Session 6 Summary (2/22/26): Integration & Partner Practice

Winter 2026 Smart Movement Study Program | February 22, 2026

Assignment Reference

This session corresponded with the completion of Assignment 6 (Segment 5: Lessons 5.5-5.8) from the Baseworks Primer. This completes the first five segments of the Primer course. See: index

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Session Overview

This session focused on integration and practical application, with less stopping for explanation and more continuous movement through forms. After the Assimilation, we also did partner work, where participants worked in pairs to give each other feedback on spatial positioning.

Key Concepts We Explored

Synchronized exit in Ignition. Patrick emphasized the coordination required in the exit phase of Ignition: “We’re going to try and synchronize the movement, lowering the arms with the knees straightening. So as we lower the arms, we micro-extend the knees so that by the time the arms are all the way down, the knees become straight, but don’t lock the knees.” We often see this synchronization in Baseworks transitions—we’re trying to slowly and intentionally coordinate movements rather than throw momentum into them. “It’s very easy to just throw momentum into a movement and we’re trying to break down the idiosyncrasies of the movement.”

Rib Cage Micro-Movements Over Pelvis. A recurring theme was isolating rib cage from the pelvis through micro-movements of the rib cage. Patrick demonstrated: “We’re not drawing the navel back to the belly here. We’re trying to isolate the movement of the rib cage. You see that my hips don’t move at all? We’re just trying to get the movement of the rib cage floating around above the pelvis.” This becomes easier to feel in floor positions where the hips are stationary: “It’s more, you get more of a visceral understanding of what it can be like when you’re standing.”

Opposition in Flexion-Extension. The shoulders play a crucial oppositional role during spinal movements. Patrick explained: “The shoulder movement draws down into that extension movement so there’s an opposition there. Flexion, extension, shoulders oppose that movement down so it almost locks it into position.” This opposition creates stability—the shoulders drawing down as the spine extends creates a kind of anchor that supports the movement.

The Turtle Back in Spinal Flexion. Patrick used the analogy of a turtle shell to describe proper upper spine flexion (a movement that involves both the spine and the shoulders). He had Asia tap on his back to demonstrate: “My back is very solid here. The flexion dynamic feels good/relaxed, but it’s very, very solid. You want to feel like it’s a turtle shell.” This solid, rounded upper back in flexion creates the foundation from which extension can happen.

Feet Opposition in Spinal Flexion-Extension-Flexion. Throughout the floor forms, the feet pressing into the floor serve as the foundation for spinal mobilization. Patrick explained: “The anchored feet will be the foundation for the extension… the legs anchor and then the spine movement becomes fluid because the legs are stabilizing.” In Seated Inflection specifically: “You’re trying to push yourself away (a movement that extends the hip) with the feet as you flex forward (a movement that flexes the hip, tilting the pelvis forward).”

Pelvis Orientation against the Midline. Asia offered a key observation about Split Form: “Pay attention to what your pelvis is doing. The tendency is that it’s a little bit turned like this toward the back leg, and you really want to imagine the midline, turn your pelvis towards that line (or perpendicular to it) and then when you’re doing the flexion-extension-flexion movements they’re following this line. If your pelvis is not perpendicular to the Midline, the spinal movement is going to be completely asymmetrical.” You need to set up a solid foundation first before you begin the movements in the upper body.

Working Around Discomfort. Patrick reiterated the principle of continuing to practice what’s possible: “If today, for example, you feel a cramp somewhere in the leg and it bothers you, you can maybe stop the movement but keep drawing the shoulders down… Or if there’s tension in any part of the body and you feel like you don’t want to move so much, you can even just spread the fingers. So that type of movement, even with the shoulders drawing down and spreading the fingers, that’s enough.”

The Forms We Practiced

Ignition

The session opened with a standing Ignition. Feet slightly wider than hips-width apart, weight shifting side to side initially to sense gravity changes. A pelvic tuck down and return to neutral helped participants feel pelvis positioning. Patrick clarified: “Remember the most active part here is that we torsion the wrists forward. They don’t face away from each other, they point forward and that’s the awkward part of this. Other than that we’re not applying any of the Baseworks movement patterns here. We’re just standing. This torsion is the only dynamic thing that happens.”

Key reminders:

• The breath stays totally calm, belly completely relaxed
• Weight back towards heels, neck relaxed
• Closing eyes is optional—“but it’s not a withdrawal, we don’t want to withdraw from the experience, get cosmic or tune out.”
• If one arm is more bent than the other, keep the symmetry and lower both arms—“just focus on the lower part of the body.” (Asia)
• Arms can lower anytime if tired—“It’s not about persevering with the arms up”

Standing Forms

Squat. Feet hips-width apart, heels slightly out so outside edges are parallel. Drawing the shoulders down, extending through the back of the neck, spreading the fingers, gripping heels toward each other. Micro-movements introduced: “An oscillation of the ribcage that goes around the pelvis… we’re not drawing the navel back to the belly here - the ribcage is just stacked above the pelvis.” On the exit, the reverse motion coordinating knee extension with arms lowering.

Star Form. Feet wider than hips-width apart, outside edges parallel. Arms to shoulder height, palms forward. Opposition: feet pulling the ground apart, shoulders drawing down, back of neck extending, fingers spreading. Rib cage mobilization without hip movement. Patrick demonstrated the subtlety: “There are very, very subtle movements.”

Star Tilt. Entering from Star Form by turning the front foot 90 degrees out, then dropping the back heel 45 degrees back. The order of these foot movements can be changed. Patrick clarified about the sequencing: “We can do it like this: Let’s turn the left heel back first. See the right one’s still pointing forward there, right? It’s a little bit awkward. And then let’s open the right foot out 90 degrees.” We can play with different sequences “just to get the brain working in different sequences.”

Front (High) Lunge Extension. From standing, hinge into knees and hips, shift weight to one foot, other foot slides back high to tiptoe. Patrick emphasized: “The most important thing is you’re really high to the tiptoe… Some will go to a deeper lunge, some will be in a less deep lunge, some will be to with a medium stance, but just make sure that tiptoe is really high wherever you are.” The extension involves the sternum moving “forward and up in a circumlinear motion… the middle of the back arches more than the lower back.”

Front (High) Lunge Torsion. From lunge position, the axis through head and chest turns toward the front leg. Patrick clarified: “The arms don’t break their line here, the arms stay uniform. So this axis just turns to the left, the arms move with that involuntarily.”

Split Form. Feet 60-80 cm apart, feet parallel, both legs straight, hips-width stance with pelvis facing forward. Patrick used the floor line as reference: “Think crown of the head, chin, chest, middle of the chest, pubis is the line that you draw between the legs, and we’re flexing over that line from here.”

Split Form Inflection. Upper spine flexes (“turtle back”), then forward and down (hip flexion) while pulling legs away from each other. “With the legs anchoring (by fulling away from each other) and with the shoulders drawing down towards the hips, try to straighten through the spine. So the legs are like the anchor for the movement of the spine.” If feeling it in lower back, focus more on upper spine flexion.

Suspended Star Inflection. Similar flexion-extension dynamics with wider stance and a symmetrical leg position. Patrick offered modification: “If you feel more comfortable just flexing the spine and not moving forward, we can flex the spine and stay upright like this as we pull the legs away from each other.” The most important elements: leg activation, shoulders drawing down, upper spine mobilization.

Floor Forms

Reclining Transition. Entering from seated: “Hook hands around knees, hang back, tilt, legs come off the floor. Extend the legs diagonally up as you lower the forearms down. Press the balls of the feet. Lift the chest.

Simple Cross Inflection. From Reclining Transition, bend the left leg, bend the right leg, cross the ankles in an X shape, bringing them closer to the pelvis. The same flexion-extension dynamics apply as in other seated inflections—feet press into the floor, shoulders draw down. The feet pressing is opposing the hip/spinal flexion. The drawing the shoulders down helps establish the distributed activation and straight spine with stacked ribcage and pelvis during the spinal extension.

Opposition of Forces While in Seated Inflection Forms. “You’re trying to push yourself away with the feet as you flex forward.” Patrick had Asia demonstrate the back solidity—the “turtle shell” quality in flexion. Then, the extension happens with feet anchored, shoulders drawing down. The pelvis is tilted forward as far as it feels comfortable.

Exit from Seated Inflection Forms. Arms come forward while hanging back, as if allowing the feet pressing forward movement to guide the movement.

Square Cross Inflection. From Reclining Transition, shins cross with ankles at 90 degrees “like a square.” More demanding on hips—knees can stay higher to make it more manageable. “The more the knees go down, the more you’re going to feel it to the hips. So the more the knees are up, the more manageable it’s going to be.”

Seated Inflection. From Reclining Transition, legs together (big toes touching, heels slightly apart), balls of feet pressing forward “like you’re tiptoeing on the ground,” we lower the legs onto the floor. Patrick explained: “If you tiptoe like this it’s difficult, right? So you can imagine that you need to press through the inner ball of the foot to tiptoe and that makes the legs quite active.” There are no edges of the feet to push into the floor, but backs of calves continuously press into the floor throughout to oppose the flexion.

Seated Wide Inflection. Legs wide, ankles extended, balls of feet pressing forward “like you’re tiptoeing on the ground.” Patrick explained: “If you tiptoe like this it’s difficult, right? So you can imagine that you need to press through the inner ball of the foot to tiptoe and that makes the legs quite active.” Backs of calves press into the floor throughout.

Supine Leg Raise. Hands away from body (inverted V shape), back of arms and shoulders flat to floor. Asia added the concept of imaginary resistance: “You can also imagine that somebody’s pressing exactly into the balls of the foot toward the hip: as the legs go down somebody’s pressing in. Somebody’s resisting.” Patrick clarified: “The movement of the legs doesn’t have to go all the way down. It can just be just 10 degrees, really just a very little bit.” Options: straight legs or bent knees with extended ankles. Key: don’t arch lower back, no momentum. Control with fluidity.

Heel-Sit. (If challenging: lower body in Simple Cross instead) Heels together, sitting back onto heels with tops of feet pressing into floor. Patrick explained the ankle benefit: “This is what relieves the ankle compression… It actually supports developing strength in the ankles, which is very, very important for us as we enter our senior years.”

Horizontal Shoulder Flex. From Heel-Sit, lean back (pelvis tilts back), the arm movement: one arm under, one over, finding the mobility limit without momentum. “We’re just trying to find out the mobility in which the shoulder allows us to move.” Elbows or forearms (depending on mobility) interlock while drawing the shoulders down. Once interlocked, pull arms away from each other, then extend spine while shoulders draw down. The release is fluid—“like you’re doing a breast stroke in a swimming pool—from the shoulder. Push the water.”

Shoulder Flex Headlock (EQUATE Focus Dynamics). From seated (Heel-Sit or Simple Cross), lean back and round, creating “really round space in front of the stomach.” Hands go behind head, holding elbows if possible. Asia guided: “From here, we begin to straighten the spine. And the goal is to have the ribcage and the pelvis stacked. So we don’t want flaring the chest or collapsing backward.” The head presses back, the arms press forward, the ribcage pulls back. We are trying to use these dynamic movements and opposing forces (equalize them, hence EQUATE) to find the stacked rib cage over pelvis position. Patrick added: “The head and the arms oppose each other.” Exit by rounding spine, leaning back, and releasing arms through the “water” motion. This form was also repeated standing.

Assimilation

Following the floor work, we moved into Assimilation practice. This begins with voluntary tractioning of the spine while supine—mobilizing the pelvis, shoulders, and spine so that the anchoring of the pelvis through spinal mobilization creates a tractioning effect, similar in principle to what an osteopath might do, but self-administered. This sets up the body so that it feels comfortably heavy on the floor before stillness.

After this preparation, the body remains completely still. Patrick guided attention to the weight of the body on the floor: “Feel the weight of the heels and feel the weight of the back of the calves. Feel the weight of the back of the pelvis. Feel the weight of the back of the shoulders, feel the weight of the back of the arms and the hands… and the weight of the very back of the head.” He expanded: “You can imagine that each of these points and the weight distributed in those points are kind of merging or becoming a part of the surface below you. So it’s just a kind of complete release of all tension into the weight.”

This focus on weight is not about relaxation or body awareness as ends in themselves—it’s a tool for staying present. Not phasing out, not drifting off, but remaining aware of whatever is there to be aware of on an individual level.

The guidance continued: “We allow for the body here to be completely still, ideally. We’re not moving too much, ideally not moving at all. And of course if anything comes up that’s notable—sensation or thought about the practice—take a mental note of it and you can put it in your journal or write it down for later.”

Following a period of stillness, the transition into prone position continued with similar weight awareness: “Feel the weight again of the head, the weight of the arms, the weight of the pelvis, the weight of the legs, and the weight of the feet in this prone position.”

Assimilation serves as a calibration tool following sessions where the spine has been mobilized in various positions of gravity. The tractioning of the spine and neck prior to stillness aids the neuromuscular system to process the experience of the practice. While comfort is encouraged, the experience will be subjective—some may find it deeply settling, others may notice discomfort related to their individual condition or their expectations about what the practice should feel like. The calibration that occurs is based on each person’s body condition and their relationship to the practice outcomes.

Partner Practice

The final portion focused on partner work using the floor lines as reference for midline awareness, with feedback provided by the partner.

Split Form Partner Practice. One partner stands on the line, the other observes from behind (then front). Task: step back 60-70 cm keeping feet hips-width apart on either side of the line, both legs straight, pelvis facing forward. Observer helps verbally: “Move the foot to the right, move the foot to the left, move your right hip in.”

Asia emphasized the common error: “When the foot is stepping back, even when the feet position is correct, the pelvis often opens (toward the back leg). The partner should help notice if that happens.

Front Lunge Partner Practice. Same partner setup. Asia guided: “The back heel is high up, ankle and knee extended, straight spine… We want to have this completely, completely rigid, strong leg foundation, shoulders down, whole body active. Make sure that the person has their whole body active.”

Key points for observers:

• Back heel high on tiptoe
• Completely straight line from back heel to head
• Legs pulling away for stability
• Back knee extended
• Shoulders drawn down, fingers spread
• Midline passing through the body over the floor line

Exiting with Control. Asia demonstrated the exit: “From the High Lunge position, first bring the weight onto the front leg. See how my weight shifts to the side away from the midline. I lose the midline. Then I return the other foot back to hip-width apart. Then, once stably on two feet, I shift the weight to center. This is what allows you to balance and to do this movement really, really smoothly.”

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Tags: Squat, Star Form, Star Tilt, Suspended Star Inflection, Front Lunge, Front (High) Lunge Extension, Front (High) Lunge Torsion, Split Form, Split Form Inflection, Reclining Transition, Simple Cross Inflection, Square Cross Inflection, Seated Inflection, Seated Wide Inflection, Supine Leg Raise, Heel-Sit, Horizontal Shoulder Flex, Shoulder Flex Headlock, Micro-Movements, Distributed Activation, Gridlines & Symmetry, Opposition of Forces, Stacked Rib Cage and Pelvis, Shoulder Depression, Spreading the Fingers, Heel Traction, Pulling the Legs Away From Each Other, Ignition, Assimilation

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Group Post

[Le français suit]

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Session 6. The detailed summary is now available here: Session 6 Summary: Integration & Partner Practice

This session focused on integration—moving through forms with less stopping, exploring the opposition between shoulders and spinal movement, and practicing with partners to develop awareness of alignment and midline positioning. We also introduced Heel-Sit, Horizontal Shoulder Flex, and Shoulder Flex Headlock with their distinctive arm movements and opposition dynamics.

With this session, you’ve now completed the first five segments of the Baseworks Primer. Congratulations on reaching this milestone.

What Comes Next: Next week is our final session together at Circuit Est. From here, you can continue through the remaining Primer content at your own pace, and we’ll remain available through the Forum to answer questions.

Continuing Weekly Sessions: As mentioned at the end of Session 6, we’re pleased to announce that weekly sessions will continue starting March 15th, running through the end of June in Mile End (Casgrain, near Laurier Metro). With the exception of March 15th, all sessions will be held on Saturdays. These are separate practice sessions for those who’ve completed our Study Groups. The practice sessions will focus more on practical application, more forms and variations, set and transition practice, going a lot deeper into the material. We’ll follow up with the full schedule in a post here on the platform within the next couple of days. And we will provide more context about how to continue at the end of our last session this coming Sunday.

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[English above]

Merci à tous ceux qui nous ont rejoints pour la Session 6. Le résumé détaillé est maintenant disponible ici : Résumé de la Session 6 : Intégration & Pratique en Partenaire

Cette session était axée sur l’intégration—traverser les formes avec moins d’arrêts, explorer l’opposition entre les épaules et le mouvement spinal, et pratiquer avec des partenaires pour développer la conscience de l’alignement et du positionnement par rapport à la ligne médiane. Nous avons également introduit Heel-Sit, Horizontal Shoulder Flex et Shoulder Flex Headlock avec leurs mouvements de bras distinctifs et leurs dynamiques d’opposition.

Avec cette session, vous avez maintenant complété les cinq premiers segments du Baseworks Primer. Félicitations pour avoir atteint cette étape importante.

Ce qui vient ensuite : La semaine prochaine sera notre dernière session ensemble à Circuit Est. À partir de là, vous pouvez continuer le reste du contenu du Primer à votre propre rythme, et nous resterons disponibles via le Forum pour répondre à vos questions.

Sessions hebdomadaires à venir : Comme mentionné à la fin de la Session 6, nous avons le plaisir d’annoncer que les sessions hebdomadaires se poursuivront à partir du 15 mars, jusqu’à la fin juin, à Mile End (Casgrain, près du métro Laurier). À l’exception du 15 mars, toutes les sessions auront lieu le samedi. Ce sont des sessions de pratique séparées pour ceux qui ont complété nos Study Groups. Les sessions de pratique seront davantage axées sur l’application pratique, plus de formes et de variations, la pratique des séquences et des transitions, allant beaucoup plus en profondeur dans le matériel. Nous publierons l’horaire complet dans un message ici sur la plateforme dans les prochains jours. Et nous fournirons plus de contexte sur la façon de continuer à la fin de notre dernière session ce dimanche.