How are your knees and hips doing these days? If they are doing well and you are able to do everything you used to do and everything you love to do then you are fortunate and that is wonderful. In addition to low backs, knees and hips are typically where limitations to doing the things we love and need to do in our lives show up. Aches, pains, stiffness and loss of movement possibilities put a suppression on those activities we love and on how we perceive ourselves. Some factors contributing to the arising limitations include, years of repetitive activity, poor biomechanics, aging, injury, poor nutrition, sedentary lifestyle, lack of healthy movement. As a result we can find ourselves faced with troubling realizations and considerations. Do I have to give up doing some things that i love to do? 

Consider the importance of the knees and hips when it comes to our developmental journey from crawling to standing and then to walking. What is your relationship to those activities these days? Think about the last time you were on your hands and knees and when, from there, you tried some mindful crawling. What was it like? What thoughts, memories and sensations arose in you? They lie at the core of who and what we are today. Do your stand from there and see what that experience stirs in your being. Take your first step from your standing and notice any differences or similarities in the left and right hips and knees. 

Think of the things we like to think we will do for our entire lives: walking, hiking, bicycling, dancing, sports, fitness and so on. The function of our knees and hips is fundamental to all of these. We hope and expect them to last a lifetime. How can we maintain the health and function of our knees and hips so that we can be as active as we wish for as long as we wish? Good nutrition is one factor. The tissues of our joints need a good diet and a minimum of dietary toxins. Good biomechanics is another. Learning how these joints optimally move and the alignment involved in the activities we choose is also important to minimize wear and tear on these powerful and essential joints. Good rest, self-care and recovery are also very important to allow the body to rest and regenerate, being careful not to overdo even things we love to do. Understanding how to breathe while doing the activities we need and love to do feeds oxygen, releases carbon dioxide and restores a balanced internal environment to the tissues of the joints involved. 

Awareness and mindfulness are key elements in supporting the health and longevity of knees and hips that will help us continue to do the things we need and love to do that involve these essential joints. Knees and hips have a lot to do with transmitting power and grace, strength and elegance not just to actions that stimulate our imaginations and passions but also to our everyday necessary and mundane movements. We will use the Tuning Board to help us tune into a deeper awareness and appreciation of our knees and hips and how they relate to our overall movements.

More and more people these days are faced with the choice of having to decide whether or not to replace their knees or hips. In some cases, both. I have seen people who have had multiple replacements to both knees and hips with even multiple times at each location. It's an interesting decision to have to make. Some people do not hesitate and just go right for having the procedure done based on examination and talking with their physician and physical therapists. 

For me, I do not take such a choice lightly. Some important considerations for somatic practitioners to consider with joint replacement surgeries revolve around what may be lost or what may be gained in going ahead with replacement? I have heard many say, "I don't have pain and I wish I had done it much sooner." There is something to be said for that as it may have been that without the surgery they may not now be able to walk or do the activities they have long enjoyed doing. Some after undergoing the treatment report that, well, things are just not feeling or functioning as well as they told me it would. It's a lot to invest in monetarily and emotionally to have it turn out less than ideal. Others have said that everything with the new joint is great! 

Most choices with replacements have to do with chronic pain, body deterioration and not wanting to give up the movement of doing the things we love and give our lives meaning. From this perspective it would seem like an easy and obvious choice to go ahead with it. From a somatic perspective to give up a part of our human body and replace it with nonhuman elements can mean we are losing something or our humanity and our organic function. How are the brain and nervous system affected by the loss of such body tissues? How are they affected in their functioning wholeness around neuroception, for example, with the loss of some amount of proprioception? What perceptions do we have of ourselves as a result of choosing to proceed or not with joint replacement? Even considering whether or not to go ahead with joint replacement will take us to reflections about our life story concerning the joints in question. What activities, joys, trauma, stress and memories are related to those joints in the body? It is inevitable that such ruminations will arise and connect with the essential meanings of our lives. We will explore this experience while incorporating the Tuning Board, a tool that is deeply and intimately involved with proprioception, neuroception, interoception and sense of self.

Upcoming Introductory classes:
The Body in Tune
November 5 - 6, 2025