Showing the muscular action – (with my shorts on). Use this video to help visualize and understand which muscles need to be flexed to produce the desired alignment in order to consciously stack the bones into a vertical line. Both the vertical and horizontal planes are components here. I didn’t speak of the horizontal plane in the videos. For instance lifting the knee caps by flexing the quadriceps allows the hamstrings to loosen and then frees the hips to relieve the lower back.
Showing the alignment of the vertical line from the back and the front. Effortlessly getting this vertical line (the spinal alignment) is the ultimate goal for healing and health. Get vertically in-line, and “Relieve pain and avoid injury”.
This will open the shoulders, elongated the spine and give relief in the lower back and neck.
This twisting pose has the ability to tone the abdominal muscles, release the lower spine, help the shoulder blades move and relieve soreness of the shoulder blades.This rotation is also a benefit forthe neck.
This pose relieves tightness in the chest area and in the pectoral muscles, helps the shoulder blades to move and lessens the tendency to “freeze up” from using the tools. This pose also lengthens the triceps (the back of upper arms), affects the upper middle back (the dorsal spine) and starts to allow more movement there.
Predominantly is about getting the hamstrings to release and lengthen, which relieve tightness in the hips and in the lower back, allowing the entire spine to lengthen.
This triangular, standing pose works with the hips and the lower back and helps to loosen tightness in the ankles, knees and legs, giving them a standing twist. The torso is also extended, and the spine is lengthened. Because of the feet alignment, individual hip sockets are worked and are beneficially exercised.
This is a standing partial backbend. When you activate the lower back muscles and elongate the side ribs, you receive freedom and ease to the back as no other pose does. Building up to the final pose demonstrated here may take many years. For now, the actions of contracting the lower back muscles and elongating the side ribs, which give more space in the spine, are the important actions to focus on. Practicing all of these poses will relieve your muscular and joint pain. The more you practice, the more these actions will relieve your experience of pain and improve your overall health physically and emotionally.
Here you can begin to have a sense of a calming of the mind. In calming the mind, one allows a stillness to come, that will help relieve stress from the body, bring answer to questions and problems that come up, and help to bring an overall sense of peace.
