061 The Medicine of Motion • Renee Klorman

Dec 4, 2018 | Acupuncture

We tend to think of movement in mechanical terms. How this muscle contracts, how blood perfuses a certain kind of tissue or how tendons and bones allow for particular kinds of movement.

But beyond this we we can see that movement is a kind of vocabulary of the body. It has nuance or not. It has a range of expression or not. And just like micro-nutrients are vital to our metabolism, so to micro movements are vital to our physical wellbeing and nervous system.

Today’s conversation is not about taichi or qi gong, but about another kind of “kung fu” another kind of attentive focus on movement and movement practices that can help us to heal ourselves and our patients.

Listen in to this conversation on how a modern perspective on movement goes hand in glove with our traditional medicine.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

  • Nutritious Movement
  • How Renee evaluates patients
  • Movement tips
  • The brain and movement
  • Orthotics
  • Gua Sha on the feet and calves

Learning and practicing whole body alignment means living whole body alignment. Movement matters in everything we do and alignment is intricately layered in all of your patient's health histories. Your clinical observation skills will improve when you make curiosity, about your movement tendencies (or lack thereof), a habit.

Renee Klorman, L.Ac 

I read Katy Bowman's book, Move Your DNA four years ago at a major turning point in my life. I was working 80 hour weeks and miserable in the successful practice I had created. To stay one step ahead of burnout, I declared to my family that I was going to solo hike the 225 mile John Muir Trail to celebrate my 40th birthday. 
 
I had never spent more than a couple of nights in the woods, was terrified of hiking alone, and was usually the one that wanted to turn around after hiking more than a couple of hours (despite decades of being physically active as a competitive athlete). My sister-in-law suggested I read Move Your DNA after mentioning I wanted to work on my gait to avoid injury on the trail. 
 
I had no idea how deep this rabbit hole would go. I completed the hike in 10 days in my 40th year (solo and injury free). I changed how I worked. I fell in love with thru-hiking, ultralight backpacking, and being outdoors. And I postponed entering a doctoral program in Classical Chinese medicine and Orthopedics to pursue further study with Katy Bowman. Four years of study and thousands of clinical treatments later, integrating what I've learned about whole body alignment with my Chinese medicine practice, has significantly refined my diagnosis skills, observation techniques, and clinical efficacy. 
 
For the more traditional bio you can visit my website. 

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Links and Resources

I have a small social media footprint, but if you want to stay in touch Instagram is the best place to find out what I'm up too. It's where I post about natural movement and Chinese medicine, and any other nerdy things I am up to. 
 
The Gua Sha tool I prefer is made by Mark Parzynsky at AcuArtistry. 
 
Katy Bowman's Website is Nutritious Movement, and for a summary of Nutritious Movement here is a 5 min video. I also recommend reading this article by Bowman:  “Move Your DNA: Movement Ecology and The Difference Between Movement and Exercise”  (Journal of Evolution And Health).
 
Corrective Exercises mentioned in the podcast:  
 
“Head Ramping” – To help correct a forward head position, and improve hyperkyphosis.
 
“Drop Your Ribs (but not like that)” – Improve your spinal alignment by unlearning what you may consider “good posture.”
 

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