How ‘Primal’ Are Your Movements: The Seven Primal Movement Patterns

Every time you move, in a flash, your body receives innumerable impulses from the sensory neurons, deciphered by the brain, and relayed out to the motor neurons creating movement.  And while your body is an incredible machine, coordinating multiple movement patterns in a matter of split-seconds, there are a seven specific movement patterns that the body relies on most often.
These seven primal movement patterns include:
Push  Upper body pushing away from the body
Pull  Upper body pulling towards the body
Lunge  Linear stride, lowering a knee, with an upright torso
Squat  Hips move downward underneath body with straight back
Rotate  Twisting of the core (pelvis to ribcage)
Hinge  Bending at hips forward, butt moves back with neutral spine
Gait  Walking, jogging, running, sprinting

These seven “Primal Movement Patterns” are the most commonly undertaken by the body.  To speed up the processing for each movement, our body creates neural-shortcuts for each movement.  Imagine, using computer coding as an example, instead of 100s of pages of biologic HTML to activate each motor neuron crossing each joint in the movement, our brain creates a shortcode like [shortcode=action-squat] for ease with repetition.  Inside that “shortcode” is the hyper-quick recipe for how you repeat that action over and over, day in and day out.
Problems arise, though, when these movement patterns become inundated with faulty coding, such as imbalances, compensations, injuries, improper muscle tone, emotional trauma, inactivity, and more.  As you can see in the overhead squat image above, there are many ways to compensate when performing the action.  Good news!  You can reprogram that code with mindful, dynamic movement patterns through exercise, massage,  yoga, postural adjustments, and more.  It takes hard work and time, but well worth the investment in your body.

Properly performing these seven primal movements on a daily basis can be the difference when it comes to aches and pains in your daily life.  No need to battle your own body with incorrect movement patterns; let’s schedule your 1st training/massage session in the near future.  Contact me for availability and let’s schedule your next massage!  Have a great week, look forward to talking to you soon.

Until next Monday,
Jason Brain

Happy New Year: 2019 in Review

Hope you had a wonderful holiday season and are ready for a joyous New Year.  I was reflecting on the past year and all the people and opportunities I’ve been blessed to share, and thought I’d share some of my favorite bodywork memories, experiences, and milestones.

Cheers to a new year and a wonderful 2020!
Earned Personal Training Certification In October, I officially completed my Personal Training Certification with the International Sport Sciences Association (ISSA).  I’m so fascinated by the body in all facets, I’m also taking a Strength & Conditioning and a Nutrition Coach certification course to continue rounding out my comprehensive bodywork practice.  Why not, right!?

Interested in taking your fitness to the next level?  Consider scheduling a training session in the new year!  Let’s define your goals and create a fitness plan towards success, whether it’s strength gain or weight loss or beyond; I’m here to help.  Contact me and let’s schedule your 1st training session in the new year!
Started @ Burke Williams, Mission Viejo in May I gotta say, I didn’t know what to expect.  Was worried it might be too-spa-like for me, but I’ve really come to enjoy the people I work with and the company.  I’m only there a few small shifts a week, but it’s going well and I certainly don’t mind the free massages for the therapists on staff.
New Events Around Southern California From Irvine to Carlsbad to Canoga Park, I was meeting new people all over the Southern California area.  Whether it was a Brain & Body setup at farmers markets or being brought on for corporate chair/appreciation days, had a blast delivering relief and relaxation with the ol’ massage chair.

Have an event, party, or fundraiser coming up?  Or ready to surprise your staff with a relaxing spa day at work?  Contact me for availability and pricing!  Always up for bringing massage to fun environments.
Celebrated 2 Years @ Encino StudioI can’t believe it’s been over two years at my space in Encino.  Time flies when you’re having fun at work.  Like they say, when you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.  Here’s to another many years, and many thanks to my massage-partner-in-crime, Josh King.