The third session of the 11-Series is about much more than the upper body. However, a big part of it centers on differentiating our upper and lower halves. Our bodies have a lot of movable parts, and it’s common for many of these parts to stick to each other to varying degrees. This starts to make it difficult for each to do their individual jobs.
Have you ever watched a group of five-year-olds play soccer? How about a professional team? The little kids tend to clump together, each trying to kick the ball. Except that one kid who’s sitting in the clover watching the bees. Like children, our body parts can get disorganized and clumped together. In a professional team, however, individual players keep spaced apart to maximize their ability to work together. Our aim at this point in the Series is to help the structures of your body mature so they can work individually and together with coordination.
Ribcage Position
The ribcage is often a region with a lot of clumped-together parts. This includes the ribs themselves, the spine they are attached to, the waist muscles below, and the shoulders that hang off the top. What often ends up happening is that we start moving the entire ribcage as if it were a single unit rather than all these movable parts.
In order to start moving the individual pieces more, you need to be aware of how you are not moving them now. It's common to lift and move the ribcage to compensate for limitations in the shoulders, neck, and spine. With the following movements, you can start to notice what compensations you might be making and how to start mobilizing the other components instead.
Left image: my ribcage is lifted, giving me the appearance of upright posture while adding extra curvature and compression to my low back. Right image: I've brought my ribcage back in line with my pelvis, revealing the true position of my shoulders and neck relative to my upper back.
Moving Your Waist
Either standing or seated, let the right side of your ribcage fall toward your right hip. Try to keep your pelvis in place—if seated, keep both sitz bones glued to the floor. Notice what it feels like to shorten the right side of your waist while you lengthen the left side. Then repeat on the other side.
Check in with your ribs—were they flaring up as you folded your torso over to one side? Did you twist at all? That can be a smart, sneaky way the body can get around tight regions in order to move you further. Try to settle the front of your ribcage down so it stacks over the front of your hips. Don’t let them lift or rotate and try this side bend again.
Left image: I've flared my ribs up as a way to let me lean farther over. Right image: keeping my ribs down, I can't bend as far before I reach tension--these are the fibers I want to mobilize.
Now you can sit or stand upright again, and this time rotate your torso over to the right. Notice how your pelvis may want to twist, too, and keep it rooted in place. Putting your hands on your hips can help reinforce this message of staying still while you twist only from your spine. Only twist as far as you can go without pulling yourself further with your arms. It’s fine to pull yourself further, but for now, you’re exploring what movement is available to you by using just your waist muscles. Repeat the twist toward the left.
Now check in with your ribcage again—did your chest lift up? As before, imagine your ribcage is part of a cylindrical column around your spine. As you twist, keep your chest aligned vertically. You probably won’t be able to twist as far as you did before, but now you can teach your waist that you want mobility here, too.
Left image: again, I'm lifting my ribs in order to twist further. Middle image: here I'm using my hand to pull myself further--stretching the fibers passively instead of actively. Right image: keeping my ribs stacked vertically over my pelvis. It may not look like much movement, but I'm engaging my abdominals to rotate my spine while in a more balanced alignment.
Thoracic Stretch
Stand facing a wall and put both hands flat on the wall and arms straight (a slight elbow bend is okay). Slowly start to bend forward at your hips, keeping your spine neutral. Adjust your feet spacing if needed. As you come forward, pull the bottom of your ribcage in toward your abdomen. Avoid letting your shoulders ride up toward your ears. By pulling your lower ribs down and in, while stabilizing your shoulders, you will be mobilizing the tissue in between these parts—the thoracic spine. This is often a very sticky area, so don’t fret if it doesn’t move much yet!
You can do this same stretch while kneeling on the floor. If reaching the floor is hard, you can also do it with hands on a counter, table, or something strong enough to lean against.
If kneeling, start on hands and knees and slowly back your hips toward your heels. You can adjust your hands further away or closer if needed. Again, as you lower your body toward the floor, keep pulling your lower ribs up and in. Keep your shoulders down away from your ears. Let your neck relax here.
Bolstering Ribcage on the Floor
When you lie on your back on the floor, the areas within your body that are clumped together will have a hard time letting those parts relax down to the floor. This is the reason it often feels nice to put a bolster under your knees or a pillow under your head—they compensate for the tension often held in the front of our hips, upper backs, and necks. However, these bolsters don’t teach the tense areas to relax, they simply prop those parts up in the short, tight positions they are stuck in.
Instead of this, try bolstering your upper body so that your ribcage can be in neutral alignment with your pelvis. You may need to experiment with different props until you find what works best for you since all bodies are unique and have different exact shapes. Try putting a pillow or folded blanket under the upper portion of your back (behind your shoulder blades) and then something taller under your head. The position you’re aiming for is to feel the bottom of your ribcage touching the floor, while maintaining a slight space under your lumbar spine (low back). Your head should be supported high enough that your chin can rest pointing down toward your chest, not jutting up toward the ceiling.
Block Overhead
Lie with your upper body bolstered as described above. Your legs can be straight or bent—it’s up to you, though it does make a difference! Hold a yoga block or other light-weighted object over your chest with straight arms (a slight bend of the elbows if often good). Squeeze it with your palms with fingers straight—this puts the work into your arms and core rather than your fingers. Slowly bring your arms over your head as far as they can go without letting your lower ribs lift off of the ground. Notice how it feels if you do let your ribs lift versus keeping them stabilized down. How do your abdominal muscles work differently? Play with bringing the block back and forth—down over your belly and then back over your head.
As appropriate to your body, you can switch out the yoga block for something a little heavier. Be smart about this! Then do the same movement, starting by holding the object over your chest and slowly bringing it over your head. Your abdominals will have to work harder to hold your ribs down as you lift this heavier object.
Floor Angels
Again, lie on your back with your ribs and head bolstered. Let both arms come out to your sides with palms facing the sky. With your thumbs pointing toward the floor, slowly sweep your hands up over your head as if you were making snow angel wings. Glide your arms up and down slowly as long as feels appropriate. Feel free to linger in any super sticky spots.
If you want, you can take the bolsters out from under you and repeat this movement so you can feel the difference. Without the bolsters, your body is free to make its usual adjustments, often below your awareness—until now.
As you follow along with these ideas, use your best judgement about what you want to try. Reading descriptions of movement and body positions is different from getting guidance in-person from someone who can see you and guide you. These are general ideas shared without my having any prior knowledge about you. Please reach out with questions!
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