Shadowing Practice: Beginner Body Restoration: Movement Self-Assessment - Learn English Speaking with Video

Welcome to the beginner body restoration self-assessment.

This is going to give you a really good idea of

which side you need to do the asymmetrical drills on to get the best results improving your own individual asymmetries and imbalances.

I want to keep this as simple and as straightforward as possible

but still thorough enough to give you a pretty good idea of what's going on.

We're going to take five simple and easy tests here

and the reason is that's an odd number of tests meaning

you'll always have at least three out of the five tests indicating

that you are more shifted to the right or left side of your body.

Okay, let's start at the very top at our head.

So all we're going to do is lay on the ground

and we're going to flatten out our feet comfortably right here and we're going to passively point our chin at the ceiling.

There should be no tension in our body whatsoever and all we're going to do is maintaining this position.

We're going to turn our head to the right

and then we're going to go back to center and then we're going to turn our head to the left.

All you're feeling for is which one is easier.

Which one can you go in more range of motion with without you feeling any strain

or pushing more than about a two out of ten.

If you have to push more than two out of ten, then you are going past your genuine space and you'll get a feel for naturally which one is easier.

Try to keep your head nice and level here though.

You don't want to feel your chin drop or raise excessively.

It should feel like you're staying within generally the same plane of rotation.

The next thing we're going to do is shoulder internal rotation.

So we're gonna bring our elbow up to the height of our shoulder, not too high, not too low.

And you want to feel the back of your shoulder resting on the ground.

You could take your other hand

and just gently rest it on the front of the shoulder without rotating or turning towards that side.

And now all you're going to do is allow for that forearm to drop, stopping at the first sign of when you have to push more than about a two out of 10, or you feel like if you were to go any lower,

this shoulder would start to pop up into your hand at all.

At that point, that is the end of the test.

So stop the measurement short of that and then go to the other side

and take the same exact measurement in the same exact way.

One side will be better than the other.

Now for the next test, we're going to turn onto our side like this.

We wanna make sure we have our head facing perfectly straight ahead.

There's no tension in our neck whatsoever.

And we also have our shoulders perfectly stacked on top of each other

and our knees perfectly stacked on top of each other with our hips as well.

You're gonna reach one arm directly at the ceiling, fingertips to the ceiling.

And all you're going to do is keeping your breastbone facing straight ahead, not letting it turn at all.

You're just going to bring your arm back in a perfectly straight line, stopping at the first sensation of when you feel a stretch more than a two out of 10,

or you have to push more than a two out of 10.

It's not gonna be much range of motion at all.

At that point, you're also going to sense that you want to turn your sternum and don't let that happen.

So just point your fingertips up at the ceiling and then go back.

Once you feel that first two out of 10, that's the end.

And then we're going to turn over and we're going to do our other side.

So right here, fingertips directly up at, and then you're going to repeat the same process, go straight back.

You'll notice one side is better than the other.

My left side is definitely more limited than my right.

Just like I said, though, watch out for there being tension in your head or neck

or your hips not staying stacked and your shoulders not staying stacked.

I find a lot of people start to open on this test. And for

that reason, you probably want to roll your front shoulder a little bit more forward than you think you need to.

Remember, you can always film these two and just see what it looks like.

Now for the next test, we're going to lay in that same original position we were in, like so, feet flat on the ground, and you want to pull your heels as close to your

butt as you realistically can without feeling any strain in your hamstrings or hips.

Just again, no more than a two out of 10.

Allow your chin to point passively at the ceiling and let your arms hang out by your sides like this.

There should be no tension in your body.

If you need to go a little bit lower to get the tension out, that's okay too.

But around the height of your shoulder is where your arms should be.

By keeping your knees and feet touching each other, all you're going to do is allow for your knees to drop off together in one direction.

You're gonna stop at the point where if you were to go any further, you would feel this shoulder begin to want to pop off of the ground.

And that is the end of the test.

Don't let it go to the point where it actually pops off of the ground.

Just when you feel that first temptation, that's the end of that direction.

And then go in the other direction, stopping at the point where if you were to go any further, you would feel the temptation of this shoulder starting to lift off.

So when I go to the left, my right shoulder will want to pop off.

When I go to the right, my left shoulder will want to pop off.

And for the last test, we're gonna flip onto our side, keeping our knees and feet together again.

And what I recommend is if this was a 90 degree angle, drop your hips down a little bit to around a 60 degree angle.

Again, make sure there's no tension in your head or neck.

If you wanna support your head on a pillow, you totally can.

So the first thing you gotta do is check in with yourself

and make sure that your shoulders are stacked on top of each other, your knees are as well, and your hips are too.

You never wanna start too open or too closed like that.

Everything should be aligned.

Now, keeping your inside of your feet touching, all you're going to do is slowly raise up that top leg,

stopping at the point where you have to push more than a two out of 10, because at that point, you are just using compensation.

Always keep this bottom leg flat.

And then you'll flip over and you'll do the same exact thing on the other side.

So again, check in with yourself and see if your shoulders and hips are stacked.

Then drop down a little bit to around 60 degrees.

And all you're going to do now is the same exact process.

Open up and see how far you can go before you have to push more than a two out of 10, or you have to roll your hips in any direction.

For me, it feels like my left side is easier than my right side.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing Practice: Beginner Body Restoration: Movement Self-Assessment - Learn English Speaking with Video

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What is the Shadowing Technique?