In this session I tried to cover some of the basic foundation moves and concepts/ideas that will serve as the base pathways for you to build.
This whole session in a way is a demonstration with ideas for you to practice, pick anything you like and add it to your practice. I will be following up on these concepts and moves in shorter workout videos.
Remember repetition leads to comfort and in comfort you will find flow and freedom. Slowly improving, getting used to the movements is key. Patience and practice - 1% mentality.
Below you will find an approximate timeline of the session with commentary and links to the moves and concepts covered in the video as well as cut outs from the session to quickly remind yourself what are the exercises.
0 min: Introduction. Keeping balance and "rocking" exercises while standing up
Looking into balance and basic weight shifting whilst standing up. This is the base, you can always do these small exercies like rocking from toe to heels, shifting your weight.
Do a warm beforehand if you feel you need to. Generally I would suggest you do it, because i almost always do a morning warm up and move a lot so my body is kind of ready to move. This particular move could be a warm up exercise on its own. Maybe small ankle rotations beforehand could be a pre-warmup for this.
- Weight on toes > heels, back and forth
Try to feel these motions as your rock back and forth, notice how your upper body feels how relaxed you are. Try to slow down, see how when you reach a peaking point that your body wants to "fall" roll down to a more stable position.
- Rocking sideways
An intro move you can do anywhere, trying to feel a swining motion to it, a continious change of dynamics going left and right. Try to feel your whole body in this movement.
4 min: "Penguin" rocking 🐧
A simple move to build the understanding the dynamics impluse . We stay on the whole foot, shifting our weight from left to right leg. Also pay attention to your whole body, how it feels, relax and tense it just enough to do the move.
You can try rotation with this move, both directions.
6 min: More on balancing on the feet
A quick recap and more variations, other exercises.
- Building up for heel/toe position. One leg will find weight on the toes and the other one on the heel.
Do this on both sides to build some understanding , eventually we want to achieve a fluid change like on the video below. Take your time and build up every other or everyday.
10 min: Rotating your feet and following with the body.
Looking into how we can combine both feet and body in turns.
We are building on top of our previos feet balance exercies. Now we are going to turn our whole body together with one foot and this opens up a door to shift the weight and continue the motion of the turn.
13 min: Arm swings as a way to start the dynamic and follow the impulse. A combination of arm and leg movement.
An introduction on how an arm swing can be a start of a dynamic impulse.
Generally what we are doing with the flow movement, we set an impulse and follow it. Eventually we just feel the impulse from inside and follow the flow as it goes through you.
Another way of swinging your arms and chaning the support from left to right leg.
17 min: Coming back to steps with rotations and an intro into "sliding" on the floor with the feet.
Looking into slides and keeping balance on one leg, ways to approach full body rotations using legs and feet. How these steps can go into level changes, from standing up to sitting down and the floor level.
Feet and body rotation - lets repeat what we looked at before the arm swings.
An exercise for slides. Standing really solid on one leg and just sliding the other one front and back, left and right, diagonal - everywhere you can go.
21 min: Sitting down in a deep squat and modifications
This one might be tricky, I will make a separate article on how sit like this, how to build up to that. Meanwhile you can do your own research and come back to this particular exercise later.
Look for Diamond Pose for Beginners and «Yoga for Ankles & Knees». These are deepseek recommendations. Also practicing squats can help you improve the flexibility to sit in this pose eventually.
Some poses might not be that easily accisible but do not get discouraged, pick up on a morning or an evening routine and slowly stretch - it will do a lot of good for you to gain more flexibility in your body.
22 min: Warming up the fingers and talking about wrist and finger transitions and dynamics.
A bunch of different methods to warm up your fingers and wrists. Try them out and incorporate some in your practice.
- Transition between fingers/wrist positions
- Backside of the palm
- Open Palm
- Fingers middle joints
- Claw
- Half Knucles
- Knuckles
You can easilty practice this against the wall, sometimes you can do some of the exercies from the video in a bus for example, just learning to bend fingers individually etc. It is generally a good idea to find moments to practice in your everyday life.
Mastering these positions will greatly help you to learn to wave and the other way around, if you practice the wave you will understand this better. The wave is a great flow style of dance or even as a separate element it is great to have.
36 min: Crouching toddler/cat position and where we can go from this move.
This is good to build up strength in your arms and wrists as well as getting used to "touch" the floor with your knees and toes. Use kneepads or just practice this on a yoga mat, eventually you'll be able to do it on the floor.
Looking into toddler walk and where we can move from this position. With practice your knees will get used to the roughness of the floor.
40 min: Talking and showing different positions sitting down and the way one can transition.
More of a demonstration with some explanation. On how our elbows work and what the shape change can offer. If this seems challening - start with the exercises against the wall starting on 42 minute mark.
But its good to look at it to get an idea on what it is about.
42 min: Exercises for arms against the wall. Introducing the "dinosaur" arm position.
What is that position and how to practice elbow contraction and extensions and what pathways that opens.
Exercise against the wall, elbow pushup.
"Dinosaur" arm shape
48 min: Looking into arm transitions against the wall.
Contracting hands into "dinosaur" shape and why these shapes are important.
New shape - "karate chop".
A lot of the basics you can practice against the wall and then bring it to the floor.
Rotating the arm opening and closing the palm
Karate chop position
Rolling into a dino hand and rocking the body with the motion
Rolling in and going sideways or to the back
- We have the following exercises against the wall
- Karate chop support
- Transition between palm on the wall to karate chop and back
- Transition to dino hand position
- Connecting penguin rocking with these rolls
- Doing pushups from the wall with different arm shapes
- Try to reach the shoulder and touch it as your roll into dino hand.
I strongly reccommend "digging" from different directions towards the flow state: Which are mind power and inner child, explore these categories as well
