Baseworks - When you can better sense the body, it's game changing.

Baseworks Movement Principles

Baseworks Practice helps anyone to better feel and understand the body while building strength, flexibility, and control over one’s movements. Anyone can achieve this by following the Baseworks Key Movement Principles.

The Key Movement Principles were developed empirically by founder, Patrick Oancia based on his personal experience and observation of what allowed for his students to learn better.

Anyone who has continuously and seriously worked on their body knows that it changes perception.

You begin to sense and experience things, which may be difficult to explain in words.

When you can better sense the body, you begin to understand how it works even without any knowledge of science.

You can also spot in other people the lack of physical or perceptual ability.

The Baseworks approach focuses on consistently developing perception.

This is the ultimate precursor to safely learn how to better understand and control the muscles of the body.

Rather than focusing on what the movement should look like, the approach is to focus on what the movement should feel like.

Full-body Distributed Activation

We keep the body in a state of constant low-intensity activation (or isometric contractions).

All the muscles of the body are constantly talking to each other.

This allows to better sense and equalize the distribution of strength across the whole muscular-skeletal system.

This stabilizes the joints and builds sensitivity to how body parts are functionally connected.

Gridlines | Symmetry

When we move, we constantly imagine that certain points of our body follow a set of gridlines /lines of symmetry.

This makes one constantly aware of 3D space.

Sticking to the grid automatically engages multiple groups of muscles as fixators.

This is a great way to work on one’s spatial awareness and motor control.

Fixing-Separating-Isolating

We fix the body in a certain position and then we move only one body part at a time, keeping the rest of the body still.

This requires the muscles to constantly readjust their activation levels.

This greatly improves the ability to control movements and sense different parts of the body.

Active Stillness | Invisible movements

Many movements in Baseworks are invisible.

We instruct our muscles to perform opposing movements.

Though no visible movement is produced, the muscles are activated in a certain pattern.

We have many different patterns, which we combine together.

All these subtle micro movements create a constant flow of sensory changes.

They are picked up by the brain (consciously and unconsciously).

This allows to control muscles better, improves stability, and enables one to use muscle interactions to improve flexibility.

Spinal micromovements

Spinal movements can be viewed as a backbone of Baseworks approach.

In every movement we do, the spine is either required to be extended into a straight line (or the closest anatomically possible approximation of it) or moved in a very structured way.

Often, we additionally slightly undulate the spine.

It also builds the ability to precisely sense and control the movements of the spine.

Intensity Modification

In exercise and fitness, deep breathing is often used to “push through” and create a euphoric state.

This feels good but can be associated with increased risk of injury, and hyperactivation of the sympathetic nervous system and the stress response.

One of the goals of Baseworks is to promote calm, contemplative state of mind as an alternative.

In Baseworks, breathing is kept natural and serves as a feedback modality to adjust the intensity of the physical activity.

This helps to notice and control the effects of stress.

BASEWORKS TEACHING METHODOLOGY

All the principles above describe the quality of movement. Very often, the body may look still, but, in reality, the whole body is engaged and active.

But how can we effectively teach that?

The answer lies in the Baseworks Teaching Methodology and the framework of Baseworks teachers’ interdisciplinary education process.

The instructions to students are kept simple. The same simple movements form a framework overtime to deepen a person’s perceptual and physical ability.

Baseworks Movement Principles

Full-body Distributed Activation

Gridlines | Symmetry

Fixing-Separating-Isolating

Active Stillness | Invisible movements

Spinal micromovements

Intensity Modification

BASEWORKS TEACHING METHODOLOGY

CONCEPT

EXPERIENCE

CONTEXT

CONTEXT

EXPERIENCE

CONCEPT

Baseworks Movement Principles

Full-body Distributed Activation

Gridlines | Symmetry

Fixing-Separating-Isolating

Active Stillness | Invisible movements

Spinal micromovements

Intensity Modification

BASEWORKS TEACHING METHODOLOGY

CONCEPT

EXPERIENCE

CONTEXT

CONTEXT

EXPERIENCE

CONCEPT

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