Dear students,

Welcome to the Perfecting Everyday Moves course! 

I am delighted and honored to be your teacher and want to make the five classes very beneficial. 

Here is a recap of the first session and suggestions for best results.

The main objective of the entire course is to discover and implement new and better movement patterns for the activities you perform hundreds, if not thousands, of times every week.

A daily practice of paying attention to ordinary (seemingly prosaic) activities and consciously rehearsing more pleasant, smoother, and efficient motion is a game-changer for:

• Healing your injury and troubles
• Better performance
• Growth – improved quality of being (less frantic, anxious, rushed, distracted… the list goes on)

Learning objectives for week 1:

1. Become aware of the effort you use throughout the day. Contemplate: “Could I use less effort?” when opening doors, tying shoes, or brushing your teeth.
2. Sit-to-stand transfers: Make the forward movement of your trunk, spine, and pelvis around your hips an obvious strategy for getting up from a seated position. Reverse when sitting down.*

*In some cases, when hip motion is painful or restricted, forward movement of the trunk and pelvis is not possible or advisable. As with all our suggestions, please search for the ones that feel best. There is no such ultimate, perfect action that fits all.

3. Rolling in bed:

• Experience the five strategies for rolling from back to side-lying.
• Find out which is the easiest.
• Rehearse it three times in the morning and at night.

How to practice:

1. Please participate in the live session or replay it. If you can, do the recording again.
2. Journal—Jotting down your insights can be very helpful. It’s even better to post your experiences and “a-ha” moments in the “Comments” section under each video. Learning together with others has a solid additional value.
3. Watch and practice the 13-minute video on “Rolling in Bed and Getting Up.”
4. Practice the preparatory trunk movements for sit-to-stand and rolling in bed at least twice daily—even 3 repetitions of each will do! However, as with any practice, more attentive repetitions will solidify learning.
5. Post questions in the Comments sections under each Youtube video. Such questions might give me ideas for being more helpful. I may record additional short videos or provide more precise instructions. Others can learn from your questions, too! 

Rolling from lying on your back to your side and getting up to sitting.

Common problems: 

1. Straining, excessive effort. 
2. Getting tangled under the covers (especially those weighted ones).
3. Poor position in bed—You want to find the best position in bed, not too close or far from the edge. If you are too close, your risk of falling shows up, and your nervous system knows it! You are likely to tense up. 
4. If you feel comfortable rolling onto one side only, you might be better off asking your partner to change sides in bed because getting up from the other side might be easier for you (altering habits might be very good for you!). If your bed is next to a wall, reversing head/feet orientation might be the answer.
5. Getting up at night to pee – risk of falling (little light in the bathroom might be helpful).
6. High beds, low beds, and futons—sometimes, the bed’s height may require you to learn how to get up from the floor or safely step down from an elevated surface.

Vulnerable areas:

1. Low back pain.
2. Neck pain – the whole business of pillows.
3. Shoulder pain – side lying
4. Trochanteric bursitis – side lying
5. Hamstring/calf cramps when scooting in bed.

Rolling to the right practice ideas:

1. Bend the left knee and find the best position to stand the foot. In such a position, your knee is poised over your foot with minimum to no muscular effort to maintain the leg standing. Common mistakes:
   1. The foot positioned too far from the buttock often leads to hamstring cramps (Charlie horse in the back of your thigh) and prevents you from developing a powerful push-off.
   2. Knee tilting (falling) inward or outward doesn’t allow for the generation of powerful push-offs.
2. Slide your right arm on the bed away from the body. You do not want the arm to be a “brick under a wheel” that prevents your torso and ribs from rolling onto the side. Get your right arm out of the way.
   1. “My shoulder hurts when I lie on my side.” One strategy is (drum roll please, to accentuate the words of wisdom): don’t do it. Avoid actions that cause pain and irritation. But before you do that, try the following strategy: place a rolled towel or a small pillow under your rib cage below your shoulder. Such a prop will take the weight off your shoulders. Solid support (platform) under the ribs and head is an instant solution for many. 
3. Bring your left arm across your chest so the left shoulder does not interfere with rolling by hanging behind. Try reaching over to the left or placing your left hand on your chest or belly so the arm moves together with your body.

I hope you have found this recap helpful. Once again, please use the comments section to ask questions or share your discoveries. There is no such thing as silly questions—actually, those are the best. Trivial stuff is often the most profound!

Thank you for your curiosity, interest, and diligent practice.

See you in the next class.

Upwards & onwards.

Marek