What Do Arms Have to Do with Breathing?

One of the themes I have been hammering away at since I starting writing about breathing is outside influences. Outside influences are things like your head/spinal relationship, erroneous beliefs, bodymapping delusions and fairytales. 

Fairytales?

Yes, like the "upper jaw" - which is about as existent as rabbit horns.

But today I am going to talk about another favourite – "shoulders."

Do you believe you have shoulders?

I am sure you do, as does most of the English-speaking world. In Japan, they call them "katas" but it all amounts to the same kind of nonsense.

The beautiful thing about us is that we can imagine anything – rabbits horns, a pregnant virgin, even the current Occupant of the White House as a kind, well-informed gentleman. (This is 2019, not 2015).

To clean up our thinking, we start with the fundamental. And nothing is more fundamental than breathing. If you live 80years, it is estimated that you will have taken around six hundred and seventy-three million breaths. What else will you do as often as that?

It's good to know a little bit about how it works, and how IT DOESN'T work. When breathing, your ribcage expands and contracts.

And layered over your ribcage are the many muscles of your arms. Arms need to move up and down with your ribcage. However, ask anyone, and they will tell you that their arms begin at the side of their shoulders. Therefore, they don't think of their arms as having much influence on breathing – how can they stuck way out there?

And often – I don't know why! – many individuals decide or are told that they must keep their shoulders down, even while they are bringing up their arms.

Now can you see why "shoulders" is such a harmful concept?

Let's unpack it.

Anatomically, the arm does not connect to your shoulder because your shoulder is your arm. Your arm/shoulder connects to your torso at the base of your neck! The anatomical name of this junction is the sterno-clavicular joint. This is where your arm begins. Move your arm up, and it will be moving up from your sterno-clavicular joint.

But how can you move your arm up when you are also actively thinking about your shoulder going down? You can't. But people try – and the result is a civil war in your arm. Tremendous tension and effort as your schizophrenic arm tries to go up and down at the same time.

And this civil war can devastate the movement of your rib cage. Now – with the thought of keeping your shoulders down – you are resisting the desire of your rib cage to expand. It's fantastic you can breathe at all, but you can.

However, not that well. Especially when significant demands are placed on your breathing – such as wind players, singers and athletes do. Bodymapping plays a huge rule in assisting students to feel self-empowered and able to use this work.

At Golden Week in Japan in May 2020, all this and more is available. Join me, Lucia Walker, Sharyn West and the Japanese BodyChance community in a festival of discovery and fun over five days near beautiful Mt Fuji.

You can read more about it here: 

https://atsuccess.com/alexander-discovery-workshop-japan-jeremy-chance.html

cheerfully

Jeremy
本当の自助論 ! 
Helping You to Help Your Self