Jon Hinds , a renowned fitness instructor, has been studying, teaching and writing about fitness for more than 20 years. When he pointed out the absurdity of exercising my muscle groups in isolation, and the fun of moving my entire body, my interest in fitness finally returned. For 25 years I had been a desk-ridden homeopath and teacher, although previously I was an active martial artist for many years.
The exercise schemes sold on the television I bought several were just not much fun to do alone in my living room. Jon introduced me to a mentality toward fitness training that is enjoyable and makes sense. He warned me that even if I avoided the "ab-rollers" and the weight lifting machines of the world, I may still fall prey to the "core stabilization" programs and become fixated on core stabilization. "There are whole programs on core training," Jon said to me. "I don’t agree that you should solely focus on strengthening the central core of your body. To do so is good, but it is not enough. In my mind your core is your whole body. Instead of saying core, I use the term alignment stabilization. Whatever is the first point of resistance in your exercise , be it your feet or hands or head, from that point on, you have to be stabilized."
Jon went on to explain why. "If I am in a handstand, my hands are the first point of resistance resisting the ground and the force of gravity. My hands and feet have to stabilize first and foremost when pushing a car. If they are in poor alignment, the next joint up the line will be in poor alignment too. For example, people With fl at feet have ankles that are in poor alignment - they lack stability. It is impossible to have stable knees if your ankles are out of alignment - it’s a domino eff ect - your ankles, your knees and then your hips. In reality, if you have back pain, you might have a foot problem. If you exercise With misalignment and don’t correct it, your problems will come to the surface quicker in the form of pain and possible disability. You could work your core all the time, but if you aren’t working it correctly, from the extremities in, then you are missing the boat. It’s impossible for the domino eff ect not to occur."
I asked Jon how he works to prevent this domino eff ect. "One of the things I do is I intermix yoga With modern fitness styles," he replied. "I teach you to stabilize the entire body, beginning With your first point of contact With resistance which is usually the ground or fl oor. The greater stability you have at each joint the less likelihood you have of injury. Yoga has been around for thousands of years and focuses on alignment of the whole. The better we place our head, feet, hand and butt on the ground With more stability and more squareness to the ground, the more prepared we are for a dynamic natural exercise, such as running, jumping and climbing.
"When you start to do hatha yoga , you naturally learn how to stabilize your joints. Adults lack this basic stability today and then when they try to do some basic calisthenics they are terrible at them.
Consequently, they are more apt to get injured. Much of the fitness industry furthers this problem by not acknowledging the fact that you should stabilize on your own. Instead, they provide you With machines to sit on." Jon went on to point out that even in the practice of yoga it is important to be mindful of how you do your practice, and explained how an instructor or partner can be useful in this respect.
"A good yoga instructor provides you With essential feedback. You can go through a yoga sequence, but if you are not aware that you are out of alignment, you will adapt to mal-alignment and you will continue to do the movement sub-optimally. For those who do not have access to live instruction, if you do your exercises With regularity and awareness, there is a good chance that because you are constantly repeating each movement in a systematic fashion, eventually you will self-correct in the end. However, if you get feedback on certain areas that are collapsing and you strengthen those weakened muscles, then over a shorter period of time you will perform more efficiently. "Optimal feedback means working With an instructor or partner. A mirror does not provide enough feedback and mirrors can promote the ‘appearance’ mentality of body building. I want you to focus on fitness-based function and performance, not appearance.
"The feedback you can get from a partner should come in the form of encouraging internal resistance. To start With , your partner can put their hands on diff erent parts of your body that are collapsing so that you can work into those areas and strengthen them. Eventually you will develop an internal awareness of your body. Bring your attention to your areas of weakness so that you can work into them.
Pain is an amazing feedback mechanism. If your lower back is painful, try to resist into it, push into it, because these are the muscles that have collapsed. You want to engage into them instead of hanging in that position. Don’t hang! Instead straighten, extend and expand!
Lengthen and expand that area. Engage your muscles from the inside out, learn how they feel. Your tone, strengThand function will improve over time as you activate, contract or expand your body. Remember, engagement usually begins in the hands and the feet. But more importantly, please remember that freedom of movement is the ultimate goal.
"Everyone has imbalances in the body. Often times it is created through habit. All I do is try to create more balance in the body through basic movement and internal awareness. Yoga is the perfect exercise for working the synergy of the whole body." Jon continues to introduce yoga and fitness through his seminars and classes throughout the nation. He gave life to my hatha practice and continues to encourage me to push back from my desk everyday and go move, stretch and expand.
Thus, in this article we will introduce and enthusiastically recommend a unique and comprehensive system of exercise that has With stood the test of 5,000 years. This system is referred to as hatha yoga.
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