Session 4 Summary (2/7/26): Intensity Modification & Effort

Winter 2026 Smart Movement Study Program | February 7, 2026

Assignment Reference

This session corresponded with the completion of Assignment 4 (Segment 4: Lessons 4.1-4.12) from the Baseworks Primer. See: 2026 (Winter) Study Group Montreal

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Session Overview

This session focused heavily on Intensity Modification—the practical application of these principles introduced in Segment 4. We reviewed several forms from previous sessions, then introduced new forms which require Intensity Modification for effort, including Supine Leg Raises (Leg Raises), Plank, and Press-up variations. Patrick demonstrated modified versions of forms throughout, emphasizing that depth and duration are byproducts of consistent practice, not measures of success.

Key Concepts We Explored

Intensity Modification as Calibration. This session centered on understanding how to modify effort in real-time. Patrick repeatedly demonstrated “baby” versions of forms—a shallow Squat, a less-deep Front Lunge, a minimal-range press-up—to show that proper form at reduced intensity is preferable to compromised form at greater depth. The question to ask yourself: “Can I continue to talk normally while doing this?” If not, reduce the intensity.

Demonstrations Are Over-Emphasized. Patrick made explicit what was implicit in earlier sessions: “All of our demonstrations are over-emphasized for the purpose of a visual cue or reminder for what you need to do. So you look at me, dial that back by whatever you need to do.” This applies to depth of any movement in forms, duration of holds, and range of motion.

The “Thank God It’s Over” Indicator. If you experience relief when a form ends—“a big sort of ‘oh thank God it was over’“—that indicates too much exertion. The goal is to find an intensity where you could sustain the form and continue conversing. Patrick acknowledged this is “easier said than done” and “drives people crazy” because the instinct is to persevere to reach what the intended demonstration looks like, and/or follow along until the actual instruction is finished.

Byproduct, Not Goal. This session reinforced the central principle: the depth of a squat, the duration you can hold your arms up, the stance in a lunge—these develop as byproducts of consistent practice. They are not measures of immediate success. Patrick stated directly: “The deeper version of the squat is the byproduct of the continuity or commitment to the amount that you can do the practice over time. It is not the measure of your success.” Increased strength, flexibility, and mobility are similarly byproducts, not goals. The real measure of success in Baseworks is the ability to notice limitations in movement and immediately moderate the intensity or adjust the position of your body—consciously and precisely. Success is paying attention to the specific tasks at hand rather than striving toward what could be perceived as an end result.

Abdominal Activation in INFLECT forms. In seated INFLECT forms, Asia clarified an important distinction: when mobility allows the pelvis to tilt forward beyond 90 degrees (more flexible practitioners), Seated Wide Inflection is not an abdominal exercise. But for those with tighter hamstrings, whose spinal extension brings them more upright, it becomes one. In that case, using hands for support removes the abdominal load—which is the point. “Whenever we work with flexion-extension-flexion, it is not about activating the abdominal wall.”

Distributed Activation to Assist with Abdominal Strength. In leg raises and plank, the belly activates naturally to counteract gravity. Movement patterns such as drawing the shoulders down (Shoulder Depression) and gripping the hands/toes away from each other in plank create deliberate engagement of supporting muscles, reducing the load on the abdominal muscles.

Personal Context: Patrick’s Osteoarthritis. Patrick shared that he has osteoarthritis with osteophytes (bone calcifications) in his hips that limit his mobility. He uses this as a teaching example in Star Form: “Even this neutral position feels uncomfortable for me. So I adjust the stance to feel manageable.” Despite significant structural limitations visible on MRI, his mobility exceeds what doctors predicted (doctors expected he would not be able to squat and would need hip replacement years ago)—something he attributes to consistent Baseworks practice.

The Forms We Practiced

Standing Forms (Review with Modifications)

Squat. Patrick demonstrated a “baby squat” with minimal depth, hands at sides rather than extended forward, maintaining all key elements: weight to heels, spine neutral, shoulders down. “At any point even in the baby squat you could have the hands down like this and just work into the baby squat first.”

Wide Squat. Patrick demonstrated a less-deep version with forearms pressing into inner thighs, legs opposing that movement.

Front Lunge (Extension). Both Patrick and Asia demonstrated simultaneously—Patrick showing the “easiest possible version” with narrower stance, Asia showing more challenging version with a wider stance. Key emphasis: keeping the back heel high is more important than depth. “The shorter the legs, the more you adjust. Or the longer the legs, the more you adjust.”

Front (High) Lunge Torsion. Patrick demonstrated a “very mild version” with a very narrow stance. The torsion occurs from the midline of the chest toward the front bent leg while maintaining the arm line.

Star Form. Reviewed with attention to foot position—outside edges parallel, stance adjusted to what hip mobility allows. Practiced upper spine mobilization in the flexion-extension-flexion dynamic.

Star Tilt. Reviewed the form, with Patrick demonstrating from behind so everyone could see the movement without mirroring. Key clarification: as the front foot turns out, the pelvis turns and the upper torso turns with it; as the back heel moves back, the torso turns further. “Look, the foot moves, my upper torso moves with it. That’s all.” The tilt comes from the front-leg hip hinging and dropping, drawing the hip back—not from lowering the torso toward the floor.

Floor Forms

Reclining Transition. We worked on the suspended balance position—hanging back from hooked position with arms forward to offset weight, finding the teeter-totter point. Patrick noted: “If you feel a little bit of discomfort into the lower back, let the legs go further away from you.”

Simple Cross. We practiced flexion-extension dynamics with feet pressing into floor to oppose spinal movement. In flexion: feet press down and forward, upper spine rounds, shoulders draw down. In extension: feet continue pressing as spine straightens (from the lower back and up), drawing the shoulders down (Shoulder Depression) locks the extension dynamic. Practice micro-movements of the ribcage while maintaining a “flat” upper body. If the pelvis is leaning back (hip angle over 90 degrees), use hands to assist the pelvis to stay more upright.

Reference: Martin Kilvady. During this session, Patrick mentioned Martin Kilvady, co-founder of Les SlovaKs Dance Collective and a contemporary dancer/teacher with over 30 years of experience. His work features fluid mobilizations of the rib cage and shoulders that share visual similarities with aspects of our Fixing-Separating-Isolating principle. While his approach emerges from European contemporary dance—drawing on influences from companies like ROSAS, Thomas Hauert’s ZOO, and martial arts—our methodology developed independently through practical applications in movement education, martial arts, and physiotherapy contexts. The parallel is interesting rather than influential: both approaches recognize the value of isolating and articulating specific joints and body segments, though from different starting points and with different aims. Patrick mentioned he would share a link to Kilvady’s work on the forum for those interested in exploring these connections.

Seated Wide Inflection. Legs wide with balls of feet pressing forward, ankles extended. Flexion-extension-flexion of upper spine while legs remain active—slight internal rotation of thighs, back of calves pressing toward ground. Asia clarified that for flexible practitioners, hands just touch the floor (in front of the pelvis); for less flexible, hands are positioned behind the pelvis to provide support so it doesn’t become an abdominal exercise.

Supine Leg Raises (Leg Raises). Asia led this segment with detailed modification guidance. Key points:

• Lower back must stay flat (well, not literally, but should not be allowed to overarch)—to get this, one could tuck the pelvis with bent knees first to reduce the space underneath
• Hands in V-shape away from hips, pressing lightly into floor
• When extending the legs up, if straight legs are challenging, bend knees but keep ankles extended (like “wearing high heels” or “standing on tiptoes”)
• The range of motion can be minimal—even 1 degree is sufficient
• Imagine someone pulling the legs away (Leg Abduction) from the hips as you lower
• Balls of feet push away and down, not just lowering (as if you hold a brush with your toes and are drawing a line)
• Moderate effort so that you could talk normally while doing this
• Rest by bending knees to chest whenever needed

Plank and Press-Up. Introduction focused on Distributed Activation approach: hands grip forward, toes grip back—these opposing forces relieve tension from abdominal muscles. Drawing the shoulders down (Shoulder Depression) is essential. Note: In the Segment 4 Practice Labs, plank is entered from Peak Hold. For this session, we entered from kneeling to focus on plank mechanics and intensity modification without the added complexity of the Peak Hold transition. Modifications: drop knees to rest whenever form compromises, do short holds rather than sustained planks, use “baby press-ups” with minimal elbow flexion (bend). The press-up initiates from the feet propelling forward (ankle flexion to extension), elbows hug into side ribs.

Ignition and Assimilation

Ignition. Started with a standing calibration before the usual Ignition sequence—feet hips-width apart, traction the heels in (Heel Traction), drawing the shoulders down (Shoulder Depression), neck extending. This served as an immediate self-check: “How you feel right now is a pretty good indicator of how you should approach what we do today.” The Ignition proper included the marionette arms to shoulder height with wrist torsion, forearm activation from squeezing an imaginary physio ball, with the instructions to lower arms and straighten knees as needed.

Assimilation. The important initial phase always involves working with spinal flexion, while mobilizing the shoulders and spine, and moving through the pelvis, hips, and legs to try to get as much traction through the spine as possible. Then lying supine with attention to weight of body points connecting to floor: back of heels, legs, pelvis, shoulders, arms, wrists, head. If comfortable to do so, neck traction by drawing chin toward chest (or even aiding this by using your hand to gently pull your head toward your chest). Then prone position with limbs spread, feeling front body weight. “We’re trying to empty our mind, be neutral in this weight, and allow the body and mind to assimilate what happened—observing without seeking any particular outcome.”

Participant Experiences and Discussion

Dream Quality and Perceptual Changes. Sarah shared that since beginning the program, her dreams have become unusually vivid and lucid—she could see text within the books she dreamed of. She wondered if this related to Distributed Activation or “spreading the fingers.” Patrick validated this: “The amount of stuff that we’re asking you to pay attention to when we practice is not normal. It’s going to have an effect on the central nervous system. The central nervous system will cascade the effect of that into other domains of consciousness and awareness.”

Patrick shared his own history: “I have had very powerful experiences in perception on the basis of my commitment to these physical practices throughout my life. It changed the way I talked to people. It changed the way I problem solved. It changed the way that I observed my reactions to different situations in life.” This drove his desire for scientific understanding—which is why Asia joined Baseworks as a neuroscientist.

Research Validation. Asia recently met with Paul Cisek, a top sensorimotor researcher at University of Montreal. She had followed his work for years and when she emailed him with questions about Baseworks, he responded by requesting a meeting. The two-hour conversation validated much of her research on the neuroscience of Baseworks methodology. As Asia noted: “If you are the top-level sensorimotor researcher, you immediately understand why we do Distributed Activation.”

The Lever Sensation. Mimi shared feeling a “lever” (teeter-totter) sensation during the Reclining Transition work—a 3D sense of bones, muscles, and lines rather than a flat anatomical image. This is a great example of the kind of proprioceptive awareness and clarity the practice develops.

Practical Reminders

Smart Revisit. We reminded the group about the Smart Revisit feature on the dashboard—under the image of Ken (an instructor who trained in the apprenticeship for nine years), the button suggests Practice Labs to revisit. “Practice Labs are short, often four to six minutes. Once you’ve done all the Key Points, just go there, press Smart Revisit, and do something for five minutes.”

Practice Lab Repetition. “In a perfect world, you would want to be doing those Practice Labs once or twice a day.” The more frequently you practice, the more inherent the movements become, enabling progression to more dynamic combinations.

Extended Session Next Week. The session for Session 5 will be extended for those interested. After the scheduled slot, Sunday, February 15, 12:10-13:50, we will add another 40 minutes (until 14:30) at no additional cost, allowing more time for practical application.

Journaling. Although journaling as practice is introduced later in the Primer course, you can access the Journal feature now. You can use this feature to document anything you noticed after practice. Note: journaling is not an assignment, and we do not monitor submissions (except in anonymized aggregated form for research purposes)—whatever you write in the journal is entirely up to you.

What We Did Not Cover

Peak Hold was not practiced as a standalone form this session; instead, we focused on plank mechanics by entering from kneeling. Suspended Star Inflection was noted as missed during the standing portion. Square Cross Inflection (the “weird square one”) was mentioned but deferred to next week. The Z-Lunge from Segment 4 was also postponed.

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Tags: Squat, Wide Squat, Front Lunge, Front (High) Lunge Torsion, Star Form, Star Tilt, Simple Cross, Reclining Transition, Seated Wide Inflection, Supine Leg Raise, Distributed Activation, Micro-Movements, Fixing-Separating-Isolating, Intensity Modification, Stacked Rib Cage and Pelvis, Shoulder Depression, Spreading the Fingers, Ignition, Assimilation

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Group Post

[Le français suit]

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Session 4 yesterday. The detailed summary is now available here: Session 4 Summary: Intensity Modification & Effort

In this summary, you’ll also find references to the research of Paul Cisek and the work of dancer Martin Kilvady, which we discussed during the session.

Next Assignment (for Session 5): Please complete Segment 5, Lessons 5.1-5.4 before Sunday. This assignment is only 29 minutes total (7 min theory, 13 min Key Points, 9 min practice)—much shorter than last week’s assignment. If you have extra time, consider using the Smart Revisit feature to review previous Practice Labs.

Extended Session Next Sunday: For those who are able, we will extend Session 5 beyond the scheduled time (12:10-13:50). We plan to continue until approximately 14:30, which will give us more time for practical application and to cover additional material. There is no extra charge for this—just stay if your schedule allows.

See you Sunday.

Patrick & Asia

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[English above]

Merci à tous ceux qui nous ont rejoints pour la Session 4 hier. Le résumé détaillé est maintenant disponible ici : Résumé de la Session 4 : Modification de l’Intensité & Effort

Dans ce résumé, vous trouverez également des références à la recherche de Paul Cisek et au travail du danseur Martin Kilvady, dont nous avons discuté pendant la session.

Prochain Assignment (pour la Session 5) : Veuillez compléter le Segment 5, Lessons 5.1-5.4 avant dimanche. Cet assignment ne fait que 29 minutes au total (7 min de théorie, 13 min de Key Points, 9 min de pratique)—beaucoup plus court que l’assignment de la semaine dernière. Si vous avez du temps supplémentaire, pensez à utiliser la fonctionnalité Smart Revisit pour revoir les Practice Labs précédents.

Session Prolongée Dimanche Prochain : Pour ceux qui le peuvent, nous prolongerons la Session 5 au-delà de l’horaire prévu (12h10-13h50). Nous prévoyons de continuer jusqu’à environ 14h30, ce qui nous donnera plus de temps pour l’application pratique et pour couvrir du matériel supplémentaire. Il n’y a pas de frais supplémentaires—restez simplement si votre emploi du temps le permet.

À dimanche.

Patrick & Asia