INTRO TALK
As children you may have done log rolls or somersaults down a hill, or spun around with joy. There’s something freeing and fun about rolling that we can recapture in practice.
Rolling around on the ground is a primal, healthy instinct that begins with some of our earliest movement. To some extent, we continue this movement regularly when we roll over in our sleep or roll out of bed in the morning. So let’s bring this movement into our intentional practice.
Rolls can be a slightly more technical and challenging than the previous exercises, depending on each person’s body condition, internal tensions, flexibility, and so on. But if you’ve gotten this far, you will be able to do some kind of roll and improve over time.
It’s important to start slowly so the body understands the movements before throwing yourself into more dynamic rolls. All the work we’ve done so far will help. You may be putting yourself into new positions, so make sure you relax yourself. Don’t allow tension to build up. Keep a calm mind and relaxed body as you roll around.
STEP BY STEP
1. Log Roll: Lay on your back, put your arms and legs in the air and move them around slowly to explore how subtle changes in limb position affects movement. With the arms and legs in the air, roll onto side, stomach, side, and back.
2. Back Roll: Do a leg lift, and if you can extend the legs all the way behind your head. From here, turn your head to side and roll over your shoulder, either to your knees or stretching your legs out so you go onto your stomach.
3. Forward Roll: If you were able to complete a back roll, you can literally reverse the movement to understand a basic forward roll. Otherwise, from your knees, reach out with arm, twisting it forward until your palm is flat on the ground and get the back of the same shoulder on the ground. From there, slowly roll over to the opposite shoulder and down the side of the back.
4. Challenge: Combine three types of rolls into one movement.
NOTES
a. Use very slow rolling to explore balance, control, and relaxation if various positions. See if you can stop and reverse the roll at any point.
b. If your feel you’re stuck and that in order to continue you will have throw yourself forward, some kind of tension is stopping you, often in the lower back. It could be structural and something you have to work with/on. Or it could just be fear — the body doesn’t understand the position and reacts by tensing up. Try breath into the tension, then release and relax as much your can on exhale. See if that allows you to continue the roll.
c. There are more roll variations but practicing these three provide a solid foundation for further exploration.
d. I’ve done my best with the written instructions, and they will serve well as a reminder, but seeing the teaching segment video is really necessary here.
GOING DEEPER
If you ever feel discouraged your practice, that is a good opportunity to examine yourself — your expectations, your hopes, your fears. It all goes very deep into the ideas we have about ourselves and our life.
Why are you doing this practice? What do you expect will happen? What do you expect to get out of it? Why have you sought out this training? In even attempting this, what are you trying to tell yourself. The truth is: we don’t know. We have to persevere in practice to find out.
At times we may get excited about sudden insights and where they might lead. At time we may feel we’re your hopeless and dejected. Whatever happens, don’t get too caught up in emotions. Just see them for what they are and continue to practice with patience and resolve.
ROUTINES
Every day for 1 week, warm up with some ground checks, turnovers, crawling, and push-ups; then spend 5 minutes working on your rolls and rolling around on the ground. If you want more, do 10 minutes, or even 20 minutes of continuous rolls.
OBJECTIVES
Roll comfortably and smoothly on a variety of surfaces while increasing relaxation, range of motion, and coordination of movement.
COURSE SYLLABUS
preview | introduction | 1 ground checks | 2 turnovers | 3 crawling | 4 push-ups | 5 rolls | 6 sit-ups | 7 transitions | 8 squats | 9 jogging | 10 free move | 11 walking | 12 recovery | comprehensive practice
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