There's a lot of talk in the fitness world about the importance of core strength & conditioning, but what does that even mean?

In dance class, they taught me to suck in my belly.

In Pilates training, they taught me to work my core.

In Yoga class, they often tell me to engage my abdominal muscles.

Our culture offers all kinds of ways for engaging with our centers, our bellies -- pull in, tighten up, squeeze down -- in order to feel strong and secure.

Have you ever wondered what it actually means to “engage the abdominal muscles” or “work your core”?

In order to answer this question, I want to expand the idea of the core being just your abdominal muscles.

So what exactly is your core composed of?

Where is it?

How do you know you have a strong core?

And why is it so important?

Before we get into it, take a moment to check in with your inner knowing:

When you think of the word core, where is your attention drawn?

Your bellybutton?

Your pelvis?

Your guts?

What did your body tell you was your core?

What does your core feel like to you?

Defining Core

Look up the word core in the dictionary and you’ll see it’s defined as "the central, innermost, or most essential part of anything."

Physical therapists and trainers, alike, focus on the core as the multiple layers of muscles surrounding the lower spine and pelvic region, while Wikipedia determines the core of the body is the entire torso.

There are multiple ways to define our core, depending on what we need it for.

Imagine a bullseye target board. The whole thing could be considered your core, with each concentric ring acting as another layer of center. The outer rings provide support for the inner ones, while the inner rings bring a sense of balance.

The bullseye? Well, that’s the center of the center…but we’ll get to that.

In this article, I want to expand the notion of the core as more than just the abdominal muscles of your torso. When we focus only on muscular engagement and endurance, we leave out the deeper layers of core.

When those deeper layers of bone, organ, fluids and connective tissue are ignored, their ability to participate in core activity is suppressed.

When this happens, our muscular system becomes dominant and over active, which can create tension in the back, hips, and feet, eventually circulating tension throughout the entire body. Because whatever is happening in the core will ultimately ripple out to the rest of the body. (See bullseye image above.)

I want to expand the notion of the core as more than just the abdominal muscles.

Beyond Muscle

In my practice, I teach my clients how to find their cores as the source of their creative, emotional and functional alignment.

That’s because your core is not just muscular. It is where your guts and reproductive organs are housed. It’s where we receive, absorb and release information. It is the space from which our desire emerges.

The core is our greatest tool for discerning what is empowering and what is toxic to our systems. It is how we sense who we are and what we need in a given moment.

Knowing core is understanding how these various parts of ourselves meet and what happens when they do.

Find Your Core

With the core as the central hub of all movement, it lies at the intersection of the three planes of the body:

Vertical or coronal (up to down)
Horizontal or transverse (right to left)
Sagittal (front to back).

All of your movement — including musculoskeletal motion, blood flow, breathing, and all cellular activity — moves from and through your core.

The Layers of Core

The mystery of the core lies in its various layers. The layers that we’re most familiar with are the muscles housed in the waist between ribs and pelvis.

Below them, however, lie the roots of core power.

The innermost layer is what I call the Deep center. It is contained by the Deep Core.

Your Deep Center is the mysterious space from which all your movement arises and returns. It’s the center of your center, the bullseye. Getting in touch with your Deep Center, you can discover the source of your inherent, effortless movement potential.

Your Deep Core is a community of bones, muscles, organs, and connective tissue surrounding your Deep Center:

Your bones create the container.
Your core muscles and connective tissues allow the container to move.
Your organs provide volume from the inside, so that the container doesn’t collapse.

Imagine a mason jar of water. Your Deep Center is that wild and free water that is elegantly contained in the mason jar. Without the jar, your Deep Core, the water would scatter, unable to move freely.

Movement is simply the phenomenon of energy passing through your body and into the world around you.

Movement is how beings express themselves. Anything can move - your physical form, your emotions, or your creative intentions. All of them move freely with an activated core.

Which is why getting in touch with your core and having a strong relationship with it can be the difference between a free and healthy body and and one riddled with tension.

The muscles of the deep core are the most important aspect of healthy movement. They are closest to the spine and internal organs, providing deep postural alignment for effortless strength and fluidity of motion.

Anything can move freely with an activated core.

When functioning well, the Deep Core muscles aid the bones in creating a supportive container in which the vital organs can thrive and the Deep Center is free to express your physical, emotional, and creative desires.

I’m not here to bring you your average core workout. I share with you the origins of movement, as it emerges from your Deep Center, supported by your Deep Core, and in resonance with your whole body, mind and spirit.

Our job is not to practice binding, squeezing, tightening our muscles together, but to move them through all of their ranges of motion so they get a sense of what is balanced muscle tone. And balanced tone is all about how each muscle relates to its neighbors, the bones, organs, and connective tissue.

Knowing this can be liberating, because wherever your center is, is where the rest of you is headed.

Pregnant? Just given birth?

check out my article on the core after giving birth.

Want to Find Your Deep Center? Try this visualization…

Ready to activate your Deep Core?

Check out this 8 minute exercise to enliven your whole center, from the inside out.

Now tell me about you...

What moves you to your core?

What draws you in to your source?

Leave a comment down below and tell me what came up for you!

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