May Book Drop

What If?

By: Randall Munroe

This was interesting but due to the nature of the content and its original format, it felt more like podcast material to me than book material. I appreciate the spirit of this book, however, and did find a lot of the information interesting, if not particularly useful. There were sections, based on my level of interest in the subject, that were less interesting than others. Overall it was entertaining. I read a great many books that are heavy-hitters and for that particular reason, I chose this entertaining read to break up the tone and pace of my reading list. I would not re-read this book but I am not mad that I invested my time to give a once-through.

Summary Here

Dance Dance Dance

By: Haruki Murakami

WARNING: some spoilers if you have read or watched Burning.

My love affair with Murakami’s works remains unbroken. Dance Dance Dance was weird. It was uncanny. It was just the right amount of eery. It reminded me A LOT of a long-format Burning. The characters were rich. The pacing was steady, methodical, detailed. I find Murakami’s writing extremely inspiring. It shows you don’t have to have a story with fantastical leap after leap to create something unique, interesting and beautiful.

Summary Here

Cthulu Casebooks #1

By: James Lovegrove

This was a really cool twist on Sherlock Holmes. But first, let’s deal with some unsavoriness. From wiki: “Reviewers have praised Lovegrove's use of Doyle's characters within a Lovecraftian conceit.” Due discussion is given, in the book’s intro, to the racist worldview of H.P. Lovecraft. I didn’t realize that was the literary style in which this book would be written. What I mean by that is, the author draws heavily from the occult themes popularized by Lovecraft in a re-telling of an otherwise classic Holmesian story. This is what I would consider to be an attempt to NOT throw out the baby with the bathwater, to NOT partake of cancel culture if you will. I just think you should know that ahead of time if you decide to read this book. I thought it was super fun and I thoroughly enjoyed the mysticism interwoven into the narrative style of Sherlock Holmes. Also some useful reviews on GoodReads. Hit the summary button below for more.

Summary Here

The Fairies of Sunflower Grove

By: PJ Ryan

Ugh. I hate everything that PJ Ryan writes. They are, however, the perfect level for my 5 year old. He is such a champ and listens to and reads things far beyond his five years so I have to throw him a bone every once in a while. I cannot stand Gwedolyn Druyor’s narration. She choose the most infantile sounding voices and she is wildly inconsistent in her assumed accents. Its trite and annoying but for a kid its fun, I suppose. In fact it has almost a 5 star rating everywhere. Of Ryan’s catalog, we have listened to this, Rebecca Girl Detective, RJ Boy Detective and the one where everyone teams up. Anyway, they’re all pretty bad as an adult though they are great for emerging readers. RJ is the best. Rebecca was insufferable. The Faires are totally saccharine. You were forewarned.

Summary Here

The Things You Can Only See When You Slow Down

By: Haemin Sunim

While the content of this book was valuable, I didn't particularly enjoy the format. Does this mean I’m a picky bitch about books? Yes. I definitely have my opinions. This is a book that was created by transferring tweets to page. Some of the longer tweets that spiraled into narrative were good for listening. The shorter ones were a little disjointed feeling. I do think that a written version of this work would be good for those who like a mindful jump-off point for journaling. I chose this book as a “book to listen to while dozing off.” For that purpose, it really was perfect. Since there wasn’t a narrative, it was easy to double back and re-listen to parts I fell asleep to. It took a little longer to make it through than a fully wakeful listening but as far as subject matter and narration go, it filled its role in my library well.

Summary Here

My Grandmother’s Hands

By: Resmaa Menakem

A great book overall. In short, its about race and trauma with equal emphasis placed on both. I have specific categories of people I think this would be best suited for if I had to prioritize. IMO this book should be a priority for white people who are stepping into social justice and who find themselves uncomfortable with other writer’s tone toward white people (perceived or real). This is the first book I’ve read that does a good job at kindly walking white people through their own historical trauma. Resmaa lays out how simply being white perpetuates systemic racism but he does so in a way that feels devoid of judgement. It also coaches the reader (white) on how to recognize and de-escalate the sometimes knee-jerk push-back to being confronted about white-body privilege. For example, I requested a family member read The New Jim Crow. They made it through and gained a lot from the read but felt very attacked throughout. Had they read this book first, I think they would have been much better equipped for The New Jim Crow.

IMO this book is a less academic (on purpose) handling of the same info metered out by The Body Keeps The Score. There are fewer (at least for white readers) anecdotes that are the same level of triggering as TBKTS. There is also immediate incorporation of the body-work into the writing so you have tools to use while reading. I will say, there is one moment where the author used a hypothetical to elicit a response from the reader and he totally freaking got me. As a reader, you are warned, goaded, cajoled, coached and implored time and again to stop and do the practices laid out by Resmaa. And about 3/4 of the way through he put a scenario out there so infuriating and personally significant to me, that I had a very strong visceral reaction. Immediately after he writes - now stop and do the practices we have been talking about. And I did. Almost immediately after settling myself down, I realized how brilliantly he got me to do the work. I was deeply impressed. This book covers a lot of the same ground as TBKTS but in a totally different way.

There are whole chunks of this book intended to deal with trauma for Black and POC people as well as whole portions devoted to “The Police” as a body and the trauma they endure. I found both of those sections unique and insight-giving. While there are some people who I think would gain more from bumping this up the reading list before other reads, this book is a must for pretty much everyone.

Summary Here

My Dyslexia

By: Philip Schultz

Insightful, poignant, beautifully written once it gets going. This is not my first read about Dyslexia. It probably won’t be my last. What I’ve read in the last was at the intersection of clinical and anecdotal. This book is narrative, poetic and personal. I have quite a few neurodivergent people in my life. You probably do too, it’s not uncommon just not talked about enough. Books like this feel important to me for the sake of learning to be compassionate. If you want to be able to rise above being an asshole to people accidentally, you have to self-teach. We do not live in a society where “non-normative” experiences are culturally mainstreamed let alone championed. Additionally, My Dyslexia functions as a historical primer on Dyslexia and its clinical arc over the last 70 or so years. The author, Phillip Schultz, came up in the 50s and 60s. Some of what he experienced hasn’t changed much, some things are very different. Again, not information you’re likely to know about unless it touches you directly or unless you go out of your way to seek it out. A good, short read.

Noteworthy: This book is only rated a 3.75 on GoodReads. I would rate it higher, a hair over 4. It seems like most of the negative reviews are from people wanting instructions to follow for how Schultz overcame his dyslexia. That seems unfair to me. Everyone’s path is different and this book never claims to be self-help. Its self reflexive and poetic. Insights are there for those who can pick up on nuance. I don’t think this is a book to read if you have an agenda.

Summary Here

The Princess and the Goblin

By: George MacDonald

High falootin language. This was not a modern re-telling so the English was a bit difficult for Vor to follow. It wasn’t impossible nor did he completely miss the narrative arc, it just required more stopping and making sure that he was paying attention, asking questions and explaining than what we are used to. I remember reading this as a kid but I’m not sure at what age. It is definitely good - whimsical, sweet, suspenseful - it did the work. I would recommend finding a modernized version for young readers. For the slightly older crowd, I suggest undertaking a hard-copy read so as to facilitate the absorption of narrative, vocabulary and formal linguistic stylings. Also, I knew this was an old book but damn, it was written in 1872. Does put some perspective on it.

Summary Here

Gulliver’s Travels

By: Jonathan Swift

More of the same as The Princess and The Goblin, really. Also, it’s not written for children. I totally read it as a kid - probably at eight or so years old, Re-reading along with a child, it’s clear that the voice is as an adult to an adult even though the subject matter is fun and imaginative. Le sigh. Good ol’ Vor hung in there nonetheless. Poor thing. Those two older stories really stretched his listening skills. Neither kept his attention very well. Read them if you like, probably skip them for the beginning readers.

Summary Here

The Vor Game

By: Lois McMaster Bujold

Fun! From what I can tell there’s a whole series. Choosing not to get mired down in it currently but I look forward to doing so in the future. Yes, you read the name correctly and yes they are a woman! A woman Sci-Fi author. But Carlina what about Le Guin or Jemisen etc? Great authors, misgenred imo. Those works are Fantasy with a sprinkling of or thread or two of science. McMaster-Bujold’s entire universe hinges on knowing enough about space that you can create an entire universe that abides by its rules. Now, before I get ahead of myself, she demonstrates that she knows enough but this is still not hard sci-if. It’s more like an underdog story inside of an empire-building story with a solid coat of sci-fi paint. Also, if you’re looking for a feminine touch, look elsewhere. My closest comparison here would be John Scalzi. If you like his Collapsing Empire books these will be right up your alley. Returning now to the things I liked: great characters and character development, so many twists and turns, a believable Universe, quick-witted and sometimes acerbic dialog. Thoroughly enjoyable as should anything be that bears my son’s name.

Summary Here

The Claw

By: Patrick Carman

And-a-strike. I managed to pick three books in a row for Vor that just weren’t it. This books was fun for me but a little too scary/suspenseful for him. At the point of choosing this book, I was scraping the bottom of the barrel of children’s books included in my Audible subscription. Thankfully, they have updated offerings for June. Anyhow, RIYL RL Stine’s Goosebumps. This is a serialized offering. It read like a collection of short Goosebumps stories. Fast and fun with a spoooooky narrator and sidekick. It could also be compared to Tales from the Crypt!

Summary Here

Stability Spectrum Pt.1

INTRO & DISCLAIMER:

This is a written resource intended to be supplemental to my workshops on The Stability Spectrum. Most of what is written below will be useful as a stand alone source of information. If something needs clarification, it is likely because this is support for a real-time course, not included. Chances are, an online search will help you to gain further understanding. Or, if you have specific questions or concerns please drop them below in the comments. Remember, I’m a yogi and do not hold a doctoral degree in any medical or sport-related field. Use this information appropriately and with guidance from your doctor if there is any question at all about its safety or efficacy for you, personally.

WHY AM I TEACHING THIS WORKSHOP SERIES?

I’ve been teaching yoga since 2014. I’ve been coaching other movement since 2012 and I’ve been an athlete my whole life. I’m a trained researcher and have spent years accumulating knowledge outside of the academic context to apply to my own body or to give me a different lens by which to view the bodies that come to me for training. In the process of teaching and observing others, I noticed people tend to cluster toward one or the other starting place in their movement endeavors. They are either in Group A - “Flexible” or they are in Group B - “Strong.” I’ve made a diagram to illustrate my thinking. These are loaded terms but I’ve chosen them for a reason - because they both highlight what are considered to be desirable traits AND you don’t need to know special terms to get the idea I’m trying to convey. They do not, however, do a good job of describing what’s going on beneath the surface for either group. We will get into that momentarily. For further illustration of the point, see the graphics below. CAVEAT: we are working off of stereotypes so don’t get too invested…

Static and Motion based characteristics of “strong” and “flexible” people with some examples of overlap.

On the left sample “strong” bodies from a basic Instagram search #strong and on the right an Instagram search for #flexible

Injury happens, discomfort happens, pulled muscles happen, compressed vertebrae happen…right? Yes. They do. But they don’t have to, at least in theory. The two groups above, in addition to having distinct characteristics of what they look like standing and in motion, also have a tendency to accrue injuries, aches and pains and maladaptive motor patterns in divergent ways; with some areas of overlap as well.

Classical injuries/ailments experienced by “strong” or “tight” people, classical injuries/ailments experienced by “flexible” or “hypermobile” people and areas of overlap.

WHY CONTINUED…

In my personal experience I started in the “strong” category. I have experienced stiffness, discomfort, an inability to find good alignment in hand balance leading to chronic shoulder pain, sciatic nerve pain from a hamstring pull, etc. Over the years I have healed all of the above and am continuing to evolve my practice.

It so happens that, of my private clientele, more than half are working with me because of injuries related to hypermobility. These include patellar luxation, bunions, bursitis, hip capsule injuries, etc. We are continually working to re-train motor patterns that keep my clients’ bodies safe.

But in my everyday teaching experience, of which I have accumulated about 4,000 hours, I see people like me and people like my private clients mixed together in a class. As I gained experience, I started to notice these different populations. Listening to students, I started seeing patterns and how a standard yoga class assumes a body that possesses both strength and flexibility as a starting point, when in fact, many people are lacking in one or the other and sometimes both in drastic ways.

This online resource and the accompanying workshop are my first attempt to codify some of what I have observed over the years both in terms of problem areas and in terms of tools to resolve the problem areas. The good news is, the methodology is more or less the same for both groups of people! So below we will get into more technical definitions of “strong” and “flexible,” how to identify those patterns in yourself and from there we will take a look at some resources I’ve found to be of great efficacy over the years.

Definitions

As previously mentioned, the terms “strong” and “flexible” are good to get started but otherwise inadequate for the following conversations. So, let’s keep the general concepts but replace those two words for more meaningful terms.

In this conversation we will now convert “strong” to “stable.”

Stability is the ability to maintain or control joint movement or position. Stability is achieved by the coordinating actions of surrounding tissues and the neuromuscular system.

Instead of “flexible” we will now use “mobile.”

Mobility is the degree to which an articulation (where two bones meet) can move before being restricted by surrounding tissues (ligaments/tendons/muscles etc.) - otherwise known as the range of uninhibited movement around a joint.

In an ideal world these two abilities work together in tandem for a perfectly balanced system where no one get hurt except through external forces. But the real world looks like these two abilities being out of balance in most bodies to the degree that a person ends up in one or the other camp. To visualize this let’s bring back one of my favorite teaching tools from Psych 101 - the bell curve!

The Bell Curve

NOTE: The graphical depictions below are my approximation of things, not based on personal research or study. Real studies do exist if you want more precision.

The Bell Curve

The term "bell curve" is used to describe a graphical depiction of a normal probability distribution, whose underlying standard deviations from the mean create the curved bell shape.

Let’s apply the concepts of the Stability Spectrum to the Bell Curve and see what we get….

0, .5 and -.5 on the Bell Curve with our variables applied. Notice how the Bell Curve is a spectrum with a big bump in the middle.

Referencing the version of the Bell Curve (above), we start at the zero-point or the middle. Here, a person has full use of their joints in a way that is supported by their muscles and other tissue. The given range of motion (ROM) for a joint is determined by examining a wide variety of factors including the shape of the joint itself. We will take a look at the other factors involved a little later as most of the variables factor into where a person falls on the Stability Spectrum. You will also notice above, two points equidistant from the center. If we were talking pure numbers these points would be labeled .5. That is to say they are about half of a point away from the mean, taken here to mean the statistical average. On the Bell Curve, whatever is being measured is less “average” the further away from the middle it gets. At .5 away from the middle, you’re still looking at things most people would consider normative. In our example, someone who has one or two stiff joints or someone who maybe has open shoulders even though their hips are tight would not be considered extreme cases (we will discuss exceptions in the workshop). Since in reality most people don’t have full range of motion with support from surrounding tissue, the above is an idealization. In most circumstances, if you were to actually measure people and create a statistical average ROM, the mean would probably skew toward the tight side of things. The Yoga Dojo is an example of a community or cohort where, perhaps, the mean would skew toward the mobile side.

The Bell Curve - Tails

The further you move away from center on the Bell Curve the further you get from the statistical average. Here is 1+, using our model of mobility. At this point, the manifestations begin to look extreme compared to the middle of the pack.

Here’s where the conversation gets a little interesting. The further you move away from center the higher the number. So this Bell Curve (above) shows +1 and -1 and beyond. This is where, the people in our discussion would start to have congenital joint issues like club foot, or on the other end have Ehler’s Danlos Syndrome. The size of the Bell Curve drops off steeply here. That is because there is a rapidly diminishing number of people at each point. The two differently colored ends of our spectrum or Bell Curve are called the “tails.”

It is through examining the "why” behind the conditions at the tails that we get a really good understanding of what is at play for the rest of us back toward the middle.

Factors

Where you fall on the Stability Spectrum is going to be a combination of many factors. Your joint ROM is the quickest and dirtiest assessment of where you fall. As mentioned previously, there are multiple factors influencing ROM…

Bone Morphology - The shape and angles of the bones in the joint and leading into the joint. For this purpose you can think of all joints as simple machines. The length of the limb leading into the joint will create different leverage and torque in addition to the shape and angle of the joint itself. Ex: Press Handstands

Movement Practices - the regular degree through which a joint is asked to move. Ex: Sedentary lifestyle vs. Professional Athlete

Tissue Properties - Muscles, ligaments, tendons, even skin surrounding a joint have a predisposition to different properties. The assumption is that these tissues are all functioning normally. Changes in tissue function effect the stability or mobility of a joint.

Genetics/Diet/Age - The genes you inherit influence your morphology, tissue composition, how your body processes the raw material you consume as food and how these variables evolve over the course of your lifetime.

Injury - Accute and chronic use injuries can impact one or more joint’s ROM in a sudden and drastic way.

When you’re measuring a “normal” body it is sometimes difficult to see how the above factors relate to one another. It can be hard, for example, to look at my own body and say “Well what came first? Tight muscles? Tight ligaments? Is the tightness genetic? Is it emotional?” We have the people living in the tails to thank for some of the greatest insights about our body as a system. It is through studying communities like the EDS community, that we are able to understand the role genes play on collagen formation and thus joint health. It is through observation of patients undergoing physical therapy after surgery and injury that we are able to examine how large changes in ROM effect the body as a whole. The body is indeed a system. It is very difficult and maybe impossible to isolate any ONE of the above factors as being the definitive reason for where you fall on the Stability Spectrum.

Assessment Tools

Baseline measurements can be found below as well as some definitions of extension, flexion etc:

BASELINE ROM

A quick test for Hypermobility can be found below. Notice, we have not defined Hypermobility in writing. There is a wide range of what Hypermobility can mean and secondly there is no direct antonym or opposite. You can take it to mean greater than baseline ROM in one or more joints OR you can find a more detailed explanation here. The quick test for Hypermobility is called the Beighton Score. There are two links below both showing the criteria for the test with some novel and redundant information:

BEIGHTON SCORE 1

BEIGHTON SCORE 2

So what about the tighter people reading this and participating in the workshop? For you we have some standard flexibility tests ala gym class in primary school. If you want to get fancy - grab a friend, a protractor, ruler and tape measure. The tests after the link below more or less run you through the ROM for your major joints. Get your friend to measure the angle with the ruler and protractor and some of the sit and reach scores with your tape measure. That is what we will be doing in the workshop!

FLEXIBILITY TESTING

Final Thoughts for Pt 1

Ok, how’d you do? If you came away with a couple of hyper mobile joints, congratulations! You are in the approximately 25% of the population who has one or two hypermobile joints. If you your self assessments or the definitions on the Hypermobility page started sounding alarms, this would be a good indication to follow up with your doctor. Severe connective tissue disorders are rare BUT maybe some of the aches and pains you experience are related. Part 2 of this series will address some immediate tools you can use and modifications you can make to your movement to keep you safe in the mean time.

Tight? Chances are you already knew it! But likewise, if you are experiencing limitations in a generalized way, or severely in more than one joint, that’s what part 2 is for.

Perfectly balanced specimen? More power to you my friend. Chances are you already do some of the exercises and drills I’m going to show everyone in part 2. Join us anyways and be my movement model!

Knowledge is the key to moving forward. We aren’t conducting peer reviewed double blind experiments here, but if you can’t use yourself as your life’s greatest experiment and keep notes accordingly what are you even doing? These are the sorts of activities people used to do when screens didn’t exist. Its through just this sort of curiosity and experiment that yoga was born.

We are at a temporal nexus of ancient and modern knowledge coalescing. Disparate practices with esoteric focal points are pooling resources to evolve new Gold Standards. Its an amazing time to be a mover. Today, we know more about moving and the human body than every before. I’m looking forward to part 2 where I will share some of the best tools around for creating happy joints and healthy tissue that I’ve found in the past ten years.

Questions and comments below 👇.

Thanks! 😊🙏