Somatic Movement: Supple Legs & Spine

Supple movement invites both power & resilience and is the opposite of powering or pushing through. It is the language of discovery: exploring how the awareness of movement and mind join together to reveal the imprint of our experience. This somatic session reveals a clearer relationship between the movement of legs, hips, spine, breath, and self image—how we move through life.

Transcript

Hi,

This is Meg Granale of Body Centered Inquiry,

And welcome to this somatic movement session,

Supple Legs and Spine.

Supple movement that invites both power and resilience is the opposite of pushing through.

It is the language of discovery.

Knowing how the awareness of movement and mind join together to reveal the imprint of our experience.

In somatic work,

We engage with the underlying patterns of body and mind that inform everything we do.

In order to do that,

We shift into deeper levels of listening within.

This somatic session reveals a clearer relationship between the movement of legs,

Hips,

Spine,

Breath,

And self-image.

How we move through life.

For this session,

You'll be on the floor.

A comfortably padded surface that allows for free and easy movement of your legs is important for this session.

Your legs have to be able to glide.

Yoga mats don't work for this because they're sticky.

So a carpeted or padded floor can accommodate you best.

Have clothing that keeps you warm and allows for movement.

Have sock or bare feet.

Remove your glasses,

Belt,

Anything that might interfere with your movement.

Have a folded blanket for support for your head or neck if you need it.

Head pillows are too soft and absorb the movement we want to encourage in this work.

So gather your props and when you're ready,

Please come to lie on your back.

You may have your legs long or feet standing with knees pointing toward the ceiling.

And if you can,

Have your arms long by your sides.

And know that you can pause the audio at any point during this session and go at your own pace.

That's very important.

Become aware of settling into the floor.

They bring in the idea that as you move toward the support beneath you,

It moves toward you.

It's a dynamic relationship.

So you could yield more and give more over to gravity.

Become aware of your breathing.

Begin to notice the pause that's naturally there at the top of your inhale and at the bottom of your exhale.

Begin to attune yourself to the pauses that are naturally there.

When our breathing is rushed,

We are rushed.

Begin to allow your inhale and exhale to even out,

Giving equal time to both.

And explore this for seven rounds of breath.

Breathing in,

Pause,

Breathing out,

Pause.

There's a natural rhythm that will emerge.

Breathing in and breathing out for seven rounds of breath.

And while you're doing that,

Bring both feet to stand on the floor.

Find a place to stand them that feels secure.

Allow your feet to stand about hip width apart,

Which is actually more like hip joint width apart.

Your hip joints are actually about a fist wide between both knees.

The hip joints are quite central to the center of the body.

Take a moment to check into the four corners of each foot.

Big toe,

Baby toe,

Inside outside border of each heel.

So there's four points or four corners of each foot.

And notice how they're the same or different.

And begin now to allow the right leg to slowly open out to the right.

The leg remains bent,

But begins to tilt toward the floor on the right.

Go slowly and simultaneously begin to allow it to slide along the floor till it's long on the floor.

So you're allowing the right leg to go long.

The left leg is standing,

The left foot is standing on the floor with the left knee pointing toward the ceiling.

Pause there,

Attune yourself to your breathing.

And now slowly rotate the right leg gently to the right and glide it back to where you started.

Note the four corners of your right foot once it returns to standing.

And repeat that movement of allowing the right leg to tilt out to the right and glide down long and begin to notice what your relationship is to your breath and movement.

When do you breathe in and when do you breathe out?

What wants to happen?

And do this three or four or five times at your own pace and do pause the audio.

What way of breathing supports your movement?

You can have your eyes open with a soft gaze or closed,

Continuing to breathe.

When we fix our eyes or trance out,

We are generally not present.

So keep your eyes softly closed or in a soft gaze.

And check in as you do this movement.

What's happening with your breathing,

Your jaw,

Your face,

The back of your neck?

And rest.

You can lie on your side,

You can lie on your back.

Where do you go that feels like rest?

In your breathing,

Noticing the inhale,

The exhale,

And the pauses within each of those.

Bring both feet to standing if they're not already.

Have them about hip joint width apart,

Which is about a fist between the two knees.

So thumb side and baby finger side of your fist.

Explore this movement again on the right side.

And this time,

Place your right hand on the crease between your inner right leg and your pubic bone.

Right in that location is your hip joint.

Listen through your hand as you open the leg out to the right and slowly slide it long.

Listen for what happens in the hip joint.

And as you're doing this movement,

Could you invite breath into this hip joint?

As you rotate and elongate the right leg in a simpler way each time,

Supported by breath,

You're inviting an opening in the hip joint.

You're inviting suppleness.

Do that maybe three or four more times,

Listening for when you breathe in and when you breathe out.

Pause the audio if you need to.

And then rest.

Whenever you're ready,

Take a rest.

And compare your two sides.

What do you notice?

Bring both feet to standing again,

About hip joint width apart.

Have your right foot standing and invite your left leg to open out to the left.

And slide down toward the floor and glide long.

Listen for similarities and differences between the two sides,

All the while feeling the support beneath you and your breathing.

Slide the leg down long and then rotate the left leg out slightly to the left and glide it back up to standing.

When do you breathe in and when do you breathe out on this side?

Listen through your hip joint.

Bring your hand to the inside of your left leg and the groin between the pubic bone and the inside of the left leg,

The upper leg crease.

And listen for how that hip joint rotates as you do this movement of sliding your leg slowly down and then drawing it back up to standing.

This is the location of your hip joint.

There's often a mistaken idea that the hip joints are on the outside of the hips or pelvis somewhere.

But simply locating the correct place for the hip joint can help us to access more balance and ease because we understand the biomechanics of our body.

The language of movement gives us a direct experience of life and how we're living it.

And noticing again,

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Allowing for those little pauses.

Can the face be soft,

Throat soft,

Mouth tongue soft,

Soft gaze or eyes closed?

Repeat this movement on the left side three or four times,

Breathing,

Being aware of the support that's beneath you.

You don't have to hold yourself away from the floor.

Invite breath into your hip joint on the left and imagine inviting ease into that place.

Can your neck be easy?

And when you're ready,

Take another rest.

Notice your connection to the floor,

Your breathing.

And bring both feet to standing again,

Hip joint width apart or somewhere close to that.

Observe the four corners of each foot,

Big toe,

Baby toe,

Inside outside border of the heels of each foot.

And repeat the movement on the right side again.

And imagine what happens as the hip joint rotates.

It communicates through the pelvis and the pelvis invites the spine along.

So it's a full body movement from foot to head.

You don't have to do anything extra as you allow this right leg to open out and glide back down.

Simply listen for the trajectory of movement from foot to head as you elongate your leg and then slide it back to standing.

And then pause the right foot when it comes back to standing.

And then repeat this movement on the left side,

Opening the left leg out,

Allowing it to glide along the floor and go long.

How are the two sides different?

How are they the same?

And it's okay to do these sessions on one side only.

Improvement in one plane of movement improves movement throughout your whole body.

You could explore alternating one side with the other a few times.

Go gently,

Breathing and noticing that the floor is always there to support you.

And when you're ready,

Take a rest with both feet standing.

Take time to listen into what's the same or different for you now.

And you could allow both legs to glide and belong on the floor for a moment.

And see how that is for you now.

And whenever you're ready,

Roll to one side slowly,

Gradually come up to sit and stand.

And notice what it is to come up over your two feet now.

And slowly begin to take a few steps and observe what's present for you.

Thank you.

Have a good session.

Reviews

There is something magical about this simple movement that has a big effect on me, making me feel much more grounded and releasing tension in the thighs. Cultivating a profound connection with the body.

That was a very relaxing session. My 1st experience with somatic technique. I’ll return to this as it felt wonderful. Thank you.

My legs vibrate after this practice. Nice release.

Thank you, Margaret! This was the perfect meditation for my night. I feel at peace. Thanks for sharing

Well done. I am currently in physical therapy for my right hip (again) due to SI joint, pelvic instability, and the resulting tendonopathy. Having hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS these days), I spend a lot of time in physical therapy, and also in studying biomechanics. In this practice, I noted that - as I suspected - my rather frequent/chronic pelvic upslip was again present, but also that I needed to do a round of pelvic blocking to realign the forward rotation on that side, too. (I already had my wedges on the floor with me,but the verification this practice provided was great to have.)

End result was interesting. I had done a few long-leg slides to reset my right SI during this practice. When I stood, it felt like the upslip had resolved as my weight was fairly evenly distributed in a standing mountain-style pose. My left hip had subluxed with the first slide, but I moved it right back in and all was well. It did highlight the pelvic imbalance I started out with.

Highly recommend this practice. I plan to tell my physical therapist about it this afternoon. Thank you for sharing this practice with us here. I see the light in you. 🤲🏻❤️🤲🏻

**Side note: I just now looked at your teacher bio, and am grinning ear to ear. No wonder I resonate and benefit from your movement practices so much! One of my physical therapists, a few years ago, got me started with Feldenkrais movement. He'd actually been privileged to attend a workshop taught personally by Moshe before he'd passed away. I do the pelvic clock almost daily and while I have a number of resources to learn the other movements, I haven't yet really dig into them much. They are very helpful, though.

Not only that, but back in the early 2000s, wile in grad school doing my Masters in Counseling Psychology, we were assigned to select a counseling school of thought and one specific technique, write a paper on it, and do a class presentation. I selected Hakomi, which absolutely nobody in my class had ever heard of except our professor, who really only knew it by name only. I've yet to find anyone else who knows anything about it - until now. Nice to "meet" you. 😊 💓🤝

Great way to tune in with your body. Thanks!

Thank you🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻Had moved my right side more than the left. Afterwards, when standing up, I felt that. I was/am also more aware of my spine now than before🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Thank you 🌼🌼🌼for the wonderful somatic movement 🌈 I enjoyed doing it and my body feels relaxing and sweet 🙏Namaste