Re-mapping my arms was pretty life-changing. Well, it would be life-changing if I did it regularly and often, which I now plan to do. I did a similar exercise in undergrad, re-mapping my arms AND legs and it completely changed my alignment: I no longer felt like I was having to hold my body in place—it just was. I felt this again in class last week. I habitually collapse my chest, which I never relate to back/shoulder tension. My chest hadn’t felt that free and open in a very long time— probably since the last time I did this exercise 4 or 5 years ago. It compounded the discovery that the uninhibited body is completely in balance. And so when my shoulders are tense, so is my chest; when my calves are tense, so are my knees. Which works the other way: if I release my shoulders, I release my chest, so on and so forth.
I think the true joy and satisfaction of this exercise is that it provides almost instant results— something we do not get with a lot of the work we are currently doing, where things we learn today might not make sense days, weeks, or even years from now. The simplicity of having gravity work for you, instead of against you, and just breathing into those muscles melting over this little pinky ball helped me focus the energy I normally use to “stand up straight” into active energy for what I am doing.
Now I try to do this exercise for a few minutes before I get up every morning. I find it oddly energizing, despite just lying on the floor. The initial shot of pain through my shoulder does a pretty good job reminding me to breathe. On the mornings that I have successfully woken up early enough to do this, I am actually able to get ready for the day much faster and with much more ease. The first morning I did this, I looked up at my clock, expecting it to be time to leave for class, but I still had not 5, not 10, but 20 minutes left. My body and brain were so alive, and I hadn’t even had my coffee yet. So I happily, a word I never use to describe myself during mornings, worked on lines while sipping on caffeine.
Wow Ellen. So happy to hear this. This pinky ball routine is a combination of mapping the joints and rhythm of the arm/scapula and releasing habitual tension. I find it very freeing as well. Barbara Conable, one of the body-mapping wizards we have been looking at says "freeing the arms frees the ribs" and "freeing the ribs frees the arms." I think that is very on point with your experience of feeling the chest open. As soon as the arms comes into balance with the back and the ribs they no longer pull down on either and everything feels lighter and better. So glad this has become -- at least for the moment -- part of your morning. Thanks for writing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Ellen about this being a life-changing exercise, and although I haven't done this before it reminded me of an "arm clock" exercise I did in undergrad. I remember it being so satisfying when we all got up after doing one side and seeing that one of our shoulders was a full inch lower than the other. I'm going to add this pinky ball to my routine of shoulder releasing, and maybe I'll even get up early enough to do it in the mornings.
ReplyDeleteSomething else I discovered...I do this kind of rolling out of my muscles often, but I usually use a lacrosse ball and press down much harder. So when we used the forgiving pinky balls, I didn't get that "hurt so good" feeling everyone else seemed to be experiencing. However, I did feel a release in my arms afterwards, perhaps more than I usually do. This was yet another reminder that I shouldn't force my body to do what I want by using aggressive pressure. Rather, I will get better results by simply asking nicely.