The Bodywork Perspective – The Shoulders - page 4

Well, there’s a bunch of stuff here. Shoulders (and the throat and jaw) make up a "diaphragm," – a band of blockage, if you will, that has to do with the expression of your personality – what you’ll let yourself show the world of yourself. Remember that the neutral posture places the head centrally over the shoulders. Go back to the "side, neutral position" to review. A few words regarding the jaw, then the shoulders.

Rigid Jaw – many people have been taught "If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything." What this really meant was, "Don’t say things I don’t want you to say." So, most of us learned to stifle comments. We also learned to tighten the jaw to repress our feelings and our passions. (My favourite illustration is the couple having sex, but being quiet so as not to "disturb the children.")

In a rigid jaw, the teeth seem locked together. The way past this is through massaging the jaw points, and through flexing and relaxing the jaw.

In the kind of breathing we teach, the mouth should be open far enough to insert three fingers, one on top of the other. Two, for sure. Many people can’t (won’t) open their mouths that far. If they do, sound comes out on the out breath, and they get "uptight." So, test yourself, and see if you can easily open your mouth. Without discomfort.

Next, massage the jaw joint firmly. You should be able to apply inward pressure to the joint muscles with only mild discomfort. Most people "light up" from the pain they feel in the jaw muscle. This is the result of "biting off" their words – not speaking their minds. The unspoken words are trapped in the jaw muscles.

Neutral shoulders - review the posture we described above – standing against a wall, shoulders touching, then cross hands over crotch. The shoulders will round forward just slightly.

Shoulders drooping – weight of the world on my shoulders – when you assume this posture, you just want to sigh. This position is adopted by people who are over - responsible. There are people and situations locked into the shoulders.

Widow’s hump – a rounding over of the shoulders when seen from the back. This posture takes a bit of time to develop and flows from drooped shoulders. Not only is this person carrying others, they’re wearing a back pack up there to hold more. Deeply over-responsible.

Shoulders to the ears – turtle position. Maybe if I just hide, no one will notice me. People who are in this position are scared, and try to duck their heads to be safe.

Shoulders rounded forward – I don’t want to be hurt again. – person has felt betrayed, has had their heart broken. The shoulders are to the front, protecting the heart. This person wants to be loved, but is afraid of being open and vulnerable. Approaches life cautiously, and from a position of weakness.

Shoulders back – military posture. I can take it - I’m tough. Armored chest, also designed to protect the heart. Invulnerability - you can’t hurt me. By extension, you also can’t get to me. I’m unavailable for depth and intimacy. Possible repressed anger.

One shoulder higher than the other, or one shoulder father forward than the other –This indicates an imbalance in Yin / Yang. The person’s approach to life is too heavily one or the other, not equal. If the right shoulder is high or forward, too Yang or masculine. If left, to yin or feminine.

Shoulder blades – this one’s a bit subjective. Go to the beach and look at backs. Shoulder blades should be visible, but not pronounced. If they’re really sticking out, the person is "sprouting wings" in order to leave a situation. This is the mark of a person who escapes rather than working things through. The escape may be mental as well as actually running (flying) away.