What is JKA-Solvents and Glue?
JKA-Solvents and Glue is a movement system designed to put your body back into alignment while it creates connections between all parts of your musculoskeletal system so you can move easily.
Your body can’t find optimal alignment through trying to statically adjust itself. Pulling the shoulders back or trying to sit more upright just doesn’t work.
The movements of Solvent and Glue realign your pelvis and spine so that good posture becomes effortless and your shoulders settle into a comfortable position. You’ll find that you start to move with more skill and grace–no matter what you want to do. You will feel more alert and alive.
Solvents and Glue movements are easy. The results are magical.
Where did Solvents and Glue come from?
JKA-Solvents and Glue was developed by Jeremy Krauss. JKA stands for Jeremy Krauss Approach. Jeremy uses movement to expand our abilities. He has analyzed movement for over 45 years. He studied with Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais and spent years teaching Feldenkrais. He developed Solvents and Glue to help himself recover from a severe knee injury which occurred while skiing. He used what he knew about movement and experimented with his own body to explore and create. He created Solvents and Glue. He went back to skiing.
Why is it called Solvents and Glue?
Jeremy had a Feldenkrais client who felt that while Feldenkrais was very helpful, he needed something more as he got older. Jeremy taught his client the movements he created and the client called them Solvents (to dissolve old habits and loosen up stiff joints) and Glue (to put you back together again with greater stability and strength).
Solvents and Glue helps you find how to coordinate the movements of the pelvis, spine, shoulders and ribs with the movements of the arms and legs so that you can move easily. In addition to coordination, Solvents and Glue strengthens the muscles of your arms, trunk and legs in a functional manner so that you can achieve more fluidity of movement.
When your body is well aligned and the parts are mobile, you will feel better doing whatever activity you want to do. Breathing, sitting, walking, hiking, running, singing, dancing, yoga–whatever you want. When your body is better aligned, you have more energy. There is less wasted effort. You can do what you want.
My story:
I first started learning Solvents and Glue in a four day workshop devoted to swinging the pelvis. I knew nothing about Solvents and Glue. The movements were simple and repetitive but with lots of variations. To be honest, the exercises were so simple I didn’t feel I was doing that much.
After those four days, I felt like a new person. I helped one of my daughters move, and carrying heavy boxes seemed easy. Going up and down stairs was somehow easier. I went to dance practice at the end of the day and felt like I was literally floating and gliding across the floor.
A couple of months later I did another four day workshop that focused on the movements of the shoulders and ribs while connecting them to the movements of the pelvis. I again felt like a different person. The movement sequences made me feel energized. They created a different sort of mobility that made all my joints feel extremely well oiled.
I then enrolled in a training to teach Solvents and Glue. I did the movements again and again. With the repetition of the movements came more mobility, more strength.
Whenever I practice the movements, I feel like I just hit the reset button. I feel more upright. Walking becomes more fluid. I breathe better. I feel more awake and alert.
How does it work?
Jeremy Krauss created a whole system of movements that initially isolates the parts and then puts them together in sequences that make you realize, consciously or not, how all the parts are connected. The movements strengthen the muscles that support the joints. While the movements seem simple to do, the concepts behind each movement took months to develop. When you are doing the movements, you may feel like they aren't doing that much, but with just a little practice, you will find that you carry yourself differently and feel better in every activity you do.
For me, it boils down to this:
Human beings are designed to move. We discover the world by moving. Babies are constantly moving. Movement impacts our brains and how we think is shaped by how we move and discover the world. When the industrial age came along, many people found work that did not involve so much physical activity. The digital age, even more so. As some of us get older, we move even less. Yet our brains require movement. Our bodies require the brain’s awareness of how our bodies move. When we can feel our bodies, can feel ourselves in our bodies, we just feel better. This is one reason why yoga has become so popular. It allows us the space and time to pay attention to our bodies. The Feldenkrais Method® is another way to become more aware of ourselves by introducing many smaller movements that when done with awareness, break us out of inefficient habits to change how we move, how we feel, and how we think, and to expand our potential to do anything we want.
Solvents and Glue does the same but with slightly bigger movements done largely while standing that allow us to explore how every part of our body is connected to every other part. We explore how the pelvis moves. We explore how the spine moves. We explore how the shoulders move. We explore the feet. And all together, feeling the parts–we feel and move better. We don’t have to give in to inertia. We can keep our mobility.
From an orthopaedic standpoint:
As an orthopaedic surgeon, I examine people and their movement patterns. People tend to move less as they age. People get stiffer. When I go to orthopaedic conferences, I am dismayed to hear spine surgeons note that poor alignment of the spine with the back rounded forward and the head down is considered to be a natural consequence of aging, and spine surgeons are proponents of spinal fusion that aims to keep the head over the pelvis. They seem to advocate for the ultimate stability of no movement at all in the spine to help people be upright, but ignore the effects of an absolutely stiff spine on the rest of the body. I went to another conference recently where surgeons described cutting bones and realigning them to help some leg misalignment issues that put stress on the spine and the hips. While surgery is indicated in some cases, surgery doesn’t seem like it is the only solution for everyone. Movement practices like JKA-Solvents and Glue, the Feldenkrais Method®, JKA-Abilities and yoga can help combat the stiffness and poor alignment of the joints and the spine..
Sometimes I get busy and don’t do the Solvents and Glue movements. But when I find a few moments to return to the simple swinging of the pelvis and the sliding of the shoulder blades, I find I begin to build energy. I feel more upright, more fluid, more alive. My shoulders feel better aligned. My pelvis becomes more mobile. I am more comfortable in my body, I can move through the world with ease. The way I feel internally reflects on my face and in my interactions with the world. I am always amazed at the power of Solvents and Glue.