Compensatory, or recovery, exercise is the concept of counter-conditioning adaptations that have led to the imbalance in our bodies.
Stored emotional insulation refers to what happens when areas remain unmoved and fear-reactivity, density, and motor amnesia creep in. Muscle atrophies, fascia thickens, synovial fluid decreases, cartilage dehydrates, and nerves/sensory organs diminish in strength. It becomes progressively more difficult to move that area – hence the emotional releases that often result from reopening it.
We Are How and What We Move!
All things are a form of conditioning! If we perform the same routine of physical exercise continuously and consistently without compensatory movement, that activity will be conditioned, adapted to, and progressed upon in an imbalanced way, causing immobility in the “opposite” direction/action. As imbalance happens, insulation/armor grows. Fear accumulates in the area to protect the imbalance, and thus begins the downward spiral of physiological deterioration.
For example, a champion in his sport may be a physical specimen in appearance. But the imbalances of his sport have resulted in a condition where their myofascia is thickened, armored, and insulated, causing chronic pain and injury as a negative. They are a positive blessing, for they call attention to the area, to the imbalance, and, most importantly, to the lifestyle that led to the imbalance.
Not moving is a form of moving… It is a common misconception that sitting on a couch, behind a desk, or behind the wheel is a “non-thing”. These are forms of conditioning just like anything else, and we adapt to make the repetition of those events more efficient. All things require compensatory movement to balance them, including those events that are normally considered “not moving”. Even the stillness of meditation is a physiological act of movement, which is why Buddhist monks embraced the rigorous exercise of yoga – so that they could endure the rigors of seated meditation.
If compensatory movement is not practiced imbalanced adaptations will lead unerringly to pain and injury. This is why all TACFIT workouts are followed with a specific “recovery” Cool-down. But it doesn’t just have to do with exercise. For instance, the practice of sitting on a couch for several hours leads to the body holding forward spinal flexion, and standing and walking with effortlessness (our genetic inheritance as anti-gravitational creatures) becomes increasingly painful and injurious.
Eventually the “posture” of being seated on the couch is armored (in the same way that bodybuilding armors the body) due to the lack of a balancing compensatory movement. Once that armor is set in place, fear-reactivity protects the area from deviant movement – anything that moves the armor in a way that acts against the posture of being seated on the couch. So “not-moving” needs to be compensated for, as much if not more than moving!
Remember this – Emotion exists throughout our bodies, not just in our brains – Compensatory (recovery) movement helps us harness it in both!
Very Respectfully,
Scott B. Sonnon