Beauty in movement?
The solution to many problems of aging!
Beauty in movement! It’s all around us! Join the dance of life!
Having a background in the way liquids move, I became sensitized to beauty in movement. The dance of life. Best book I ever read on the topic, was, ‘Life in Moving Fluids: The Physical Biology Of Flow,’ by Steven Vogel. I was fortunate to visit Steven’s lab one day, years ago, at Duke University. There I saw a Harris Hawk, flying in a wind tunnel. Suspended in front of my eyes! Finely tuning it’s wing feathers for stability, as Steven changed the air flow rate. A thing of incredible beauty!
We also came across a flow tank in his lab. Steven had designed it, to investigate the swimming skills of squid. This we copied, and used in our flow lab for at least a decade, to investigate airflow in the nose. Such studies changed the way I view the beauty of movement. As in the milk (now soy creamer) swirling around, as it mixes with my morning tea. Take a look: You’ll see stream lines and shedding vortices, forming the dance of complex flow. All due to physical interactions between cold milk (soy!), hot tea, walls of the cup, and the air above.
We use three tools. Rebecca and I, as we work to find simple and inexpensive body movement solutions to aging and sports-related issues, such as plantar fasciitis, ITBS, and that bugaboo of the elderly, sore feet.
- Watching! Open-minded observation is an essential tool for any therapist. Doctor or veterinarian. People with chronic plantar fasciitis, sometimes send us videos. Showing them standing and walking. Rebecca and I proceed to determine any underlying movement issues. Simply by watching. This often leads to solution recommendations, based on improving the fluidity of their movement. To great effect in some cases. Their progress depends on, (1) the accuracy of our diagnosis [Legal disclaimer: We provide therapeutic movement instruction, not medical advice], and (2) their dedication to the movement solution. Our approach is not a pill, an injection, surgery or a gizmo in box. By the way: Do you want to hone your body movement skills. Observe animals. All types of animals, from birds to elephants. And cats, of course!
- Reading! It was moving back and forth, on my iPhone, from the Kindle to the Nook, that gave me the idea for this blog post. There is no need for such functions to be ugly. Steve Jobs knew this, chewing holes in the profits of IBM, through the application of beauty to Apple products – I’m using one now.
- Researching! This starts with data collection. Followed by seeking patterns in the data. If you haven’t already, please fill out our plantar fasciitis treatment effectiveness survey. It will only take a minute to help us work to push back the boundaries of our ignorance of this horrible condition.
Life is good, if you dance, rather than plod, across the surface of our beautiful planet.
Read Steven’s book, and see everything around you in a new, more dynamic, way. From the birds in the trees, to the leaves on the trees.
Fluid flow sculpts the beauty of nature, including the way you move. You are 70% water!
Yes! Beauty in movement! One key to healthy aging.
Wishing you happy trails,
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