I just released a YouTube video documenting my last seven years of movement practice.
When I started movement, I couldn’t handstand, rest in squat, or balance on a rail. I often had back pain I didn’t know how to resolve. Movement allowed me to understand my body, observe myself, and develop in many directions at once.
It’s funny and inspiring to look back on where I began, just as I hope it’s funny to look back at my current videos seven years from now.
Below are the video’s chapters, divided into containers or specific movement patterns with accompanying written explanations. Feel free to leave a comment below if you have additional questions.
Resting Squat
The resting squat took me years to build. I struggled to get depth early on, but the key is to start where you can, hips as low as possible, and hold for time.
You can always elevate the heels or hold onto a sturdy object in front of you. Shift weight forward and back, side to side, and in circles to explore new ranges of motion.
Wrist Strength
The ligaments and tendons in the wrists have also taken years to strengthen. Start light and on soft surfaces. Gradually increase load in the hands and wrists by lifting the knees from the ground and shifting the shoulders forward. Push ups aren’t necessary, only helpful.
Coordination
Coordination is whole body connection. You can start with only the legs, or only the arms, or only the spine, but ultimately, connecting them all shows up in everything.
Spine
For most, the spine only moves in a few ways: flexed, extended, and rotated, if that. Differentiating the spine and exploring its full range of possibilities through sequential waves, spirals, and circles in all the planes of motion, offers longevity, health, and much needed nutrition. It’s a great way to softly awaken the body, sharpen attention, and experience a clear difference between what is the spine vs. parts of the body connected to it.
Elbow to Toe
While my elbow still doesn’t reach my toe, going down the path has greatly helped my back and opened up the whole posterior side of my body, which is useful for compression.
Pancake
The pancake helps build compression strength through a forward pelvic tilt and keeping a neutral spine. Since starting years ago, mine has improved, but I’ve chosen to go other directions for now. I find that not all patterns are created equal.
The Diagonal Stretch
The diagonal stretch loads and strengthens the front side of the body while in extension and rotation. It’s been great for my hips and back and helps build balance in split stance, forming a line of connection unlike any other pattern.
Bridge
The basic bridge opens up my thoracic spine, ribcage, and aids in shoulder flexion. Mine isn’t great, but it’s greatly improved.
Rotational Bridge
While the traditional bridge is static, adding rotational movement to this shape allows us to include and transcend the previous layer. I notice one of the main details in my earliest practice videos is rushing. By slowing down, I start to sense what I’m missing and can feel a greater connection throughout.
During the bridge pull, we pull off the wall not with the feet but with the hands by shifting the shoulders forward. With a proper handstand, this ultimately builds to a Mexican handstand, finding the similar arch shape while balanced.
QDR (Stab of the Kidneys)
Harkens back to the diagonal stretch. A similar shape in the body: extension through the spine but balanced on the hands. Weight shifts into the hands and one hip finds the elbow.
QDR Switch
Scissors then splits the legs, turning the body, allowing our hips to travel from one elbow to the other. This one took me forever to learn and still could use some cleaning up.
Bridge to QDR exit
Connecting the previous patterns, the bridge to QDR exit. is an example of how isolated movements, after a lot of practice, can integrate together to form something greater. It goes to show that nothing lives in isolation forever, that nothing is disconnected from the whole, and with a bit of creativity, there’s always something new to discover.
Splits (Side and Middle)
The splits attract many due to their aesthetic quality. I haven’t valued that so much, so I haven’t progressed very far in the middle split. Such is the case with little practice. But it’s enough range for me, for right now, for straddle work and dynamic options.
The Planche
The planche, well-known to gymnasts but unknown to most gym-goers, is a straight arm push strength pattern. Starting with banded assistance helps us build the initial layers. Eventually, we can ditch the band, find assistance with the toes, and then nothing at all.
The scapula is depressed and protracted. The spine is flexed. If you’re approaching this for the first time, remain patient. It will take months to develop, and more advanced patterns, years.
The Lever
The Spine in the lever mirrors that of the planche, but here, the scapula retracts. The rings offer the variable of instability, allowing that stability to instead show up in the body. Begin with a tucked leg variation, knees into chest. From there, you can increase the lever angle over time.
The Muscle Up (+Ring Routine)
The muscle up is a skill that came easy for me, or at least, what I thought was a muscle up.
My early attempts demonstrate what it’s like to check the box but to skip stages. Where before, you might have seen a flinging, elastic energy needed to reach above the rings, now there’s a smooth, even connection. This is the search for quality. And now that we’re above the rings, this allows for entire ring routines to be built. Offering us pull and push strength with both straight and bent arms.
The Dragon Squat
So many skills, including lower body strength patterns like the Dragon Squat are built on what I would call “just doing what you can.” This is like beating your head against the wall, and eventually, you will smash through. Repeated attempts can help you arrive. But there’s also usually a faster process that’s available. An intelligent process based on prerequisite patterns that build into the next phase.
The Handstand
The handstand is a strong attractor to movement practice for many people. I never cared much about it until I saw its connection to soft acrobatics. Only then did I start to connect the dots.
I see many practitioners get stuck here. Developing a handstand and building an identity around one skill or one part of the body. Ultimately, we must all stuck somewhere, building identities in order to survive.
If you haven’t gotten a 60 second handstand, it’s a fruitful path that makes me realize why people stay. The handstand is a better stop along the road than most. For me, I find my way is to hop back onto the train and keep riding it forward.
Handstand Press
The press has been one of the most allusive skills for my body type and previous conditioning. Compression strength, straight arm overhead push, the handstand, and the coordination of the spine exposed me beyond belief. It became a perfect concoction of all my limitations.
Thankfully, we have practice. Through addressing various patterns and weak links, a press eventually arises on its own schedule. The best we can do is set the conditions for success. At so many different points in time, I thought I was so close to getting my first press only to realize I was still months or years away. Be patient and keep practicing.
Press negatives played a large part in the journey, as did weighted Jefferson curls, press potentiation drills, and as I mentioned, patience. Even though I can do it, it still needs a lot of cleaning up.
Handstand Push Up
The handstand push up begins with humble patterns: elevated feet, Pike push ups, feet up the wall, head touching to an object. This is one skill where it’s helpful not to pass go without collecting your hundred dollars. Otherwise, you’ll likely start to build bad habits. It’s said that practice doesn’t make perfect, it makes permanent.
Attempt to keep a hollow body, bent elbows stacked over wrists legs together, and eventually, the connection gets built.
I notice many people say you must be really strong in order to do that, but after a while, it feels more like coordination than strength. The strength now comes from repetitions of the skill, conditioning ourselves into more coordination.
The Crawl
The crawl was one of the main movements that brought me into practice. If you want to improve your crawl, try starting with your attention. Be present fully, lifting and landing opposite limbs at the same time. Keep the knees low and the hips parallel to the ground, They’ll have a tendency to rise up. That’s not wrong, just be aware of what you’re trying to do.
The Lizard
Initial attempts at the lizard crawl are likely to be confusing and effortful. That’s okay. That’s exactly where we start. We begin with the high lizard. Next, the lizard push up. Then, gradually move to the low lizard and all its variations. The feet can cross under and over or switch. Each option offers an organic approach to push strength and feeds our creativity. It’s a non-linear pattern that challenges us in a new way. Where linear push ups might not scratch that inspiring itch to practice,
try the Lizard and watch what happens.
Step-Behind
The lower body for many can remain strong but immobile. The step behind prompts the legs to be both. Through drop stance and rotational capabilities, it serves as both a whole and a part of something greater.
Role
One of the most foundational patterns of ground movement, the role teaches how to shift weight into the hands while keeping the feet nearly weightless. Improvements in quality come from knowing what is happening, understanding subtle cues, sensing the body as a whole, and many repetitions with an aim toward quality.
Au
The Au is a lateral bent knee cartwheel from squat. Weight shifts into the hands, hips come over top, gaze remains forward if possible. The landing replicates the entry, returning back to squat.
Locomotion
My early practice of locomotion was mostly a top-down process. By top-down, I mean that the learning began with ideas, thoughts, and specific patterns to mimic. An example of top-down movement is connecting the Role, to the Au, to the step-through, to the ape crawl, etc. During this top-down process, I built my vocabulary with ground possibilities, including QDR options, rolls, animal crawls, and other known movement patterns.
Later on in practice, thanks to the guidance of my teacher, we moved more toward a bottom-up process, meaning that instead of moving from ideas and sequencing one known pattern into another, we moved from sensations. In bottom-up movement, you feel the body moving in space rather than predicting in the mind: “Next, I will do an Au.” This creates what could be called “grey” movements–strange, blurry, undefined patterns that might seem to look like something else, but aren’t exactly. You could give these patterns names, but they weren’t arrived at with naming. They were arrived at through shifting weight. By lifting and placing one or two limbs at a time. The combination of both top-down and bottom-up patterns creates rich complexity and endless material to observe our habits, patterns, and conditions.
Locomotion has become one of my favorite containers for practice. There’s incredible depth to these movements and so many other containers that connect to it. I start others with the role, au and the crawl.
Chapeau
The chapeau can begin with a simple leg tie before attempting the full pattern. It’s a kick from the floor onto the feet, exiting either rotational or to the side. It provides a nice transition from floor to standing… and it’s personally of the most fun dynamic patterns to perform. Ensure hip extension, separation of the legs, and a light push from the hand.
Floor work
Floor work is the poor man’s massage. It provides an opportunity for us to move while releasing tensions. This container seems totally unflashy, especially the initial layers, but it’s become one of my most valued parts of practice. It’s the perfect connection between somatic work and dance. It feels like I’ve walked out of a massage far better than the end of a yoga session.
Like locomotion, there are many isolated patterns to learn: chest rolls, forward and backward rolls, projections, slides, floor entries, the list goes on. The feedback the floor gives the body exposes the tensions we hold and shows us where we need to soften in order to meet the hard floor. If we’re unable to soften, especially at first, you might find soreness or pain points arise. This tells us exactly the spots to release into. With some practice, even the flashier skills can show up with ease.
The forearm chest roll is where we start. Try to relax the head and neck as much as possible as you roll from back to front side, and vice-versa. Begin lying on the back with the elbows at the side body, palms up, initiate a sweep with the outside leg at the same time the head and torso, and roll as a unified
Jumping
Everyone knows how to jump, but few know the mechanics behind jumping. Once these mechanics are understood, jumping can begin to feel lighter, easier, and effortless. Each of the jumping mechanics can be practiced individually in parts, then connected into a whole. The loading, extension, second phase of loading, takeoff, and the landing each have distinctive characteristics, applying across broad jumps and vertical jumps.
For example, the sound of the landing denotes quality. The arms move quickly from back of body to front of body to create a stopping force.
Chablon
The chablon hones footwork while synchronizing the upper body alongside it. A hop-scotch-like arena is drawn on in a parking lot. One foot steps in the small squares, two feet in the larger rectangles.
Stick Balance
Stick balance has offered me more moments of existential questioning than any other container of practice. There’s nothing like trying to balance a stick on your shoulder for one minute straight, failing after half a second, and questioning your life decisions while setting up for another attempt. It’s prompted deep investigations into why I practice. Since it’s not immediately apparent how stick balance shows up in other realms of life, I can say it teaches patience, sensitivity, and attention, all qualities that we need more than ever in today’s society.
While it seems simple enough to balance a stick on the fingertips, can you do so without taking steps in space? Here is where the investigation begins. Once there’s some level of embodiment, We add complexity to the drill by bringing the stick more proximal to the body. This ensures we are always challenged, always growing, always learning.
Wall boxing
To wall box is to endure hours of potential frustration and impatience, showing me where I need to grow both physically and mentally. For me, it teaches patience, touch, accuracy, hand-eye coordination, and Mental fortitude.
Tennis ball juggles
There’s a process for everything, and an entry point for anyone. I came into the practice with basic three ball juggling abilities. Even still, two balls with columns, inside and outside, remained enough of a challenge to want to explore deeper. Three balls felt easy compared to two ball variations. More recently, box juggling is the new frontier ro test the edge of my abilities.
Soccer ball juggles
Juggling a soccer ball proved an infinitely harder task as I was never much of a soccer player. That conditioning shows up in everything. Coordinating the feet in this way offered something deeply satisfying and rewarding. Even the act of kicking the ball upward felt like it was healing my joints, ligaments, tendons and tissues in the legs.
Rail work
I remember feeling some significant adaptations to the structure of my knees, ankles and feet when I first started rail work. I could feel that unilateral balancing was healing many weak links in my lower body, my ankles especially becoming more stable in real time, or perhaps better able to manage instability.
There’s many entries to allow yourself to mount atop the rail, some more difficult than others, but they all make for interesting puzzles to solve. Next, comes stepping. The fears of heights, falling, injury, all arising in the span of mili-seconds. With practice, the body learns how to exit gracefully.
There are rails everywhere in the city, which makes it a unique practice to bring life to the urban environment. You start to see the world as a playground, noticing rails, steps, and walls all as potential locations for expression.
The seated 360 spin is one of my favorites that feels incredible on my hamstrings and glutes. The pressure of the rail pressing into the backs of my legs always releases some held tensions in my body.
Soft Acrobatics
The cartwheel is the foundation of soft acrobatics. And everyone thinks they can do a cartwheel, wo why bother? Our answer is buried in the question itself. Why…? Let’s investigate. I find, the more I practice, the more I realize I don’t know. Early on, I could do a cartwheel, but with more practice, changes occurred. This is thanks to targeted cues, improved bodily awareness, and practice.
Bruce Lee said “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” Just a few cartwheels will give you all the results you seek. I say this because in many of these containers, the options are infinite, so better to limit them for our own good.
Ipsi cartwheels, contra cartwheels, bent arm, bent knee, organic kick ups—these are some of the starting points to refine before moving onto endless options. Once you understand the principles, and feel them embodied, you can add more to your arsenal. Until then, connect the dots with what you have, and what came before before moving on too quickly. It’s through connecting pieces together that we learn the essence.
It may not seem like anything is happening at first. But after years, quality begins to refine, and the little details add up. One cue: try exiting the cartwheel the same way you entered.
Kicking
Kicking is the leading edge of my current practice. It’s still new and exciting to me. Much like cartwheels, I thought I knew how to kick, but it turns out that if you try doing it yourself and film it, there’s still quite a bit to learn.
Kicking begins with one legged balance and leg swings, generating force through the kicking leg. The weight shift from leg to leg comes later. It’s simple but much harder than it looks. Once balance is built, we can start mapping new layers, which are at first subtle and grow in size and force later on. I have a newfound respect for martial artists in this way. Kicking has an artistic beauty to it at the highest levels, and I want to keep going deeper in this direction. It’s helped me with balance, problem solving, and opening my hips. While many practices only strengthen the legs through static or tensile methods, kicking offers an elastic and dynamic quality worthy of exploration
Kip Up / Stots
The kip up and stots represent a couple of fun dynamic patterns that took me a while to learn. I can’t tell you how many times I slammed my back against the floor trying to learn the kip up. Likewise, the stot shows us what it’s like to the spine as our engine.
Tactical / Martial
Tactical work has been one of my most improved containers. It felt so foreign at first, as you can see. I was never a fighter, so learning the foundations took me years. Only recently, I’ve found connectivity thanks to a guided process and frequent feedback. This work continues to challenge my fears, reactions, abilities, and sometimes my nose structure.
The tendency is to want to get straight to fighting. Instead, we spend time developing footwork, stances, and proper positioning of the spine and hips. With these efforts laid as our foundation, we move better as we add more complexity.
Movement Quality
Keeping to its namesake, it’s debatable that practicing movement quality has had the biggest impact on the quality of my movement. That either sounds obvious or silly, but this transformation is noticeable over time. There are so many extremely subtle cues that aid in development. Exploring water and air quality in various lines and circles helps unite the body as one. Once you know where the motion is led from, you can find the sequential nature of what naturally wants to unfold.
The key is to move slow and sense as clearly as possible. There’s nowhere to arrive at, only a search to engage with.
A Practice of Your Own
I owe my journey to a process, a teacher, and an inspiring group of people who surrounded me. If you feel inspired to begin your movement journey, reach out to me. I’d be happy to help.