Know Thyself Through Form

What does it mean to be? More importantly, what does it mean to be human? What is it about our amalgam of stardust that warrants something it is like to be? Questions like this have stimulated the minds of great thinkers for centuries - giving rise to entire philosophical schools that have significantly shaped how we organize our being. However, the classical approach to being has primarily focused on the mental and intellectual aspects - how to think, surmise, and consolidate our phenomenological experience into cognitive representations. The approach gave rise to many practical branches of therapy that still pervade modern psychotherapeutic practice - all of which have their place, but are also only a raindrop in the hurricane of answering the hard problem of consciousness. With the work of Jaak Panksepp, a deeper understanding of emotional and affective contributions opened up a different avenue of inquiry that explored the evolutionarily endowed characteristics we all share as humans that then shape how we behave in the world, which moved the needle ever further into getting a comprehensive picture of consciousness. If, as it’s put forward by pioneers like Mark Solms and Karl Friston, we can accept that feeling is the necessary condition to be conscious - that we are bestowed with a generative model-producing system that has preferred states (body temperature, pH, osmolarity, energy balance, etc.) and detects changes in the internal and external environments, predicts future states based on priors, actively infers what is coming next, and presents deviations from such preferential states as feeling - then we can more or less agree that the very reason we have consciousness is to evaluate how to best get our needs met when there are multiple competing needs all being indicated by the degree of deviation from the preferred set point. While it is all well and good to know this, practically speaking there are a plethora of obstacles to integrating this framework into modern culture and society due to the expectations they place on behavior and what it means to be successful. It is at this juncture that I have settled into an alternative framework for figuring out how to best be, and that is through knowing oneself through form.

Form encompasses the physical boundary of the energy that resonates within our embodied selves - from the genetic architecture to the organelles, cells, tissues, organs, and the entirety of what makes the human body. It is distinct from the Socratic and Platonic conception of form, which focuses on the essence of being rather than the incarnation of it.

“By dropping the arbitrary assumption that mental processes alone are sufficient to give a full account of the personality, and by taking somatic processes into account, many difficulties are removed. In practice, two methods of attack become available, and we find some cases yielding to one and obstinately resisting the other…Reeducation of the whole personality takes place [when] the physical body and the mental function are attacked directly and simultaneously.” - Moshe Feldenkrais

Simultaneously attacking the somatic contribution to personality and the development of the self has been pioneered by Eastern movement practices and martial arts for centuries, with a great richness in both physical and spiritual development, whereas the European philosophical movements were more concerned with addressing the existential and phenomenological contribution to being. From Platonism and Neo-Platonism, the focus on essence diverted attention from the physical aspects through which such essence could emanate. The grand appreciation of humanity’s cognitive capabilities at the depreciation of our primitive and evolutionally conserved functions has come at a significant cost. It is seen in modern neuroscience with corticocentrism and diminution of the subcortical involvement in what really shapes our Being, distracting some of the most brilliant minds by placing undue emphasis on the extensive gray matter that is culturally projected as what makes us human.

Moshe Feldenkrais was the Sigmund Freud of somatic gnosis - delving into the overlooked world of the incredible level of learning and development that occurs within the musculoskeletal system in early life - arguing that what makes us legitimately unique in the animal kingdom is our paradoxically efficient bipedal posture and the mechanisms that allow us to adapt to the gravitational force with optimal competence in navigating environmental reality. In this way, Feldenkrais began the reconstruction of a bridge to formalize the oneness between essence and physical form - building upon the esoteric teachings of the Orient that already appreciated the fundamental connection between the potency of a human being and proper form. However, modernity has proven to be an obstacle.

A successful posture is achieved when exertion from the pattern of subconscious neuromuscular activity and the resultant musculoskeletal configuration is minimal. “Because the capacity and liberty of the frame to attempt and realize any act is greatest in this state, we will refer to it as the potent state.” - Moshe Feldenkrais

In the United States (and I do acknowledge that this is my own personal analysis), there is a significant emphasis on promoting the engagement of children into activities that fall outside of the human evolutionary repertoire - soccer, football, baseball, basketball, etc - promoting specialization of asymmetric movement patterns at a time when neuromuscular development has yet to solidify and optimize for the basic patterns of forward locomotion, throwing, striking, kicking, jumping, and so on. At the same time, there’s an asinine norm of shoeing children's feet for pedestrian outings and activities that pose minimal risk of tissue damage to the foot itself - including those exclusively indoors. This is because it's falsely assumed that not wearing shoes retards the development of the foot, which requires proper footwear to grow and function optimally. Both of these proclivities directly interfere with the evolutionarily mandated relationship of the neuromusculoskeletal system and gravity, and harm our potential to realize the potent state. There is a large body of evidence to show that allowing children to develop posturally with as little assistance as possible - while of course mitigating apparent risk - in terms of trialing and erring to establish the ‘right’ way to dance with gravity in respect of advancing position, is the best way to promote potency.

Other modern conveniences stymie appropriate postural development, such as cell phones that promote forward head position, the normality of desk jobs, school desks and chairs that promote dysfunction of hip flexors and deviations from a neutral pelvic tilt - the list goes on. Obviously, there is much to be grateful for in the modern time, and none of the aforementioned examples are innately bad for posture, as it really is dependent on timing and chronicity; even now I sit typing at a desk, seated in a comfortable chair. But, due to my efforts in training my tonic posture, my head is unconsciously upright - not forward flexed, my scapulae are neutral and in depression, cervical musculature and upper traps are relaxed, and my glutes are moderately engaged to provide structural support for my pelvis. These cues cannot be maintained consciously for extended periods, but are instead programmed over time and concretized in the brain and body, like any automatized motor skill. It is through fascial tensegrity and anti-gravity muscle tone that the body is able to maintain such potency.

Full somatic gnosis, the felt understanding of the body and its relationship to the environment, encompasses all types of knowledge from a Vervaekean (see here for a breakdown) perspective - perspectival, propositional, procedural, and participatory - which are all necessary to efficiently operate as an embodied self. It is within the exploration of these domains that we can tangibly start working on establishing potency.

As adults, we are already likely to have a degree of all types of knowing in regard to movement and must simply, but painstakingly, be honed. That said, it is challenging to uproot previously held beliefs around how to move and essentially ‘regress’ to performing fundamental movements, typically utilizing only body weight for resistance and avoiding the barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell, etc. Still, when asked, “What business do you have moving external weight through a range of motion when the joints involved are not optimally conditioned against basic gravity?” there is no rational answer that stymies participation. So, where does one start?

Reengaging what it means to move requires a different perspective - so that domain of knowing is the first to be addressed. Perspectival knowing is acquired with personal experience and is shaped by our subjective perceptions about the world, i.e, focusing on the body, starting to perform what the Traeger Institute coined as mentastics (mental gymnastics), or what I would differentiate as interoceptive perspectival knowing. This involves moving with intention - which actually really starts within the imaginative landscape - and brings about mindfulness to a very non-mindful and automatic territory. Are you able to lay down and voluntarily contract the muscles in your pelvis? Feet? Legs? Torso? Although it may seem slightly odd in the initial attempts, you should in fact be able to mindfully recruit all of your skeletal muscles - not with immense force or tension, but a contraction nonetheless. Beyond the interoceptive subcategory lies its polarity, the exteroceptive - which requires a developed theory of mind and other. Understanding that there are other selves that also have perspectival knowing enables a relationship to a dynamic environment to then engage in and dance with, which eventually blends into participatory knowing. Establishing better perspectival knowledge is key to unlocking the next domain, which I believe to be procedural because with the capacity for adequate activation, the desired procedures can be optimally cued and practiced.

After becoming familiar with the parts of our body - its endowed actions, what it feels like to be in a segmented vessel and take ownership of it - it becomes necessary to revisit the automatized procedures that are utilized most frequently on a day-to-day basis, which includes mainly walking, sitting, and standing. A training paradigm that focuses on the harmony between evolutionary development, mathematical beauty (sacred geometry), and systems-biomechanics should provide further structure behind conceptualizing how to recalibrate prior procedural knowing, and there are several organizations seemingly on the way (ALTIS, WeckMethod (WM), GOATA). On top of that the spinal engine theory (SET) offers a powerful framework for rehabilitation by recognizing the spine's central role in movement and stability. Instead of focusing solely on isolated muscle strengthening, SET emphasizes restoring the spine's natural ability to generate and coordinate movement. Getting back to the basics of how to move is encouraging when there is a roadmap to effectively navigate the territory, so focusing on principles like pelvis and shoulder coiling become paramount. With general locomotive movements taking up the lion’s share of daily activity, attempting to graduate from conscious incompetence to unconscious competence in them is also a priority.

Following the self-directed appreciation and adoption of mindful movement and updating procedures, participatory knowing transcends the individual and involves a dynamic interaction with the environment. It's about how we relate to the world through our bodies. Think of a skilled dancer responding to the music, a martial artist reacting to an opponent, or a child effortlessly navigating a playground. This embodied engagement requires a deep, intuitive understanding of our physical selves in relation to the space around us. Cultivating participatory knowing involves mindful movement practices, exploring different environments, and engaging in activities that challenge our coordination and adaptability. Building an environmental repertoire of experiences - similar to how seeing the world and being well-traveled changes one’s perspective on culture and societal differences - expands perspective on how to be optimally adaptive in a constantly changing reality.

Propositional knowing deals with explicit knowledge and facts about the body and movement. This includes anatomical knowledge, biomechanical principles, and an understanding of how different movement patterns impact our health and well-being. I’ve placed this cognitively intellectual domain last in the journey of knowledge acquisition because it’s often pedestalized over feeling and flowing with intuitive knowing within the body. That said, propositional knowing provides a crucial framework for understanding and optimizing movement. Propositional knowing becomes more important when one seeks to help others navigate self-embodiment and somatic gnosis, but such cognitive additions can only come after developing the gnosis themselves.

With the recognition that somatic gnosis arises from the harmonious integration of these four ways of knowing, there is a clear path to cultivating a deep, embodied understanding of ourselves that goes beyond intellectual comprehension. By combining mindful awareness, skillful movement, environmental interaction, and theoretical knowledge, we can unlock our full potential for movement, health, and well-being. This journey of self-discovery through form is an ongoing process, a continuous dance between our inner experience and the external world. So, practically, what does that look like? For every individual, the history of participating in the world as infants - establishing our relationship with gravity, the environment, and the attachment figures within it - is inextricably linked with and written into our postures and ability to move tension within the body. For this reason, the practical application of recommuning with one’s vessel begins with the most fundamental of processes:

1. Breathing

2. Attachment cycles and general tension transfer

3. Human movement patterns: locomotion, gait, and more

Breathing, the seemingly simple act of drawing air into our lungs and expelling it, is a fundamental rhythm of life that underpins not only our survival but also our capacity for movement, stability, and the expression of force. Far from being an automated exchange of gases, respiration is an intricate dance involving a complex interplay of biomechanics and neurological control, deeply interwoven with our postural integrity, the efficient transmission of force throughout our kinetic chain, and our ability to generate power. For the purposes of this exploration into somatic gnosis, we will delve into these biomechanical and neurological facets of breath, recognizing their profound impact on our embodied experience and potential.

At the heart of the respiratory system's contribution to our physical being lies the diaphragm, a dome-shaped muscle that forms the floor of the thoracic cavity. Its descent during inhalation increases intra-abdominal pressure (IAP), a critical factor in global stability. This rise in IAP, in concert with the co-contraction of the abdominal muscles and the pelvic floor, creates a cylinder of pressure that rigidifies the trunk, providing a stable base for movement and protecting the lumbar spine during exertion. The prolific anatomist and creator of the Anatomy Trains system, Tom Myers, identified massive continuity between the fascia of the diaphragm, the iliopsoas, the quadratus lumborum, the pectineus, and many other muscles in the anterior and posterior chains, indicating just how important breath is to energy flow and force transmission. Beyond the diaphragm, the intercostal muscles, located between the ribs, contribute to expanding and contracting the rib cage, further facilitating airflow. Accessory breathing muscles in the neck and upper chest, such as the scalenes and sternocleidomastoid, while primarily recruited during increased respiratory demand, can also impact cervical and thoracic posture, and their chronic overuse due to dysfunctional breathing patterns can contribute to muscular imbalances and restricted movement. The serratus anterior, connecting the scapula to the rib cage, also assists in respiration by elevating the ribs, and its proper function is vital for scapular stability and efficient upper body movement.

The neurological control of breathing is centered in the lower brainstem, which generates the basic, unconscious respiratory rhythm. However, this control is not isolated. These respiratory centers receive input from various sources, including chemoreceptors monitoring blood gas levels and mechanoreceptors sensing the mechanical state of the lungs and chest wall. There are also profound neural connections between the respiratory centers and pathways controlling reflexive posture and movement. This interconnectedness has implications beyond the biomechanical reciprocity of posture and breath, and speaks to the state of the nervous system and somatic imprints of how breath and posture have historically coupled in response to challenge, threat, achievement, and/or trauma. Cultural narratives, personal memories, and lived experience can all influence how contracted or open we are emotionally, which more often than not translates into the nervous system reflecting via posture (contracted/closed/protected/flexed or open/vulnerable/explorative/extended), where the resultant breathing biomechanics must accommodate.

In essence, the breath is a powerful bridge between our internal physiological state and our external physical expression. By cultivating mindful awareness of our breath and exploring different breathing mechanics, we can directly influence our nervous system, enhance our postural control, optimize force transmission, and improve our capacity for movement and physical performance. Reconnecting with the fundamental process of breathing is, therefore, a crucial first step in the practical application of somatic gnosis, allowing us to better understand and harmonize with the intricate workings of our physical vessel.

General

From our first moments, infants embark on a crucial journey of mastering tension – learning to constrain and distribute force to interact with the world. This evolves from the seemingly random movements of newborns into coordinated agonist-antagonist actions essential for exploration and communication. This period of time is also the stage where attachment to caretakers and objects occurs, instigating a link between movement and meaning. However, the demands of modern life often hinder the continued refinement of this tension transfer mastery, exacerbating our passive surrender to gravity's pull rather than fostering an active, dynamic relationship with it. Just as living organisms actively resist thermodynamic entropy, we are called to engage with gravity not as a constant burden, but as a force to be navigated and utilized.

Practically, recalibration of this relationship begins with cultivating interoceptive awareness – the ability to deeply feel into the body. Simple, fundamental patterns serve as powerful tools. Poses like the superman and hollow body, and mindful rolling patterns, when performed with slow, intentional cues and coordinated with a non-stressed breathing cadence and appropriate intra-abdominal pressure, can significantly enhance neuromuscular integrity. These exercises, deceptively simple, are profoundly effective at re-establishing the connection between core stability and the long fascial slings that constitute the body's anterior and posterior kinetic chains. Their challenge lies in maintaining precision and integrated tension over extended periods, revealing and addressing subtle inefficiencies in force distribution.

Human Movement Patterns

Watching babies learn how to navigate the world and the plight to overcome gravity has been the primary source of studying human movement and appropriate musculoskeletal coordination. With inefficient cortical programming, babies depend on subcortical locomotor patterns gifted by the evolutionary success of our ancestors, beginning with extensor activation, agonist-antagonist reciprocity, and cross-body coordination. From elevating the head to organize the visual horizon to pushing up against the floor and engaging the push sequence in the upper body, capturing adult ability to perform these basic functions with minimal effort in the right sequences sets the stage to hold more sophisticated upright posture and utilize the appendicular skeleton while still maintaining balance. Classic yoga poses like the cobra, cow, and child’s pose are symmetrical positions that can be used with intention to work on scapular protraction with full tricep extension, serratus anterior activation, cervico-thoracic extension, and shoulder elevation while depressing the scapulae with the lats. The downside to these movements, however, is in their apparent simplicity - often performed loosely and compromising the motor coordination of the shoulder girdle, like allowing the trapezii to elevate and the elbows to bend or scapulae to retract. So, once again it is paramount to know the proper cues and engage the appropriate patterns in these movements to reap the rewards of neuromuscular efficiency within global posture. Additionally - and not to be seen as an afterthought - one must appreciate that prior to a baby’s progression to uprightness is the development of a musculoskeletal-psychological milestone: reaching, grasping, and pushing. The way they are received within the environment to such behaviors will have an impact on the neuromuscular patterning of the shoulder girdle in adulthood. As such, briefly reviewing how these kinds of movements are performed and how they feel to the individual prior to attempting to optimize solely based on the ideal organization may provide insight to potentially deep-rooted resistances to adapt to rehabilitative exercises.

Now, to sprint, one must be able to run efficiently; to run efficiently, jog; to jog, efficiently walk; and to walk, efficiently crawl. This process of developmental regression is not merely a remedial step but a necessary strategy to unravel inefficient gait patterns often ingrained by years of approaches that prioritize rigid "core tightening" over the inherent rotary and transverse plane movements of the spine during locomotion, as highlighted by Gracovetsky's Spinal Engine Theory. Forward movement is initiated in the lumbopelvic region, and I propose that a significant contributor to prevalent low back pain and pelvic dysfunction is the diminished autonomous use of the muscles responsible for lateral lumbar flexion – the subtle ability to hike one side of the pelvis and facilitate reciprocal hip flexion during walking, a pattern first established during crawling. Practical remedies for this begin with exploring this capacity in an all-fours position, focusing on the subtle engagement of these lateral stabilizers with minimal overt movement. Progressing through bird-dog variations and various crawling patterns, such as the nuanced chameleon crawl, helps to refine neuromuscular control and fascial entrainment, optimizing the foundational mechanics essential for efficient and resilient upright locomotion.

Building upon this foundation of breath control, integrated tension, and foundational movement patterns, we can explore the more dynamic expressions of force generation and transfer inherent in human action: the push, pull, grasp, punch, throw, and kick. These are not just isolated actions of the limbs, but rather complex, whole-body movements that demand sophisticated coordination, efficient energy transfer through the fascial lines, and precise timing of muscular effort. The power and efficiency of a punch or a kick, the strength in a pull or a push, and the control in a grasp or a throw all rely heavily on the underlying ability to manage and transfer tension effectively, stabilized by a responsive core and driven by integrated primal patterns. A well-executed throw, for instance, requires a coordinated sequence initiated from the ground up, transferring force through the hips and trunk, stabilized by intra-abdominal pressure regulated by breath, and culminating in the release of the object – a true demonstration of the kinetic chain working in harmony. Conversely, inefficient tension transfer or a lack of foundational stability will manifest as leaked energy, reduced force transmission, and increased risk of injury during these dynamic actions. Practically, I love using the RMT Clubs from WM for throwing patterns, torsional training, and change-of-direction force training. WM also has the ProPulsers, which are fantastic for punching patterns and arm swing patterning in gait cycles. Rope flow is one of my go-tos for basic neuromuscular coordination in the underhand/overhand figure-8 patterns as well as for training the concept of force transmission from the feet to the hips to the shoulder girdle. Additionally, incorporating the fundamentals of Muay Thai is another practical means I use to train the aforementioned concept with greater demand placed on cognitive and physical coordination, particularly in the hip complexes and ankles.

This exploration argues for a fundamental shift in how we understand human existence and potential, moving beyond a purely cognitive framework to embrace the profound wisdom held within our physical form – a concept I feel best described as somatic gnosis. Integrating insights from affective neuroscience with the principles of embodied practices, I’ve laid out a case for how feeling is foundational to consciousness and how our evolutionary history has endowed us with a physical architecture designed for dynamic interaction with gravity and the environment. The analysis of modern life highlights how contemporary habits and practices often hinder the realization of our inherent physical potency. The proposed framework, encompassing perspectival, procedural, participatory, and propositional knowing, provides a roadmap for reclaiming this embodied understanding. Practical applications focusing on mindful breathwork and the mastery of tension transfer in both general and specific human movement patterns offer tangible pathways to reconnect with our physical vessels. Ultimately, cultivating somatic gnosis is not merely about optimizing physical performance or correcting postural imbalances; it is about fostering a more complete, resilient, and integrated sense of self, essential for navigating the complexities of existence and unlocking our full human potential.