The Body in Motion

by ;
Edition: 1st
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 2011-01-25
Publisher(s): North Atlantic Books
List Price: $18.95

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Summary

In The Body in Motion, author Theodore Dimon confronts a simple yet crucial task: to make sense of our amazing design. This comprehensive guide demonstrates the functions and evolution of specific body systems, explaining how they cooperate to form an upright, intelligent, tool-making marvel, capable of great technological and artistic achievement. Enhanced with 162 beautifully rendered full-colour illustrations, the book opens with an introduction to the origins of movement, leading the reader on a journey through time and evolution-from fish to amphibian, quadruped to primate-showing how humans became the preeminent moving beings on the planet. Delving deeper into our upright support system, The Body in Motion clearly describes the workings of the hands and upper limbs; the pelvic girdle; the feet and lower limbs; breathing; the larynx and throat musculature; and more. These systems, Dimon argues persuasively, have helped us build, invent, create art, explore the world, and imbue life with a contemplative, spiritual dimension that would otherwise not exist.

Author Biography

Theodore Dimon, Jr., EdD, is the founder and director of the Dimon Institute (dimoninstitute.org) in New York City, where he lives. He is a widely recognized expert in the Alexander Technique, a practical method for improving ease and freedom of movement, balance, support, and coordination. He received both master's and doctorate degrees in education from Harvard University.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrationsp. xi
Prefacep. xv
Introductionp. xvii
The Origins of Movementp. 1
Bones, Muscles, and Movementp. 1
The Head and Its Central Role in Movementp. 3
Four-Footed Animals and the Role of Posture in Movementp. 3
Our Upright Designp. 4
Upright Posture and the Evolution of Intelligencep. 5
Upright Support-Part I: The Extensorsp. 7
The Extensorsp. 7
Stretch Reflexesp. 10
The Head and Spinep. 10
Head Balancep. 13
Upright Support-Part II: The Flexorsp. 15
Flexors and Our Basic Body Designp. 15
The Suspensory Function of the Flexorsp. 18
Front Length and Head Balancep. 20
Upright Support-Part III: The Spinep. 23
The Central Columnp. 23
Origins of the Human Spinep. 25
Upright Posture and the Spinal Curvesp. 26
The Spine as Lengthening Devicep. 29
The Shoulder Girdlep. 31
The Mobile Cross-Piecep. 31
The Yard-Armp. 34
From Fins to Limbsp. 35
The Floating Shoulder Girdlep. 36
The Upper Limbp. 39
The Basic Limb Patternp. 39
Modes of Positioning the Handp. 40
The Rotation Mechanism of the Forearmp. 41
The Handp. 43
The Opposable Thumbp. 45
The Relation of the Upper Limb to the Shoulder and Trunkp. 48
The Pelvic Girdlep. 49
The Design of the Pelvisp. 49
The Upright Compromisep. 53
The Arch Design of the Pelvisp. 54
The Pelvis in Relation to Lengthening in Staturep. 55
The Lower Limbp. 57
The Weight-Bearing Limbp. 57
The Ankle Jointp. 58
The Foot Jointsp. 60
The Arched Footp. 61
The Toesp. 63
Length in the Legsp. 63
Our Two-Footed Poisep. 64
Breathingp. 65
Why and How We Breathep. 65
The Anatomy of Breathingp. 66
The Suspensory Support of the Trunkp. 68
Widening the Backp. 69
Breathing and Our Upright Designp. 72
The Voicep. 73
How We Produce Soundp. 73
Closure of the Vocal Foldsp. 74
The Suspensory Muscles of the Larynxp. 76
The Larynx and the Breathp. 77
The Larynx and the Brainp. 77
The Suspensory Muscles of the Throatp. 79
The Suspended Throatp. 79
Depressing the Larynxp. 81
The Throat and Upright Poisep. 82
The "Open Throat"p. 84
The Jawp. 85
Head Balance Revisedp. 86
The Spiral Musculaturep. 87
Rotational Movement and Our Upright Designp. 87
The Evolution of Spiral Musclesp. 88
Rotational Movement and the Use of the Armsp. 90
Anatomy of the Spiral Musculaturep. 90
Postural Twistsp. 93
The Suspended Trunk: Our Fishy Ancestryp. 94
Our Double-Helix Architecturep. 97
Lengthening into the Spiralsp. 98
The Miracle of the Human Formp. 99
Our Upright Suspension Systemp. 99
Our Unique Design Featuresp. 100
Our Higher-Order Designp. 101
Indexp. 103
About the Author and Illustratorp. 107
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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