I took a few notes this week during one of Francisco Kaiut’s lectures. We all know the fitness industry has many, wonderful benefits. Francisco pointed out several differences between that industry and yoga, so I’m expanding on his comments and how Kaiut Yoga helps us in these areas.
This Method can benefit every body, including the very young. The Kaiut Yoga Method is like wearing sunscreen. The young won’t wear it and those over 50 wish they had.
“Going to the gym and doing Pilates disregards the intelligence of the body. The body is more sophisticated than that. You can get muscle tone from reading a book. You just have to be in the right position.” — Francisco KaiutWe have passive poses that bring more space to the ankle joint. When the ankle joint enjoys more space the brain has to figure out what to do with the space. The brain will then deliver increased muscle tone to the areas that need it: the ankles, feet and legs. This is an example of how doing nothing helps us improve muscle tone.“Muscle tone does not depend on repetition. It depends on intelligence, blood flow and nourishment.” — Francisco KaiutEverything we do with the feet aims to impact blood flow and circulation of that blood flow. Increased blood flow through and around the feet will help to establish strong, healthy muscles.“Stop disregarding the amazing thing that is us. We are a super sophisticated system. Your feet can think if you use them well. You will gain muscle tone from walking.” — Francisco KaiutWe use the feet in most of the classes. This unique access to the feet is important because it allows us to literally put our brain in our feet. Perceiving the feet more and more only increases the number of neurons we have in our feet. With thousands of neurons operating in favor of our feet we can’t go wrong. Even the very young will benefit from bringing focused attention to the feet on a regular basis. “No, you won’t have sarcopenia (loss of muscle tone) if you don’t go to the gym. People in the gym have sarcopenia. The problem is in range of motion. Eventually, 70-year-olds are there with a cell phone in their hand, and the range of motion is small. They can’t bring their hand to the shoulder and back out again. They are exhausted from doing nothing because the problem was always in range of motion.” — Francisco KaiutThe problem is in range of motion because when we train our bodies in the gym, even with the best trainers and perfect form, we will always be compensating in order to get the job done. When you start to notice the lack of range within a joint, doing more of the same repetitive movements won’t help. The range of motion has been lost.“If weightlifting kills the range of motion, the joint will die — and that will change your brain. Then you will be really old and your muscles can’t recover from that.” — Francisco KaiutEverything we do impacts our range of motion. We work directly with where the movement comes to an end. When the system feels safe it lets go of what’s keeping the joint stuck, opens it up and the brain delivers muscle tone. This muscle tone creates a strong foundation from where the joints can move and operate with both freedom, resilience and adaptability.