Cat Stretch Movements
Thomas Hanna’s Cat Stretch was designed to engage the body’s main functional movements into a daily refresher routine. I have reimagined these original floor exercises to standing in gravity with guided instruction and set to music. The original exercises can be found in Thomas Hanna’s Somatics: Reawakening The Mind's Control Of Movement, Flexibility, And Health
In this movement pattern you will be releasing muscle tension in the front side of your somatic center.
In this movement pattern you will be releasing tension from muscles in the back side of your somatic center.
Many muscles have reciprocal and inverse relationships and when you contract one set of muscles, another set will lengthen. Notice in this movement pattern how when you bow down, contracting the front side of your center, the muscles in your back will reciprocate by relaxing and lengthening. Similarly, when you gaze up contracting your back muscles, the muscles in the front of your body will relax and lengthen.
In this movement pattern you will be releasing muscles on the sides of your somatic center.
In this movement pattern you will be using muscles used for twisting and reaching. This will involve muscles in the front, back, and sides of your body working together in cross diagonal movements. Awareness of these twisting movements can increase your ability to use your arms and legs more efficiently and can improve walking and breathing.
In this movement pattern you will engage your trunk, sides, and back by looking back behind you. Notice the cross-lateral tightening of your upper back coordinating with the opposite side of your back, gluts and hamstrings.
In this movement pattern you will reach up and to the opposite side of your body as if picking a ripe apple off a tree. As you do this, notice the cross lateral relationship between your trunk turning and how your opposite leg wants to elongate.
In this last twisting exercise you will use your head, arms, trunk and lower body in differentiated and inverse movements, similar to wringing out a washrag.
In this exercise you will combine the last four twisting and reaching movements into one sequence with music. These movements engage upper, middle, and lower parts of the body in cross lateral relationships of tightening and lengthening.
In this movement you will be exploring the relationship of your legs and feet to your somatic center. Notice how the turning of your feet engages the muscles of the trunk and back.
In this movement you will be exploring the relationship of your head, shoulders, and trunk. These three areas become habituated to move together following the movement of the eyes. In this exercise you will differentiate turning the head and trunk to free up new ways of moving freely.
All movements sequenced with music.
