Deep within the head, which we will explore in this series, is the tongue. This complex muscle is optimized for eating and forming sounds. We are going to try using it as a ‘rudder’ to gently guide the spine.

As the Femunculus model demonstrates, the tongue takes up a whole lot of motor cortex real estate, as do the hands and genitals. The tongue is among first muscles we develop as we reach for food and suck it out and down.

This is a quieting, deep within lesson. You might be a bit spaced out by the end. We will lie supine and feel into the echos of a moving tongue as they reverberate down the spine and into the whole body. Set Up:

• Lying supine (on your back) with appropriate head support. Cervical spine alignment is critical to this lesson, so pay close attention to whether you can easily swallow while lying on your back. If your saliva catches at all, bring some support for the back of your head or neck.

• Some people may want support under their knees or low back. You know what you need.

Set Up:

• Lying supine (on your back) with appropriate head support. Cervical spine alignment is critical to this lesson, so pay close attention to whether you can easily swallow while lying on your back. If your saliva catches at all, bring some support for the back of your head or neck.

• Some poeple may want support under their knees or low back. You know what you need.

• Or sit with sit bones perched at the edge of a flat chair with knees and hips level; support behind the back is fine as long as you can rock your pelvis freely.

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String of Pearls / Solid Support

Connecting Feet, Spine and Head - 4 - Horizontal Moonwalking

Based on the “Liberating the Head, Neck and Jaw” series created by David Zemach-Berson

This spare lesson of a few basic moves is a review of the connections between the feet, the pelvis and the head. Minimal movement is the key to feeling the connection from foot to spine to jaw and tongue, and the vertical lines of force that create front-to-back and side-to-side balance in standing.

This is a supine lesson, with a couple of standing interludes. Maybe a little horizontal moonwalking attempts, just to see if we can figure out what Michael is doing when he is doing it.

This lesson begins and ends in a rolling self-hug, In between, the pelvis rocks back and forth, with and without the spine. The legs drop to one side, and the other, with and without the pelvis. We roll onto the tummy to roll the head with and without the spine, rock the legs together and apart. We lift the pelvis side to side.

Set Up for a supine and prone lesson:

• Prepare the support you may want to lie supine (on your back): for the head, under the knees Cervical spine alignment is critical to this lesson, so pay close attention to whether you can easily swallow while lying on your back. If your saliva catches at all, bring some support for the back of your head or neck.

• Support for lying on your tummy, if you choose to do that part of the lesson. Some people like padding under the tummy, hips, and head.

• Or sit with sit bones perched at the edge of a flat chair with knees and hips level. For the ‘prone’ part, sit near a table or surface that you can comfortably rest your head on stacked hands, so your neck is long and your throat isn’t constricted.

This lesson guides you through the game of connecting the dots from each vertebrae to the easy, natural movement of the head and neck. This is a side-lying lesson. Both sides, actually. This position creates relationship to the floor and gravity that opens new insights into how the back arches, bends, twists, rotates.

Focus on how each ‘pearl’ glides laterally - side to side - and draws the adjacent ‘pearls’ with it. We check both sides for preferences, imbalances, alignments and correlation with preferences in the jaw, neck and eyes.

In this lesson, the deep seated twist movement flows from the pelvis, bringing the lumbar, thoracic and cervical vertebrae with it. Turning the head to look back over the shoulder is the cherry on the top.

Set Up for Sitting:

• Stable, flat-bottom, armless chair where knees and hips are level.

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This lesson is a continuation of the seated “Coachman” lesson, backtracking to further develop the yin and yang of side bending vertebral movement. This concatenated lesson that goes back over the “pearl by pearl” side bending motion with an added focus on conscious expansion via the beloved “half ass” lesson,

Set Up for Sitting:

• Stable, flat-bottom, armless chair where knees and hips are level.

• If you prefer to keep both sit bones on the chair, have a small towel that can be folded to lift your sit bone.

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“Three Way Hip” is a lab for feeling how the spine twists from the supine. Again, a selected vertebra is the focal point for experiencing how to lift the facets of the vertebrae above and below along the length of the spine, while sliding horizontally and tip to one side. Take it slowly to sense how ground forces flow up the spine, and how the breath and abs coordinate to make the whole movement easier.

Set Up:

• Lying supine on a mat with room to reach your arm fully above the head

• Alternatively - Seated on a flat-bottom, armless chair with knees and hips level

We are on our backs again, rolling the spine as one long strand of pearls. Move SLOWLY to experience the micro-adjustments to the spine and whole body that keep the spine in alignment as the whole body rolls around it. The Voice-o-meter is part of the plan, using sound to help sense even the tiniest twinges of tension.

Set Up:

• Lying supine on a mat with room to reach your arm fully to the sides at shoulder height - like a “T”

• Alternatively - Seated on a flat-bottom, armless chair with knees and hips level

Time, technology and gravity all contribute to slumping. And slumping in the chest means, often, a misaligned spine.

Extending the spine gives the middle-upper back vertebrae the stability to hold up the torso and stabilize the lower back. A slight diagonal movement may highlight where the flow catches. Bringing the middle back into play can be a game changer for opening the chest and lifting the whole torso off the pelvis.

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Integrate ‘the tongue as rudder,’ ‘pearl by pearl’ spinal awareness, synchronizing the low back and neck. Find lift - and support - in the upper back. Align the optimal breath pattern with what you want to do. Coordinate the spine and eyes and sense twinges of tension with the Voice-o-meter.

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