Reset Your Body Beat - 7 - Jiggle and Roll
Reset Your Body Beat - - 7 - Jiggle and Roll
Jiggle those little arms and legs to get on your baby roll
Based on “Restorative Rhythms: Feldenkrais Lessons for Health and Pain Relief - 6 - Oscillating While Rolling” as taught by David Zemach-Berson, GCFT®
“Supine rocking and turning are early developmental activities that typically occur between 3 and 6 months, leading to rolling over. At first, babies may rock from side to side or turn their head and begin the rolling motion, often with the pelvis leading. As they get stronger and develop more core control, they gain the ability to roll more efficiently, and may begin to sit or rock on their hands and knees in preparation for crawling around 6-9 months. ”
An extension of last week’s starting to roll from back to side lesson, with jiggling. Why jiggling? Google AI suggest:
To develop their motor skills, babies practice rocking to strengthen their core muscles and improve coordination
Rocking provides vestibular stimulation, which can be soothing and calming for babies
Rocking can be a self-soothing mechanism, helping babies calm down and fall asleep
Babies may rock back and forth to explore their environment and test their limits.
We are developmentally at about 4-6 months. We are exploring our environment, building our core, getting into grooving. Once again, we are on our backs, practicing jiggling with one leg and then the other, and then both. That gets the groove going. up and down the spine, while also getting into exploring the weight of the pelvis. To that we begin to engage the upper body, first by raising an arm and reaching across the body towards the turn. Add to that ‘rolling onto” side long and open, and easier to roll on to. Note: with the shoulder blades constrained by the arm position, enjoy how the jiggling ribs move under and separately from the shoulder blades, an anatomical fact we often forget!
A subtle, but fascinating instruction is “keep your eyes on the raised arm thumb,” This comes up in other lessons, like the famous “Dead Bird- Eyes Movement of the Eyes Organizes the Movement of the Body” lesson. In the “Huberman Lab” podcast, How Your Thoughts Are Built & How You Can Shape Them,” Dr. Jennifer Groh reviewed the deep connections between seeing and hearing, and explained how focusing the eyes on the horizon focuses the brain. (Eardrums move with jerky eye movements - with each ear turning to pick up the signal in that direction. (1:08 in the podcast.) “We think this might be the first step in visual and auditory integration,” according to Dr. Groh. Again, Moshe was on to something that science is just catching up with.
Jiggling, shoulder lifts and arm crossings, lengthening the side body, focusing the eyes on the hand as the body rolls: all this leads to rolling from back to side. But the lesson doesn’t end there. The grand finale has us reach the top/crossing arm over the crown of the head to hold the opposite ear and lift the head in a deep side bend - where this head-lift leads us it yet to be seen!
Let that jiggle help propel your chubby, soft baby body to the side.
Again, slower is best. This lesson can be a welcome ironing out of the upper back/shoulders and lower back/glutes. This lesson is an opportunity to let the ribs, thighs and everything else go soft, even flabby.
It’s back to babyhood and beyond! Enjoy.
Science Nerd Candy Bowl:
Rolling Back to Side, Head Control - Pediatric Physical Therapy Exercises (2:09) - a preview of this lesson presented by Colton and Amy Sturkey (I like her)
#31L Gentle Myofascial Release: Left-Sided Torticollis Treatment in Babies - Pediatric Physical Therapy Exercises (2:41) - Amy Sturkey explains why we might want to extend the neck in a side bend at the end of this lesson, with help from Bode
Set up for a supine rolling lesson
Lying on a mat with enough room on both sides to roll
Support for knees and back of the head, if desired
This can be done in a chair, though the rolling part will be up to you
How you might feel after this lesson: Breathing coordinated with walking; Hips open and comfortably aligned; Legs aligned in hip sockets, with ground forces flowing easily from foot to hip to head; Shoulders surprisingly released; Upper back and chest looser and more flexible; Low back and middle glutes ‘ironed out;” Possible trance state via horizon gazing; Deep into baby mind; Delighted by the joy of jiggly rolling; Curious about what’s next!
Wednesday 9:30 am or 6:30 pm class registration, keep using it. $40/month; $15/single lesson. PayPal or Venmo to jackisue@aol.com. Or check to Jacki Katzman, PO Box 116, Bethlehem, NH 03574
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