Shoulder release 2

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Here is a simple lesson for when you don’t have time but your neck, upper back, and shoulders feel crunchy and tight. Test allowing the arm to drop directly into the socket like a piston with a satisfying “thud!” The more you trust the floor in this lesson, the more tension you can let go of around the shoulder joint.

Plus, when you learn the movements, you can do them any time.

The collar bones are like the Wild West: a little scary to think about, but super rich once you get there. I say this because most of us have forgotten that we can move them. It’s like there’s superglue at the collar bone's connection to the ribs and all movement stops. This ingenious lesson creates movements that require you to move the collar bones without even knowing you’re waking them up.

This lesson is the puzzle lesson where you are sitting on the floor with your hand on the floor next to you. Pick up your hand and without unbending the wrist, place the hand on your belly. Without unbending the wrist. It's not anatomically hard, it's just hard to imagine.

I give this lesson to clients who can't move their arms or shoulders very well. Often, the stuck places are in the collar bones and ribs, not the shoulders themselves. Bonus: all that folding helps you with upright posture.

For a wonderful complement to this lesson, see:
172 Lift elbows, connect arms to back
130 Widening the chest

AY45

Amazing for the slope of the neck and freedom of shoulders. Find a super fluid right shoulder. Create smooth lines forward, then arcs. Good to pair with these other shoulder lessons, plus the rotation lesson for loosening up to run.

For lessons similar to this, see:
201 Connect the shoulders with lines and arcs
456 Imagine hip and shoulder circles
4 Release the neck and shoulders
44 Loosening up to run

Sliding the hand across the back of the head is so important. I have clients with what is called frozen shoulder who came to see me unable to put on jackets, shirts, wash their hair, put on deodorant…we forget what we need our arms for. Try this lesson to wake up the possibility of easy, flexible shoulders and upper back.

For more like this, see:
Amphibian series (in longer series from trainings)
Grasping the chin series (in longer series from trainings)

(Moshe Feldenkrais, Master Moves)

Second half of this lesson: linking the ribs with the shoulders. I just saw someone yesterday who works for a startup here in Boulder and was in such shoulder and upper back pain, it was just burning down her neck. You know that awful feeling you just try to ignore, only it gets worse?

Her life was totally changed on realizing she could move her ribs with her arms. You can, too.

This is the beginning of the “bridge” series in Feldenkrais. It’s worth experimenting with because of the freedom it brings to the arm and shoulder. You might need a folded towel or a couple books nearby to perch your hand on.

If your wrist is compromised in this lesson, try a couple movements in and out. The whole lesson is about making this movement easier so it’s worth playing with it.

Tip: If your hand can't reach the floor, raise the floor with a book. As you go through this lesson, test whether you still need the extra support.

(AY438)

Other lessons that can help with bridging:
36 A flexible spine connects to the feet
39 Soft spine curling and uncurling
187, 188 Rotate hand, arm on chair
207 Liberate upper back
29 Beginning Bridge: Esalen Workshop

More rotating and connecting with the hand, wrist, shoulder, and collarbone. Going slow will yield better results.

This is a slow, gentle exploration of lying on the front and adapting the arms, shoulders, and chest to help the head turn side to side. The movement includes lengthening the arms one up and one down while on the front side, then placing them at 90 degrees to the spine in the shoulder and again at 90 degrees at the elbow.

As you swivel to the other side, the constraint of the arms asks you to adapt in the ribs and spine to ease the turning. This lesson always softens the ribs and helps the easy turn of the head.

(A version of the “Egyptian arms” lesson.)

For more advanced lessons like this, see Arms integrate on stomach.

On your front, you’ll be moving the arms, shoulders, and legs in various patterns. This is a bigger “connect ‘em up” lesson that creates fluidity throughout the back, chest, legs, hips, arms—pretty much everything. It also affects walking as you are doing so many diagonal movements between the legs and arms across the whole back. Notice how your legs and arms swing after this!

(similar to tonic effect of the head, Amherst 21 July 1980, week 7)