Movement Patterns Master

Baseworks Movement Patterns

Movement patterns are actions in Baseworks that we repeat over and over across different movements, or, we “apply” movement patterns across different macro movements.

Movements/positions of the body or Baseworks forms can also be seen as “empty shells” / contours that are “filled” with Baseworks movement patterns, like coloring contours in a coloring book. So, Baseworks practice can be imagined as the practice of applying Baseworks movement patterns to different movements.

• Movement patterns need to be executed simultaneously.
• Movement patterns should be applied even when not mentioned.

The relationship between the 6 Baseworks principles (Distributed activation, micro-movements, Gridlines and Symmetry, Fixing-Separating-Isolating, Intensity Modification, and Natural Breathing) and Baseworks movement patterns is captured in the following schema:

BASEWORKS PRACTICE = Principles (6) ↓ established through the application of Movement Patterns (recurring actions/micro-movements) ↓ applied to Forms (movement tasks/macro-movements and positions)

Baseworks movement pattern list

The following list of movement patterns and its mapping onto the six principles is non-exhaustive. This table is subject to adjustments and should not be taken as a rule book.

Note: the movement patterns related to distributed activation and micro-movements largely overlap, but these principles describe different qualities of movement and have different purposes.

MOVEMENT PATTERN	DA	MM	GS	FSA	IM	NB
draw the shoulders down	1	1
pull the legs away from each other	1	1
pull the legs in / toward each other	1	1
wiggle the ribcage / wiggle the spine		1
stack the ribcage and pelvis	1	1	1	1
the arm line (arms at shoulder height)			1
keep the meedline			1
keep the rectangle (shouders and hips)			1
shoulders parallel to the floor			1
pelvis parallel to the floor			1
spread the fingers	1	1
move the neck side-to-side to make sure it is relaxed		1
extend the ankle	1		1
push the ball of the foot	1
extend the spine			1
bring the torso in line with the back leg			1
twist from the center of the chest without moveing the pelvis				1
lift the upper torso without moving teh front knee				1
do X wothout doing Y				1
if you feel X do Y					1
do X only until Y					1
keep the breathing relaxed					1	1
if you feel your breathing becomes labored, reduce the intensity					1	1
bend the knees if you feel tightness in your hamstrings					1
imagine someone is pulling on your arm	1
imagine someone is pulling on your leg	1
don’t bend the knee			1
back foot high on the tiptoe	1
if you feel tired, reduced the intensity					1
press X into Y (hand/elbow into knee)	1
opposition of forces	1
grip the hands forward	1	1
grip the forearms foward	1	1
grip the toes back	1	1
feet hip-width apart	1
flexion-extension-flexion of the spine				1
broaden the shoulder blades			1
”flat” upper body			1
shoulders as much away from each other as possible			1
extend the back of the neck			1
extend the upper spine to align with lower back			1
tilt while keeping the pelvis and ribcage stacked				1
find the tipping point / seesaw	1			1
circumlinear* movement of ribcage	1			1
circumlinear* movement of leg (away and up/down)	1			1
circumlinear* movement of arm	1			1

Note: Circumlinear movement is a movement that has 2 components: the rotation around the center axis and a movement of being pulled away from the center. Even though the movement is conducted slowly, we perform it as if there was a centrifugal force in action. Example: in Supine leg raises, the movement of the leg is not simply “lower/lift” but “away from the hip and “away from the hip and lower/away from the hip and lift”