Releasing Tension: Middle Back

This Embodied Meditation focuses on the middle back, a place so many of us experience as tight, stiff, and as a target for tension. We’ll explore a gentle movement sequence and a guided relaxation to invite healthy engagement in the mid-back, open up space, wring out constriction, and release stress.

Transcript

Hi,

This is Paige.

Today's embodied meditation focuses on the middle back,

A place so many of us experience as tight,

Stiff,

And as a holding spot for tension.

Now some of that sense of inflexibility is for good reason.

The mid back with its interlocking vertebrae and stable cage of ribs is designed to be less mobile to protect the vital organs of the heart and the lungs.

But the body can also feel the pressure of that job,

Sometimes literally.

The muscles and tissues here can become constricted,

Inflamed,

And overworked,

Especially if they're subjected to lots of rounding and slouching,

And the bones and joints here can get compressed.

So we'll explore a gentle movement sequence and a guided relaxation to invite healthy engagement in the middle back to open up some space and to ring out and release tension.

We'll start seated and we'll end lying down.

So you can use a yoga mat if you like,

Or just practice on a rug or a blanket on the floor.

As an option,

You may want to have a firm throw pillow or a folded blanket to sit on,

And we'll start there sitting.

So as you're ready,

Settle in.

And go ahead and put your feet on the ground.

So you're sitting,

But your feet are on the ground,

And you can maybe hold on to the caps of your knees or the fronts of your shins,

And we'll begin to move into some seated cat-cow movement and breathing.

As you inhale,

Feel your spine lengthen and almost exaggerate then the arching of your spine and the squeezing together of your shoulder blades on your back body.

And then as you exhale,

We'll really open that space as we slowly round in.

You might drop your forehead toward your knees.

Do that again.

As you inhale,

Lengthen and arch through the spine.

You might squeeze the shoulder blades together right in that mid back space.

And then as you exhale,

Open that space,

Broaden it as the shoulder blades peel away from each other,

And you round your way in.

A few more like that.

As you inhale,

Lengthening,

Arching,

Squeezing in the mid back,

And as you exhale,

Spreading the low back,

Mid back,

Upper back,

All the way in.

One more time.

Inhale,

Arching,

A little bit of a squeeze of the shoulder blades,

Broadening through the collarbones,

And as you exhale,

Slowly rounding in,

Feeling especially the mid back spread and open.

And then you can come back up through neutral,

Back through center,

And just extend both of your legs long.

Let them rest against the earth.

Your right hand can walk off to the right a little bit.

As you inhale,

Let your left arm stretch up alongside your ear,

And as you exhale,

Lean over to the right,

The right hand might even walk a little bit further off to the right.

So you can really lean over that left arm,

We'll drape up over the head,

And you can take about three breaths here,

Visualizing space,

Opening in between each one of the ribs on the left side.

A little bit more space for that lung to billow and breathe,

And the side body to open.

And then as you're ready,

Come all the way back through center,

Maybe both arms stretch up alongside your ears,

And you feel space in both sides of the body.

And as you're ready to exhale,

Now the left hand could come down to the ground,

It can walk off to the left a little bit,

That right arm just drapes up and over,

And about three full breaths into the whole right body,

Like you're again teasing open space now in between each of the ribs on the right side.

A little bit more room for that lung to breathe,

For space to open,

And then bring yourself all the way back through center again,

Both arms can stretch up alongside your ears,

And then stack your hands behind your head.

So one hand can press into the back of your head,

The other hand can rest behind it,

Your elbows are wide,

Winging out to the sides,

And we're going to twist from here.

As you inhale,

Feel the spine maybe get just a little bit longer,

And as you exhale,

Wring yourself out as you twist to the right,

And especially feel some of that wringing out sensation right around the mid-back,

Right around the side ribs,

And then as you inhale,

Let yourself come all the way back through center.

Again,

The hands are pressing into the back of the head a little bit,

And as you exhale,

Twist your way to the left,

The elbows are wide open,

Winging out to the sides,

Wringing out the space in the mid-back.

Inhale back through center,

Once more each side,

As you exhale,

Wringing out to the right,

Inhale back through center,

Exhale,

Wringing out to the left,

All the way back through center,

And let your arms come back down by your sides,

And if it feels nice on your body,

Maybe move from here into a cross-legged seat,

And when you're ready to inhale,

Stretch your right arm up alongside your ear,

And as you're ready to exhale,

Again twist to the right,

This time put a little bend in that right elbow,

So you're going to cactus bend that right arm,

And you'll feel that right shoulder blade kind of squeeze in and slide down your back.

Inhale,

Come back through center,

Arm can stretch up long beside your ear,

As you exhale,

Twisting to the right,

Little cactus bend to that right elbow,

Feeling that right shoulder blade slide down your back,

Whole mid-back,

Especially on the right side,

Getting a little squeeze,

Once more like that.

Inhale through center,

Just through neutral,

Right arm can stretch up alongside the right ear,

As you exhale and twist to the right,

Cactus bend that right elbow,

Broaden through the right collarbone,

And just pause there in that twisted shape,

That right arm bent,

Your body breathing.

Stay in the twisted shape,

Simply extend your right arm long now,

So the elbow is no longer bent,

Extend the arm long,

And then resist as you re-bend that elbow,

So you're just feeling that sense of engagement in this space right behind the right lung and right heart,

As you inhale,

Re-lengthen that right arm,

You're still twisted to the right,

As you exhale bend that elbow again,

Draw that right arm in,

And do that one more time.

Inhale,

Lengthen through that right arm,

So you're twisted with the arm stretched wide and open,

Exhale bend that elbow back in.

From there,

Unwind,

Come back through center,

Back through neutral,

And cross your right arm over your left arm,

You can cross way up by the heads of your shoulders,

And then hold on to your shoulders,

So you have opposite hands holding opposite shoulders,

Your arms are crossed with that right arm crossed over the left,

Your elbows are stacked,

And just begin to stir your elbows around a little bit,

So there's no right or wrong way to do this,

Just along the cadence of the breath,

Stir some big circles with your elbows,

And just feel what you feel in the space in the mid-back,

Space around the shoulder blades,

One more big circle around with those elbows,

And then just release the arms,

Pause and feel for a moment here,

You can rest the backs of the hands on the thighs,

Breathe,

And then before we do that on the left side,

It might feel nice to switch the cross of your legs,

So your hips and legs can feel balanced,

Come back into a comfortable seat,

And then as you inhale stretch the left arm up alongside your left ear,

Begin to twist the body to the left,

And as you exhale cactus bend that left elbow,

Feel that left shoulder blade slide down the back,

Inhale come back through neutral,

Stretch your left arm alongside your left ear,

As you exhale ringing out,

Twisting to the left,

Little cactus bend to that left elbow,

Sliding the left shoulder blade down the back,

Once more inhale bring yourself back through neutral,

Back through center,

Left arm stretches up alongside the left ear,

As you exhale and twist to the left,

Cactus bend that left elbow,

Slide that left shoulder blade down the back,

And just pause here,

Stay in the twist,

Little cactus bend to the elbow,

Breathing,

And the next time you're ready to inhale,

Lengthen that left arm,

Undo the bend to the elbow,

Stay twisted,

And then as you exhale,

Re-bend that left elbow,

Slowly drawing that arm in,

Inhale,

Open that arm long again,

Exhale cactus bend again to that left arm,

One more time,

Inhale,

Lengthening through that arm,

As you exhale that re-bending the elbow,

Cactus bend to the arm,

And then unwind back through center,

Cross the left arm over the right arm,

Way up by the shoulder heads,

Way up by the upper arms,

Your elbows might even be stacked here,

Hold on to opposite shoulders with opposite hands,

And go back to drawing those circles with the elbows,

So the stacked elbows just circling in space,

Maybe riding along the rhythm of your breath as they swirl around,

One more time,

And then relax the arms again,

Rest the backs of the hands on the thighs,

Breathe into the whole body,

You can untangle your legs,

Stretch them out again,

Maybe lean back a little bit,

Your hands can come to the floor back behind your hips,

You can turn your fingers out to the sides,

Or if it feels comfortable on your body,

You can even turn the fingertips away from the body,

Just lean back,

Broaden through your collarbones,

And one more time,

Squeeze the shoulder blades together onto the back body,

Letting there be this bit of compression right in the mid-backs,

You can breathe into it,

And then relax all of that,

Come back through neutral,

Make your way onto your back,

All the way onto your back,

So you can move whatever you've been sitting on out of the way,

Come on to your back,

And it might feel nice right at the beginning here just to scoop your knees up,

Hug them into your chest,

Your forearms can rest about mid-shin,

Providing a little bit of weight,

And then just slowly rock side to side,

Massaging,

Especially that space of the middle back,

Right against the earth,

Almost like a massage,

Right against the earth,

As you rock side to side here a couple more times,

Imagine yourself working out any constricted places,

Any knots of tension in the mid-back,

And then become still when you're ready,

Stretch out long on your back if that feels okay,

If the low back isn't happy with that,

It often helps to just bend the knees and put the feet on the ground,

But if it feels okay to stretch out long,

Do that,

And then open both arms into very relaxed cactus arms here,

A little bit of a bend at the elbow,

Palms facing up,

Collarbones broadening,

From here let your head just drift in one direction,

Just roll all the way in one direction,

And let the opposite shoulder get heavy,

Let that shoulder blade get heavy,

The whole chest get heavy on the side opposite the way your face is turning,

Come back through center with your gaze,

Let your gaze drift off the other direction,

And let the opposite shoulder get heavy,

Shoulder blade get heavy,

Space across the chest heavy,

Do that one more time each side,

Come back through center with your gaze,

Let it drift off one direction,

Let that whole mid-back on the opposite side feel like it's releasing back and down,

Back through center with your gaze,

Let it drift the other way and the opposite side,

Whole mid-back on the opposite side,

Like it's getting a little heavier,

Resting toward the earth a little bit more,

And then let your head come back through neutral,

Just relax here,

Imagine that you're lying on a bed of warm sand,

What's beneath you is supportive,

Inviting,

Bed of warm sand able to hold you and to completely conform to your body,

Your body as it rests here beginning to make an impression in the sand,

Feel your shoulder blades,

The wings on your back settle into that warm bed of support beneath you,

Almost nestle in there,

Sense into the whole back of your rib cage now,

Especially around the mid-back relaxing and resting heavily,

Easily,

The ribs resting into the shoulder blades,

Ribs and shoulder blades resting into the sand like armor dissolving,

Feel all the musculature of your mid-back begin to spread and melt as it relaxes into the bed of sand beneath the shoulder blades in the rib cage,

As your awareness gently drops deeper inside,

Perhaps even imagine your lungs and your heart resting back toward the back body,

Toward the bed of support there,

Slowing down,

Relaxing any effort,

Finally imagine the whole middle spine from the base of your neck to your low back resting,

Releasing and as it does pulsing ever so subtly with your breath,

As you inhale the discs in between each one of the vertebrae effortlessly expanding and taking in the nourishment of the breath,

As you exhale everything relaxing and at ease,

As you inhale the discs in between the vertebrae of the spine effortlessly expanding,

Taking in the nourishment of the breath,

As you exhale everything relaxing,

Inhale the discs in between the bones of your spine expanding and taking in the breath,

As you exhale everything relaxing,

Finally allowing even this conscious breathing pattern to dissolve,

Just breathing naturally,

Allowing your mid-back,

Maybe your whole back body to soak in a few more breaths of complete relaxation,

As you're ready it might feel nice to hug your knees in and gently rock side to side again,

Once again feeling that massage of the mid-back against the earth,

Preparing from here perhaps to move with a little less tension into what's next for you,

Thank you so much for making this time for yourself,

I'll be with you again soon.

Reviews

That really helped to ease some soreness in my back this morning. Thank you so much for sharing this meditation. I am thankful. Namaste

One of the best and most effective morning mid-back mobilizers I have on my Playlist. Such a welcome practice upon waking up after after the prior day's long cross-country travel! Thank you for all you do, Paige, and for sharing this practice with us here. I see you and the light within you. Be well. ❤🤲🏻❤

🙏🏻thanks most helpful. God bless

So helpful! Thank you! 🙏🏽❤️

This is the first time I used this one and it was wonderful! Especially in these days of isolation due to the corona virus .... we need to keep ourselves moving in a calm, intentional manner.

Thank you 🌷🌷🌷for the wonderful meditation practice 🌀it is so relaxing to move the middle back 🙏Namaste