Refine the Body

A practical application of the Third Pillar

This is the third in a series. If you haven’t read Relax the Body yet, go read that first.

Refinement is a process of reduction and increasing precision.

In order to orchestrate our body, our brain must receive and process enormous amounts of information, and then send out instructions to move muscles in order to respond to the information it received. Thankfully, we don’t need to pay conscious attention to all of the information received, or even to the instructions sent out; what we have to do is produce intent and reflect on results.

One issue many people face is when they intend to have their body move in a particular way, it either doesn’t accomplish the intended movement or it accomplishes it through a roundabout manner. We call the latter “compensations”.

Compensations occur when the muscle which should be the main actor in a movement, the agonist, is too weak to do so and needs assistance, or when a habit of using a different muscle has been established. Refining the body is a matter of recognizing compensations and unmanifested intentions, and working to rectify them.

In order to refine, we must first notice. If I try to curl a dumbbell, my arm might rotate inward but if I don’t notice that then I can’t correct it. If I am too absorbed in the results of my motion, in this case lifting the dumbbell, I am likely to fail to notice that the process is not being completed properly.

After we have noticed something amiss, we can determine what the correct method is, and then on the next attempt, we can make adjustments to follow the correct method. This is motor refinement.

Does this all just sound like “practice makes perfect”? The important distinction is in the thinking. If your practice is repeating something over and over and over until you improve, you are relying on your body to figure it all out by itself. You have given it a goal and said, “Now do it again but better this time!” This is all well and good but why not give your body a hand?

Using your faculties of attention and intention, you can refine the instructions your brain uses to orchestrate your muscles. Each time you do this, your movement will improve. You will use only the muscles and motions necessary to execute an action. Refinement flows into relaxation and strengthening; the three feed each other.

If you are looking to Refine your body but aren’t sure where to start, I offer classes and private sessions so reach out and let’s find an avenue that works for you.

I’m always open to comment and question, so if something comes to mind please don’t hesitate to reply to this email or use the comment section on Substack, or whichever platform you found this post.