I have spent quite a while developing my Exercise Workshop (being held in Skipton on July 4th, click here for details). And one of the major goals of it is to coach people to simply “move” better, safer and more efficiently. Because one thing I have noticed over the years, is how few people actually know what bits of their body are doing, and where those bits actually are!
She needs to know exactly where every part of her body is.
And knowing just where all your bodyparts (head, hands, feet, elbows, knees etc) are, is called proprioception. And it is vitally important for everyone, at every level. Basic level – Knowing where your own feet are so you can balance and not trip over them. Advanced level – A gymnast knowing where every part of their body is so they can pull off a complicated acrobatic trick. Without knowing the technical name for it, I now realise I first started to coach proprioception years ago in my Karate sessions. We had to be able to hit a moving, unpredictable target (opponents head/body etc) with small parts of our body (our fists/feet/knees/elbows etc). To be able to do this with any degree of success, you have to first know where your own fist is and where it is going. It sounds simplistic, but I have rarely seen this ability in many people who have not been fairly proficient in some sort of sport or dance. But the good news is that it is very easy to improve your own sense of proprioception. It only took a couple of sessions before one of my brand new Karate students were able to move confidently, safely and quickly in all directions (up, down, forwards, backwards, up and down). And it seems this is also what I will be mostly coaching in my Workshop. Simply coaching where peoples bodyparts (hands, feet, hips, chest etc) are, where they want to go to, and the best way to connect the two points. If you are interested in this ability to be self aware, and how to move well, book yourself into my Workshop by clicking here today!