Home ∞ Breathing Session ∞ Stories ∞ Health Cures ∞ Testimonials ∞ Journal ∞ Articles ∞ Book ∞
Articles 2
10. Spine Roll, Please 12/13/03
Over the years I have given this simple movement to have a person feel their
spine. Often it is a wonderful prelude to doing the
releasing of the legs.
For people with back problems this movement is excellent. For one, it helps us
feel how supple and strong our spine actually is. Secondly, it helps us locate
any areas of congestion, pain, or holding still because of fear.
When I give this to a person with back problems, they are often surprised at how much actual flexibility they have in the spine. It also makes it very helpful to breakthrough fear were there is pain involved. In these situations I will ask the client to let out any sounds that arise out of doing this particular movement. Real body sounds that mirror how they are feeling about moving in this way. Usually grunts, groans, gasps of anxiety, or the full yell that comes with a shot of pain, which all help to release held energy.
All sounds, real body sounds that one can make, are releasing energy that otherwise would be held in the muscles. This is a way of relaxing the muscles around the problem areas so we can better locate the particular area that is hurting.
As in the pictures, we lie down on a comfortable surface and take the first position. The arms are open with palms facing the ceiling and fingers relaxed open. Doing a minute of comfortable full breathing brings attention to the body for working in the session.
Push against the couch or chair with the outside pads of the feet, this also feels like you are using the outside muscles of the legs while the muscles on the inside of the legs remain soft. Slowly bring the body up to a full arc, as in the second picture. Then slowly let the body come down, vertebra by vertebra, until you are once again in the original position. Do this slowly three or four times to feel comfortable with the movement. The breath is full yet relaxed so the awareness is on the feelings and motion.
If you have some problems in the back, normally the lower back, as you reach an area were some discomfort or pain exists, slow down and feel breath expand this area. After doing this full movement 3 or 4 times, you can just move up slightly in to the area were there is some pain and explore some movement through that area. If some trembling in the muscles show up as you are doing this movement, great, allow it to happen.
After playing with this movement the session of opening and closing the legs mentioned above can be taken up. The spine roll movement will facilitate any releasing action that you can have in the suggested session. The results of working for 20 minutes in this session will give you a discernable change when you get up and start walking around.
******
Physical fitness experts all
agree on three basic requirements for good health:
A diet that supports the proper nourishment of each cell, each organ, and the
whole body.
Exercise that stimulates and improves circulation.
The Ability to relax and to recover from stress.
From Unlimit Your Life by
James
Fadiman Ph.D.
The above movements and Releasing the Lower Body session is a form of exercise that does stimulate and improve circulation as well as reduce stress and helps one to feel more relaxed with the body. Although, it is not the way in which we would normally think of doing exercises, the releases that can occur will have the restorative aspects of lengthening all the muscles associated with the movements you are doing. This opens spaces in the body, while many exercise programs are designed to tighten muscles which actually contract space. The prime example of this tightening would be the sit-up. Read THE SIT-UP for more on this subject.
The Sit-Up tightens the stomach wall and reduces the spaces of the stomach and pelvic area. Following this further the internal spaces of the body are reduced, contracted, and the organs and intestines of the body are made to function in congested space. So many internal problems, I feel, stem from the many years people have this congestion in place. Expansion of the internal spaces, accomplished with full breathing, address the space issue directly and helps us side step many possible problems.
******
“The energy that we feel in the body implies the existence of a vaster power
than is required just to operate the individual physical vehicle. The power of
cosmic energy that sustains universes is vibrating in our bodies also.”
“With your spiritual eye you can see the body as a mass of scintillating specks
of light—the energy that is emanating from your twenty-seven thousand billion
cells.”
~~~Paramahansa Yogananda~~~, How You Can Talk With God.
“Getting in touch with that something, your body, does put you in touch with a kind of inherent pleasure in existence.” ~~~Charles T. Tart.~~~ MIND SCIENCE
Posted by harmonhathaway at December 13, 2003
Comments
This is all most interesting. Your article causes me to be less dismissive of the sounds people make when expressing feelings of discomfort. Obviously, I should pay more attention to the specific nature of their utterances, since it gives excellent feedback concerning their physical condition. It all seems so obvious, yet at times it isn’t.
Because of my gym experience, I tend to be dismissive of some the sounds people make when exerting effort. For instance, there are always some guys at the gym making lots of grunting noises when they are attempting to lift weights. I suppose for a maximum effort, this might be normal, but for weights they can lift for a set of ten repetitions, the sound effects seem a bit much. But your work with patients touches on a much more important concept: As you astutely point out: “All sounds, real body sounds that one can make, are releasing energy that otherwise would be held in the muscles. This is a way of relaxing the muscles around the problem areas so we can better locate the particular area that is hurting.”
It’s an excellent article, and I think it will cause me to alter my response the sounds people generate.
Posted by: Solstice on December 16, 2003
*****
I have only begun experimenting with making sounds while bouncing, but my initial take is that there is a whole new world of possibility that I have barely yet begun to access here.
Posted by: Jordan Gruber on December 16, 2003
********
Solstice, there is a lot of material on sound and I will round this out with an article and session with body sounds. We are capable of all manner of sound from singing in a contemporary fashion or slipping in to primitive sound. Baby sounds or sounds we feel like making spontaneously can often surprise. These sounds are only limited by people’s own self-views.
*******
Jordan, That’s great. There can be extensive sound, especially as we discover
the array of sound that this body likes to make. The rebounder does send me in
to some very specific sounds that are akin to a primitive making sound as they
dance around the fire. The elements of what is called ‘pimitive’ sound can arise
which also feels like energy is being released.
Posted by: Harmon on December 18, 2003
Home ∞ Breathing Session ∞ Stories ∞ Health Cures ∞ Testimonials ∞ Journal ∞ Articles ∞ Book ∞
Articles 2