The roll-down was the fundamental move during my early recovery.
I found myself rolling-down again and again. It felt good.
The roll-down action involves extending your midline whilst curling your body forward and down, making the widest possible arc with your Base-Line. Letting your upper body relax (as much as you can) and drop down forward from your hips. (Easier said than done if you have a lot of physical restrictions on your body.)
As you use the roll-down action, your primary focus should be on activating your Base-Line muscles to support the rest of your body as you move.
Remember:
All movement should be supported by your Base-Line.
Your core pillar of strength.
The centre of your body.
The standing roll-down is a good way to start, giving the greatest degree of freedom to move with your Base-Line, but do whatever is comfortable for you.
Swing your arms. Stretch and wiggle your fingers. Bend your knees. Rotate your ankles. Move your toes. Shift your weight - heel to toe, side to side. Open and close your mouth. Move your jaw side to side. Roll your eyes. Pull faces, stick your tongue out. Whatever feels good! The possibilities are endless.
The standing roll-down provides the maximum freedom to adjust your posture to align with your Base-Line. Other positions (kneeling, sitting, lying down etc.) when the body's points of contacts are closer to Base-Line movement and amplify imbalances but when you are ready use the roll-down action in other positions, whatever feels right.
Why the roll-down became my 'go-to' move.
The roll-down movement is often described as 'vertebra by vertebra' (e.g. in Pilates), but when I started I had very little movement in my upper body and couldn't feel that. I focused on activating my Base-Line and rolling down section by section of my rectus abdominis muscles.
What helped me to focus on my Base-Line.
You may start to experience 'releases' allowing you to melt down a little further. These feel good. There may be cracks/pops and other sounds and sensations.
You may start to experience emotional releases as you release physical tensions. Go with them. Then let them go.
I had many tensions to release before I could feel it, but rolling down is like melting when the Base-Line muscles are properly engaged and supportive and the body is free of physical tensions and has a full range of natural movement. A smooth, easy action demonstrating the core strength and power that I never knew I had.
full range of natural movement
Do what feels right for you.
Keep the focus on your Base-Line muscles. Start to feel the power of these muscles as your breathe, you will start to feel how move to improve your posture.
Then think about your connection to the other 5 main muscles of movement, how they feel to you - Do they feel balanced? Free to move?