The Bodywork Perspective –
Learning About Body Tension -
page 6
We've covered most of the parts and areas of the body now, so let’s talk rigidity.
One way to observe this is to become adept at noticing muscular tension in the person we are looking at.
Obvious areas to look at are the jaw, the shoulders and neck, and the pelvis, legs and feet.
Muscular Tension
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Jaw
The jaw is pretty easy. Watch the person talk. Notice how much "mobility" there is to the jaw. Are they able to open their mouth flexibly? Or do they seem to be talking through "pursed lips" or gritted teeth?
The less mobility, the less the person is willing to share of themselves. You can see this sort of base line tightness in the picture to the left.
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© Wayne C. Allen 1972-2001 |
Tight Shoulders, Neck
The shoulders and the neck should be loose, neutral and relaxed.
Have a look. Are the muscles seized? Does the head seem restricted, turning in a small range of motion?
Are the shoulders locked up, forward or back, never changing position?
These are rigidities, and are about protection of the self, over-responsibility, and again, the person's unwillingness to be open and revealing. |
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Pelvis
Watch the person walk. The pelvis should actually move.
Many people have almost no pelvic motion, having learned to contain themselves –
their passions, their drive. Although it’s difficult to see, many people are
"tight assed"; (see photo to the left) the muscles of their butts are squeezed. If you try that –
clenching your butt cheeks together, and then walk, you’ll get a feeling of how
restricted this is.
One of the people Dar teaches with, on the other hand, walks very loosely in
her pelvis – there is an incredible amount of hip and pelvis swing. On the other
hand, from her waist up, there is no movement. Her arms actually swing from a
rigid upper body. This fits her personality. She is extremely self conscious,
worries about ageing, is self-critical and depreciating, yet have what some
might describe as an over-active sex life. She’s sexually open, but her lovers
never get to find out who she is as a person.
Her self, in other words, is walled in. |
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Legs
The legs should be comfortably relaxed. The muscles should yield to the touch or squeeze, not be like rigid cables. There should be little or no pain from pushing on the major leg muscles.
The knees should ALWAYS be slightly flexed – never locked.
As you observe the legs, walking should be graceful
and fluid, not constrained.
The front muscles on the thighs are often clenched in an effort to lock up the pelvis. We’ll be talking about releasing the blockages as we go along. Suffice it to say that the thighs have to relax in order to free the pelvis. |
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Feet
Lastly, the feet. Hard to see in shoes, but there should be a
comfortable arch to the feet.
Too high, and the foot looks like a claw, digging
in to keep the person from flying away.
Flat footed people plod. They are so
anchored to the ground they couldn’t fly if they wanted to.
The neutral foot
makes firm contact with the ground, without seeming to sink in. |
