Our movement patterns have changed. The way we get up and move during an office day is not necessarily the same for when we are engaged at home. Sometimes this can be a good thing as some of us may take advantage of the fact that at 12pm we can get the washing out of the laundry and hang it up outside, or spend an hour during the day out with the dog in the backyard watering the garden. But there are some of us that need a little more attention to our daily habits to avoid the 11hr stretch that can become the norm if we don’t consciously attend to our schedules and have a good blueprint.

The pros and cons of working from home or' ‘remote working’ are wide and varied, but there are some elements that have beneficial aspects and proven track records to keeping us on the right side of the Sloth scale.

Coveting a little bit of joy creates chemical reactions in your brain. Frontal Lobe activity regulates emotion and the Thalamus regulates how you express or act out this emotion. These actions create release of neurotransmitters that affect the circulatory system (heart, veins, blood) and your Autonomic Nervous System (breathing and digestion).

Social Prescription is a relatively new concept that originated in Great Britain and is fast making it’s way around the globe as a means of dealing with easing the strain on our National Public Health Systems. The concept of Social Prescription is connecting people in their local community with health advocating activities such as sporting groups or creative art groups that promote social connectedness and positive health actions. It has been referred to as Non Medical Referral or Community Referral which gives you an inkling of the type of service that this provides.

Now you may think that this is just a hippie-esque concept of traipsing through the Muir Woods in California hugging tree trunks. (yes I have to admit I have done that) but you would be perhaps remiss in dismissing this practice as such. Growing research is documenting that Forest Bathing is a useful preventative medical concept that has scientific basis.

Essentially this ancient practice is a harnessing of postural movement, breathing and mediation that helps to cultivate healthy 'QI’ the life essence at the heart of every individual. This is not some magical concept but is heavily rooted inside ancient classical Chinese Medicine and martial arts as that which gives us life, our energy and the essence from which we are able to think, act and be.

With any project there has to be a plan, a blueprint to be able to follow to ensure that all the various stages are covered, adhered to and completed in a timely order. When you have injured yourself there has to be a plan to ensure that you avoid the dreaded grey area of post injury. Often it may not just be the injury that sidelines us but it is the danger of re-injury and consequent issues that not only keep us sidelined, but actually prevent us from getting back into the gym, on the court or doing our chosen activity.

Some people are more prone to a dislocated shoulder. And for these unfortunate people there can be a real risk involved in the continual manipulation of this joint space. Insecure shoulders require stability and those who have this issue should ultimately be addressing the muscular tension that helps to keep the glenohumeral joint in place.

There may be a slightly potent killer in our midst that some of us may scoff at or choose to ignore. Prescription drugs such as codeine and oxycontin have been aggressively pushed in communities around the globe with catastrophic and devastating effects on small communities. There are those who claim that these effects are reverberating through to larger cities contributing to an epidemic of wider and more potent drug use and creating an addiction/dependency crisis on a national level.

There are often muscles that we have in our anatomy that are small and perhaps incorrectly labelled insignificant when it comes to movement and function. However often these muscles can serve a different role in the body and in secondary factors of movement that are worth investigating when it comes to soft tissue injuries. The Plantaris is one such muscle. It lies behind the knee and at first investigation seems positively benign, with no primary motor capacity and unable to provide power in movement… even removal of the muscle does not render movement abnormal in function. So why do we have it?

By breaking movements down into their fundamental parts we can begin to identify where a weakness or an imbalance may be. This is the beauty of these 4 functional movements I have cited, they expose where we may have restriction or where we may lack stability.

Bushfire smoke contains particles and gases that cause irritation to the nose eyes and throat. These particles can penetrate deeper into your lungs and this is usually where they cause irritation and larger concerns for those who already have compromised lung function or capacity. There is more cause for concern with the current situation as we are getting exposed to smoke particles for longer than is normal.

So why do we want to be more concerned about our wellness? It would appear that in our current trending thought processes, that wellness and our ability to take care of ourselves has become a primary concern for more individuals. Wellness no longer just exists in your gym membership. As we find challenges in our growing technological world, it would appear that we are turning inward and starting to focus more on meaning and purpose in our lives and this is in turn leading us to be more aware of the quality of life and endeavours that we are undertaking.

Preoccupation with the smaller details for some people can be all consuming, particularly when it comes to being obsessed with elements that may appear beyond our control. But as humans we are hardwired to respond to things in certain ways, and it is possible that we can use these processes to change how we perceive the world on us and thus how it effects us.

Being grateful leads to psychological well being which in turn leads to better health, which can then lead to more instances of happiness that creates more reasons to find gratitude in life. Summer Allen Ph.D writes in her White Paper “The Science of Gratitude” at UC Berkely that it’s a no brainer - grateful people are happier, more satisfied, less materialistic and have better mental and physical health.

Conquering handstand requires great strength in the upper body as well as an awareness of your alignment and core control. It’s wonderful to be able to stand on two feet. Its harder to stand on one foot. It’s even harder to stand on your hands. In all these simplistic adaptions, you realise that changing the basic element requires a different understanding of how to align your body and also a different type of strength to be able to hold yourself up. For this reason I have included this in our little series as my 4th Basic Movement skill to conquer.

Camatkarasana is better known colloquially as ‘Wild Thing’. It’s a wonderfully powerful pose that does require strength and stability through the shoulders and hips. It is an extended position that opens the shoulders and upper back as well as the thighs and hips. It requires a lot of balance and whilst it is is a power move, it has a wonderfully open aspect to it - indeed it is meant to open the heart and expressing your ‘power and freedom’.

The Overhead Squat (OH) is similar to the snatch lift in Olympic Lifting. Indeed it was used primarily as a training tool for the competitive weightlifter, encouraging the ability to achieve the bottom end range of motion for the barbell Snatch. Its a synchronistic maximal movement that tests mobility, co-ordination and balance.

First introduced to me in a CrossFIt WOD, The Turkish Get Up (TGU) is a wonderfully dextrous movement pattern that challenges our stability, balance, core and proprioception all with multi plane co-ordination of the body. It rotates as well extends, it pushes as well as stabilises and it balances us on one foot which is always a great adjunct to any movement pattern as it works our proprioception and ability to be unipedal (ability to move on one foot) in motion

Runners have been shown to be less presdisposed to degenerative conditions due to decreased BMI that running results in, the development of strong and resilient cartilage that has grown strong in response to stress ‘within acceptable loads’ and reduced systemic inflammation that exercise and loading (such as running) illicits in the cellular matrix.