If there is one aspect of movement I have found to be consistently in common with great athletes, dancers and musicians it is the capacity for fluid integrated subtle movement through the torso.
There is a way of doing this that doesn’t work though – or work anywhere near as well. That is to exhibit this style of movement but with too much tension in the body.
I have known dancers to easily be able to do the splits for example but their muscles are like highly strung piano wire – twang!!
Try this as an exercise with your friend / colleague.
Have them stand in front of you while you put your fore fingers gently on each shoulder – one say on the front of their right shoulder and the other on the back of their left shoulder.
Very very gently – feather light - start to rotate them towards their right – your left if you are in front of them. You are looking for their capacity to rotate their shoulders in relation to their pelvis. As soon as you feel even an ounce of resistance – stop. Most people will barely be able to rotate more than an inch or two before this ’stop’ moment turns up.
In fact a lot of people wont even get to move at all – it takes more than an ounce of strength to move them. What do I mean by an ounce of effort – say less than it would take to push over a glass of water.
You can even ask them to hold their pelvis to the front and only allow the shoulders to rotate.
A particularly well organised person can glide around well past 90 degrees. Remember, our criteria is with less than an ounce of resistance. You could probably move them much further with no physical harm with a bit of force but that isn’t our test.
If you do this properly you might just be amazed at how much tension you have been carrying and not noticing until now.
