Welcome back. Here is part two, in which you will get specific actions to take to release the front of the body. We are working in a seated position, which limits action to the flanks, rib cage, and shoulders – and this is for your own good.
The lower body is immensely powerful, and it's really important to understand the adjustments of the upper body (home of the central nervous system) before you start engaging all that power. So, this is upper-body work only, at this point.
Okay! So here we are in our chairs and we have done the complete spinal alignment sequence; the pelvis is level, the rib cage is lifted and open, the spine is straight on the vertical and the head is well back – all with the feet flat on the floor.
First, we will find the maximum space between rib cage and pelvis. You may think you have already found it, but no. With both arms, reach straight up – I mean straight up! – with your hands shoulder-width apart, palms facing in toward your midline. Reach more. And more. Try to find an imaginary pull-up bar over your head, and lift isometrically.
Important: DO NOT FLEX THE SPINE. Go straight up, not back. Do not tip your head back to "look" where you are going.
With your arms stretched straight up, turn your palms from in to forward. See if you can move your arms farther back from the plane of your body, without flexing the spine. That comes later!
Now turn your palms to the outside. This will help open your shoulders and the upper ribs. Isometrically, push out and back with your palms, connecting the palm through the elbow through the shoulder to the ribs. If straight ahead is twelve o'clock, you are moving the air back at 4 and 8 o'clock.
Now bring your arms back to the straight vertical, turn your palms back to the inside, and fold your arms so that your hands rest on your shoulders – right hand to right shoulder, left hand to left. Check your spine: it should still be straight on the vertical, with engagement of the shoulder blades and the lower abs. If you can do this, your palms will now be facing forward, opening the entire undersurface of your arms to the front.
If you cannot do this yet, this should be as far as you go until you have released your shoulders enough to proceed. SERIOUSLY. Stop here.
Once you have released your shoulders enough to fold your arms with the upper arms vertically aligned to your ears, try to move your upper arms further back. This time, let your upper back flex slightly forward. You should feel a stretch along the inside of the upper arms and along the outside of your anterior ribs. You should also feel a compression in the sides of your upper back as you engage your shoulder blades.
Now, lift the right ribs and compress the left waist, still maintaining the engagement of your shoulder blades and your lower abs. Essentially, use your left obliques to push your rib cage to the right. You should feel a stretch all along the right flank.
Return to the arms-folded, straight position. Now, lift the left ribs and compress the right waist - use your right obliques to push your rib cage to the left. This will stretch the left flank.
You can progress from the straight position by reaching further back with your hands from the folded-arms position, perhaps grasping the top of your chair's back and actively arching the entire spine forward. It feels great but DO NOT PUSH IT.
If there is any possibility at all that you have a problem with spinal mechanics or integrity, do not actively arch the spine. Doing the other work will help strengthen the muscles that support the spine, and over time you may be able to actively arch. Don't rush it, because any kind of spinal injury can have lasting ill effects.
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