Breathing is a crucial aspect that strongly influences the expanding and condensing qualities of our body, mind and emotions. Holding or suppressing breath usually tenses you up and closes you. Vice versa: When you are tensed, stressed, and shrink, you naturally tend to hold or suppress your breath. Therefore, it is crucial to breathe deeply and smoothly during stressful situations (when it is good to be open and relaxed). Our lungs and whole torso usually expand when we inhale and condense when we exhale. However, expanding and condensing is a different aspect. So, you can expand your body, mind, and emotions while you exhale and vice versa. Anyway, breathing is closely linked to expanding and condensing quality. Therefore, it’s easier to train expanding with inhaling and condensing with exhaling. Later, to be free, we train opposite, and in the end, breathing flows in an independent rhythm from expanding and condensing.
Pravilo is, for most people, something new. However, the concept is very ancient. Cossacks used the concept of Pravilo for hundreds of years to heal, strengthen, and open their potential. The construction was different, but the concept was the same. The simplest way was four friends grabbing one limb of another and pulling him away. Then they used trees, bags with weights or horses to expand… Firstly, it is good to understand that Pravilo is like a crutch that helps us open and expand our bodies, minds, and spirits. It gives you the experience of deep expansion and helps you to develop this quality. However, we aim to learn to expand life consciously from the inside. These powers could be used as additional power, in addition to muscle power, to make us stronger and more efficient… Expanding and condensing powers are not working mechanically as muscles by contractions. Therefore, the body spends less energy (oxygen and nutrients) and can be much more relaxed and fluent. These powers are feeding consciousness. So, we are developing them through mental training – meditation. The expanded body is soft and elastic but very strong, similar to a bouncy castle for kids. Expanding power is similar to fluid, hydraulic power. That allowed the Cossacks to be so adaptable – liquid but very strong with unbelievable endurance – they used less muscle power. In Cossack tradition, knowledge from the mother of Indo-European civilisation – from ancient Vedic civilisation– survived! While our modern civilisation focuses on developing technology, Vedic civilisation focuses on developing consciousness.
Tell an instructor about your injuries or any conditions. Avoid pain and strong tension. Don’t challenge yourself. Do it in such a way that you feel happy and comfortable stretching your tissue. Avoid risky movements, especially those that could affect injured parts of the body. Pravilo can help you heal some injuries, but it isn’t recommended for serious injuries. If you are still determining if your condition allows you to train on Pravilo, please consult with your doctor. When the instructor lifts you, immediately inform him about any unexpected pain, unusual feelings, or sensations. Keep your fist close. If you feel your fingers are weakening to hold the straps or your foot is sliding out, inform the instructor immediately! Don’t risk falling. You choose the intensity: Firstly, the instructor will lift you just partially. He then lifts you as much as you like. Turn facing down to be lifting. Do not resist Pravilo. Accept it. Let it expand you. Actively expand. Increase the effect of Pravilo by consciously expanding body, mind and peripheral vision. Visualise yourself as the Sun glowing in all directions. Become aware of free breathing. Do not hold or suppress your breathing. Try to be as relaxed as possible. Be aware of your tension. Flow keeps the body & mind on liquid quality. Listen to your body. When you suspend the first time on Pravilo, it will help you to diagnose weaknesses and imbalances where your tissue is shortened. Don’t use Pravilo if you have consumed any alcohol or other drugs. It is recommended to relax for the rest of the day without alcohol or drugs. After Pravilo, take your time and let the feeling disappear/subside. Warm up before using Pravilo. Please ask the instructor if you need to find the best way to warm up. Pravilo is a part of traditional Cossacks and Systema training. Before using Pravilo, please fill in this form… Read contraindications…
Stress is a mental and emotional effect of condensation power and tension (condensation power causes tension). Therefore, the simplest way to cope with and prevent stress is to develop expanding power and relax across physical, emotional and mental bodies. The first aid when you realise stress is to expand with deep inhaling. With exhaling, relax but keep expanding the quality. It’s often scientifically proven that stress causes most of a ‘civilisation’s illness, ‘ so reducing stress greatly increases one’s chances for a and healthy life. Read more about our stress management…
We use an image of Fire to understand better and more easily visualise vital energy. Inner Fire* flows more freely via an open, expanded, relaxed body. Because Pravilo expands, opens and relaxes your body like nothing else, after the Pravilo session, most people feel a massive influx of life energy! Undesirable tension consumes a lot of undesirable vital energy. When we expand, we become more efficient – spend less vital energy – and have more energy for other activities. Opened and expanded creatures receive and give more energy, love and beauty – both sides of the flow are more significant. Therefore, when we open towards the Sun, we receive more sunshine and vital energy. Vital energy has a significant influence on our health and the quality of our lives. *Read more about Inner Fire
There is a difference between stretching and expanding. Stretching is based on mechanical flexion (bending an arm, leg or back). Flexion stretches muscles, tendons and fasciae in combination with a skeleton. Stretching puts pressure on the involved joints and discs! Stretching doesn’t demand your attention. Expansion and contraction usually have the direction of a line, plane or sphere and happen without flexion. Expanding on Pravilo decompresses every joint and spinal disc between all straps. Less pressure stops or slows down the detrition of joints, making space to heal cartilage. (E.g. When I had a hip injury, the shrunk tissue pulled the hip joint so strongly into the socket that the cartilage rubbed against each other and damaged my joints. Now, Pravilo pulls my joint into its natural position; therefore, the cartilages are not damaging each other, and it has space to heal. Tibi) It stretches the ligaments between vertebrae, releases pressure, and makes space for the healing of spinal disc herniation to proceed. Expansion and contraction significantly influence our movements; however, they don’t need to be manifested as a movement. These qualities could change the conditions of our (relatively) still bodies. Expanding could be initiated by external forces (suspending on Pravilo or bar, inversion/traction table) or from the inside by consciously focused attention – a meditation on expanding (also on contracting) quality. Pravilo synergise stretching and expanding to make them more efficient. It holistically expands and (in some exercises) stretches all of your myofascial tracks (muscles, tendons, ligaments, and fasciae) like nothing else! You can expand and stretch different myofascial tracks 360° across the whole body by rotation! With Pravilo, we can reach access places we can’t usually access. It increases the range of your motion – an essential aspect of your freedom to move. Expanding also helps to lower high blood pressure (hypertension). Vital energy, the Inner Fire, flows much better in the expanded body.
Relax is the natural state of the body and mind. Tension is usually a reaction to an impulse. Unfortunately, we often have a terrible habit of subconsciously tensing up, even if it is unnecessary. Undesirable tension affects not just the body but also the mind. Mind tension is called ‘stress’. Vital energy flows much smoother via a relaxed and expanded body. The tension of antagonistic muscles working against our movement – makes us slower and weaker. Undesirable tension also consumes a lot of energy and makes you more tired. A relaxed body quicker recovers from hard training, which helps you to increase your training plans. In the same way that pressure makes diamonds, it crystallises tissue. Every tension is written into our tissue in the form of crystallisation. That process is one of the most characteristic parts of ageing. Crystallisation restricts our movements and often causes pain. Therefore, it’s crucial to avoid undesirable tension and stress-condensing power and actively decrystallise our tissue. The best ways to decrystalise are expanding, waving movements and massage. It lowers your immunity and can cause many illnesses that plague civilisation, such as backaches, headaches, digestive problems, etc. Relax affects your state of mind and emotions. A relaxed, expanded body and mind are happier and can freely flow. It’s more creative and makes fewer mistakes. Stress is made by tension and shrinking your body and mind. Pravilo works with the body very comprehensively; significantly, it relaxes and expands very deep tissues into our hips and torso (which is, by traditional methods, very difficult to access). Pravilo decompresses joints, discs and vertebrates. More space gives a body a chance to heal it. It develops expanding power and strengthens tendons, ligaments, fasciae and the whole tensegrity system. The quality of the body affects the quality of the mind and Spirit… Relaxing helps to release high blood pressure (hypertension).
The quality of expanding-open or condensing-close doesn’t just benefit the body but also uplifts our emotions and way of thinking. A bent, shrunken, or closed body tends to hold emotions such as fear, sadness, anger, stress, and depression. Therefore, by opening, expanding and relaxing the body, we change to more positive emotions and ways of thinking. It can also relieve depression and help to cope with stress. How do football fans express their excitement when their team scores a goal? Or what does a happy kid look like? They expand their arms and body in positions similar to those of people hanging on Pravilo. An open, expanded body tends to be happy, loving, curious, enthusiastic and in flow. Vital energy flows much better in a relaxed and expanded body and mind, which has a very positive effect on the healing process. Mental trauma is often somatised into physical tissue. When we release the somatised tension in the physical body, it has an excellent chance to release and cope with mental trauma. Some psychotherapists are already using Pravilo to help patients with mental traumas. We tend to resist the forces around us, which causes many traumas. Pravilo is a positive example, where we can immediately feel the positive effect when accepting a surrounding power. This experience is an excellent example of how to accept and let go of many mental issues we have picked up during our lives. An open mind is more flexible and dynamic than a closed one. In a shrunk body usually lives a submissive mind. An expanded straight body is characteristic of that of a free man. This quality is the secret of the Cossack’s power and desire for freedom. Cossacks didn’t have landlords; they were free and lived in a self-governed society, making decisions in circles. Pravilo is opening our hearts. Through an open heart flows much more loving energy than a closed one. We are giving and receiving more, flowing smoother with our surroundings. The expanding quality opens us to unite, and we are more integrated parts of the Universe. We feel like we are part of Oneness again. Open people tend to collaborate rather than fight. When closed, people feel more separated from their surroundings. They have fear and tend to perceive others as competition and enemies. Opening and expanding have a massive positive effect on our relationships and social life. It’s a condition for peace and freedom.
Tendons and Joints If you passively (without muscle contraction) suspend on Pravilo, you can feel warmth across your tendons and ligaments afterwards. If you suspend them longer, you can feel them burning. That’s the moment when they are strengthening! Suspension and expansion are the natural stimulation for tissue to become stronger, dense, and compact. Stronger ligaments are very helpful for joint hypermobility syndrome. Strengthening tendons, ligaments, and fasciae is crucial, especially when typical strengthening focuses mainly on muscles. Stronger muscles than tendons cause many injuries! Strong tendon ligaments and fasciae are the best prevention for injuries. They are an excellent investment for mobility in the elder times. Pravilo also strengthens our tensegrity, which puts less pressure on our joints and spinal discs. Muscles Pravilo also strengthens our muscles in a very unique and holistic way. It brings balance between our muscle groups and myofascial meridians. Relaxed and stretched muscles help the body’s quicker regeneration and allow you to increase your training plan. Bones The expansion increases bone density and makes our bones stronger.
