This post is adapted from one of the chapters in 9 Keys to Better Movement, a part manifesto and part self-inquiry guide that will challenge the way you think and the way you move. Grab it here.

What does a squat have to do with a pushup, a toe curl with a nod, or a yawn with a punch?

They’re all whole-body movements. (Wait, even the toe curl?)

There’s nothing you can do that doesn’t involve all of you.

It’s so blissfully simple, and so elusive.

Part of the problem is we tend to have a skewed idea of how the body works biomechanically.

We think of it as a series of parts stacked on top of each other. We imagine muscles hanging off bones, waiting to be called upon to move them. We perceive an amalgamation of “lower” and “upper” halves, of “right” and “left” or “front” and “back” sides.

(And yes, of “mind” and “body,” but we’ll get to that a different day.)

These conceptions lurk, deluding us into a false idea of how the body actually functions. They con us into believing there’s a separation of components or functions.

But there is no separation.

So What . . . Is the Body?

The body is in fact a “tensegrity” structure (short for “tensional integrity”), in which the bones are held in place by tension from the muscles and fascia.

In the tensegrity model, physical stresses are distributed evenly throughout the entire structure. The whole system supports the load, even if it’s small, or concentrated in one part of the system (like a bicep curl).

Pull or push on one part of the system and the entire thing responds. There’s a balance of tension across the entire structure that lends it superb integrity.

We’re whole-body creatures, and therefore we’re whole- body movers. All of you is involved in every movement you do.

Different movements call upon different parts of the structure in different ways, but there is no isolation of components. All movement is systemic.

Take the bicep curl (yes, again). It’s natural to focus on the arm when it’s the key point of exertion. We reflexively attend to the area of effort.

But doing so means we miss the opportunity to notice and refine what the rest of the system is doing to support that bicep curl. Your glutes aren’t exactly out to lunch, yo.

A Little Practice Makes You Whole

Try it for yourself. Pay attention to what the rest of you is doing in any given movement.

Let’s try a bicep curl (yep, again). What’s happening in your opposite foot as you curl the dumbell? Where are your eyes moving? Are you holding your belly? What other parts of you are coming into your attention naturally as you perform the movement?

What’s your experience of your whole self with each repetition?

Use each repetition to find that whole self and invite it to participate.

Framing all of your movement in this way–by understanding yourself as a single, holistic, participatory movement system–will open the door to something vital.

Yes, even if it’s just a bicep curl.

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