We have a tree in our front yard that my daughter loves to climb. When she was younger she would pull a little slide underneath it so she could reach the lowest branch to climb up.

Recently she came running into the house, excitedly telling me that I had to come outside and see what she could do.

As soon as we got to the tree she said “watch this” and jumped up, grabbed a branch with one hand and hung there for a second. Before I knew it, she was in the tree.

I was impressed, of course!

But remember, in addition to being a proud mom, I'm also a total Pilates/anatomy/body-movement geek and so I couldn't help but note the excellent form and natural alignment my daughter had inadvertently demonstrated for me. She had on a tank top so I could see her back and the very first thing I noticed when she grabbed the branch was her mid-back muscles.

I could see her mid-back activate as she grabbed the branch. Without any thinking on her part, her body responded by giving her arm the support it needed to hold on and climb the tree.

Why does this matter, you ask?

It turns out most of us have forgotten how to do something that my daughter and people her age still do naturally.

I was fascinated to see her make the critically important connection between her arm and mid-back. She did it effortlessly and automatically—it just happened!

I work with adults to help them make this connection all the time and it can be a real challenge. Don't feel bad though, it was a challenge for me to make this connection when I was first introduced to it too. This is the case for most adults, it turns out.

By watching my daughter, I really got how efficiently and naturally we're born to move, walk, run, jump and climb without extra thought to how we're doing it. Nature designed us beautifully.

Unfortunately, our modern culture and lifestyle has mostly removed our natural, inborn ability to move with ease and fluidity.

It gets covered up by new patterns that aren’t as efficient as our original blueprint.

Repetitive activities, like sitting slouched over a desk and sticking our heads out to read a book or computer screen create new, unnatural patterns in our bodies over time.

Eventually, the map we're born with, the one that tells our body how to move with ease and fluidity, gets buried.

But luckily it’s never lost completely—it's still there underneath all the layers of poor movement patterns and we just have to rediscover it.

Once you tap into your original movement map, you’ll find your body can’t wait to respond!

There are two requirements for locating and re-activating your natural movement map.

One, you need to know you have this map already and to start looking for it. And two, you need to be willing to connect mentally and physically with this old and buried way of moving. It may feel awkward at first, and that's when you need to stick with it! Here's the thing though—this is just the first step to recovering your body's natural, fluid movement.

This is something I’ve been working out for myself over the last couple years. I’ve been peeling away the layers of poor patterning little by little and have been blown away by the strength I’ve developed. I've also noticed pain I used to experience with certain movements has diminished, or completely disappeared and it's much easier to move, in general.

The connection of my arms into my mid-back was one of my biggest breakthroughs.

As a hairstylist I developed a pattern of holding my arms up with my neck and tops of my shoulders to cut and style hair. I carried this pattern with me into everything that required my arms, including Pilates.

I was clueless about how to remap this poor pattern in my body and was actually exacerbating the poor connection between my arms and mid-back. In fact, I was just strengthening it further with Pilates because I couldn't get out of my neck no matter how hard I tried.

Our mid-back has core muscles too, but if we are disconnected from them, they can't do their job.

Understanding this disconnect was the key I needed.

I eventually discovered a specific series of exercises that allowed me to reconnect to that core musculature in my mid-back and finally work my arms from the mid-back instead of using my neck and shoulders.

Once I found that mid-back connection, those back muscles eagerly began supporting my arms and, in turn, everything I did throughout my day, including Pilates.

I sometimes think that, had I made this arm-to-mid-back connection while I was still doing hair, I might still be working in the hair-styling world!

Or not.

As it turns out, the arm to mid-back connection was only one of many missing pieces I eventually discovered and, had I not been motivated to begin uncovering the whole blueprint, I'm sure I'd still be suffering one way or another.

Today we help everyone find their mid-back to arm connection as well all the many other pieces to their natural movement blueprint. Once you are aware of these ideas and willing to try new ways to move, we can accelerate your growth and improve your fluid movement dramatically with many other techniques and strategies designed just for your body.

I know my true calling is to help others find their inner blueprints to ultimate health and effortless movement. My goal is to help you learn to live comfortably and do the things you love to do for as long as possible.

So check your arm to mid-back connection and start uncovering your natural movement blueprint!

As ever, if you have any questions or suggestions, I'll be glad to answer in the comments below.

See you at the studio,
Sydney

P.S. What activities make your arms hurt or feel weak? Do you think making this arm to mid-back connection will help? If you try it, let me know how it goes!

P.P.S. – Our free mini workshop on the foot continues to get rave reviews and it’s still available. You can read more about it and register for free access here: Foot-Talk: A Powerful Foot Alignment Training