This is a guest week brought to you by Gilles Cherix

Now that we’ve build the habit of paying attention to our body at least 7 minutes a day, let’s add a layer and incorporate some Franklin into our day-to-day movements. We won’t add any new knowledge this week but use what we’ve seen previously on movements that we all do : sitting at a desk, walking, taking a shower, brushing our teeth, cooking or washing the dishes. We’ll start tomorrow morning… lying in bed!

Day 64 - Lying in bed

Welcome to the real-life Franklin week. We will start by scanning our body and stay with it for a minute or so. Notice how you feel without judgement or any adjustment.

Then we’ll start moving our right toes back and forth a couple of times. When we feel ready, we can take the foot along with the movement. During this movement, let’s picture our fibula going out (away from the tibia) while the foot is coming towards the knee (dorsiflexion). We will do that a dozen times or so.

After that, we’ll take the knee up and flex the hip. Let’s start by imaging that our knee is pulled by a string. Once we’ve let this sensation sink, we can try picture that the movement is initiated by the femor head rolling back inside the hip socket. Does it make any difference in how we feel the movement?

Let’s add some spiraling : we’ll keep our favorite image to initiate the movement (string pulling or femor head rolling) and add the inner rotation of the ASIS and the outer rotation of the femor. Resting our hand, first on the ASIS then of the femor, can help us be present to these small movement happening inside the body. We can also brush along the femor or the pelvic halves along with the movement if we feel like it.

Then we’ll picture the rest of the spiral : tibia rolling in and foot rolling out when we bend the knee, tibia out and foot in when we extend. Let’s do this a dozen time or so.

Finally, let’s try keeping the whole spiraling rhythm in mind while lifting the knee : foot and femor going together out. Tibia and ASIS going together in. And when we’re extending : foot and femor going together in, tibia and ASIS going together out.

Do the same with the other leg, before getting up. Take a walk paying attention to your posture and walking. Go on with your day and try to think about those bone rythms once every hour during your day for just one minute. You can set up a timer on your phone for example to remind you to regularly check in with your body.

Day 65 - Brushing your teeth

Today we’re going to challenge ourselves and try to keep breathing while doing so.

Our challenge is to brush our teeth (or do the dishes, or anything you can do while standing that will occupy your hands and mind) while our feet are stepping in rhythm and most importantly we’re breathing.

So let’s start brushing our teeth and adding rhythm. We’ll start easily with : heel, heel, toe, toe and repeat. We’ll do it at mid tempo, something like stepping on every beat at around 120 bpm maybe slightly slower). If you’re confortable with that, you can add the side of your feet : Heel, heel, toe, toe, out, out, in, in.

Can you keep brushing your teeth as you would normally do? Do you feel any tension arising while doing it? Are you still breathing?

The absolute priority of the exercice is breathing. You should be breathing freely the whole time. If you’re not, go back one stage. And focus on breathing before adding a layer.

If you can do the 8-count rhythm while brushing and breathing freely, try adding layers to your breathing. Can you do « la grand respiration complète » from day 56 while doing this? Can your breathing stay slow and deep even when your feet and hands are moving at different tempos or are you syncing them together?

If you need some more challenge, you can try a different 8-count. For example, can you do : heel heel, out, out, toe toe, in, in and repeat? Can you go in circles : heel, heel, out, out, toe toe, in, in, heel, heel, in, in, toe, toe, out, out, etc.

If you notice any tension while adding layers, try the previous layer again and focus on your breathing to release the tension or avoid it altogether.

Try it again the next time you brush your teeth. Do you notice a difference?

Day 66 - Sitting at your desk

Today we’ll use the sitting position to work on our pelvic floor. Let’s start by putting two orange balls under our sit bones. If you don’t have massage balls, just roll a pair of thick hiking socks into a ball and use that instead. How does this position feel? How does it compare with sitting directly on the chair? How does it feel to adjust for balance? Play a little bit with your weight on on sitbones and the other.

Let’s remove the balls, “walk” forward and backward in the chair on our sit bones and notice how it feels.

Now we put one ball back under one sit bone and start drawing in the air with the other sit bone. We can draw abstract shapes or write our name.

After that, we’ll remove the ball and sit to compare our sensation. Try walking backward and forward on your chair again. Do you feel a difference? Now get up and notice your posture. Take some steps. How does it feel? Do you want to do the other side? If yes, indulge yourself and try the movements again (sitting and standing).

Finally, we’ll sit again and draw or write with our sacrum. Can you feel it move? Can you feel your pelvic halves moving? Now draw with your coccyx. Do you feel any difference?

Again, you can set a timer to remind you to do that regularly if your sitting for a long period of time.

Day 67 - Sitting at a desk (again)

Today we are going to take care of our shoulders. We’ll start on a chair. Pay attention to the way you sit. Can you feel your sitbones? How does the rest of your body feel?

We will work on relaxing our face and neck by first putting the palm of our hands on our eyes. We’ll stay there for a minute or so, focusing our attention on our face and all the muscles in the face as well as around the eyes. Let everything melt into your hands.

Then we’ll use two orange balls to massage the jaw. We’ll put the balls just in front of our ears and roll them down. The rolling should relax the jaw, your mouth may open while doing so. Let the muscles melt under the balls. If you don’t have orange balls, you can the palm of your hands to massage.

Finally, put the balls at each side of your neck and slowly roll it forward as you let your head drop forward. Roll them back as your lift our head again. Keep breathing at all time.

Day 68 - Constructive rest

Today we’ll use our time to lay down in the constructive rest position before diving again in our daily movement.

Let’s start by laying down in supine position and focusing on our body. Like on Monday, scan your body without trying to adjust and without judgement.

Now imagine you’re made of sand. You can give it a color, a scent, a temperature. Imagine your whole body made of it. Which size is the sand? Is it coarse and big? Or is it so small and fine that it can be moved by the slightest wind? Is it wet? Or dry?

When you’re ready, picture the sand leaving your body, particle by particle. You are like an hour glass emptying into the void… The sand disapears in the infinity and leaves your body clean of tension, transparent and shiny.

Start with your right big toe and empty your whole body. Keep breathing at all time.

Day 69 - Walking

How many steps do you take each take? I’m speaking litteraly. How much do you walk even on days when you feel that you haven’t done much?

Each step we take involves a great deal of movement in the whole body. This weekend, we’re going to spend two days paying attention to some of those movements.

Today I would like to invite you to pay attention to your walking. Start by being aware of how your foot touches the ground, how does your weight impact and how does your foot react? Then move your attention to your knees and finally to your pelvis, be aware of the movement in each joint step after step.

Then we are going to imagine our foot enlarging when they bear our weight. Slowly take a step and imagine your foot becoming a large and stable base as it is loaded with your weight. Imagine the whole foot spreading on the ground starting with the toes. Try that on one side and then compare with the other side.

Remember the spiral we had on Monday? Can you imagine it while walking? Can you feel them happenning?

Day 70 - Stairs

Last day of our day-to-day exploration of movement, with of a focus on walking up stairs. Dare to skip the elevator and use stairs instead, it’s a wonderful workout !

Start by paying attention of your movement as you slowly walk a flight of stairs. What do you feel in your feet, ankles, knees, hip joints, pelvis? How hard is it to lift your leg to the next step? What kind of effort do you have to make to lift your body up to that step?

Picture one of your pelvic half as a wheel. The wheel is rolling backwards each time you lift your leg. The rolling of the wheel is helping your leg lift. At each step, the wheel is doing the work. Can you feel your sacrum nutating towards that leg, supporting the work?

Once your leg is on the next step, picture your pelvic half rolling forward on your femor head to bring your body up. Picture your femor head as a buoy floating on a wave. The wave is coming from behind, softly bringing you up to the next step.