This image paints a beautiful picture. It’s what you would see if you took your head off and looked straight down. There’s a lot going on in there. Beginning on the left you’ll see a “c” shaped structure, that’s the insertion of the tongue. Did you know the tongue is the only group of muscles in the body that don’t move a bone or joint? It moves itself, food and helps to shape words when speaking or singing. It’s like a tentacle. In the middle of the tongue attachment you’ll see the windpipe and to the right of that is the esophagus, it’s the oval looking structure. Here’s where it gets fun. To the right of the esophagus is the first vertebrae of the spine called the Atlas. This is where the head optimally balances from. Notice its right in the middle, in the core of the neck. It’s a perfect place for the base of your skull to balance on.
To the right of the weight bearing part of the vertebrae is the spinal cord. It’s the trianglular/arrow shaped structure pointing toward the back of the neck. It’s the nervous system part of the vertebrae. Unfortunately, this is where a lot of people spend a big chunk of their time. Balancing our head over this space is a common contributor to neck tension, headaches and lack of freedom to look at the world around you. Notice all those shapes occupying the right side of the diagram? Those are all neck muscles. When the head is balanced over the weight bearing part of the vertebrae (the bony structure in the middle) the neck muscles are free to act as powerful head turning muscles. When the head sits any place else, they become head holding muscles and we begin asking these muscles to do two jobs, to hold our bowling ball like head and turn it when we want to look around. It’s a lot to ask. The neck muscles are able to do it for a while, but they will eventually get tired, causing pain and discomfort.
You now have a handful of different point of views to balance your head from. it doesn’t have to be perfect and doesn’t have to be all the time. Checking in with your bodymap a couple times of day can help take pressure off structures (nerves, blood vessels and muscles) that aren’t designed to handle constant loads. When your head is balanced more often, your neck is able to be free and your torso is able to lengthen and widen. This has a positive cascading effect down the hips, legs, ankles and feet and into the ground.
In the next post we will cover how the spine lengthens and gathers with our breath. See you there.