How to Integrate and Restore Your Body with Rocking

Categories: Blog, PressingRESET, OS Rocking, Hips, Shoulders, Knees, Ankles, Feet, Anxiety, spinal curvature Jul 17, 2022

What if I told you there was one movement you could do that could unlock your physical potential? What if this same movement could help you restore your posture, shoulders, hips, low back, knees, ankles, and feet? And, what if I told you this very same movement could help you think more clearly or even calm your nerves so that you could lower anxiety levels? If there was one movement that could do all of these things, would you do it? 

You were born with this movement preprogrammed inside your nervous system, and you likely did this movement quite a bit when you were a developing child. Back then, it tied your body together, taught your shoulders and hips how to move, set the curves of your spine, and even caused you to laugh and giggle. If you were to engage in this movement today, it would do all those same wonderful things for you that it did back then and more. That movement is rocking back and forth on your hands and knees.

Some people call it Quadruped Rocking. Dan John, world-famous strength coach, calls it Six Point Rocking. I call it rocking. But it doesn’t matter what you call it, it matters that you do it. 

Rocking is one of the most amazing movements you’ve been given. It nourishes your nervous system and teaches your body and all its members how to move fluidly, together, as one whole body. 

Rocking takes what you may think of as individual parts or joints and combines them into a fluid dance, teaching each joint how to move with all the other joints. In doing this, the body learns rhythm, coordination, stability, and mobility. In other words, the body learns how to move as it was designed to move. Rocking is also a fantastic way to reeducate an injured joint and bring it back into the wholeness of the body. For example, if a shoulder, hip, or knee is injured, or maybe even has had to have a surgical repair, rocking can quickly reintegrate that joint back into the flow of the body. In rocking, the stabilizers of joints learn how to stabilize, and the prime movers are set free to move them. 

Another wonderful benefit of rocking is that it helps restore an adult's posture. As I said, this is the movement that sets our cervical and lumbar curves as children, and it is still the same movement that can help restore those curves as adults. It can even help relieve pain in the lower back by setting the low back free from the pelvis, restoring mobility between them. 

When all the joints move together freely but in unison, the brain feels safe enough to remove the limitations it may have placed on the body. Limitations like pain, stiffness, and weakness often melt away when the brain knows where everything in the body is at. Rocking lets the brain know where everything is at! 

Another wonderful benefit to rocking is that, along with uniting the whole body in a beautiful physical flow, it unites the whole person, inside and out. Rocking soothes the soul. When the brain feels safe, when it gets all the information it is looking for, the nervous system is found in the Parasympathetic State, in the rest, digest, thrive, smile, and feel-good state. When the brain feels safe, the emotions and thoughts will also be peaceful and relaxed. Rocking is a fantastic way to literally move your cares away, melt tension out of your body, and stress out of your soul. 

Again, this wonderful movement was preprogrammed into your nervous system. It’s also hard-wired there, so you’ve never lost and can’t lose it. You can engage in it at any time, and it will begin carrying out the healing and building operations it intended. You must show up often, if not every day, get on your hands and knees, and rock for a few minutes. A three-minute rocking break is a powerful way to soothe your entire body and can be a gateway to clarity and creativity. 

Try this 1 to 3 times a day, every day, for 3 minutes at a time: 

• Get on your hands and knees. 
• Hold your eyes and head up, level with the horizon. 
• Keep your chest held “tall” or “proud” like Superman.
• Close your lips, rest your tongue on the roof of your mouth, and breathe in and out through your nose.
• Gently rock back and forth by rocking your hips towards your feet, then rock your body forward over your hands. 
  • Keep your chest tall throughout, and don’t drop your head down. 
• Explore different foot positions.
  • Laces down (top of foot on the floor)
  • Ball of foot on the floor.
  • Heels in and heals out.
  • EXPLORE, be gentle and curious. Don’t be aggressive. 

This rocking movement could be one of the best movements you could ever do to help you feel amazing in your own body, mind, and soul. It’s one of a few movements you were given with amazing power potential to help you live your life better. You were born to do it. 

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