Power Moves

Power Moves is the second of the four core In The Zone Peak Performance Skills. It develops balance and centeredness, creating poised readiness for action and more coordinated, efficient movement.

What Are Power Moves?

Dr. Mulry described balance as more than a static or motionless state. He described it as poise in action, with force and counterforce working in dynamic tension.

This feeling of poised readiness for action involves both relaxation and balance. Being relaxed and balanced helps you move with less tension and strain while working more effectively with the force of gravity.

Power Moves build on the relaxation developed through Relaxed Moves and introduce skills for functioning from your center.

Balance And Centeredness

All balance requires a pivot point. For Power Moves, that pivot point is your center.

Dr. Mulry described centeredness in both mental and physical terms. Mentally, functioning from your center means deeply held personal values guide your actions. Physically, your actions are balanced around your body’s center of gravity.

When these work together, balance becomes more than physical stability. Dr. Mulry associated internalized balance with mental stability, emotional steadiness, quiet confidence, and readiness for challenge and change.

Working With Gravity

Every physical movement takes place in a gravitational world. Whether you are walking, lifting, turning, pushing, pulling, working, or playing, physical forces influence how you move.

Dr. Mulry emphasized learning to work with these forces rather than against them. Maintaining balance and equilibrium helps you move more effectively and efficiently during everyday activities and performance.

The Position Of Strength

The Position of Strength provides a practical way to experience balance and centeredness.

Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart, bend your knees slightly, and keep your chest slightly forward. Center your weight over the arches of your feet.

In this position, your weight is balanced over your base of support. Dr. Mulry used the Position of Strength to develop the physical feeling of stability, strength, and readiness for action.

Power Breathing

Power Moves combine balanced posture with breathing and coordinated full-body movement. Dr. Mulry taught Power Breathing to help coordinate these movements around your center of gravity.

Begin with a deep Soft Stomach Breath. As you begin an exertion, slowly exhale and tighten your stomach muscles, progressing into a Hard Stomach Breath. Continue exhaling through the exertion. Dr. Mulry called this Exhaling Into The Exertion.

Power Breathing can be used when lifting, reaching, pushing, pulling, and during sports and other physical activities. When combined with the Position of Strength, it helps develop correct, coordinated full-body movement.

The Power Breathing Routine demonstrates how Power Breathing and the Position of Strength can be applied during sports, work, household tasks, and other physical activities.

The Back Safety Zone

Dr. Mulry used the idea of a Back Safety Zone to help keep movement close to the body’s center.

Imagine a cylinder around your body. The area extending from your chest to your elbow represents your Back Safety Zone and, as Dr. Mulry described it, your zone of maximum physical power.

Keeping an object within this area while maintaining the Position of Strength helps you remain centered during lifting and reaching. The Back Safety Zone is taught in The Centered Human Being, part of Dr. Mulry’s Backcare Programs for developing practical skills in correct movement, body awareness, and injury prevention.

Coordinated Full-Body Movement

Power Moves involve more than isolated muscles. Dr. Mulry emphasized developing a full-body attitude by using multiple muscles to support balanced movement.

The Position of Strength, Power Breathing, centeredness, and awareness of your Back Safety Zone work together to develop greater control over your movements.

Through practice, these skills help you move from your center with greater balance, coordination, and efficiency.

Power Moves And Peak Performance

Balance is one of the four key elements Dr. Mulry identified for being In The Zone: Relaxed, Balanced, Flexible, and Focused.

Power Moves build on Relaxed Moves by adding balance and centeredness. When you are relaxed and balanced, you develop the poised readiness for action Dr. Mulry associated with effective movement and performance.

This provides the foundation for continuing into Elastic Moves and Focused Moves.

Learning Through Practice

In In The Zone: Making Winning Moments Your Way of Life, Dr. Mulry emphasized physically experiencing the skills rather than simply understanding them intellectually.

Practice the Position of Strength. Feel where your weight is centered. Combine Soft and Hard Stomach Breathing. Practice Exhaling Into The Exertion. Become aware of your Back Safety Zone as you reach and lift.

Through practice, you learn what it feels like to become more Relaxed, Balanced, Flexible, and Focused.

Continue With In The Zone Skills Training

In The Zone Skills Training is a 40-lesson video series combining Self-Learning, mind-body skills, and psychological principles to develop Self-Command, Focused Action, and Peak Performance.

Go straight to Lesson 7: Power Moves to further your understanding of Power Moves.

Or start from the beginning with the In The Zone Skills Training overview and continue through all 40 video lessons in order.