Interview 23/2/23
Me being interviewed with Patricia Magdalena from the IAUSM Stepping into your sovereign self group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/steppingintoyoursovereignself/) about my journey through breast cancer and how it informs my work now. Enjoy
Talk on spinal health from 2017
Below is a roughly edited version of the talk I offered in 2017 at various venues in the Uk and It still remains relevant today.
Enjoy!
Learning the landscapes of the Spine: reflections on a personal journey.
Injury touches us all at some point in our lives, whether it’s a scrapped knee or something more serious.
Reflecting upon my own personal journey, I recently went through an injury story that left me wondering where to go next with my life.
Everything I defined myself as up to that point involved a huge amount of physicality, from my yoga classes and workshops to my shiatsu sessions. In my spare time I danced and all other work required me to be fit and able bodied. At no point did I ever consider what else I wanted to do with my life, so long as movement was involved then I was fulfilling all I believed my life was about.
Then I slipped on a mountain in Turkey. Not even a big fall. I slid on scree, my leg twisted behind me and I fell on the side of my hip. I walked off the mountain only later to trip on a step and break the middle toe of the same leg I had earlier injured. The Mediterranean heat and outdoor life kept things OK for the few weeks I had left over there, but then I returned to the Uk. It was November, it was cold and it was damp and I crashed, literally brought to my knees with the injury showing its true colors.
I limped from one work requirement to another, too tired from the pain in my hip to go and see friends and frustrated by the lack of progress any treatment or doctor appointment gave. Eventually after numerous frustrating tests and much prodding it was decided I had very likely pulled my iliopsoas muscle tendon, inguinal ligament and the sacroiliac ligament, oh joy!
You see ligaments connect our bones to each other and are very slow in healing, with a limited blood supply and once overstretched they can prove extraordinarily difficult to repair.
Perhaps some of you can relate to the lack of support, to the friends who knew you in the context of active, suddenly disappearing when you were no longer able to fit criteria?
To the loss of earnings from work you simply can’t do, to the medical profession not really taking you seriously.
Then there is the inevitable journey through the lists of practitioner to find someone who could understand and really help you.
And in the middle of all of this is the pressing question of what happens if I don’t get better? Who will I become, indeed who am I now?
For me the journey led to hours of research on the body, particularly the spine, ligaments, specific acupuncture points and the nature of pain. I tested out theories and tried out methods I had researched, and from these notes and experiments, this talk started to take shape. Its evolution has been a crucial part of my recovery, adding a new depth to the work I offer in both as a shiatsu practitioner and yoga teacher.
In sharing my story I’m not offering definitive way to deal with pain, but perhaps it will offer a deeper curiosity into understanding about our spine, which is perhaps the most crucial support structure in our physical body.
The most important nugget of information I can offer is to keep accessing the breath and keep moving, albeit softly.
Proprioception and the art of going within on the wave of the breath
We learn the five senses, vision, sound, smell, touch and taste and all these senses are related to the outside world. We also have a number of internal senses that relate to our body functions and one of the most fundamental internal senses is that of proprioception. This is an internal sense that affects every moment of our lives, because it allows us to control our body without directly observing it. A sense that tells you the position of your body and self-movement of it in relation to your environment.
This sense is processed by the entire nervous system. Inside every joint and muscle lie meters, called spindles and golgi tendons that constantly measure the tension and contraction of the muscle. Via the spino cerebellar tract this information travels to the spine and cerebellum which in turn calculates where the muscle is in space. So for instance with driving we don’t need to watch our legs or arms to safely complete the task.
The important thing to understand about proprioception is that it can be impaired by disease or injury that affect the muscular skeletal system. But conversely it can be strengthened as a sense with simple exercises that develop our internal observations of the body.
So when you have an injury the very best thing to do after the initial first aid stage and recovery, is to stop and lie down, or sit down and close your eyes and acknowledge the injury. Even if only for a moment feel the pain and be where you are, because this will help to tap you into your internal proprioceptive sense of your body. On this basis I would like to take you through an exercise with the breath with your eyes closed.
Proprioception and the wave of breath talk through.
“Sit comfortably and close your eyes.
This internal body awareness you are sensing relies on receptors in your joints, muscles, ligaments, and connective tissue which pick up information as muscles bend and stretch as well as when your body is still.
Travel through your body in your minds eyes, starting at your feet and coming to the top of your head. This is an initial check in, just acknowledge pain, sensation, thought, emotion or feeling that arises.
Then take your attention to an area of pain and notice it without attachment to the story of it, as if you were talking to someone about it. Look internally at it from all angles.
There are 3 types of nociception or physiological pain receptors in the skin that send impulses telling us of nerve or tissue damage.
Have a look to see which if you can tell which if any, are causing you your pain.
Now step back in your minds eyes and see the pain and the story of how it came to be, again in as detached a way as possible. Let this image and your area of pain go.
Now start to notice your breath, how are you breathing, are any areas of your body not moving gently when you breathe.
Where are you breathing from? Is it low in your belly or up in your chest area? Notice without attachment. This is your breath breathing in the only way it knows how in this moment. Just accept that, with no judgement. Just as it is.
Now place your hands on your belly and see if you can move your hands when you breathe in. On the out breath, relax the belly back toward the spine. Keep on doing this until you feel comfortable with this breathing. Then notice what parts of your body are not moving with your breath.
See if it’s possible to have your whole body moving gently outward from your belly area on each inhale and then the belly relaxing back to the spine on the exhale. Stay here for a while.
Now bring your attention back to your area of pain and focus your breath into the pain, allow your body to dictate how the breath wants to be here, deep, gentle, moving the body a little, moving the body a lot. Stay here for a while. If the story of the pain arises, try to step back from the story and just be there with your breath and your body.
Let go of the breath, come back into the room, slowly open your eyes”
OK, so this exercise may not have rid you of pain, but it will have put you in tune with your body and your breathing and relaxed your state of being.
Interestingly the pain intertwines with all other senses and our perception of it is in part dictated by our genetics and our previously learned behaviour. So, while one person may feel the same injury acutely, another may not.
The main function of pain is to focus our attention to dangers and inform us to avoid them. In our modern culture however, we have become numb to our internal signals and though prescribed pain relief is an important way to support our recovery, it can also hinder our progress by masking the pain response. So we continue to do the things that cause the pain, whilst not feeling the pain.
Just to be clear, I’m not suggesting giving up on the pain relief, rather asking that you become more aware of the pain that you have and taking even small amounts of time to listen to that story as we did in the visualisation just now. This sends a message to your brain and thus your body that you know it is hurting and that you want to help.
Muscles and bones
‘The muscles should not be used to support weight, as this disrupts their ability to move the bony levers freely, resulting in muscle fatigue’
Liz Koch – The Psoas Book
The skeleton stacks neatly bone upon bone from our head to our toes, supporting our weight and keeping us upright. When in balance the muscles, tendons and ligaments all support the movement of the bones.
So what we seek in our posture is a softened fluidity, where muscles are in a constant subtle contraction and release which leaves us ready to flow into movement with ease.
When injury occurs and the soft tissues have either over time or through sudden accident become over stretched or torn, and pain arises, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain a softness within. Instead the body contracts into a defensive state, which over time can cause rigidity and lessened movement.
What I contend is that only through continued and subtle softening of the muscles in conjunction with a qualified practitioner’s treatment and necessary pain relief can the injury be met and in time healed. After initial swelling and the more acute stages of injury it is important to begin the journey inwards. As I mentioned by using the breath to begin to access the subtle movements of the body and learning how to feel inside is the essential first step in our healing.
A practitioner may be able to externally adjust bones and address muscle tensions, and to some degree support our holistic healing but it is down to ourselves to continue that process. This puts to ball firm back into our court and at that point we must ask ourselves if we are willing to commit to being our own nurse and protector. We are after all the most qualified to know how we feel. The job here then is to fine tune that knowledge by learning more about our internal landscapes.
The Whole Spine
The spine is not a democratic system, each section has a different function and different movement capacity’
Donna Fahri
Let’s now have a look into the spine, that crucial but little understood area of our bodies. The spine contains 100 different joints, 220 ligaments, 120 muscles and a staggering 3.5 million neurons.
The vertebral column is divided into 5 different regions, with 7 cervical vertebrae, 12 thoracic, 5 lumbar, 5 fused sacral vertebrae and 4 fused coccyx.
Donna Farhi, a renowned yoga teacher talks very clearly about the spine not being democratic system in that it does not all work in the same way. Within each separate area of the spine the shape and size of the vertebrae varies as well as the angle of the articulating facet joints, dictates the movement capacity for that section of the spine.
Throughout the rest of this article we will look at different sections of the spine from the cervical, thoracic, lumbar and sacral using basic anatomy. There will also be a chance to explore a few exercises that follow the Traditional Chinese Medicine modal for points near the spine and a visualisation on the spine as a landscape, split into the separate sections.
Cervical Spine
The vertebrae are small and delicate, the spinous process relatively short and the facet joints are set on a diagonal… this gives the ability to move the head freely in all planes, which is important for our sense organs to enable us to scan our environment’
Donna Fahri
So we can flex, extend, rotate and do lateral extension (side bending of the neck). In this modern age we have much less need to scan our environment for predators or for hunting purposes as our ancestors did.
We sit for sustained periods at computer desks focusing on a screen, or drive for long periods, or are slouched whilst watching our phone screen and all of these activities and more from this age can lead to the fluidity of the cervical spine being compromised. So too can whip lash injury twist the vertebrae out of their optimal positioning and lead to disc degeneration.
But cumulative misuse of the body structure as mentioned with computer or phone is much more fundamentally damaging, because we signal our internal proprioceptors over time to maintain poor posture and indeed bring the muscles back to this damaging place by our constant repetition of these activities.
Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Cervical Spine
GB20 - In the area of the occipital bone under the skull just to the side of the articulating process of C1, is a key gateway from the skull onto the neck area. This is GB20 (gallbladder 20), feng chi, or Gate of Consciousness. It is also called wind pool and is recommended for headache, migraine, eye blur, cold and flu symptoms and low energy.
Interlace your fingers and rest them on the back of your head. With your thumbs, feel just under the lower edge of the skull, where it meets the head.
Feel along with both thumbs, moving them out from the cervical spine and you will pass over the thick tendon muscle of the sternocleidomastoids.
Then there will be an indentation point just the other side of these muscles. Tucked up and under the skull, in this indentation is GB20. Rest your thumbs in the indentation points for as long as feels appropriate, with a gentle enquiring type of touch (i.e. gentle and supportive rather than pushing and prodding)
GV14 - C7 is the lower gateway from the cervical spine into the Thoracic spine. The acupuncture point GV14 lies just beneath the articulating process of this vertebrae (just under the protruding bone at the base of the neck on the spine) and earned the name spine hammer or great hammer because C7 has the largest spinous process of the cervical vertebrae.
From a shiatsu and TCM perspective this area links all 6 of the so called yang meridians, whose main role is to digest food– the six yang organs are gallbladder, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, triple heater, bladder. This makes it a crucial meeting point in the body for these organs.
Feel down your neck until you locate C7 at the base of the neck, which will be a bigger bone under your fingers. Then gently drop your fingers down on the underside of this vertebrae, still on the spinal column. This indentation is GV14, rest a finger in this area, again with the intention of gentle enquiry.
Visualisation for Cervical Spine
The head and neck are a Mountain range, which reaches to heavens above, but links us to the earth of our body below. Upon the summit of our head lies the inspiration and far sight for our life. A place of decision and reasoning where our heads are lifted toward the sky and beyond.
Within this mountain lie treasure troves that help guide our lives.
The thalamus is located at the top of the brain stem it acts as a two-way relay system, sorting, processing and directing signals from the cerebrum and mid brain into the spinal cord and nervous system.
The thalamus information exchange area and the start of our pathway down from the mountain of the head onto the neck takes us past the GB20 gateway just under the skull through the so called gate of consciousness.
The cervical spine is a slender bony ridge that slopes us gently down to the lower landscape of our body.
As we ascend from the heights along the track way of the neck and onto the lower level if we look directly left and right we see the two distinct hills of our shoulders.
On the lower reaches of the neck area there is a tower and a huge bell within.
The ringing of the bell is made with the great hammer, and vibrates sound down into the valley of the body below. In short it is the next gateway that translates consciousness and information from our brain, intellect, spirit and soul into our heart and body.
As we descend from the lofty heights of the head and neck and pass the ringing bell tower we follow on the path into the great forested area of the rib cage, where the very heart and lungs of our territories are located.
Thoracic Spine
“In the thoracic spine the bodies of the vertebrae are medium in size, the spinous processes very long and angled downwards and the facet joint runs on the horizontal, making the thoracic spine very good at flexion, rotation and lateral extension, but limited ability to extend or back bend’
Donna Fahri
The thoracic spine is comprised of twelve vertebral bodies (T1-T12) that make up the mid-region of the spine. This section of the spine has a kyphotic curve (C-shape), which is a primary curve that develops when within the womb.
The firm attachment to the rib cage at each level of the thoracic spine provides stability and structural support and allows very little motion, which means that thoracic disc injuries are rare.
However, irritation of the large back and shoulder muscles or joint dysfunction in the upper back can be very painful.
As can excessive outward curvature of the spine, causing hunching of the back (kyphosis)
Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Thoracic Spine
LIVER 13 - Put your hands on your waist and feel around the lowest rib from the front, push your fingers into your sides until you locate a sensitive area. This is camphorwood gate, the 11th floating rib or LIV 13 – Zhang Men or Gate of the system.
Among other things this point helps with pain and distension of the abdomen, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, bloating, undigested food in the bowels. And it is said to harmonises the middle and lower Jiao (heaters of the system) and the liver, heart, kidneys, spleen and stagnant Qi.
Gallbladder 25 - Now travel your hands further around your back, following underneath the lowest rib until you reach another sensitive point on either side of the spine, about a finger length away from the spine, this is the capital gate, the 12th floating rib or GALLBLADDER 25 – Jing Men.
This point helps to resolve Issues involving dampness - diarrhea (esp. watery/cold), bloating, abdominal distension. It is a diuretic point and helps with urinary retention, difficult urination and oedema. It is said to open the water passages and strengthen the back.
Now keep moving the fingers under the 12th floating rib and toward the spine. Here is the end of the thoracic spine and the start of the lumbar spine.
Bring your hands back to 12th floating rib and hold with your thumbs and turn to look over your right shoulder, keeping your spine below and your belly facing forward. This is where rotations and twists best emerge from and while the deep muscles in the trunk (longissimus, multifidus) are rotating the lumbar spine remains fluid and protected.
Visualisation for the Thoracic Spine
From below the central hill of C7 with its tower and bell is the thoracic spine.
The rib cage container is not unlike a dense forest that protects the organs of the kingdom beneath the boughs.
Within the depth of the forest, an echoing drumming sound reverberates and as we wander closer we find our hearts.
The ever constant rhythmic pumping continues throughout the duration of our lives.
Here the lifeblood is pumped into the tree root arteries and veins of our bodies; this is our truest centre and sovereign place.
Within the heart our deepest intuitive senses reside. Likened to the carpet of fungi that spreads out over all the land, so too our connective tissue and fascia translate our non-brain responses and understanding of our world into our body.
If we look up we can see the tree like bronchioles of our lungs symbiotically exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide with every beat of our precious hearts, giving us our vitality.
Over to the right we find the huge expanse of the liver, whose primary function is to produce bile, excrete toxic wastes and metabolise fats, proteins and carbohydrates from our food. But on another level this organ stands as the place of our vision and strategy for our lives.
The stomach and spleen lie near the end of this forested area and are ever constant in the work of initial digestion of our foods. Also how we meet and are met, and where we feel at home in our lives.
At the end of this forested area we arrive at the next gateways of the 11th and 12th floating ribs. The 11th floating rib or Camphorwood gate marks the end of the forested shelter of the ribs and leads us past the Capital gate or 12th floating rib.
Beyond here is the suspension bridge of the lumbar spine, traversing the valley of the intestines below.
In front of us is GV 4, which lies under the spinous process of Lumbar 1 at the waistline. Stepping onto the suspension bridge that is the lumbar spine, we must pass under GV4 gate of life, likened to a gatehouse, which strengthens the bridge of the lumbar.
The Lumbar Spine
‘Lumbar vertebrae have the largest bodies of all in the spinal column, reflecting the massive amount of weight they carry.
This makes the lumbar spine highly flexible in both flexion and extension, but extremely limited in rotation... for this reason twists need to be initiated in such a way that the pelvis, sacrum and lumbar are all in agreement about the direction in which they are turning’
Donna Fahri
The lumbar spine is comprised of 5 vertebrae, where the spine curves inward toward the abdomen and connects with the thoracic spine at the base of the rib cage and extends downward to the sacral spine which sits between the illium bones.
The lumbar spine typically has a slight inward curve known as lordosis, which forms as a secondary curve around 5 to 13 month post birth and is not fully developed until a child is between 8 and 10 yrs.
These secondary curves in the cervical and lumbar regions are called compensatory curves because they develop to support developmental changes in posture and as such facilitate holding the head up and walking upright.
The five vertebrae of the lumbar spine are connected in the back by facet joints, Theses joints allow for forward and backward extension, as well as limited twisting movements.
The two lowest segments in the lumbar spine, L5-S1 and L4-L5, carry the most weight and have the most movement, making the area prone to injury.
The spinal cord travels from the base of the skull to the joint at T12-L1, where the thoracic spine meets the lumbar spine. At this segment, nerve roots branch out from the spinal cord, forming the cauda equina.
The cauda equina resembles a horse’s tail of spinal nerves and nerve roots, hence the Latin name. It innervate the pelvic organs and lower limbs which conveys impulses toward muscles or glands and it directly affects the hips, knees, ankles, feet, internal and external anal sphincter.
In addition, the cauda equina extends to sensory stimulation of the perineum and, partially, parasympathetic action of the bladder.
Cauda Equina syndrome is happens with impingement of nerves, and can be caused by herniated discs in the lumbar region. As mentioned, the nerve plexus separates into the so called horse tail at T12/L1 area which is a key reason why it is crucial to initiate deep twisting from the thoracic and not the lumbar spine area, as there are more nerve endings to impinge upon in the lumbar.Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Lumbar Spine Bladder 23 – Sea of Vitality.These two points, on each side of the lumbar spine, are right below the last rib (about ½ to 1 inch above the waist line), two finger widths away from the spine.The points fortify the immune system as well as relieve lower-back aches and fatigue.
Governing Vessel 4 - Ming Men, Life Gate
This point is found on the midline of the lower back, in the depression below the spinous process of the 2nd lumbar vertebra.
This is the main point for tonifying Kidney qi and yang, for low back pain, weak knees and copious nocturnal urination.
It also addresses adrenal exhaustion from stress or overwork, fatigue and lack of sexual vitality.
As well as Epilepsy, tinnitus, dizziness, fear, panic attacks, Hemorrhoids and rectal prolapsed. It is said to helps the heart energy shelter the mind thereby aiding in balance of the system.
Instead of trying to make a definite location of these points, just place your palms on your waist with your fingers pointing to the spine. Rub near the points, squeezing your waist, and back just under the ribs.
Then feel along the articulating processes of the lumbar spine from the waist to the sacrum, which help to activate the lumbar vertebrae and you will activate GV4 in the process of this exploration.
Visualisation for the lumbar spine
Passing beyond the gate of life on Lumbar 2, you are now on the lumbar suspension bridge of the body, above the sea of vitality below.
As you look over the lumbar bridge you can see the cauda equina nerve lines and psoas muscles threading their way down from the sides of the lumbar bridge and over to the sacroiliac crests.
The kidneys streams flow on to the fertile valley of the sacral basin, and beyond to the waterfalls of the bladder.
Even further below is the snaking track of the small intestines, with numerous connecting places. Where there is constant activity of adding or taking nutrients and other supplies to sustain outlying territories of the body.
Then the track becomes a large tunnel as it passes the ileocecal valve from small intestine into large intestine.
Here the large intestine tunnel ascends up to the hepatic flexure and turns to transverse along to the splenic flexure, then it rolls gently down to the rectal area for release of all we no longer need.
And we finally arrive at L5/S1 gateway onto the floating sacral harbour surrounded by the rich fertile valley of the ilium.
Sacral area - The container that supports our forward motion
“The sacroiliac joint functions as the main hub in the body for the transmission of force from the legs into the pelvis en root to the spine and from the spine down into the pelvis...for this transmission of force to be clear and powerful the sacroiliac joint must offer a stable mobility...because the joint has no direct muscular support overstretching the ligament that secure sacrum to the ilium can cause chronic instability and pain”
Donna Fahri
The fifth lumbar is the connecting vertebrae between the spine and the hips, sitting snug between the iliac crests and attaching into the large, triangular bone at the base of the spine that forms by the fusing of sacral vertebrae S1-S5.
The sacrum itself forms an articulating joint; above it links into the lumbar 5th and below via a fibro cartilaginous joint it is connected to the 3-5 coccygeal vertebrae.
On either side the sacrum there are lateral projections called “alae” or wings. These so called wings are linked to the ilium via fibro and hyaline cartilage. However, the sacroiliac joint is non typical of other diarthrodial or synovial joints in that it only attaches on the anterior third or lateral alae wing projections. Beyond that it connects into the rest of the ilium via an intricate set of ligaments (anterior, interosseous, posterior, sacrotuberous, sacrospinous)
As we age the characteristic of the sacroiliac joint changes. In early life the joint surface is flat, but as we start to walk the surface develops distinct ridges as does the iliac surface and these ridges and corresponding depressions seat the strong ligaments that comprise the sacroiliac joint. This increases the stability of the joint.
So it’s crucial that a relationship is maintained between the sacrum and the ilium, lumbar and coccyx, where the stability of this joint is supported whilst also maintaining a small degree of fluidity in the ligament attachments.
Crucially in any yoga or exercise it is vital we remain aware of moving sacrum, ilium, lumbar and coccyx as a whole unit, where each component supports the others rather than treating them as separate entities. The best way to think of the sacral area is as a family, or team that carries us forward
Exercise – locating the sacral team
Sit on the edge of your seat, with your sitting bones close to the edge of the rim of the seat and your knees lower than your hips. Place your hands on your hips and squeeze around the top of the hips (ilium). Bring your fingers to the spine area in your low back and feel into the groove either side of the vertebrae. As you reach the final vertebrae (5th) bring your fingers slightly further out and massage the sacral joint and ligaments down to the coccyx area. Stop at any points that feel needy of some holding. Be gentle, and whilst traversing with your fingers and send acknowledgement down to the team that holds this entire area – lumbar, sacral joint, ilium on either side and coccyx and relating ligaments.
Visualisation of the Sacroiliac area
Stepping off the lumbar suspension bridge we stand at the top of the sacral triangle harbour. The sacrum bone is attached by ligament like guy lines reaching up onto the fertile ilium hill crests at each side and the coccyx bones below.
The sacral floating harbour is always gently undulating and moving above the sea of the bladder. The ligamental guy ropes when in harmony maintain the harbours central positioning.
Walking along the sacral bones to the end point of the triangle we can step onto the coccyx the bridge. Along the coccyx bridge is a narrowing until we reach the tail bone end. Beneath the waterfall of the bladder cascades down as does the waste pipe of the large intestine.
The place of our deepest fertility also resides along this cliff edge, with a deep cave of the womb or the hanging testicle and penis.
Here the spine pathway ends its journey in our body landscape, from mountain head range to the bladder waterfall and all that surrounds. Every system can be accessed from this spinal path.
Every impulse,
Every feeling,
Every thought,
Every movement. It is the central pathway of lives, integral to our journey on this earth.
Constructive Rest Position
Constructive rest position and was first named by Lulu Sweigard in the 1930’s in the book ‘The human movement potential: its ideokinetic facilitations’
This position will allow release of the psoas muscle, which is possibly one of the most essential muscles in supporting our healing for any low back and sacral injuries. Liz Koch, who had written some inspired text on the importance of the psoas muscle, speaks of it being the keystone to a balanced and well organized body.
The psoas major muscle attaches either side of the lumbar spine on the transverse process from Thoracic 12 through to Lumbar 1. It then passes through the pelvis and sacroiliac joint attaching by a common tendon onto the lesser trochanter of the femur.
Simply it is a multi-joint muscle, passing over 2 joints and attaching to 6 and serves as a hip flexor, guy rope, organ support and moving synovial fluid from the vertebrae to the brain.
Make a comfy space, prop your legs if you need to with cushions or pillows and rest your head or use a chair to place your calves onto.
Place your feet hip width apart and roughly a foot away from the body in a position where you can relax your legs. If this feels difficult to do then allow the knees to lean together and find a yoga practitioner to show you how to use a yoga belt, which will hold your hips stable in CRP.
Stay here for a minimum of 10 minutes per day. Ideally, in the morning and then again in the evening. This will have the effect of relaxing the Psoas muscle which in turn will aid relaxation of all of the internal organs and corresponding muscles.
The next step from here is to learn how to sit well and then to stand well. Come up from CRP by rolling onto the side and slowly bring yourself up to seated and then standing.
Conclusion and recap
Cervical spine, neck, needs gentle movement in all planes on a regular basis to keep the joints fluid....but is not great when the head is in one place for too long.
Thoracic spine, where the rib cage is, works best with side bends, forward flexion and rotations…. Not great with back bending.
Lumbar spine, or low back area, works best with back bend extensions, lateral extension…. not great with massive rotations or twists.
Sacral area, is a joint and as such needs to have gentle sustaining movement to maintain fluidity…but is not great with over stretching into the supporting ligaments, think of a floating harbour that needs to be free to move equally in all directions.
Be still and learn to sit with yourself, the more you feel the more you will learn to let go. Be gentle, walk if you can, try meditation, forgive yourself for not doing all the things that help and then try again. Get creative, painting, drawing, write each day just as a check in with yourself and to see what arises in the journey, you may be surprised at the direction that life is taking you and the gift that the injury offers.
I believe that every challenge is an opportunity for growth, remember you are not alone even when you feel cut off from all you once knew. New growth comes in spring after winter. Even chronic pain will have its seasons so use your tools to discover these and learn to witness each moment. This is the greatest opportunity for you to be here right now, pain offers us that with its persistence. It is up to us whether we listen.
References:
Liz Koch - The Psoas Book
Lulu Sweigard- The human movement potential: its ideokinetic facilitation’
Donna Fahri– Spinal Integration manual.
Injury touches us all at some point in our lives, whether it’s a scrapped knee or something more serious.
Reflecting upon my own personal journey, I recently went through an injury story that left me wondering where to go next with my life.
Everything I defined myself as up to that point involved a huge amount of physicality, from my yoga classes and workshops to my shiatsu sessions. In my spare time I danced and all other work required me to be fit and able bodied. At no point did I ever consider what else I wanted to do with my life, so long as movement was involved then I was fulfilling all I believed my life was about.
Then I slipped on a mountain in Turkey. Not even a big fall. I slid on scree, my leg twisted behind me and I fell on the side of my hip. I walked off the mountain only later to trip on a step and break the middle toe of the same leg I had earlier injured. The Mediterranean heat and outdoor life kept things OK for the few weeks I had left over there, but then I returned to the Uk. It was November, it was cold and it was damp and I crashed, literally brought to my knees with the injury showing its true colors.
I limped from one work requirement to another, too tired from the pain in my hip to go and see friends and frustrated by the lack of progress any treatment or doctor appointment gave. Eventually after numerous frustrating tests and much prodding it was decided I had very likely pulled my iliopsoas muscle tendon, inguinal ligament and the sacroiliac ligament, oh joy!
You see ligaments connect our bones to each other and are very slow in healing, with a limited blood supply and once overstretched they can prove extraordinarily difficult to repair.
Perhaps some of you can relate to the lack of support, to the friends who knew you in the context of active, suddenly disappearing when you were no longer able to fit criteria?
To the loss of earnings from work you simply can’t do, to the medical profession not really taking you seriously.
Then there is the inevitable journey through the lists of practitioner to find someone who could understand and really help you.
And in the middle of all of this is the pressing question of what happens if I don’t get better? Who will I become, indeed who am I now?
For me the journey led to hours of research on the body, particularly the spine, ligaments, specific acupuncture points and the nature of pain. I tested out theories and tried out methods I had researched, and from these notes and experiments, this talk started to take shape. Its evolution has been a crucial part of my recovery, adding a new depth to the work I offer in both as a shiatsu practitioner and yoga teacher.
In sharing my story I’m not offering definitive way to deal with pain, but perhaps it will offer a deeper curiosity into understanding about our spine, which is perhaps the most crucial support structure in our physical body.
The most important nugget of information I can offer is to keep accessing the breath and keep moving, albeit softly.
Proprioception and the art of going within on the wave of the breath
We learn the five senses, vision, sound, smell, touch and taste and all these senses are related to the outside world. We also have a number of internal senses that relate to our body functions and one of the most fundamental internal senses is that of proprioception. This is an internal sense that affects every moment of our lives, because it allows us to control our body without directly observing it. A sense that tells you the position of your body and self-movement of it in relation to your environment.
This sense is processed by the entire nervous system. Inside every joint and muscle lie meters, called spindles and golgi tendons that constantly measure the tension and contraction of the muscle. Via the spino cerebellar tract this information travels to the spine and cerebellum which in turn calculates where the muscle is in space. So for instance with driving we don’t need to watch our legs or arms to safely complete the task.
The important thing to understand about proprioception is that it can be impaired by disease or injury that affect the muscular skeletal system. But conversely it can be strengthened as a sense with simple exercises that develop our internal observations of the body.
So when you have an injury the very best thing to do after the initial first aid stage and recovery, is to stop and lie down, or sit down and close your eyes and acknowledge the injury. Even if only for a moment feel the pain and be where you are, because this will help to tap you into your internal proprioceptive sense of your body. On this basis I would like to take you through an exercise with the breath with your eyes closed.
Proprioception and the wave of breath talk through.
“Sit comfortably and close your eyes.
This internal body awareness you are sensing relies on receptors in your joints, muscles, ligaments, and connective tissue which pick up information as muscles bend and stretch as well as when your body is still.
Travel through your body in your minds eyes, starting at your feet and coming to the top of your head. This is an initial check in, just acknowledge pain, sensation, thought, emotion or feeling that arises.
Then take your attention to an area of pain and notice it without attachment to the story of it, as if you were talking to someone about it. Look internally at it from all angles.
There are 3 types of nociception or physiological pain receptors in the skin that send impulses telling us of nerve or tissue damage.
- Skin (cutaneous)
- Joints and bones (somatic)
- Body organs (visceral).
Have a look to see which if you can tell which if any, are causing you your pain.
Now step back in your minds eyes and see the pain and the story of how it came to be, again in as detached a way as possible. Let this image and your area of pain go.
Now start to notice your breath, how are you breathing, are any areas of your body not moving gently when you breathe.
Where are you breathing from? Is it low in your belly or up in your chest area? Notice without attachment. This is your breath breathing in the only way it knows how in this moment. Just accept that, with no judgement. Just as it is.
Now place your hands on your belly and see if you can move your hands when you breathe in. On the out breath, relax the belly back toward the spine. Keep on doing this until you feel comfortable with this breathing. Then notice what parts of your body are not moving with your breath.
See if it’s possible to have your whole body moving gently outward from your belly area on each inhale and then the belly relaxing back to the spine on the exhale. Stay here for a while.
Now bring your attention back to your area of pain and focus your breath into the pain, allow your body to dictate how the breath wants to be here, deep, gentle, moving the body a little, moving the body a lot. Stay here for a while. If the story of the pain arises, try to step back from the story and just be there with your breath and your body.
Let go of the breath, come back into the room, slowly open your eyes”
OK, so this exercise may not have rid you of pain, but it will have put you in tune with your body and your breathing and relaxed your state of being.
Interestingly the pain intertwines with all other senses and our perception of it is in part dictated by our genetics and our previously learned behaviour. So, while one person may feel the same injury acutely, another may not.
The main function of pain is to focus our attention to dangers and inform us to avoid them. In our modern culture however, we have become numb to our internal signals and though prescribed pain relief is an important way to support our recovery, it can also hinder our progress by masking the pain response. So we continue to do the things that cause the pain, whilst not feeling the pain.
Just to be clear, I’m not suggesting giving up on the pain relief, rather asking that you become more aware of the pain that you have and taking even small amounts of time to listen to that story as we did in the visualisation just now. This sends a message to your brain and thus your body that you know it is hurting and that you want to help.
Muscles and bones
‘The muscles should not be used to support weight, as this disrupts their ability to move the bony levers freely, resulting in muscle fatigue’
Liz Koch – The Psoas Book
The skeleton stacks neatly bone upon bone from our head to our toes, supporting our weight and keeping us upright. When in balance the muscles, tendons and ligaments all support the movement of the bones.
So what we seek in our posture is a softened fluidity, where muscles are in a constant subtle contraction and release which leaves us ready to flow into movement with ease.
When injury occurs and the soft tissues have either over time or through sudden accident become over stretched or torn, and pain arises, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain a softness within. Instead the body contracts into a defensive state, which over time can cause rigidity and lessened movement.
What I contend is that only through continued and subtle softening of the muscles in conjunction with a qualified practitioner’s treatment and necessary pain relief can the injury be met and in time healed. After initial swelling and the more acute stages of injury it is important to begin the journey inwards. As I mentioned by using the breath to begin to access the subtle movements of the body and learning how to feel inside is the essential first step in our healing.
A practitioner may be able to externally adjust bones and address muscle tensions, and to some degree support our holistic healing but it is down to ourselves to continue that process. This puts to ball firm back into our court and at that point we must ask ourselves if we are willing to commit to being our own nurse and protector. We are after all the most qualified to know how we feel. The job here then is to fine tune that knowledge by learning more about our internal landscapes.
The Whole Spine
The spine is not a democratic system, each section has a different function and different movement capacity’
Donna Fahri
Let’s now have a look into the spine, that crucial but little understood area of our bodies. The spine contains 100 different joints, 220 ligaments, 120 muscles and a staggering 3.5 million neurons.
The vertebral column is divided into 5 different regions, with 7 cervical vertebrae, 12 thoracic, 5 lumbar, 5 fused sacral vertebrae and 4 fused coccyx.
Donna Farhi, a renowned yoga teacher talks very clearly about the spine not being democratic system in that it does not all work in the same way. Within each separate area of the spine the shape and size of the vertebrae varies as well as the angle of the articulating facet joints, dictates the movement capacity for that section of the spine.
Throughout the rest of this article we will look at different sections of the spine from the cervical, thoracic, lumbar and sacral using basic anatomy. There will also be a chance to explore a few exercises that follow the Traditional Chinese Medicine modal for points near the spine and a visualisation on the spine as a landscape, split into the separate sections.
Cervical Spine
The vertebrae are small and delicate, the spinous process relatively short and the facet joints are set on a diagonal… this gives the ability to move the head freely in all planes, which is important for our sense organs to enable us to scan our environment’
Donna Fahri
So we can flex, extend, rotate and do lateral extension (side bending of the neck). In this modern age we have much less need to scan our environment for predators or for hunting purposes as our ancestors did.
We sit for sustained periods at computer desks focusing on a screen, or drive for long periods, or are slouched whilst watching our phone screen and all of these activities and more from this age can lead to the fluidity of the cervical spine being compromised. So too can whip lash injury twist the vertebrae out of their optimal positioning and lead to disc degeneration.
But cumulative misuse of the body structure as mentioned with computer or phone is much more fundamentally damaging, because we signal our internal proprioceptors over time to maintain poor posture and indeed bring the muscles back to this damaging place by our constant repetition of these activities.
Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Cervical Spine
GB20 - In the area of the occipital bone under the skull just to the side of the articulating process of C1, is a key gateway from the skull onto the neck area. This is GB20 (gallbladder 20), feng chi, or Gate of Consciousness. It is also called wind pool and is recommended for headache, migraine, eye blur, cold and flu symptoms and low energy.
Interlace your fingers and rest them on the back of your head. With your thumbs, feel just under the lower edge of the skull, where it meets the head.
Feel along with both thumbs, moving them out from the cervical spine and you will pass over the thick tendon muscle of the sternocleidomastoids.
Then there will be an indentation point just the other side of these muscles. Tucked up and under the skull, in this indentation is GB20. Rest your thumbs in the indentation points for as long as feels appropriate, with a gentle enquiring type of touch (i.e. gentle and supportive rather than pushing and prodding)
GV14 - C7 is the lower gateway from the cervical spine into the Thoracic spine. The acupuncture point GV14 lies just beneath the articulating process of this vertebrae (just under the protruding bone at the base of the neck on the spine) and earned the name spine hammer or great hammer because C7 has the largest spinous process of the cervical vertebrae.
From a shiatsu and TCM perspective this area links all 6 of the so called yang meridians, whose main role is to digest food– the six yang organs are gallbladder, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, triple heater, bladder. This makes it a crucial meeting point in the body for these organs.
Feel down your neck until you locate C7 at the base of the neck, which will be a bigger bone under your fingers. Then gently drop your fingers down on the underside of this vertebrae, still on the spinal column. This indentation is GV14, rest a finger in this area, again with the intention of gentle enquiry.
Visualisation for Cervical Spine
The head and neck are a Mountain range, which reaches to heavens above, but links us to the earth of our body below. Upon the summit of our head lies the inspiration and far sight for our life. A place of decision and reasoning where our heads are lifted toward the sky and beyond.
Within this mountain lie treasure troves that help guide our lives.
- The limbic brain is alert to our basic survival needs and at times can trigger our deep seated fears.
- The cerebellum supports our ability to coordinate movement
- Reasoning, language, motor skills are all the domain of the cerebral cortex
- The frontal cortex organises our responses to the more complex issues we face, guiding our verbal skills and working memory, our abilities to feel empathy and integrating us socially with others.
- The temporal lobes store memory, emotion, hearing and language
- The parietal lobe receives and processes sensory information
- The occipital lobe processes visual data
- The hippocampus processes new memory for long term storage
- The hypothalamus maintains the body’s status quo, monitoring bodily functions and maintaining the hormonal system via the pineal gland on its outer reaches.
The thalamus is located at the top of the brain stem it acts as a two-way relay system, sorting, processing and directing signals from the cerebrum and mid brain into the spinal cord and nervous system.
The thalamus information exchange area and the start of our pathway down from the mountain of the head onto the neck takes us past the GB20 gateway just under the skull through the so called gate of consciousness.
The cervical spine is a slender bony ridge that slopes us gently down to the lower landscape of our body.
As we ascend from the heights along the track way of the neck and onto the lower level if we look directly left and right we see the two distinct hills of our shoulders.
On the lower reaches of the neck area there is a tower and a huge bell within.
The ringing of the bell is made with the great hammer, and vibrates sound down into the valley of the body below. In short it is the next gateway that translates consciousness and information from our brain, intellect, spirit and soul into our heart and body.
As we descend from the lofty heights of the head and neck and pass the ringing bell tower we follow on the path into the great forested area of the rib cage, where the very heart and lungs of our territories are located.
Thoracic Spine
“In the thoracic spine the bodies of the vertebrae are medium in size, the spinous processes very long and angled downwards and the facet joint runs on the horizontal, making the thoracic spine very good at flexion, rotation and lateral extension, but limited ability to extend or back bend’
Donna Fahri
The thoracic spine is comprised of twelve vertebral bodies (T1-T12) that make up the mid-region of the spine. This section of the spine has a kyphotic curve (C-shape), which is a primary curve that develops when within the womb.
The firm attachment to the rib cage at each level of the thoracic spine provides stability and structural support and allows very little motion, which means that thoracic disc injuries are rare.
However, irritation of the large back and shoulder muscles or joint dysfunction in the upper back can be very painful.
As can excessive outward curvature of the spine, causing hunching of the back (kyphosis)
Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Thoracic Spine
LIVER 13 - Put your hands on your waist and feel around the lowest rib from the front, push your fingers into your sides until you locate a sensitive area. This is camphorwood gate, the 11th floating rib or LIV 13 – Zhang Men or Gate of the system.
Among other things this point helps with pain and distension of the abdomen, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, bloating, undigested food in the bowels. And it is said to harmonises the middle and lower Jiao (heaters of the system) and the liver, heart, kidneys, spleen and stagnant Qi.
Gallbladder 25 - Now travel your hands further around your back, following underneath the lowest rib until you reach another sensitive point on either side of the spine, about a finger length away from the spine, this is the capital gate, the 12th floating rib or GALLBLADDER 25 – Jing Men.
This point helps to resolve Issues involving dampness - diarrhea (esp. watery/cold), bloating, abdominal distension. It is a diuretic point and helps with urinary retention, difficult urination and oedema. It is said to open the water passages and strengthen the back.
Now keep moving the fingers under the 12th floating rib and toward the spine. Here is the end of the thoracic spine and the start of the lumbar spine.
Bring your hands back to 12th floating rib and hold with your thumbs and turn to look over your right shoulder, keeping your spine below and your belly facing forward. This is where rotations and twists best emerge from and while the deep muscles in the trunk (longissimus, multifidus) are rotating the lumbar spine remains fluid and protected.
Visualisation for the Thoracic Spine
From below the central hill of C7 with its tower and bell is the thoracic spine.
The rib cage container is not unlike a dense forest that protects the organs of the kingdom beneath the boughs.
Within the depth of the forest, an echoing drumming sound reverberates and as we wander closer we find our hearts.
The ever constant rhythmic pumping continues throughout the duration of our lives.
Here the lifeblood is pumped into the tree root arteries and veins of our bodies; this is our truest centre and sovereign place.
Within the heart our deepest intuitive senses reside. Likened to the carpet of fungi that spreads out over all the land, so too our connective tissue and fascia translate our non-brain responses and understanding of our world into our body.
If we look up we can see the tree like bronchioles of our lungs symbiotically exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide with every beat of our precious hearts, giving us our vitality.
Over to the right we find the huge expanse of the liver, whose primary function is to produce bile, excrete toxic wastes and metabolise fats, proteins and carbohydrates from our food. But on another level this organ stands as the place of our vision and strategy for our lives.
The stomach and spleen lie near the end of this forested area and are ever constant in the work of initial digestion of our foods. Also how we meet and are met, and where we feel at home in our lives.
At the end of this forested area we arrive at the next gateways of the 11th and 12th floating ribs. The 11th floating rib or Camphorwood gate marks the end of the forested shelter of the ribs and leads us past the Capital gate or 12th floating rib.
Beyond here is the suspension bridge of the lumbar spine, traversing the valley of the intestines below.
In front of us is GV 4, which lies under the spinous process of Lumbar 1 at the waistline. Stepping onto the suspension bridge that is the lumbar spine, we must pass under GV4 gate of life, likened to a gatehouse, which strengthens the bridge of the lumbar.
The Lumbar Spine
‘Lumbar vertebrae have the largest bodies of all in the spinal column, reflecting the massive amount of weight they carry.
This makes the lumbar spine highly flexible in both flexion and extension, but extremely limited in rotation... for this reason twists need to be initiated in such a way that the pelvis, sacrum and lumbar are all in agreement about the direction in which they are turning’
Donna Fahri
The lumbar spine is comprised of 5 vertebrae, where the spine curves inward toward the abdomen and connects with the thoracic spine at the base of the rib cage and extends downward to the sacral spine which sits between the illium bones.
The lumbar spine typically has a slight inward curve known as lordosis, which forms as a secondary curve around 5 to 13 month post birth and is not fully developed until a child is between 8 and 10 yrs.
These secondary curves in the cervical and lumbar regions are called compensatory curves because they develop to support developmental changes in posture and as such facilitate holding the head up and walking upright.
The five vertebrae of the lumbar spine are connected in the back by facet joints, Theses joints allow for forward and backward extension, as well as limited twisting movements.
The two lowest segments in the lumbar spine, L5-S1 and L4-L5, carry the most weight and have the most movement, making the area prone to injury.
The spinal cord travels from the base of the skull to the joint at T12-L1, where the thoracic spine meets the lumbar spine. At this segment, nerve roots branch out from the spinal cord, forming the cauda equina.
The cauda equina resembles a horse’s tail of spinal nerves and nerve roots, hence the Latin name. It innervate the pelvic organs and lower limbs which conveys impulses toward muscles or glands and it directly affects the hips, knees, ankles, feet, internal and external anal sphincter.
In addition, the cauda equina extends to sensory stimulation of the perineum and, partially, parasympathetic action of the bladder.
Cauda Equina syndrome is happens with impingement of nerves, and can be caused by herniated discs in the lumbar region. As mentioned, the nerve plexus separates into the so called horse tail at T12/L1 area which is a key reason why it is crucial to initiate deep twisting from the thoracic and not the lumbar spine area, as there are more nerve endings to impinge upon in the lumbar.Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Lumbar Spine Bladder 23 – Sea of Vitality.These two points, on each side of the lumbar spine, are right below the last rib (about ½ to 1 inch above the waist line), two finger widths away from the spine.The points fortify the immune system as well as relieve lower-back aches and fatigue.
Governing Vessel 4 - Ming Men, Life Gate
This point is found on the midline of the lower back, in the depression below the spinous process of the 2nd lumbar vertebra.
This is the main point for tonifying Kidney qi and yang, for low back pain, weak knees and copious nocturnal urination.
It also addresses adrenal exhaustion from stress or overwork, fatigue and lack of sexual vitality.
As well as Epilepsy, tinnitus, dizziness, fear, panic attacks, Hemorrhoids and rectal prolapsed. It is said to helps the heart energy shelter the mind thereby aiding in balance of the system.
Instead of trying to make a definite location of these points, just place your palms on your waist with your fingers pointing to the spine. Rub near the points, squeezing your waist, and back just under the ribs.
Then feel along the articulating processes of the lumbar spine from the waist to the sacrum, which help to activate the lumbar vertebrae and you will activate GV4 in the process of this exploration.
Visualisation for the lumbar spine
Passing beyond the gate of life on Lumbar 2, you are now on the lumbar suspension bridge of the body, above the sea of vitality below.
As you look over the lumbar bridge you can see the cauda equina nerve lines and psoas muscles threading their way down from the sides of the lumbar bridge and over to the sacroiliac crests.
The kidneys streams flow on to the fertile valley of the sacral basin, and beyond to the waterfalls of the bladder.
Even further below is the snaking track of the small intestines, with numerous connecting places. Where there is constant activity of adding or taking nutrients and other supplies to sustain outlying territories of the body.
Then the track becomes a large tunnel as it passes the ileocecal valve from small intestine into large intestine.
Here the large intestine tunnel ascends up to the hepatic flexure and turns to transverse along to the splenic flexure, then it rolls gently down to the rectal area for release of all we no longer need.
And we finally arrive at L5/S1 gateway onto the floating sacral harbour surrounded by the rich fertile valley of the ilium.
Sacral area - The container that supports our forward motion
“The sacroiliac joint functions as the main hub in the body for the transmission of force from the legs into the pelvis en root to the spine and from the spine down into the pelvis...for this transmission of force to be clear and powerful the sacroiliac joint must offer a stable mobility...because the joint has no direct muscular support overstretching the ligament that secure sacrum to the ilium can cause chronic instability and pain”
Donna Fahri
The fifth lumbar is the connecting vertebrae between the spine and the hips, sitting snug between the iliac crests and attaching into the large, triangular bone at the base of the spine that forms by the fusing of sacral vertebrae S1-S5.
The sacrum itself forms an articulating joint; above it links into the lumbar 5th and below via a fibro cartilaginous joint it is connected to the 3-5 coccygeal vertebrae.
On either side the sacrum there are lateral projections called “alae” or wings. These so called wings are linked to the ilium via fibro and hyaline cartilage. However, the sacroiliac joint is non typical of other diarthrodial or synovial joints in that it only attaches on the anterior third or lateral alae wing projections. Beyond that it connects into the rest of the ilium via an intricate set of ligaments (anterior, interosseous, posterior, sacrotuberous, sacrospinous)
As we age the characteristic of the sacroiliac joint changes. In early life the joint surface is flat, but as we start to walk the surface develops distinct ridges as does the iliac surface and these ridges and corresponding depressions seat the strong ligaments that comprise the sacroiliac joint. This increases the stability of the joint.
So it’s crucial that a relationship is maintained between the sacrum and the ilium, lumbar and coccyx, where the stability of this joint is supported whilst also maintaining a small degree of fluidity in the ligament attachments.
Crucially in any yoga or exercise it is vital we remain aware of moving sacrum, ilium, lumbar and coccyx as a whole unit, where each component supports the others rather than treating them as separate entities. The best way to think of the sacral area is as a family, or team that carries us forward
Exercise – locating the sacral team
Sit on the edge of your seat, with your sitting bones close to the edge of the rim of the seat and your knees lower than your hips. Place your hands on your hips and squeeze around the top of the hips (ilium). Bring your fingers to the spine area in your low back and feel into the groove either side of the vertebrae. As you reach the final vertebrae (5th) bring your fingers slightly further out and massage the sacral joint and ligaments down to the coccyx area. Stop at any points that feel needy of some holding. Be gentle, and whilst traversing with your fingers and send acknowledgement down to the team that holds this entire area – lumbar, sacral joint, ilium on either side and coccyx and relating ligaments.
Visualisation of the Sacroiliac area
Stepping off the lumbar suspension bridge we stand at the top of the sacral triangle harbour. The sacrum bone is attached by ligament like guy lines reaching up onto the fertile ilium hill crests at each side and the coccyx bones below.
The sacral floating harbour is always gently undulating and moving above the sea of the bladder. The ligamental guy ropes when in harmony maintain the harbours central positioning.
Walking along the sacral bones to the end point of the triangle we can step onto the coccyx the bridge. Along the coccyx bridge is a narrowing until we reach the tail bone end. Beneath the waterfall of the bladder cascades down as does the waste pipe of the large intestine.
The place of our deepest fertility also resides along this cliff edge, with a deep cave of the womb or the hanging testicle and penis.
Here the spine pathway ends its journey in our body landscape, from mountain head range to the bladder waterfall and all that surrounds. Every system can be accessed from this spinal path.
Every impulse,
Every feeling,
Every thought,
Every movement. It is the central pathway of lives, integral to our journey on this earth.
Constructive Rest Position
Constructive rest position and was first named by Lulu Sweigard in the 1930’s in the book ‘The human movement potential: its ideokinetic facilitations’
This position will allow release of the psoas muscle, which is possibly one of the most essential muscles in supporting our healing for any low back and sacral injuries. Liz Koch, who had written some inspired text on the importance of the psoas muscle, speaks of it being the keystone to a balanced and well organized body.
The psoas major muscle attaches either side of the lumbar spine on the transverse process from Thoracic 12 through to Lumbar 1. It then passes through the pelvis and sacroiliac joint attaching by a common tendon onto the lesser trochanter of the femur.
Simply it is a multi-joint muscle, passing over 2 joints and attaching to 6 and serves as a hip flexor, guy rope, organ support and moving synovial fluid from the vertebrae to the brain.
Make a comfy space, prop your legs if you need to with cushions or pillows and rest your head or use a chair to place your calves onto.
Place your feet hip width apart and roughly a foot away from the body in a position where you can relax your legs. If this feels difficult to do then allow the knees to lean together and find a yoga practitioner to show you how to use a yoga belt, which will hold your hips stable in CRP.
Stay here for a minimum of 10 minutes per day. Ideally, in the morning and then again in the evening. This will have the effect of relaxing the Psoas muscle which in turn will aid relaxation of all of the internal organs and corresponding muscles.
The next step from here is to learn how to sit well and then to stand well. Come up from CRP by rolling onto the side and slowly bring yourself up to seated and then standing.
Conclusion and recap
Cervical spine, neck, needs gentle movement in all planes on a regular basis to keep the joints fluid....but is not great when the head is in one place for too long.
Thoracic spine, where the rib cage is, works best with side bends, forward flexion and rotations…. Not great with back bending.
Lumbar spine, or low back area, works best with back bend extensions, lateral extension…. not great with massive rotations or twists.
Sacral area, is a joint and as such needs to have gentle sustaining movement to maintain fluidity…but is not great with over stretching into the supporting ligaments, think of a floating harbour that needs to be free to move equally in all directions.
Be still and learn to sit with yourself, the more you feel the more you will learn to let go. Be gentle, walk if you can, try meditation, forgive yourself for not doing all the things that help and then try again. Get creative, painting, drawing, write each day just as a check in with yourself and to see what arises in the journey, you may be surprised at the direction that life is taking you and the gift that the injury offers.
I believe that every challenge is an opportunity for growth, remember you are not alone even when you feel cut off from all you once knew. New growth comes in spring after winter. Even chronic pain will have its seasons so use your tools to discover these and learn to witness each moment. This is the greatest opportunity for you to be here right now, pain offers us that with its persistence. It is up to us whether we listen.
References:
Liz Koch - The Psoas Book
Lulu Sweigard- The human movement potential: its ideokinetic facilitation’
Donna Fahri– Spinal Integration manual.