Learning from Trees - 15 - More Pinecones, Bottom Up
Painted pine cone arrangement by Marcy Lenard
Learning from Trees - 15 - More Pine Cones, Bottoms Up
Opening from a soft belly and pelvic floor, outward
Based on “Quadrant Breathing” as taught by Prisca WInslow GCFP®
I know I promised to move on past pine cones already. But my sister created a spiral painted pine cone arrangement, above, which I had to use. And there is one more pine cone torso opening to explore: releasing the scales from the pelvic floor out.
For me, the pine cone motif has been kinesthetically rich. Imagining woody pine cone scales, growing from each rib, amps up my awareness of the ribs. The result for me has been a more open and responsive chest. And that improves my balance.
Last week, the experiment was around spiraling the pine cone scales open from the head and shoulders down the torso and palm. We used the palm as a stand-in for the pelvic floor, letting the palm, and eventually the pelvic floor, open to receive on the inhale.
That session pointed the way to this week’s lesson, yet another pine cone exploration. This time, the scales spiral up from the pelvic floor to the armpit ribs on the inhale. The magic is in how super soft the belly needs to be to enable that bottom-up opening. Extend that image of scales opening from the pelvis down the legs to the toes, and I think the pine cone analogy will be complete.
This one more turn with the pine cone metaphor more fully explores energy flow spirals from the pelvic floor to extremities. The quadrant breath lesson is still the foundation, with the fascia lines and some of the Traditional Chinese Medicine meridians as imaginary guidelines. How deeply and uniformly do you receive the breath into the pelvic floor? Can you find diagonal lines through the torso that unkink knots, highlight blind spots, or realign the spine?
Trees can’t run (Seth’s Blog)
That changes everything. This is the spot, your spot, a spot worth protecting. Trees understand the power of the neighborhood and the value of good neighbors.
Trees can’t be anonymous, and they succeed by standing tall and sticking it out. Trees do better in a forest, surrounded by other trees.
And trees think in long time frames, because now keeps changing but later is the actual urgency.
Trees are mortal. And so generations are the actual long game. Fires and floods will come and go, but the seeds spread and flourish.
As humans, we often underestimate the gift of new decisions, new locations and the ability to quit and move on.
And just as often, we miss the chance to plant roots and stand for something.
HT to Lisa Gansky.
Science Nerd Candy Bowl:
The Spirals in a Pine cone - The Smart Happy Project (2:31) - happy artist paints many different, sometimes intersecting, spirals of a pine cone
The Hidden Secret Inside Every Pine cone - YouTube shorts (0;56) - pine cones replicate the Fibonacci series found across nature
You Have the Fibonacci Series In Your Hand - @markliamsmith (0:45) - demonstration of the Fibonacci series expressed in the human hand
Pine Cones Opening Time Lapse - Pro Timelapse (1:16)
Places You Won't Believe The Golden Ratio & Fibonacci Sequence Appears - Be Amazed! (11:07) - examples of the golden ratio and Fibonacci curves in nature; Plants explored at 5:07.
Fibonacci Sequence—A Handy Mathematical Approach For Looking At Evolution! - Science Friday - videos embedded in this science lesson
Flexion and Extension of the Spine -@AnatomyApp (0:42)
Rib Animation During Breathing - Amy Ward Brimmer - (1:02)
Set up for supine lesson:
Mat on floor with room to reach overhead and support for knees and head as needed
Seated on a chair with knees and hips level
How you might feel after this lesson: Experience the ribs opening and closing with the breath; Experience the Feel the spine and ribs together; Use the power of the ribs to press down,; Correlate an open chest and improved balance; Get a deep, deep breath;