Struggling with mobility? Have you considered your INNER EAR?! 🤯
"Brainy What-Why-How"
Your weekly nibble of science-backed goodness to help you move better and feel unstoppable.
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What (the TL:DR)
The inner ear (a.k.a. your vestibular system) is out-ranked only by the visual system (your eyes) in importance for your brain's overall perception of your environment.
Meaning: a vestibular system with some problems will be felt in your whole body.
Why (the geeky neurology)
Your vestibular system tells your brain two super fundamentally important things:
1. Which way is up
2. What direction you're moving in
If that seems trivial and unimportant to you, then 🥳congratulations🥳 -- you mostly likely have a healthy and functioning vestibular system.
Because the moment your vestibular system stops functioning, you'll feel like poop.
Have you ever felt dizzy after spinning around? Motion sick from reading in a car? Unable to balance because you've got a cold?
Yep -- all of those are examples of your vestibular system being like "waaahhhhhh I cannn't".
The canals of the vestibular system sense different types of movement:
⬅️ ➡️ linear
⬆️ ⬇️ vertical
↪️ and circular
They work together to tell your brain what's happening as you, say, stand up from sitting and ⤴️ simultaneously spin around because you were sitting peacefully on a beach and then suddenly an angry seal started chasing you. (⬅️ Click that link to watch my full YouTube video on this topic!)
How (apply it to your life)
So how can we use this information to help our movements?
My recommendation is today's new class on Move With Adell: "Warming Quads and Vestibular Balance Flow"
In it, we do a little drill called Vestibular Ocular Reflex Cancellations (or simply VOR-C)...
where we take the head through movements that train all the canals of the vestibular system.
Because in everyday life --
and in a lot of movement practices, including yoga
- - we tend to do what feels easy and familiar (forward movement, and a bit of up and down) sometimes backwards, spinning, and combos are under-used.
Adding some simple and intentional head movements in a yoga practice is an easy way to give your brain more information from its second-in-command system, the vestibular system.
More information = better movement. Watch the YouTube video for more!
And in case you have any doubts, remember:
If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint" then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
This month empowerment is the theme on Move With Adell. Thursday's new upload is a Confidence to Be Yourself Tapping Meditation. Interested? Start your 7-day free trial here.
Thank you for reading! Let me know -- either in the comments section of my YouTube video, or by replying to this email -- what you think of the VOR-C!
And please share with a friend or colleague who might find this valuable.
Wishing you vivacious vestibularies,
Adell
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