Rounding And Arching Your Spine To Sit More Comfortably

This exercise is the first in a series of 3, designed to give you more ease and comfort in sitting. So many people have neck, shoulder, and back pain. But true comfort for sitting comes from learning to sit "dynamically" on your pelvis. “Rounding and arching your spine to sit more comfortably”, you’ll feel for yourself how much lighter and more relaxed you can feel when sitting, by simply allowing your skeleton to be mobile and free, and by moving from your pelvis rather than your back.

You'll need a chair with a firm, flat seat for this exercise.

Transcript

Welcome to the first of three exercises to help you sit more comfortably.

Many people do stretching and strengthening exercises to help find temporary relief from back pain,

But these rarely help to improve posture and they rarely change the underlying reasons for the neck,

Shoulder,

And back pain.

When you sit much of each day,

You're probably unconsciously not moving your middle back.

The 12 vertebrae of your thoracic spine that are each attached to a rib.

This is like wearing an immobilizing brace on your back for over eight hours each day.

The longer this immobilizing takes place,

The less flexibility and mobility is available in your spine.

And this alone is a major reason for neck,

Shoulder,

And lower back pain.

So in our first exercise,

Rounding and arching your spine,

You'll feel how,

For yourself,

How lighter and more relaxed you can feel when sitting simply by allowing your skeleton to be mobile and free and by moving from your pelvis rather than from your back.

So to begin with,

Please sit on a chair with a flat,

Firm surface.

Come to the front of your chair so that the backs of your thighs are free and have your feet flat on the floor directly underneath your knees.

Have your legs about hips distance apart,

So let it be comfortable.

And now rest your hands on your thighs or any place where your arms and shoulders feel relaxed.

And to begin with,

Feel the contact of the bones of your pelvis on your chair.

Begin to gently roll your pelvis a tiny bit forward and feel the weight shift the tiniest bit on your chair.

And maybe you can feel the front of your sitting bones or making contact with the chair.

See if you can feel this.

And now gently roll your pelvis back to your neutral position where you started.

Pause for a moment.

Let your belly be relaxed.

Notice if you're holding your breath.

And now do this movement again very,

Very slowly.

Make it very small.

You simply roll your pelvis a little forward and then you roll your pelvis back to the starting place.

And we'll call that neutral.

If you feel any stretching or muscles of your back are having to work,

Then make the movement even smaller.

Only make the smallest movement that's completely necessary but it'd be very comfortable and easy to do.

And then you come back to your neutral position and you pause.

And now the next time you gently shift your pelvis that little bit forward,

Just look up towards the ceiling with your eyes.

Don't strain your eyes at all.

And then when you come back to the neutral,

Bring your eyes to neutral.

So you're looking straight ahead.

And then you pause and you do this again very slowly.

See if you can feel that as you shift your weight that little bit forward on your pelvis and you look up that tiny bit,

Can you feel that your spine arches slightly?

It can be very,

Very small.

And then you come back to the neutral and you pause and then you do that again.

Try not to use effort to make anything happen.

Rather,

Observe what it is that your spine does passively.

You're initiating the movement in your pelvis.

You're just rocking your pelvis that little bit forward that's completely easy.

Your belly is relaxed,

Relax your jaw,

Maybe even open your mouth a tiny bit and separate your teeth.

Notice if you're holding your breath.

See if you can breathe freely as you do this.

Good.

And now come back to the neutral again and pause.

And now do the same movement with your pelvis,

But this time look downwards towards the floor with your eyes.

So you shift your weight a tiny bit forwards on your pelvis and you look downwards.

And then you come back to neutral with your pelvis and your eyes come back to looking straight ahead.

And then you do this again.

Do it several times very,

Very slowly,

Pausing between each movement.

So when you pause between each movement,

Your brain can take in the sensory information or that subtle physical feelings that you become aware of as you do the movement.

It's not the movement that will begin to give you more mobility and flexibility,

It's your attention to yourself as you do the movement.

So really go slowly.

The number of movements you do or doing the movements quickly has no impact in what we're doing here.

In fact,

The more slowly you can move and the smaller you make the movements,

The more improvements you'll begin to feel.

And now the next time you come back to neutral,

Pause.

Notice if you are holding your breath.

And now once again,

Shift your weight forward on your pelvis as you look upwards this time.

And just notice if this movement feels a little bit easier than the first time you did it.

Maybe yes,

Maybe not yet.

And now pause when you come back to the middle again.

And now gently rock your pelvis back a little bit so that you feel the contact of your pelvis on the chair is toward the back of the bones of your pelvis.

So it's almost like you're rolling onto the back of your pelvis.

And then you come back to neutral slowly,

Pause,

And do this again.

So you gently rock your pelvis back,

Just what's easy.

It can be very small.

And then you come to neutral.

If you feel any strain or any effort in your lower back,

Then you're doing too big of a movement.

See if you can let go of any effort in your legs or in your lower back or your shoulders.

Relax your jaw,

Separate your teeth a little bit.

And as you continue this slow,

Small movement of tilting back on your pelvis,

Look down towards the floor with your eyes.

And then you come back to the neutral and you look straight ahead and you pause.

And then you rock the weight towards the back of your pelvis and you look downwards and you come back.

What do you notice in your spine?

Can you feel that there's a subtle rounding that's happening passively when you rock the weight towards the back of your pelvis and you look downwards?

So don't try to force this or stretch your back to round.

Just see if you can observe that as you slowly shift the weight on your chair by rolling your pelvis that tiny little bit back and looking towards the floor,

That your back just naturally rounds a little bit.

Good,

And now the next time you come to neutral,

Pause for a moment and now resume the movement that you were just doing of shifting the weight onto the back of your pelvis,

But this time look up towards the ceiling with your eyes.

So you continue to shift the weight back on your pelvis,

But you look up towards the ceiling and then you come back to the neutral and you pause for a moment before doing it again.

And you go very slowly.

So this direction may be a little more challenging with shifting the weight to the back of your pelvis and looking up with your eyes,

But if you go slowly and make the movement even smaller than you can,

It will start to become easy.

If you feel any strain or stretching,

Make the movement even smaller,

Even if you're barely moving.

And now the next time you come to neutral,

Pause and rest for a moment.

And now go back to that earlier movement of shifting the weight to the back of your pelvis and look down as you gently feel your spine round a little bit naturally,

And then come back to neutral.

Just do this a few times slowly and see if something feels a little easier or a little smoother in that movement.

Good.

And now rest.

So when you rest,

You can lean back on your chair and relax a little bit.

You can even pause the audio if you like before moving forward.

Paying focused attention to your physical sensations and the quality of the movements in the way that we're doing here takes mental energy.

So you're resting to give your attention a break.

And also when you rest,

This gives your brain time to integrate the sensory information you've just been gathering by paying attention to what you're feeling.

Your brain is always looking for the most efficient path to any movement,

The path that uses the least effort and the least muscular contractions.

All right,

And now we'll put both movements together.

So come back to the front of your chair with your feet flat on the floor,

Your feet are underneath your knees,

And see if you can initiate the movement from your pelvis each time.

So as you inhale,

Shift the weight of your pelvis forward and look up with your eyes as you allow your spine to passively arch.

Let your belly be soft and relaxed.

Good.

And now exhale through neutral slowly and continue exhaling as you shift the weight to the back of your pelvis and look down towards the floor and feel how your back naturally rounds a little bit.

And then you come back as you inhale,

You shift the weight forward on your pelvis,

Your eyes look up.

And as you exhale from your pelvis,

You begin to shift the weight back and look down towards the floor and so on.

Only do the movement that's completely comfortable for you,

The movement that feels easy and effortless.

Remember,

You're not interested in stretching or using your back muscles.

The movement comes from your pelvis and it can be a very,

Very small movement.

You inhale as you roll the weight forward and look up.

You slowly come through center and exhale as you roll the weight back and look down.

Just notice how when you roll forward and look up gently and your spine arches a little bit,

Notice how your chest widens and your sternum lifts a little.

And then as you shift the weight backwards on your pelvis and look downwards and you round your spine that little bit,

You can feel your shoulder blades move apart from each other.

And as you roll forward on your pelvis and you look up,

Just open your mouth a little bit.

And as you roll your weight backwards,

As you exhale and you look down and your spine rounds,

Let your mouth close a little bit and observe your breathing as you do this.

Can you breathe easily and freely?

Are you noticing that there's places where you hold your breath?

Is there any place where you can let go of muscular contraction?

Can you relax your jaw?

Can you relax your belly?

Let your arms be relaxed,

Your legs.

See if you can make this as smooth and easy and pleasurable a movement as possible.

Try to only do what's completely easy rather than making it stretching or straining.

See if you can go even more slowly and make the range of the movement even smaller.

Notice if the movement is becoming smoother or easier or clearer now than it was at the beginning of the exercise.

Okay,

And now come back to neutral and rest for a moment and just sit in your chair and notice how you feel.

Are you sitting more easily without strain?

Can you feel how your head just rests on top of your shoulders and your shoulders stack over your hips?

Is your breathing easier and freer?

So you can do this exercise whenever you have a few minutes in your day and see if you naturally begin to shift on your pelvis when you're sitting at your desk and realize you're not comfortable.

So the more you can practice this lesson,

This exercise,

The more you'll reinforce these new,

Healthier neural pathways that you just created.

Remember that the key to comfort in your sitting posture is your pelvis.

Thank you for practicing with me.

Reviews

Thank you Susan. Another excellent practice. At first I felt a lot of muscular activity, but by the end, much of it let go 😃 🙏
Looking forward to practising sessions 2 and 3 of this series
Deep gratitude and warm wishes for the holiday season.