Supple Low Back

Support for the natural curves of our spine allows for supple movement. Muscle tissue that is supple is responsive and resilient. When we experience that kind of responsiveness and resilience in our body, it translates as emotional well being.

Transcript

Hi,

This is Meg Rinaldi and welcome to Body Centered Inquiry and welcome to this somatic movement audio,

Supple Low Back.

For this session you'll need a few simple props,

Two hand-sized towels and a bath-sized towel.

Please wear clothing that allows for warmth and ease of movement,

Remove your glasses,

Jewelry,

Belt,

Have sock or bare feet and have a carpeted or padded surface to lie upon.

Get the props you need and then roll up one hand towel so that it fits comfortably beneath your neck.

The idea is to have the towel take over some of the work of the usually overworked muscles of our neck.

So please come to lie on your back and adjust the support beneath your neck.

If you need another support for the back of your head,

Then use the folded bath towel.

And take time to begin to settle in.

Allow your awareness to turn inward.

Become aware of the ground beneath you and your breathing.

Have your eyes closed or in a soft gaze.

Invite softness into your throat,

Your mouth,

Your tongue,

Your face.

You can have your knees bent and feet standing or your legs long right now,

Whichever is comfortable.

And when you're ready,

Bend your knees and bring your feet to standing if they're not already.

Have your legs and feet at a comfortable distance away from one another.

And bring into your mind the left foot making a clear imprint on the ground and the right foot making a clear imprint on the ground.

Bring into your awareness the heel,

The arch,

The ball,

And the toes of the left foot.

And then bring into your awareness the heel,

Arch,

Ball,

And toes of the right foot.

Invite a steady connected support through each of your feet.

Begin being aware of the dynamic relationship between you and the ground.

The ground moves toward us as we yield into it.

Now draw the right thigh up over you with your hands wrapped just below the front of the right knee.

Allow the weight of your thigh to rest into your abdomen and rest there,

Breathing.

Feel your breath as it moves in and out against your thigh.

The left foot remains standing clearly on the ground.

Now imagine there's a rubber band that connects your nose to your right knee.

And begin to slowly circle your right knee.

It shifts to the right,

Then away from you toward your feet,

And rotates toward the left knee and back to where you started.

So you're gently,

Slowly,

Quietly rotating your leg in your right hip joint.

And you're following the movement of the knee with your nose,

Which invites movement.

A gentle rotation of the whole spine.

The head can move a little bit.

The upper back and chest moves.

As you do this rotational movement of the right leg with hands wrapped around the front of the right knee.

So go in one direction two or three or four times.

And then slowly change your direction.

And rotate with the leg two or three or four times slowly with your breathing.

Bringing your full awareness to this simple movement.

The left foot stands clearly on the floor or on the ground.

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

Can you invite more softness into your face,

Into your jaw,

Into your eyes,

Into your throat?

You can have the circles be as small or as large as you need them to be for your comfort and safety.

And when you're ready,

Gently place that right foot on the ground with a clear sense of contact between your foot and the ground.

And remember that you can pause the audio if you need to go more slowly.

Listen to yourself for those movements.

How they echo through you now.

Just the few you just did.

Notice your quality of mind,

Your breathing.

And when you're ready,

Draw the left thigh up over you and place both hands below the left knee.

Rest there.

Allowing the hamstrings to soften and release as you breathe.

As the left thigh rests into your belly.

Breathing.

Then gradually begin to allow this leg to rotate in the left hip joint.

Following the movement with that imaginary rubber band that is attached from your nose to your left knee.

Because of that connection,

The upper and middle spine will move with the rotation of the left leg in the left hip joint.

Go slowly a few directions one way and then pause and then go the other way.

All the while savoring the movement and breathing.

Notice how your connection to the ground changes as you move.

And be aware of what happens to the quality of your awareness as you do these slow,

Languid,

Gentle movements.

When do you breathe in?

When do you breathe out?

How does your shape change on the ground?

And when you're ready,

Allow the left foot to gently return to the ground.

And again be clear about your contact between the left foot and the ground.

And listen for how the movements on this side echo through you while you rest.

You can rest here with your feet standing or your legs long.

And rest some more.

And when you're ready,

Bring both feet to standing again.

Have your legs comfortably spread apart.

And now bring both hands behind your back.

Both palms face the ground and support the back of your waist.

So your lower back,

That is the waist and part of the bony pelvis,

Is resting on the backs of your hands.

So the palms are facing the floor.

Adjust your hands so that your wrists,

Elbows and shoulders are at ease.

If this is uncomfortable for you,

Then take the other hand towel,

Fold it to a comfortable thickness and put it where your hands would have been.

In either case,

You're supporting the small part of the back and you're taking over some of the extra muscular work in that area.

And rest there,

Feeling that support beneath you,

Whether it's your hands or the towel.

Support for the natural curves of our spine allows for supple movement.

Supple movement is powerful movement.

Muscle tissue that is supple is responsive and resilient.

When we experience that kind of responsiveness and resilience in the body,

It translates into emotional well-being.

So now you have support under both natural curves of your spine,

Beneath the neck and beneath the low back.

Now with your hands or towel beneath the small of your back,

Begin to roll your pelvis a small amount toward your feet.

So your pelvis rolls over your low back support and then roll your pelvis back to where you started.

And here you're rolling your pelvis.

You're not lifting it off the ground at all.

You roll your pelvis a small amount in a safe,

Easy range toward your feet and then roll it back to where you started.

And pause each time you return to your starting place and breathe.

And then resume rolling your pelvis toward your feet with your appropriate back support behind you.

Do this two or three or four times at your own pace,

Breathing,

Pausing between each movement.

Each time you return to your starting place,

Pause and breathe.

Then you can pause the audio as needed.

The movement can be very small.

It could just be the intention to move.

What matters is the quality of awareness you bring to the movement.

And after your next pause,

Roll your pelvis a small amount toward your head.

Again,

You are not lifting your pelvis off the ground.

You're rolling it.

So the small of your back presses more into your hands or back support.

And then you return to where you started.

Pause,

Breathe,

And then resume to roll your pelvis a small amount toward your head and then back to where you started.

And be aware of the ground beneath you and your jaw and throat and face and eyes.

Is there any extra work going on somewhere that doesn't need to be there?

Two or three or four times at your own pace,

Rolling your pelvis a small amount toward your head and back to where you started.

As you do this,

Notice that your head also wants to move a small amount.

You are inviting the whole spine into motion by rolling your pelvis.

These two areas of our spine are the most vulnerable.

These are the places where most of the wear and tear occur in the lumbar and cervical vertebra.

And when you're ready,

Take a rest.

Bring your feet to standing again if they're not already.

And come back now to rolling your pelvis both footwork and headwork,

Slowly and gradually.

Allow whatever support is there behind your low back to take over the extra work.

When we have support for the low back and the neck,

There's a restoration of integrity of the natural curves that give stability to the spinal column.

If there were no curves in the spinal column,

There'd be no ability for our body to absorb the impact of our movements.

There's a genius in the architecture here.

Explore these movements a few more times,

Rolling your pelvis both footwork and headwork,

Keeping the breath easy,

The throat,

The mouth,

The eyes,

The face soft.

And then pause with your feet standing.

Now with the left foot standing on the floor once again,

Draw the right thigh up over your belly.

Hold the leg with both hands below the knee and take time to rotate the leg in the hip joint like you did earlier.

Be aware if there's a change in the quality of this movement.

You could still have the back support of the towel or you could remove it.

And when you've done that movement to your satisfaction,

Rest that right foot on the ground and then draw up the left thigh over your belly,

Pausing there and breathing.

And then begin to allow that leg to rotate in the left hip joint.

Follow the knee with your nose,

Imagining that your knee and nose are connected with a stretchy band.

And notice how that movement is for you now.

And then when you've had enough,

Rest again and be aware what has happened to your breathing,

Your connection to the ground and to your awareness itself.

And slowly when you're ready,

Gently roll to one side.

Slowly find your way to sitting and standing again in your own good time.

And thank you.

That's the end of this session.

Reviews

Really nice connection to the low back. Thank you.

Thank you, really good pace.

Thank you 🌀🌀🌀for the wonderful meditation and magic movements 🙏Namaste