Healthy Movements: What's Your Body's Neutral Position?

~ Picture from Google

While I am typing this, I am definitely sitting up a little straighter after looking at the picture above.

The first step with any healthy lifestyle change is just noticing what you are doing in this present moment. I find myself with my head slightly forward and chin pointing slightly upwards. I think this is a typical position for most of us, especially when we are tired and/or in front of a screen for long periods of time.

What do we do to change this habit? Let's formulate a plan.

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~Picture from Google

Every inch that your head is forward from neutral adds another 10 - 12 lbs. of stress to your muscles. Think about that for a moment: Is it easier to carry something heavy in your hands at an arms' length or next to your body? And an added problem that arises over time is that the muscles in the back of the neck become fixed in that forward head position, and the muscles in the front become shortened over time.

You body is great at economizing energy. Thus, if you sit all the time, your body adapts to the position that you are in the most. With regards to your head and neck, the same rule applies. Your body adapts to that position (your body's geometry) so that over the years it becomes harder and harder to adapt to another position.

Unless......you choose to change your position which introduces different loads (your body's relationship to gravity) to your soft tissues. Diversity seems to be the key to better health in a variety of ways.

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~Photo from Google

~Photo from Google

There are a multiple of ways to stretch tight muscles and move the fascia around to gain a healthy range-of-motion.

I love the work of both Jill Miller with her Yoga Therapy Balls and Katy Bowman, who is an amazing biomechanist. Both provide a wealth of free info on their websites and on YouTube. I have several books from Katy Bowman and one from Jill Miller titled, "The Roll Model." Both ladies are passionate about self-care and how to approach it in a way that is do-able and fun. I hope you will check their work out.

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How to find neutral neck and head for YOU:

1.) Either sit or stand tall. Close your eyes without dropping your chin. Watch the breath for a few cycles ( a cycle of breath is inhalation, pause, exhalation, pause). Notice where you feel the breath. There is no "bad" answer. How is the breath showing up in your body right now?

2.) Open your eyes. Without purposefully changing anything else, imagine there is an invisible string coming out of the top of your head and it is being pulled upwards.....and you lengthen (get taller) up towards the ceiling. This may be enough for today, especially if you feel any tension in your neck or shoulders just by creating more space in the neck.

More advanced position:

a.) If you feel minimal tension in your body from the previous instructions, then you can try to align (from a side-view perspective) your ears, deltoids (sides of the shoulder and the very top of the upper arm bone), sides of the hips......and if standing, ankle bones.

To do this: Lengthen to the crown of the head (think: string pulling up) then, take the ears back and up.

Now, depending on how forward your head is for most of the day (and your age), this instruction may seem like an impossibility. What if you took your head an inch back from where it habitually is most of the time? Well, you just took 10 -12 lbs. off of your back muscles. Go you!!!!

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** Of course, this is general information and does not apply to all. If you have serious neck degeneration, you need to see a doctor. If you have chronic neck pain, again, see a doctor before trying any exercises.

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If you like this information please UPVOTE, FOLLOW, and RESTEEM!!

Thanks for stopping by!!!

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Previous Essays on Healthy Movements

https://steemit.com/yoga/@yoginiofoz/healthy-movements-it-starts-with-you-notice-what-you-do-the-most-and-change-when-necessary

https://steemit.com/yoga/@yoginiofoz/effective-shoulder-stretching-happens-with-proper-body-alignment

https://steemit.com/yoga/@yoginiofoz/this-one-shoulder-exercise-will-knock-your-socks-off-try-it-if-you-dare

https://steemit.com/yoga/@yoginiofoz/recap-of-the-shoulder-health-exercises-class

https://steemit.com/life/@yoginiofoz/26hqjr-just-putting-together-a-reference-list-of-all-the-posts-i-have-made-so-farP