A Beginner’s Guide to Balance

Editorial

The last few days have seen every two-bit personal trainer bark "core, core, core" at their beleaguered charges like a dog chasing after a runaway medicine ball. The core, which, roughly, refers to those bits of you that are not your arms and legs, is a current fitness obsession.

This, it seems, is not an entirely empty trend. A well-maintained core can assist with all manner of basic human function. The everyday purpose of the core is tested when pushing or lifting, pooping or peeing, breathing and pushing out a baby. In a more elite world, the core muscle group has become a hub of interest. Ice-skater and gymnasts, for example, endure all manner of specialised torture to bring the impossible within their reach.

For our less lofty purposes, core exercises can also help us attain the impossible; vis. the achievement of perfect anatomical posture. Strong support for our bods can guard against injury and nagging pain. Let it be plainly said, however, one should always consult a medical practitioner before attempting any of these emerging or established modalities. Oh and further to the Nanna warnings: don't even think about enrolling your children in a challenging class without the unequivocal say-so of a physician.

Yoga is largely considered to be the gentlest and most established of all the core-strength disciplines. Personally, I prefer the widely practised hatha for the relatively non-hippy-dippy approach most local teachers take to its instruction. Check Yoga Australia to locate a qualified practitioner in your area. Or, if you're in good health, try one of the wacky iterations such as Bikram; AKA "hot yoga". Personally, the experience of smelling the sweat of smug bastards in a room heated to 37 C (100 F) put me in a very bad mood. Different (heat) strokes for different folks, though.

AUSTAT, The Australian Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique, is a good place to start in locating an instructor for an exercise that has fallen out of favour in recent years. Nonetheless, the Alexander Technique has demonstrated some effectiveness in scientific trials for its ability to alleviate chronic and recurrent back pain. Established at the end of the 19th century by an actor chap who wished to improve his hoarseness, it is still favoured by actors, singers, musicians and others whose innards, breathing apparatus and vocal folds are essential to their craft.

Alexander had a few descendents. Largely unexplored in Australia is the Mitzvah technique. This was developed in Israel in the 1970s, comes to us from Israel and owes some of its inspiration also to the more locally widespread Feldenkrais Method; an approach described in its slogan "Awareness Through Movement". I have attended a class run by my local physio and, I have to say, it helped the back pain I'd developed in a shagging incident a good deal. The discipline recently received a little attention for its similarity to some of the theories proposed in recent best-seller on neuro-plasticity The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Dodge. Feldenkrais strives to unite mind and body. Which may be why it helped my shagger's back

Here again, seek a qualified instructor. You can do it locally through The Feldenkrais Guild. And always ask your medical professional. That is, someone in a white coat with meaningful letters after their name who is not in the habit of locating your spirit animal.

Helen Razer, Citysearch

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