Shinbox issues

[Cam]

Hello all,

I am experiencing issues performing the BF shinbox. In particular, I lack the
1) flexibility to sit with both sitbones-to-floor.
2) strength & grace to ascend from/descend to the shinbox position.
Any suggestions?

Thanks so much for your consideration,
Cameron

[SFE]

Hi Cameron!

I've had similar problems with my sitting bones. It seems to help if I let my feet move a bit farther from my body "opening the box" a little bit until I develop my flexibility. Concerning the movement itself, remember to breathe. Coach Sonnon's focus on exhaling is probably one of the most important points in Biomechanical Exercise. By exhaling as you turn to the seated position you should find it easier to stay planted (avoid rolling onto back like I would). My experience is limited but I know that these things have helped me!

Cheers,

Steve

[Ken H]

Cam:

I have had similar problems w/ shinboxes, and Coach Sonnon advised me to take my time, move slowly, and, with time, I would develop the joint mobility, agility, and neural pathways that would enable me to do shinboxes correctly.

He was right.

I still review the first tape of the Zdorovye encyclopedia if/when I'm having shinbox problems. In fact, I was looking at it this a.m. and am getting ready to watch it again & practice.

You'll get it. Shinboxes are a great movement and enable many others.

Ken, rkc

[jimschubert]

Hi!

I have a similar problem. I can rise and lower smoothly into the shinbox, but the sitting bones on the side with the leg beside me are at least 4 inches above the floor. On the videos (BodyFlow vol.I) Scott says this a crucial target.

A second factor: in this position, if I try to get closer to the floor I experience an ache in the outer rear part of my hip socket almost as if the greater trochanter is locking against my pelvis. I have attepted to increase the anterior rotation of my pelvis in this position, but I get no movement.

Does anyone else have this combination of challenges? And does anyone have effective strategies for dealing with them?

[Robert V]

I think this was a good question. Most adult men have problems placing both sitbones solidly on the floor, especially if they were/are athletes.

Most women can sit right into the position with no trouble. The hip structure and muscle mass is very different. In my class, we laugh about how most of the women are sitting straight up in the men are usually leaning to the side.

This is a great example of a range of motion we once had and eventually lost. Remember the old "hurdler's stretch" we all did in grade school? And then suddenly, we were told it was bad for the knees and were instructed to fold the leg inward, opposed to back. Well, that was when most of us lost it.

Mr. Sonnon's advice of time, patience and redundancy is it.

I hope he doesn't mind me mentioning this, but he is a very concrete example. In his first tapes, Mr. Sonnon had a slight lean to the side in the shinbox and by the time "Maximology" came around, he was as straight as a pole. Time!!!!!

Also, we tend to brace in a defensive manner in that position if we know it will be a challenge. Therefore, we fight against our own success.

So, one way to help recover that range of motion "without" direct practice in the shinbox, is to do leg infinities. But, don't include the balance challenge. Hold a wall or chair and focus on forming a figure eight with your hip. As you lift your bent leg, "feel" your hip move up, across, down and completely open. Really use your breath and let the "flow" in and out the figure eight happen. Really move from your hip.

There are other methods like placing a yoga block under your front knee in the shinbox and relaxing into the position.

Also, get on all fours and gradually increase the space between your knees until your belly is flat on the floor. Then, gradually move your knees towards your armpits. When you find your limit, hold it there until you feel no tension and then make adjustments until you feel the tension again and then let that tension subside.

But, really...it's just time.

I'm not there yet, but I don't worry about the destination. I am discovering along the journey. It took me over 25 years to lose that range of motion and i can't expect to get it back in 25 days or 25 months. Time!

Continue to do other movements like the scorpion, leg swoops, multi-planer back arches, flat footed, hurdlers and cossack squats, arm screws with a knee drop and whenever you can avoid chairs and sit in the shinbox as long as you can. As a school teacher, when I listen to kids read I sit in a shinbox. Make it a habit.

[jimschubert]

Hi again!

I tested a shin box moving my feet further from my body. That incresed the pain on the outside of my hip socket.

I tried breathing into the position and relaxing and it's like I "lock" at about 4 inches above the floor. It feels exactly like a hip lock. I have virtually no movement in my pelvis in this position (in terms of rotating the top forward). I can barely get my sitting bones onto the floor evenly if one leg is down with knee pointed out and foot in front of my groin and the other knee pointed up and the foot flat on the floor.

I don't believe time will solve this one. I worked on side splits for over a decade and never got beyond about 100 degrees and felt the same kind of locking at the hip. Someone recently suggested I "stick my butt out" which rotated my pelvis anteriorly, and I have been making rapid progress ever since. Since the locking feeling is the same, I suspect a similar biomechanical mispositioning occurs in my shin box.

Any ideas?