Have you ever noticed one side of your body working harder than the other? It can be a strange moment — like when a client once told me they heard a different sound every time they took a step. That was how they realized something wasn’t quite balanced.

For some people this discovery can be upsetting. Maybe you already take the health of your body seriously and the discovery of an asymmetry feels like something is not quite as healthy as it could be.

Perhaps you've already tried to address it using the common advice of training both sides equally, or training the weaker side more - but realised it doesn't fix anything.

This can feel disempowering - like you don't have any control over the body you exist in.

The Truth - Everyone is Asymmetrical

I'm here to tell you that NOBODY escapes asymmetry. In all the people who I've laid hands on, I have found asymmetry in every single one of them. It's normal and natural.

When Asymmetry Becomes a Problem

However, some asymmetry can be problematic. If you're still here reading, this may be something you're concerned about. Some asymmetry can lead to chronic pain, tension and discomfort. Many people have a sore hip, shoulder or back on one side.

But how do you know whether it's causing problems? And how do you become more symmetrical? Is it even possible?

I believe I have some answers to the questions. And I hope that by sharing them I encourage you to relate to your body and its differences in a more informed and accepting way.

I also hope to empower you to realise that you do actually have the power to change your body.

But to answer those questions we first need to take a closer look at the way your body and brain work together.

The Organization of Your Body

Your nervous system continually monitors information about your body. It knows things like the...

• bent position of your elbow
• pressure of your contact with the floor
• temperature of the air on your skin.
• inclination of your head
• exact location of your shoulder blade

There is a LOT of information coming in. Like A LOT!!!

It decides based on that feedback and based on your intentions, how to organize your body.

It's like someone who organizes their bedroom. They decide oh I want a mirror here and my bed here. I want to have my clothes here so that when I get up in the morning I can easily access them. Then I want to keep all my indoor plants out of the way on the window sills so that I don't trip over them when it's dark.

In a similar way, your brain decides oh, I want to go swimming. So when you're in the water it's thinking "okay so my arm needs to bend and move forward and pull me through the water". where is my arm anyway? Oh yeah there it is. It's a little off from where I thought, so I'm going to add a little more force in this muscle here and that should get the arm back on track again.

It's organizing the force that your muscles produce in order to achieve the positions and movements that you need to get done what you want to get done. And it's trying to do this in the most efficient way possible.

In addition, your brain is monitoring the water temperature, the depth of water, the weather conditions, your perceived danger. And it will adjust things in your organization to suit these perceptions.

This is an astonishingly complex problem that makes the organization of my bedroom seem ridiculously simple (for some reason it doesn't feel this simple!)

Escaping the Machine-Body Myth

Why is this frame of understanding important? Because a common cultural view is that of the machine-body metaphor. It’s the worldview that sees the body as something to maintain, fuel, fix, or upgrade. The perspective that we are just a bunch of parts.

It's the reason we have knee doctors and foot doctors and hand specialists and teeth specialists. It's the reason we get hip replacements and knee replacements and breast implants.

This world-view ignores or downplays the fact that we are biological, aware, living organisms.

It ignores the fact that all of your movement and your posture is centrally governed by your nervous system.

If you're coming from the worldview of the body-as-machine. The natural response to asymmetry is to just train the part more. Or move the part differently.

But my experience of this, is that it just doesn't stick.

However, when you're viewing this problem through the (more truthful) lens that we are living, learning organic beings. It becomes more obvious that this problem must be approached at the level of central government. The level of the nervous system.

If You’ve Tried and Nothing’s Worked...

So if you're finding yourself...

• limping, or
• your left shoulder is stuck, or
• one of your arms swings a lot when you walk while the other is almost stationary

..and you don't know what to do about it. Or if you've been doing some training and it's not making a difference.

First of all know that this is not your fault. It's not some personal failing on your part. This way of looking at the body and brain is extremely uncommon. Probably everything you've heard your entire life is more based on this body-as-machine metaphor. At least it was for me.

Secondly, know that this is actually really great news. It it fantastic news actually. Because you have a nervous system that is astonishingly smart — seriously, it’s been fine-tuning your every move since before you could walk. This means that when you learn how to work with it properly, changes can happen fast.

Some Asymmetry Is Beautifully Normal

Additionally, I mentioned earlier that not all asymmetry is problematic.

One simple example is that our left lung is smaller than our right. For everyone. The heart sits on the left size of the chest and so there's less room for a lung. natures solution? Smaller left lung.

This changes the shape of our breathing in the left side of our ribcage. This is just one small example of something that isn't balanced.

Another is the people are naturally born right or left handed. We all know this one. We have asymmetric preferences and so it makes sense we use our bodies in ways that aren't balanced.

Hopefully that can also break down the idea that any asymmetry is bad. Because it isn't.

When the Pattern Gets Stuck

But some asymmetry is problematic.

An injury which caused you to limp for a period while it healed but then the limp never stopped, is likely a problematic asymmetry.

Maybe you're missing a leg. Or you have scoliosis.

These can be problematic. But it's also possible to learn how to move more optimally regardless of whether your asymmetry is neurological in origin (like the lingering limp), or structural in origin. Like a scoliosis.

The Key: Re-educating the Nervous System

Regardless of the state of your body and mind, the only way to resolve the resolveable asymmetries is by exploring it with your senses and upgrading your sensory motor maps.

This process does 2 things.

1. It gives your nervous system information about yourself.
2. Your nervous system uses that information to re-organize.

Through the process of sensory and movement exploration, you change.

It's like "diagnosis" and "repair" are both the same step.

Let Your Brain Do Its Job

This is like getting clear on household responsibilities. Maybe you're the one who empties the bins, takes out the recycling and does the shopping. Maybe your partner cooks the dinner and walks the dog.

If you start interfering with the process of cooking the dinner, you cause problems. It's not your job. If you neglect to do your job, there wont be ingredients for dinner.

In the same way, if you start trying to fix your asymmetry directly, you won't be able to. It's not your job.

If you neglect to feed your brain good quality ingredients, it won't be able to update your asymmetry.

To clarify:

Your job is to feed your brain good quality sensory information.

Your brains job is to reorganize based on that information.

So if you've been struggling with asymmetries which you think are problematic. The approach is about getting better at your job.

Learning how to feed great information into your system is what moves the needle.

Where Feldenkrais Comes In

How does someone do that? Glad you asked. This is where feldenkrais enters the picture. Feldenkrais is a methodology which does just that. It is a practice that gradually updates and improves your brains representation of the body.

It deepens coordination, movement efficiency and often will balance out asymmetry's - but only if your nervous system judges that the new "organization" is a better option...which in many cases it is.

If you’d like to experience how this works in your own body, reach out and we can explore what kind of movement practice might help you sense and shift your own patterns.