October Thoughts - 2026
There is a medical term for too much tension in the body - hypertension. It’s associated with the circulatory system and our veins and arteries, but it is analogous to the rest of our bodily systems as well.
When the body stays under constant tension, it becomes rigid and inelastic.
If we can remember this, we can then understand that there is more to how we ‘should’ train the body than the popular metrics associated with longevity.
A healthy bodily system allows for the smooth transmission of energy. When the body is rigid and stiff, it becomes clogged up. Energy, fluids, and movement all transmit more slowly, resulting in restrictions that block our internal processes as well as our ability to express movement externally.
We must cultivate our ability to move and remain adaptable. Our body's ability to accommodate external stimuli, absorbing and changing in relation to them. This ability to adapt in the moment and over extended periods of time is the core of what makes us feel vibrant and capable.
Training strength and creating powerful tension is a part of this. This is how we grow stronger and is an important element of our physiology that can be practically useful as well as mentally and emotionally empowering. However, an obsession with the development of strength, whether for the pursuit of numbers or the pursuit of a certain physical appearance, is a trap.
Separating our strength work from our skill development and mobility work is essential. Training handstands with the same intensity as your planche work is going to add up to incredible stiffness over time.
It is essential to recognize where efficiency takes precedence over force and seek to move softly when possible. Even in settings where power is essential, if there is movement involved, it is the oscillation between relaxing and quickly contracting that permits athleticism and agility to be expressed.
Bringing softness to our skill work and learning the basics of rhythm to harness our elasticity with rapid contractions that release as quickly as they fire is the path to better fitness. Depending on where we are starting, it may look a little different for all of us. Things as simple as breathing softly while holding a handstand against the wall, or pumping our arms in time with a rhythmic hop in place can be a great place to start.
Regardless of where we are, building back our ability to move and let go of tension, or exploring this arena as a full practice in itself, is going to pay greater dividends in the long term and demand a mental approach that seeks internal learning and growth, over external expectations.
Create strength and power, learn to let it go, follow the path of least resistance, and build rhythm. Combine these factors and you will be on a wonderful path that you can explore for the rest of your life.