which is adaptable and continually changing to accommodate changes in load and movement, uses the concept of biotensegrity is liberating and exciting. Like the butterfly effect ( a small movement in one place can escalate into a large movement elsewhere) moving one part of the body effects the whole structure. From this we can show that dysfunction in one area can be caused by a restriction elsewhere.

Biotensegrity is a model that all teachers of movement should learn and understand, because knowing the model makes creative teaching possible.

Like Selson’s needle we can all be gracefully self- supporting, like the spider we can all persevere with our practice and discover our own internal web and we too can 

     

BE AMAZING.

Tracey Mellor © 2015

Rocking Reformer Revelation

Rocking Reformer Revelation

I know that Pilates teachers can get very excited about the smallest piece of Pilates equipment, and I am no exception. Remembering just how excited I got about my yellow reformer spring is frankly quite embarrassing. However I am unashamedly over the moon about the newest addition to the studio- my rocking reformer.

The Pilates reformer is a great machine, easy to use for the beginner and super challenging for the expert. It allows for creativity and flare, fits all the Fascial Fitness principals. You can use it as part of a regular workout, it soothes the mind and creates calm, with the addition of the bounce board it can reduce the fittest client to a sweaty pulp. It requires concentration and focus, it highlights imbalance in the body and magically creates the perfect conditions for self awareness and correction; in fact it has everything a pilates teacher and practitioner would want from a machine. So how to improve upon perfection? Add rockers.

I first saw the rocker kit on-line a couple of years ago, but was beyond my pocket at the time. It sat in the back of my mind until I attended the balanced body convention in London and there it was, already boxed up just waiting for my name to be scribbled on the lid. I resisted for 3 days and then gave in about 30 mins from the end of the last day. The rest is history! It is quite a wonderful addition to my studio and a firm favorite with my clients. One declared-

              “ it’s like working in 3D”

Yes, that’s exactly what it’s like.

So what is it?

The rockers transform the static base of a standard reformer into a giant balance board. There is a clever way to bring stability back to the reformer so it can still be used as normal. It stands higher off the floor, which is popular with my less mobile clients.

At first I used it in the conventional way, footwork, legs in loops, quadruped etc with the additional challenge of keeping central, balancing left and right, equalising weight on each side etc, everyone did really well, it encouraged greater focus and a certain amount of sub-conscious work as well as increased conscious self stabilization. It was fun and lots of laughter, especially when I briefly forgot it was on a rocker and I inadvertently leant on the foot bar and tipped the reformer to one side.

No one was seasick, everyone had a go and everyone reported back that they could feel the extra work required to stabilize in their bodies.

I was making the repertoire up as I went in those early days, mixing known exercises with this new addition.

Then I found a great on-line course by Elizabeth Larkin, who I had spoken to prior to buying the rockers and who was very excited by them. She used them in the rehabilitation of service men who had lost limbs in combat and who suffered with problems with their vestibular system (balance).

I took the course and the rocking repertoire she taught is just amazing.

In my studio we adapted this information, matched it with my clients needs and the results have been astounding. Increased balance and ease of gait; along with hours of laughter and focused mind/body work.

So far the best result has been from a client who has a mild cerebral palsy. Doing the simple rocking movements appeared to release so much tension in the hips that standing in parallel was possible. If this can be repeated, then it is the most wonderful of outcomes and we will be sharing the results with a wider community.

The rocking reformer repertoire is here to stay, it joins the other exercises and movements only possible on the Pilates machines. 

Tracey Mellor

September2015

Rehydrating Fascia using fascial release techniques.

Fascial Release

Over the last couple of years strange pieces of equipment have been appearing in Gyms and exercise studios around the country.

Rollers, spiky balls and other equipment used to inflict pain and sweet agony upon our-selves. In movement classes, Pilates Classes and Fascial Fitness classes, the instructors encourage you to roll and massage, lie on or over these balls and rollers.

Have you ever wondered what it is actually doing? It hurts so it must be doing us good- right?

Apart from being a way of challenging balance, ‘core’ and proprioceptive skills, all good reasons for using them, they are a way of releasing tension in areas of overuse, if that place is along a myofascial line then the release of tension may go beyond the immediate area of pressure. However their use to rehydrate the connective tissue or fascia is the less obvious but most important reason for use, to promote long-term fascial health and reduced injury, and perhaps to whole body health.

Why is rehydration of Fascia so important?

Lets remind our-selves of what Fascia is. Here is the definition adopted after the first International Fascia research congress:

Fascia is ‘all collagenous fibrous connective tissues that can be seen as elements of a body-wide tensional force transmission network.’ (Fascia in Sport and Movement, 2015).

Fascia is ubiquitous, it surrounds and separates muscles, bones, organs, nerves, indeed everything in our body, and until very recently it has been treated as a rather dull packing organ. But new research techniques and ways of measuring and seeing this colourless fibrous tissue has catapulted it into the limelight and it is now attracting worldwide attention and excitement amongst some of our most talented scientists.

Fascia, as defined above, (the medical profession has a more refined definition) is made up of cells and an extracellular matrix. The cells make up a very small part- about 5% and are mostly Fibroblasts, which act as builders and repairers of the extracellular matrix.

The matrix is made up of ground substance and fibres.

The fibres are mostly made of collagen and some elastin, the exact proportions varying according to location, load and use. These form what we think of as the body wide net.

The Ground substance is mostly water bound by proteoglycans (a form of protein).

All we need to know is that 2/3rds of fascial tissues, in volume, is made up of water, and our body is full of fascial tissues.  Healthy fascial tissue has a high proportion of a special form of water, known as bound water.

The first time I heard about bound water I was sitting in the underground International Fascial Research Congress hall in Vancouver in 2012. Gerald Pollack, PhD gave a ground breaking lecture on the magical world of water and the properties of Bound Water in our body. It was a little late in the day, we had been sitting all day in an airless room and yet no one left the hall, we all knew what he was saying was important and just a little controversial. Pollack produced slide after slide of why bound water was so important to health. His findings are still ‘new’ to science but the possibilities of his findings are opening up many new fields of research in every area of health.

Since the congress Pollack has gone on to publish his findings (The fourth phase of water. Beyond solid, liquid and vapor, 2013).

Pollack suggests that bound water has the characteristics of a liquid crystal and a higher elastic storage ability. The rest of the water found in fascial tissue is known as bulk water. Pathologies such as inflammatory conditions, oedema, accumulation of free radicals and waste products are linked with a shift to a higher proportion of bulk water in the ground substance of our extracellular matrix. So it makes sense to find ways to encourage and maintain a higher percentage of bound water in our fascia

When we roll on rollers or balls, spiky or smooth we are mechanically loading and stretching our fascial tissue, which acts like a sponge when squeezed. Particularly in more stressed zones when fascial release is performed the ‘polluted’ bulk water, full of inflammatory cytokines, free radicals and other by-products of stress and aging are squeezed out and refreshed with water from blood plasma which forms bound water, improving the ratio of bound to bulk water, and hopefully leading to a healthier ground substance and fascia.  I think that this is a good reason to incorporate fascial release techniques into your exercise routine.

However beware, rolling is not for everyone, there has been recent research, which questions the speed and depth and frequency of the release. Hours of painful rolling is not recommended.

So all these funny bits of equipment are here to stay and may be a way to healthier fascia and all the benefits that brings to us.

Tracey Mellor

March 2015 ©

All references are from Fascia in sport and movement 2015, DVD's of Fascia Research Congress 2012.

The magic of Jacobs ladder

Question: What do books on Fascia and buses have in common?

Answer: You wait for ages then two come along at once.

I have been waiting for the books: Fascia in sport and movement and Yoga Fascia anatomy and movement to be published for years and then they both arrived in the same box, on the same day, an abundance of information and ideas, too much to digest in one go, and consequently I have the equivalent of information indigestion. The rich diet served up by the wonderful authors was just too much for me, so I have had to slow down and read in smaller portions.

I have the great pleasure to include many of the authors and editors amongst my friends and acquaintances and I know how long they have strived to bring this information into the public domain. I recognise and remember the birth pangs of some of the ideas from Summer schools and gatherings of Fascia devotees. 

If you are interested in Fascia and movement then please log onto the Handspring publications website (http://www.handspringpublishing.com/publications/) and secure your copies now, you will not regret your purchase.

As some of my clients know, I have had fun playing with some of the content, indeed the editors of the Fascia in sport and movement, encourage the reader to open a conversation with the content of the book, to discover and make up their own minds about the ideas suggested by the authors; and so I thought I would share one of my observations with you in this blog.

I was flicking trough the Yoga book by Joanne Avison, and came across a picture of the children’s toy –the Jacobs Ladder.

Immediately I was transported back to a lecture theatre in Brussels watching Stephen Levin holding up this everyday toy as be gave a lecture on biphasic movement, it was fascinating to watch the movement of the toy, to remember back to childhood when I played with my own Jacobs Ladder and to realise that this simple toy could demonstrate and symbolize so many principles of movement. Later Joanne bought a couple of the Jacob ladder toys and we spent a frustrating couple of hours getting to grips with the concept Stephen lectured about and finally in the wee small hours there was a light bulb moment, in fact it was several light bulbs which continue to flash over the intervening years. How could such a small event make such a big ripple through my Pilates and movement teaching?.

I am playing with that Jacobs ladder toy now as I am sitting at my desk, continuously fascinated by this simple wooden and ribbon toy. I have even made a chocolate bar version (which didn’t last very long) to understand the way it worked and now want to share one small but significant aspect with you.

If you want to know all about the bio-tensegrity and how it relates to yoga teaching and movement then please read the beautifully written chapter 7 in Joanne’s book.

However the bite sized aspect I am interested in here is finding the silent stillness at the point of perfect balance just before the biphasic movement of the toy, i.e. just before the wooden blocks tumble down. It is in that pregnant pause, the point just before ‘no return’ that the effortful becomes effortless, the tension between the ribbons is equalised and the blocks are held in a seemingly magic suspension. It is in this moment that we can play, we can suspend time and we can discover the hidden tension, which is always there in a bio-tensentric body. The tissues of the body are never in a state of ‘no tone’, we may say we are relaxed but that is never truly the case unless we are anaesthetized or dead. In the space between, as can be shown so perfectly by the Jacobs ladder toy, we have a choice, possibilities exist, balance and movement flow from that point.

In the Pilates studio we can place the body into shapes, which mimic this space between, where it is relatively effortless and where we can play with the possibilities. In the studio we played with recognizing these points of balance, tone but minimal effort, points of choice. The clients experienced the calm silence of the space, a time of self-perception.

All movement moves from and too, between these points, from a simple breath, to a complicated exercise. It is the magic of that point that I would love everyone to find in his or her own movement practice.

Over the last year we have been involved in a project where we took scientific concepts relating to our connective tissue (fascia) and using movement, we tested them. From out of this project has evolved a creative movement system Connective IQ movement and Self -perception is key to the way we teach.

Just like Christmas chocolate eaten quickly, the glut of detail and information quickly read in these two books is soon regretted as it formed a log-jam in my brain, instead, I realised that a little exquisite taste can be fully appreciated, digested and savored every once in a while and that is how I will now proceed. As invited by the editors, I will contemplate on the content and make up my own mind. There is so much that it may take some time, however, I look forward to opening that conversation with my own body and with my clients, I foresee lots of fun ahead.

Tracey Mellor

© 2015