Ajumbo

Helps develope healthy muscle control and ballance.

Strong in body and motion
Just are...  Just  be....

  

Preface

This is to let you know that this has been developed over a period of 3 years, on a very personal journey, to sort out my back (had sciatica for 2 years and had suffered with recurring back trouble for 8 years previous to this).. This is not a fix for severe skeletal realignment or to say that this is the cure to any ills, but is, if practiced on a regular basis, a very rewarding way to strengthen and support the bodies structure, so that small misalignment's or larger ones once corrected will stay so. You will have the supporting muscular system to hold the work that has been done in place.

If you have atrophied muscles because of poor posture, sciatica (or both as I did), it is possible with regular practice of these simple techniques to work the condition out.

When I first came up with the idea my back and bottom were in a terrible state. The whole right side of my back was in a state of atrophy, as well as my right bottom cheek, (Glutes) due to sciatic pain on the left side.

My limited knowledge made me realise that the muscles on the right were so week because I was favouring the leg that actually was causing me pain. So the more I avoided the pain the more the muscles on the right side atrophied.

This made me realize that avoiding the pain was making the situation worse, and with out the muscles to support my bones and spine, no matter how much physio, or other therapy I tried, if the muscles were not strong enough to hold the work that had been done, then it was a waste of time.

I persevered and over time the sciatic pain decreased in size and amplitude. Until one day during the exercises I could still feel this sciatic pain but it was in a very tight point and then all of a sudden there it was no more.

Obviously everyone has different ways of avoiding pain (physical pain, mental) but its usually the first change in stance, that is void of pain, that is the one we continue to adopt. So the way my muscles atrophied and the side I suffered with the pain was how I found to cope. Every one will cope differently therefore there are probably quite a few different ways the muscles and bones would be out of alignment. The exercises work both sides, so atrophied muscles will regenerate more quickly than the other supporting muscles because those muscles are already strong enough.

Also by working the muscles together they balance and start to work in harmony, as one unit.

I continue to be free of sciatic pain. As well as my back and hips being much stronger, more flexible and have more vitality.

The Meditation and Dance were a by product of the initial impetus to get my back better but I would say after all the hard work of sorting my back out, with a little help from a Chiropractors, and KCR (Hugh Gilbert) the meditation and dance are the reward, as they help you feel more connected to your body, more grounded and the energy you can have if you imbue all three into a daily routine is well worth the work.

One thing; these are all designed to support each other. One is fine, but all three, work the Body, Mind and Spirit:

Enjoy.

Ajumbo Core Muscle Walk.
This is a simple yet effective way to improve muscle tone over the core of your body's skeletal and muscular system. It works every muscle with the exception of the muscles in the forearm.

This is based on postural analysis and understanding that not all of us walk as straight or upright as we should or can. This may be down to poor posture developed over a life time of subtle changes in the body wether they be physical or mental.

If you have low self worth then you are likely to have less energy this in turn resulting in a less upright walking position. In which case this in turn means there is more pressure on your vertebra as the muscles are not holding you in a position of self ashuridiness (self-worth). Tending, to balance vertebrae on top of one another, therefore using less muscles and over time you become better at balancing your vertebrae and so the muscles atrophy or in some cases stop working through out most of the day except in certain circumstances when you bend down or twist to reach something. In other words you are only ever using a very small potential of your overall muscle mass at any one time.

         
With the Ajumbo walking technique you use all muscles in your core muscle structure by the time you have completely understood the subtle changes in posture, walking and how they relate to each other.

Simply most of us have some imbalanced due to the way we see ourselves and others and this simple technique helps rebuild muscle mass in the key areas that are lacking in your body once you understand the principle of what I will shortly explain.

Ajumbo Ball and socket rotation.

Viewing people as they walk you can see some people use hip rotation in a healthy way, were as other's use less or no hip rotation, therefore the ball and socket joint is put under more stress repeatedly in the same area time and time again.

With a healthy hip rotation you use more of your core muscles which in turn makes for a better posture due to your core muscle structure working more effectively.

The healthy rotation of one hip, or step is a figure of eight. As you place your foot down the ball and socket joint should be making a clockwise rotation (looking from the side you are observing from) and an anticlockwise rotation when stepping forward to make the next step.

This means that when your foot leaves the ground to make the next step it is or should be making an anticlockwise motion (your hip is acctualy moving backwards as you go to take a step forward) and once the foot lands, the rotation of the ball and socket joint is clockwise.

This is something I have observed and most people do to a greater or lesser degree. But few people do it smoothly, favouring one leg or landing too heavily on the foot and stressing the lower back muscles.

With a smooth and even figure of eight you have to use more of your core muscles therefore it improves posture muscle tone and mental state (for it is a relaxed and more flowing way to walk).

It is important to realize that the figure eight is not on the horizontal but in the vertical plane. The forward motion of walking makes it feel more like it is some where inbetween

Loosen Ball and Socket joint in Hips.

Simple exercise A 

1)Work one side at a time

Stand with most of your weight in one leg, then the other leg the heal wants to rise and then rotate your hip in a anticlockwise direction, do this until you feel you have loosened up.

Repeat on other side.

2) Same as previous swap direction of rotation (clockwise)

Repeat on other side.

This exercise helps improve the mobility of the ball and socket joint and also helps build up core muscle strength as well as starting to use muscles in lower back and abdominal (stomach)

Simple exercise B

Stand with feet shoulder width apart, back good and straight, making sure weight is evenly placed on the ground. Lift up one heel, at the same time rotating that side/hip anticlockwise and when heal comes down the opposite heal comes up with other ball and socket rotating anticlockwise. Repeat as many time as is comfortable.

Now try the same but in reverse a clockwise rotation, this will probably feel a little awkward as it is more unnatural when stationary.

In both instances try and feel if there is any difference between right and left. If there is, it's nothing to worry about, for with regular practice little and often, these imbalances will even out.

This starts getting both sides working in harmony (all the internal muscles that run through the pelvis.. Depending on how you walk some may find this easy or quite difficult at first. The other thing you may notice is that you start to feel muscles, where you did not know there were any. So it is best if you practice these exercises little and often. You can make the rotations as little or as big as you like, therefore being able to do it whilst waiting in a queue or for a train, or even sitting down at a desk.

Ajumbo Walk Step 1

Now once you have loosened your ball and socket joints and you feel that the muscles are of even strength, you are ready to attempt to do the walk.

When your foot leaves the ground to take a step forward, your hip on that side should rotate anticlockwise and on landing back down should rotate clockwise.

It is best if you concentrate on either the clockwise or anticlockwise rotation at any one time, otherwise it gets pretty confusing. You'll still be doing both, but do try and feel it. At first if you don't do it naturally it will fry your head, so on the foot leaving the ground concentrate on it making a anti clockwise rotation on both sides for a while, (so your hip will be moving backwards when the foot in question is moving to step forward) and then on placing the foot down concentrate that the hip joint on which ever side is relevant is making a clockwise rotation. The clockwise rotation will happen pretty much by itself so less attention is necessary but look at it occasionally.

It is best that the rotations are like a choo-choo train keeping your center line as central as possible (This meens you have to use more muscles so the results will be faster than if you wobble from side to side). Obviously for women the side to side motion is bigger due to hip size but the larger the sway the larger the side muscles have to compensate, the extra stress on the lower cervical vertebrae causing possible lower back stress ( and possibly more muscle in a localised area to compensate, rather than all muscles working in unison evenly).

So for women who like to wiggle their bums try and restrain this because it ain't good for your lower back, unless your holding yourself up tall and using all your internal hip flexors.

When you can feel that each rotation is smooth and with no jars then you know your getting there.

Things to fine tune.

Make sure you don't over extend your strides. Walking at first like this is slower. If your toes are clenching at the ground then you know you are taking to bigger steps.. Each stride should be from heal to the ball of your foot.

Another thing is you may find you keep tripping up. This is because you are walking at an even pace. Try and feel the ground and realize that your pace may change with each step just fractionally. You'll still get there on average in the same space of time but with lots less jarring of the bones, sockets, tendons and muscles, as well as using more muscles and toning up wasted or atrophied muscle groups.

If you do find these exercises harder than you thought, it is probably best if you make sure you are getting enough protein to restore and repair muscle and tendon tissue. Once you have been doing this for a few weeks you will probably see a change in your shape

When following the next 3 steps, it should be said that to try to hard, or get angry, if it is hard, is to weaken the muscles, so be patient and take it slowly. Also, when tightening muscles to support vertebrae remember you can always relax them to if it is to much. I tighten my muscles and then relax them just a fraction, this helps the muscles from becoming overly tired.

Another point is when you have got to step 4 you may find it hard to walk up or down hills. I have found that if you use predominantly your stomach muscles on the decent and back muscles predominantly on the climb, you will get a more even work out but this is how the muscles work in better harmony.

This is something I have been doing for quite a while so I speak out of experience and would like to impart as much knowledge to you as possible. What you do with that information is up to you.

All these steps to follow are to be done in conjunction with the aJustur8 walk and once you have mastered the next step, then you do step 1,2 & 3 in combination and so on until you are practicing all of them simultaneously.

The reason you build the exercises up your back slowly is to make sure you have the appropriate amount of muscle and control to support the next level. If you attempt to skip ahead or do all at the same time, straight away, the resulting stress, could amount to certain muscles having to work to hard, sending an area into spasm. This happenened to me once, and had to go to a Ciropractor to loosen it out. I was doing it in the right order and I still overdid it, so go slowly.

When you are trying to sort out years of postural abuse you are bound to run into problems, but as long as you approach this sensibly, hopefuly you should avoid many of the problems I had to deal with. (The visit to the ciropractor being the only major problem which I couldn't resolve myself) and once I had the core strength KCR sorted out any misalignment in my hips and upper back.

Lower Back and Stomach Core Step 2

Now you have your hips rotating and lower core muscles in better balance, it's time to be standing taller.

Use your back and stomach muscles to try and put a space between each vertebrae.

This will be hard to do if you're a sloucher or a balancer, so start slowly: baby steps.

A few weeks of this and your back will be stronger and less aches and pains.

Upper Back Chest and Neck Core Step 3

This is the only part where I'm going to use correct muscle terminology for this is more difficult to explain with out it.

Again it is using all your muscles in the top third of your body to put a space between each vertebrate

So you tighten the top part of your Erector-spinae, Latsts (Latimus-dorsi) which pull shoulders down but then use Trapezieus to raise shoulders again. And then use the rest of the muscle in your neck to extend your neck upwards until you can feel a slight space between each vertebrae.

Ajumbo Back & Stomach Hip mobilisation. Step 4

Once you have been doing this for a few weeks or a couple of months for each step. You should now have the balance, strength and ability to do the last step.

This is to use your oblique stomach muscles, stomach muscles and lower back muscles (erector-spinae) to help move your hips. As you go to step forward your oblique muscles on respective side of foot stepping forward should be pulling hips backwards, on your foot landing the muscles of the stomach can be felt joining into the ground. This may sound odd, but if practised regularily you should get what I mean. Its more of a fealing of being trully planted as your foot meats the ground.

An almost full body work out whilst walking. Enjoy.

Something of interest

Rhythmic resonance response.

When walking with coins or keys in your pocket, do you favor one leg more than the other. It can be said that with a noise comes a response so if you favor your left leg and always put money in that pocket is this coincidence.

Ajumbo Kinetic Meditation

This is a form of meditation but with simple guidelines that help balance, harmonise and enliven the body to help you center yourself in a very gentle but powerful way, using simple geometric patterns and shapes, as well as intent and focus that will help you get out of your head and more into your body. 

( If you would like music to do it too, please go to my Sound cloud page where you can listen to a set I've put together, which is free to download if you like it, a real mixed bag, comments would be appreciated.)

you can get to this page by clicking here

 

I will start by warning anybody who works with these simple patterns and energies that there are a few do's and don'ts at least to start with.

As you will see later the main and most important element is the intent that you imbue into your body and that you work with each time you practice.

At first you may not feel anything but with a little time and effort great changes can occur and it is simply down to you. This is only the starting point of the dance meditation and what you want to make it may change with time, but when working with emotions, music, rhythm and intent the focus should always be kept simple until you feel the change, then comes experimentation of movement but always remember what you imbue or what you call to yourself will come; it may take time but it will come. 

  
As a healer in the past and someone who has been on a spiritual Journey for a very intense 10 years I am simply in the next paragraph sharing my knowledge and simple truths that I have found out along the way.

Dont's

It is very unwise to call for an energy that a) you know nothing about

                                                             b) that might be potentially harmful.

When in the stance that I will describe to you shortly it is best to keep things simple and ask that the energy be pure, good in the common or garden sense and loving or compassionate. If you look for powerful energies and you are not able to control them then you are just asking for trouble in my humble opinion, although I am not so humble and have had my fair run in with energies that are overwhelming all consuming and detrimental to your spiritual growth, state of mind and general health as a being, you have been warned.

Before you start working with emotions with music it is best to understand neutrality. The simplest way I can describe this is think of a car the engine may be on or off but the gear stick is in neutral. As all drivers will know it is best to be stationary when in neutral; and the same applies to the dance meditation, both feet placed firmly on the floor. Like this you are the ultimate observer of all things and can be totally removed and uninvolved with the turmoil you feel around you or inside you. It is not a place of detachment far from it, it is a place where you can see everything as it is and for what it is and therefore let go of it or imbue that which is of use to you. So before you work with emotions if you decide to continue practicing this at home, first learn neutrality. The main reason for this is that when you work with emotions and music sometimes the shifts in your energy or understanding can be sudden and unexpected and to people who are unused too feeling deep emotions or have suppressed emotions over a long period of time the shock can be quite scary like being tossed in huge waves, because you are so overwhelmed by the sudden shift you are in no position to observe what is happening and therefore the lesson may be lost or a deeper understanding of what you have just witnessed you may not see. If in a truly neutral position you are more likely to glean a deeper understanding that is relevant to you.

Some people are natural surfers of emotion others get tossed around in the wake but with neutrality you'll get your bearings a lot quicker and may even find how to surf or just flow with it. If you have a basic understanding of neutrality then you have the tool to help you see this moment for what it is and not for what you think it is. I know this all may seem all a little over complicated but really it isn't.

Here it is simplified:

Imbue into yourself only what is good, wholesome and loving.

Learn what neutrality means to you. Simple

That is it as far as the don'ts go but I thought I should just put it in simple speak, plain English in your face because there's always one bright spark who thinks “Oh, I'll do this”, I was one. Why invite a stranger into your home when you do not really know them, they may not be bad but even simple misunderstandings such as yes and no can cause quite a disturbance. I have in the past worked with different healers and have found that few if any warn or prepare you for the worst. You have read the above you now have the tools to help you through a lot.

Please read all 7 steps before you start.

Before you start, select a piece of music you like preferably something with a good rhythm. I personally find dance or trance music very centering for me but it's a very personal choice.

Step 1:

When you have the music stand with your feet shoulder width apart or a little more than which ever is most comfortable. Now with relaxed knees stand tall as if you have a chord running up your spine and is pulling at the top of your head. Now slowly tighten all of your muscles in your torso. Muscles passing through your hips, lower back, stomach, obliques, upper back muscles , chest etc. When you have tightened all of them then just relax them very slightly. If you feel your muscles are cramping then you are trying to hard. Tighten your muscles to a point that is comfortable and then just ease them off just a fraction. As you ease of the tension this is when you invite into your body a relaxed state. For with out this relaxed state it makes it harder for you to imbue your body with the energy of your choice. Whatever you have decided to imbue is up to you but again it is best to keep it simple such as Goddess or prana or life force or love the simpler the better.

You want to do this for a couple of minutes or you can just practice this first step for half an hour a day for a couple of weeks its totally up to you to be taken at your pace.

Step 2:

Holding this stance and the intent for the imbuement and the muscle control you will find that to the music you will feel a natural urge to move, again at first I am giving you simple guides to a) help your body reline its energies and b) to get the imbuement and muscle control right which is a big part of the dance meditation. Without a firm foundation and deep roots it is harder to move graceful in the storms of life.

So still in the same stance, but with your feet a foot width apart, imagine roots passing out through your feet deep into the ground. You move in a anti-clockwise direction but keep the circles you make small. Rock forward until you can feel the weight bearing on the ballof your feet, if your toes start to clench at the ground then you are moving to far forward. Now ease to the left and then slowly rock backwards on to your heals but if you go to far obviously you'll lose your balance; come to the other side (right) and back to the start of the circle. It should be done as if you have a rod in your back and you can feel all your centers down your body making these small circles. Slowly smaller and smaller until you find the optimum size. It may ebb and flow.

Practice this for five to ten minutes, this exercise aids balance and control but also helps you find your center and I have found deeply relaxing. You can do it sitting down (as you can with all of the exercises) and because of the stance it also improves posture.

Step 3:

This is the main stance and where all the other moves I have come up with originate from.

Again in the same stance as step 1 feet shoulder width apart with the intent and the muscle control. Lift up one heel, at the same time rotating that side/hip anticlockwise and when heal comes down the opposite heal comes up with other ball and socket rotating anticlockwise.Imagine a point directly in your center in your pelvic area. This is the well spring of life energy and I have found the simple figure 8 shape going from left to right helps activate and unlock vital energies. So with your focus on this point draw a small figure of eight. You may find it easier if your heals come of the ground or at first you make the figure of 8 quite pronounced but never think that the faster you do it or larger the more powerful it will be. Listen too the music and let your body guide you. You may find that the size speed and shape of the figure of 8 keeps changing. At first it is good to try and keep it simple get it down pat and then start moving with the music rather than too the music.

Step 4:

Same as above but focus attention on heart center,. If you keep moving hips in figure of 8 all centers will naturally move in figure of eight.

Step 5:

Same as step 3 doing figure eight with hips but bring attention to throat chakra. If you find this hard you may have a blocked throat. So extending your neck up as if your skull is being pulled up, but using your muscles, make a figure of 8 with your chin, starting as big or as small as you like. Still remembering to keep your focus on your throat center and keeping your neck extended at all times.

Step 6:

Shift weight on to left leg so all weight is bearing on it. In this stance it is important to keep all the muscles tight around the hip area on the side you are bearing the weight on so that your hip is not thrown out to the side and so you keep a strong and straight back, The other leg should be gently bent with the balls of your toes resting on the floor but with little weight bearing on it. As in step two you want to make small circles (anti-clockwise) with your whole spine and as in step 2 you don't rock any further forward than is necessary, if your toes clench you are making the circle to big and only a small amount of weight should be transferred to the leg that is bent. Whilst holding this position you want to hold your left hand palm down just above your Dan Dein (Belly botton height) and your right hand palm up just below your Dan Dein (Groin area). This is your attention point for this exercise.

Now doing the small circles as in Step 2, but on one leg, imagine energy (from the ground) coming up your left leg and side, down your left arm and into the space between your hands.

When you have tired of this exercise or feel the urge to swap legs transfer your weight to the right leg but as you do so rotate the ball of energy you have collected so that your right hand is on top and your left hand is on the bottom (in the process you should be able to keep ball shape as you move you weight to other side palms rotate to face each other and then as weight moves to other leg, right and left palms switch position), palms always facing each other. Now all of your weight should be on your right leg and the left leg should be gently bent. Remember to keep muscles tight so that your hip isn't thrown out and the alignment of the spine is compromised.

Now doing the small circles on the right leg, imagine energy (from the ground) coming up your right leg and side, down your right arm and into the space between your hands.

When you have completed an equal amount of time on both sides place both feet flat on the ground keeping hold of the ball. Really you should have orientated the ball of energy so that you are holding it directly in front of you as you shifted your weight to the center line. Place the ball of energy gently into your Dan dein and return to the figure 8 stance..

Step 7:

To finish stand upright bring your arms up from your sides and point with your finger tips to your high heart center (upper part of the sternum), the backs of your hands should be facing each other (thumbs pointing to the sky), hold this for a few minutes with the intent of sending any energy in a loop back down into the ground. Imagine energy coming up your legs down your arms and out of your fingertips into your high heart center and then back down into the ground. Hold this for a few minutes this will help ground the energy that you have consciously or unconsciously been working with and help you use and bring thus into your everyday life. If energy is not properly grounded it can make you quite unstable both mentally, physically, and emotionally so this is probably the most important of all the exercises.

When you have finished your meditation you should allow the same amount of time that you spend doing the meditation stretching. This is very important as you will find your muscles can be quite tired even after a short period because they are not used to holding your body in such a way. Me included have fallen in to many bad habits and these stances are the basis of good stance but stretching and flexibility are also important.

This is as many steps that for now I can write down to explain other moves that are more powerful in writing alone would be complicated and open to interpretation suffice to say I would like to teach this in more detail to anyone who is interested but feel to try and convey on paper would not really work. The next step is moving into dance, but if you practice with these 7 basic techniques and you start to feel a connection with an energy you haven't felt before and you find it gives you strength to help you through the day then my journey has not been in vain.

As you are probably aware today we did not work with emotions but this is some thing I would like to share with anyone who is interested. If you find the first few steps useful maybe some of the techniques I have learn't through experience and experimentation over the past few years would be useful. The system I am trying to build up is experimental with those that participate and therefore it is a very organic form of meditation and in time each person would bring there own unique perspective and contribution to the group. Any one who is interested can contact me at e-mail: nayhan.flipflop@gmail.com 
Would also be interested in any feedback critical or otherwise.

Ajumbo Dance

Simple again.

Move to the music just one joint I a figure of 8, as big or as small as you like. When you have the groove with the music and the figure of eight, transfer the motion, emotion, amplitude and spead to the opposite joint (once you get to the cross of the virtual figure of 8) transfer the rhythm, and direction of motion into the opposing joint(s).

I find using the wrist, elbow , or shoulder joint preferable to start with.

As you become more familiar how this feels you can start mixing it up and throwing the figure of eights to any joint you choose.

That is it!

Enjoy...

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