Liberated Being

Wil Johnson is the founder of the Institute for Embodiment Training. In today’s conversation we dove into what Dr. Rolf’s original concept of “The Line” was, and discuss its implications for both finding delicious support in our bodies and also for its ability to evoke our evolutionary potential.

Dr. Steve Gangemi, aka The Sock Doc, has ruffled more than a few feathers with his proclamations that stretching is for Bozos... these days he's tempered his statement to "stop mindless stretching". He joins me in this conversation to talk about what stretching even is, what flexibility is really a reflection of (hint: it's not your stretching regimen), why we might feel the need to stretch, and more.

I give my take on the 7th Biotensegrity Interest Group, the 1st Biotensegrity Summit, and the 4th Fascia Research Congress all of which recently took place in Reston, Virginia.

James Earls, author of Born to Walk, takes a very whole system approach to understanding walking.We talk about how the whole body walks, different schools of thought that have looked at walking in “parts” instead, how we are seduced into seeing anatomy with the same eye that we look at the manmade world around us, his homage to Robert Hooke who was a contemporary of Newton’s,understanding ground reaction force, the essentialness of efficiency in our evolution, the debate about whether or not walking is controlled falling, fascial wrappings as hydraulic amplifiers and oh so much more. 

Dr. Dan Keown, who is both a Western medical doctor and a Chinese medicine doctor joins me for a conversation about his book The Spark in the Machine. We talk about many of the crucial things that Western medicine ignores- things like fascia, extracellular fluid, how an embryo knows how to organize around a seeming blueprint, and how your spirit affects your health. We talk about how fascia explains chi, how and why jing and shen are better predictors of lifespan and health than a person’s genetics, what cancer has to do with fascia and chi, how we are all built like crystals and what that has to do with piezoelectricity, and so much more. 

Joanne Avison, author of Yoga, Fascia, Anatomy, and Movement, talks with me about fascia and why it has been overlooked historically (which includes a fascinating tour through the history of anatomy and its relationship to the Catholic church), how we form embryologically and what implications that has for biomechanics vs. biotensegrity (or biomechanics vs. biomotion), what that changes when we think about movement and the language we use about movement and the body, 

Juliet Starrett talks about the non-profit she and her husband Kelly have founded, Stand Up Kids, which aims to spread movement rich classrooms throughout the nation. They've started with their children's public school in California, which this August aims to be the first chair-free school in the United States. How can standing desks create a movement-rich classroom environment instead of just replacing old furniture with new furniture? Hear the key details that make that possible. How is a movement rich classroom environment and equality issue for boys and/or children with ADHD?How can you make this happen in your community?