As Your Spine Goes, You Go

As your spine goes you goIf balance is power, then breath is life.

Proper alignment of the spine facilitates both. Proper alignment of the spine keeps you alive.

If your spine is in the right place, then you can get a clear, efficient breath.

Breathing should be easy. In fact, in our way of thinking living in your body should be easy.

In life, you want your head on straight, or level.

Similarly, you want your diaphragm and pelvic floor to be level with each other as well.

You can think of these as three platforms in the body: The head, diaphragm, and pelvis

They mirror each other just as the curve in the neck mirrors the curve in the lower back. With a proper curve in the lumbar spine and neck, these three platforms can be level.

We need to develop proper spinal alignment.

For different reasons, people tend to lean backward a bit.

We lean back right at the top of the lumbar spine where it meets the thoracic spine (L1 and T12 in vertebrae speak).

This is a very important juncture in the body – the psoas, and the trapezius both connect there.

It is also the level of the diaphragm and the solar plexus.

We’re leaning backward and compromising this important physical and energetic center.

Of course, this also makes us round the upper back backward and the upper chest forward.

To be fair, before you collapse into self-judgment, remember the images our culture promotes…butts under, abs in, shoulders up, and back. So it’s not really your fault.

This postural issue is a big reason why we tend towards limited or shallow breathing, compromising our breath capacity and efficiency.

When we inhale in this position, the diaphragm isn’t as free to descend.

The diaphragm just drops right onto the shelf that you created by leaning backward. It has nowhere else to go.

Play with these different positions. Allow yourself to have a curve in your lumbar and then drop your front ribs (the ones you can see sticking out, just give them a pat so they fold into the body).

Breathe in this place.

Do you feel how the belly pushes out a bit?

The breath falls more naturally into the entirety of the lungs and the diaphragm moves down pressing the belly out a little.

That change to the spinal alignment makes everything work better…including breathing and thus being alive.

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Sunday Morning Music: The Pooh Sticks