The word core can be used to mean different things. Sometimes people are referring to the abdominal muscles. Sometimes it means the center of the body, which can be debatable. In structural integration, the core is referred to as a central axis around which the rest of the body organizes to balance within gravity’s pull. The structures of the core can be said to run from the soles of the feet to the crown of the head. The takeaway here is that the body has no lines drawn within it, there are no beginnings or ends. The body is a seamless entity that we try to comprehend by categorizing and compartmentalizing. As you delve into the core of your body, I invite you to explore some fluidity with how you define this region in yourself.
The abdomen is a special expanse of the body. It contains many different bags within other bags, interwoven with tubes and secretions of fluid that keep everything sloshing and flowing. So many things are happening here, including digestion, circulation, respiration, and communication. Simultaneously, this active and alive community of organs and microbes exists at the center of all our movement. Every time you reach out with your hand, turn to check your blind spot, or push through your legs to walk, you need your core to move with you. Because movement is so vital for each and every one of these functions, your abdomen needs mobility. At the same time, it needs protection and stability for these vulnerable structures. The core musculature aims to provide just that. Healthy abdominals are responsive—they hold the appropriate amount of tension needed for the job at hand. This creates the conditions for a functionally strong, available core.
The muscles of the abdomen crisscross in overlapping layers, lending both mobility and stability to the body’s core. |
Soft and Mobile
If a weightlifter can pick up a refrigerator for a brief time, but they struggle to carry a baby for an hour and they can only breathe in their upper chest since their abs are so tight, how strong would you say they are? Muscles need to be available for many kinds of tasks. To be strong, they need to be able to not just engage but also let go.
Check in with your core muscles and see if they can let go when not needed. Try this: get on the floor on your hands and knees. Feel free to put a folded blanket under your knees for comfort. You might also put a smaller folded blanket under the heels of your hands. Once you’re here, settle in. See how much you can relax your belly. Can it hang down toward the floor? Notice how that feels for you.
You can also check in with your belly while reclined against the back of a chair or couch. Put your hands on your belly—on your skin. Approach your abdomen with respect, compassion, and curiosity. Get a little reacquainted with some of the different layers here. Put aside any judgements you might have for the moment. Notice for yourself what it is like for your belly to not hold on, brace, suck in, or tense in any way.
In a rigid household, where there’s a lot of pressure around you, it can be hard to perform to your fullest potential. By learning to let go of unnecessary tension or holding patterns, we can allow free expression of breath, organ motility, and all the other processes that inhabit the abdomen.
Strong and Stable
Because it is the center of our being, having a strong core gives us a supportive foundation for many big-body movements. Strength in our core balances the work of other parts of the body, like the back, legs, and arms. There are many ways to build core strength. The following are just three ideas.
1. Use the core to hold you up.
How much time do you spend simply sitting or standing? Of that time, how often are you leaning against something? If you’re sitting and leaning on a back rest, or standing and leaning on a counter or wall all the time, you’re not giving your core muscles a chance to hold you up on their own. Use it or lose it. A great way to build core strength is simply to let these postural muscles do their job of keeping you upright. See Session 1 for a tip on sitting without a back rest.
2. Supine abdominal exercise
This is just one of my favorite exercises because it is very scalable, allowing me to more specifically target the muscles I’m seeking to strengthen. Start by lying on your back with knees bent in toward your chest. Now, feel your ASIS’s (front boney hip points of the pelvis) with your hands to make sure your pelvis doesn’t move as you bring your knees to stack vertically over your hips. If your pelvis moves, you’ll probably feel your low back lift off the floor, and you won’t be engaging your abdominals in the way intended by this exercise. Imagine your belly muscles are gathering in from all directions like a corset in order to fix your pelvis in place. Holding your legs so your knees are stacked over your hips compels your abdomen to hold the heavy weight of your lower body—this may be enough work and simply a place to return to again and again. Take a mini-break by bringing your knees in closer to your chest. Play with adding slightly more intensity by lowering your knees away from you an inch at a time.
If you want more, you can slowly lower one heel to gently tap down on the floor, then raise it back up and lower the other. Alternate right and left while using your abdominal muscles to hold your pelvis absolutely still. You can add on to this further by extending your legs straight or by lowering both heels to tap the floor at the same time.
3. Move your body in abundant and varied ways every day.
Your core is present and involved in all of your movements. To really strengthen the core muscles, you shouldn’t focus on doing just one thing. Things that primarily use your lower body will work your core differently than using your upper body. Exercises done while prone (face down) will require different work than when you’re supine (face up). Think of all the different directions you can bend and twist your waist. Bending over, carrying things, getting up and down, climbing and hanging all use your core in different ways. The broader the spectrum of challenges your core gets to meet with regularly, the more prepared your structure will be for a variety of situations.
Of course, there is so much more that can be said about the core of the body. There are so many layers of tissue doing important jobs here. Giving them full capability of responding to each moment means cultivating softness in addition to strength and building that strength in multiple different ways. I’ve shared just a few ideas, intended to possibly give you a new way of relating to the core of your body. Always listen to your own intuition and get more opinions from trustworthy healthcare providers so you can build a fuller picture of your own body.