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More about pandiculation

Helen

This post follows on from my previous post describing how to pandiuculate. Read it here.


Pandiculation is a natural occurrence which happens in vertebrate animals. You yourself will have performed a pandiculation when you wake up in the morning and stretch. It is the body's natural way of re-setting muscular length after a period of rest. You will have observed a dog or cat doing the same thing when they awaken.


We need to re-set our resting muscular tension on a regular basis to avoid build up of chronic tightness. Chronic muscular contraction leads to postural imbalances, which eventually leads to pain and loss of function.


Classes and sessions here focus on voluntary pandiculation or self-movement, which means that you perform the movements actively, as opposed to having someone else manipulate your body with you being a passive participant. This way you are in control of your own learning, as this is an education. You are teaching yourself. Teaching yourself not only how you move, but how to move differently and with more ease.


Mindfully moving yourself through the pandiculations will give you the opportunity to tap in to how you are feeling in any particular moment, increasing your self-awareness. You are able to feel if you are pushing in to any pain or strain and mindfully decide where your boundaries are for moving comfortably and into more ease.


As in movement so in life. So in a larger context, as you increase self-awareness, find your own comfort levels and boundaries through somatic movement, this awareness can be taken off the somatic movement mat and into life as well.


The other beauty of self-pandiculating is that you can do it anywhere and any time you need. All you need is a space of floor. Even if you haven't got that (say if you're in an aeroplane) you can always find some way to pandiculate and practice your somatic movements, you just need to use a little imagination and exploration. You can experiment and have fun with it, learning more about yourself.



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© Helen Cheney 2020-2025

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