Theory
"Nature isn't classical, dammit!"
Richard Feynman
When you watch this video, you might realise that there is a bit of a problem!
The problem is that many of the demonstrations seem to defy explanation according to our postulated laws of physics and do not conform to the classical explanations as to how biomechanical work is done. And yet... the outcomes are emphatic and decisive. It can clearly be seen that the forces opposing the pony-tailed protagonist are significant and genuine. No trickery or fakery has been perpetrated on the viewer. The techniques involved have also been taught to others with comparable results.
If all this is real and true, what is actually going on here... and how?
These are the questions that Alex Swainson, the pony-tailed protagonist in question, has endeavoured to answer. In addition to making sense of his direct experience and observation of the natural world, he has also had to search far and wide at the frontiers of science for explanations, synthesising the salient research and testing his findings as far as he could before arriving at his preliminary and somewhat controversial conclusions.
In this work, he is greatly indebted to many progressive researchers and innovators within the natural sciences, for example in neurophysiology, anatomy, mechanobiology and biophysics. The following have been particularly influential:
John F. Barnes (Myofascial Release)
Much of this work surrounds the pivotal role of the fascia (connective tissue) in shaping the body's interior architecture/spatial arrangement, its properties and mode of operation, functional parameters and scope of influence. The fascia is a part of the anatomy & physiology that was previously more or less ignored and dismissed as simply packaging material for the organs. This limited view has been steadily debunked in recent decades and was finally blown off its hinges with the appearance of this video:
E2's contention is that the internal architecture and properties of the fascia (connective tissue) act as the body's gravity control system. As such, its essential characteristics and configuration enable an alignment with the gravitational field, which means that the energy of gravity can be effectively 'harvested', stored and used as a source of power. E2's research indicates that the only way the fascia can efficiently absorb and transmit gravity is via coiling (storing) and uncoiling (releasing) mechanisms that arise through the reciprocal interaction of counter-rotating forces. The primary engine room for the generation of this axial torque are the spinal vertebrae, geared via the hips and shoulders.
However, the ability of the fascia and joints to fully act in this way depends on the degree to which a balance of forces - and therefore an equalisation of stress and tension - prevails. This in turn depends on how the body is operated by its owner. Specifically, the capability of the fascia to equalise tension across its network and facilitate a healthy pulsing of compressive forces into the bones (and massaging of the tissues while in motion) is severely degraded as soon as the human body pushes directly against gravity in order to move or breathe. The excessive physicality of this topsy-turvy approach generates a colossal internal resistance to motion, causing already overused muscles to operate at an exorbitant energy cost in order to maintain momentum. Surely this rank inefficiency cannot be considered in any way 'natural'?
It is hypothesised that this habitual and futile fight with gravity immediately induces a state of artificially-imposed microgravity that is naturally of a much lower order than astronauts would experience. Nevertheless, the cumulative degenerative effects of reduced gravitational compression and decompression within the massed ranks of us 'Terranauts' could at least partly explain the alarming proliferation of neurodegenerative diseases and our enormous and ever expanding scrapheap of fragile bones, knackered joints and ruptured soft tissues.
Without the pioneering work of the fascia researchers and Viktor Schauberger's insights into natural motion, it would not have been possible to lay claim to the existence of the above mechanisms with any degree of scientific credibility or certainty. However, there is still very much work to do! Many of the ideas represented by those mentioned above exist at the frontiers of science and research is still in its infancy.
With this in mind, it is intended that through its unique standpoint and practical, innovative approach, the E2 Human Project can help to fill in some of the blanks and contribute to an enhanced understanding of:
1. The role of mechanical forces and mind-body practices in prevention & rehabilitation;
2. How and why mechanical efficiency affects health, wellbeing and performance (HWP);
3. The extent to which the above can influence HWP and potential for rehabilitation;
4. What optimal (natural) body use looks like, what it achieves & how it is done;
5. What fitness & performance look like when optimal body use is learned & applied.
The document below summarises E2's contribution to the above. As well as providing empirical insights, it also interprets the work of those mentioned above in an attempt explain the causes, mechanisms and effects of the phenomena observed when E2's techniques are applied in practice. Representing the efforts of a 'free range' independent researcher using unorthodox methods, much of it is yet to be scientifically proven or independently investigated and is far from complete, but nonetheless it offers many 'jumping off points' for more detailed exploration.
