Mod's: Choices matter

Dec 24

The word you’re looking for is modulation.

It’s common in the movement world to hear the term, modification. When an exercise isn’t working for someone we often throw around the phrase: what’s the modification for that? It’s not a problem (and often even helpful), but to be clear the moment you shift a variable in your movement the whole movement has shifted. Doing a push-up from full plank is not the same thing as doing a push-up from your knees.

Lately I’ve been circulating around the idea of modification vs. modulation.

The word modification loosely means to make partial changes, rework, alter, or amend. The word modulation denotes to regulate, adjust, adapt, or change intensity of something. The first term brings with it alterations to the wholeness of the experience. The second invites an improved experience with the current task at hand.

Think of modulation as choosing to tune the treble, bass, and equalizers on the stereo before you decide you don’t like the sound of what you’re hearing, and choose to modify the channel that’s playing.

Commonly I see this when students of movement are experiencing a specific discomfort related to their practice, or an inability to finesse the execution of a specific exercise. First, what would make us believe that optimizing our fitness (the ability to survive and thrive in a given environment) should be totally comfortable? Additionally, when has finesse ever been deemed easily accessible? Allow yourself the space needed to process the rough drafts, move crudely, and be courageously vulnerable as you figure things out.

Modifications are when we use balls / bands / props to assist a mover. Or when we do similar exercises standing rather than lying, or vice versa. It’s when the general set up has shifted far enough away from its original design that the experience is now a new experience. This a great tool for gathering data about your body / increasing targeted awareness and strength / or isolating a specific focus.

The crux is that heavily relying on modifications puts comfort at the forefront of the optimization process, and sets up the paradigm that individuals are not confident nor prepared enough to enter into a physical challenge.

Familiar modulations are when we use heavier or lower weights / do more or less repetitions / quicker or slower. Because I’m interested in the process of self-organization I’m mostly interested in self-modulation. This not only involves the aforementioned familiar modulations, but also variables like where is the mover initiating a movement from / Is the whole body interested in and supporting the task / Is there too much or not enough tension in the system / are there moments of relaxation / Do I feel in charge of the movement / What choices are being made / and so on. The mover decides how they enter into, organize, and execute the movement.

Here we see the paradigm that an individual recognizes challenges and vulnerability, and feels they have enough awareness, choice, and tools to enter into a supported physical conversation with their environment that allows them to feel successfully in charge of their experience.

The guiding light being: Does it feel like a whole body experience that requires fewer steps to execute? Is there a lot of pre-planning or just movement? Meaning, do I have to squeeze something before I do something? Or do I decide to do something and the body creates its own organic intelligent tension, that I can be aware of if I choose? Two steps vs. one step. Unorganized vs. organized. (You read that right, if you have to squeeze before moving the movement is unorganized.)

Unorganized and organized are not linearly hierarchical. They exist on a continuum, and our biology is in constant interplay with the states. If you’ve slept poorly / are upset / joyful / experiencing stress / or simply distracted, the way you move changes to represent your experience. The quest becomes how well can I self-organize today, rather than getting something proverbially “right?” Using self-modulation (self-regulation) as a tool. So that we feel more fit (prepared, in the truest sense of the word) when we exit our individual practice, and enter into the challenges of life.

HOMEWORK: Pick an exercise that feels difficult to do. Then modulate it.

Here are some examples -

Add more weight / or lower the weight
Move quicker / slower
Explore how it would feel if you used your arms to support your legs / vice versa
Try exhaling instead of inhaling
Notice if it feels different to do that exercise at night vs. the morning