The Lower Abdomen
The lower abdomen should remain relaxed, except when you are making a full exhalation, such as when you are very active, or practicing abdominal breathing. The rest of the time (which is most of the time), practice releasing any tension in the lower abdomen until this becomes automatic. Your breathing, digestion and elimination will improve, and the rest of your body will relax more fully.
Two central points of the body that reflect and determine your tension level in daily life are your face and lower abdomen. During daily activities, practice occasionally subtly “smiling” with the eyes and face, and keep your lower abdomen relaxed. Then allow this relaxation to spread to the rest of your field.
While practicing these structural alignment exercises, also practice relaxing the structure in this way. When you can maintain these points of relaxation while practicing exercises, you will be more able to maintain it more spontaneously and automatically at other times. Remember that the face is not only the primary expresser of body language, but also returns to your system the very emotions it expresses outwardly.
When you practice the subtle inner smile, allow all of the facial muscles relax. This relaxation can be seen and felt particularly around the eyes and mouth. Feel the eyelids close very slightly as the area around the eyes relaxes, and the space between the eyebrows widens. Let the eyes be gently receptive to incoming visual stimuli. Feel that sights and sounds flow into their respective organs, rather than being grasped for outwardly.
Allow the nostrils and sinuses to subtly widen, creating more space for the breath to enter the body. Let the outer corners of the mouth lift very gently, with the tongue up to the palate, the lips slightly touching, and the jaws just separated or barely touching. This will produce a smile like that of the Mona Lisa or Buddha. This lifting of the corners of the mouth must be effortless, and the outer result of an inner smile.
As you practice relaxing deeply, all of these details will take place spontaneously because they are natural aspects of healthy facial alignment, once they have been conditioned into your basic neuromuscular patterns.
Practice the inner smile in this way with your eyes open, as well as closed. This will enable you to apply it more constantly and automatically. A “smile” in the eyes and the subtle lift at the outer corners of the mouth are the most important details. Whenever you do this, you may find it easier to access feelings of serenity and compassion.
When the mind and body are even slightly more centered and calm, movement will also be increasingly fluid and graceful. This is necessary for an increasingly harmonious flow of energy or life force.
RELAXING THE JAW MUSCLES
Chronically tight jaw muscles are very common, and add to overall facial and head tension and distortion. Clenched or tightened jaws become that way for various reasons. Strong emotions that are held back from expression may produce this. On the other hand, the universal distortion of a collapsed neck in which the chin moves forward out of alignment will often cause compensations in the jaw pattern. Occlusal problems and other patterns of cranial stress may reflect in the jaw muscles. Whatever the cause, tight jaw muscles can be loosened, so that it is easier to practice the inner smile and deeper field relaxation.
Since it is difficult to relax the jaw muscles simply through intention, a cork can be useful. This is a very beneficial exercise for many persons with chronic jaw tension, though many can benefit from its practice, even without having jaw tension of which they are aware. Buy a simple cork stopper in a grocery or hardware store. Cut it if necessary to fit between the front teeth, thus keeping the mouth wide open.
Make the width of the cork such that it is still possible to open the mouth a little farther, so that holding the cork does not result in strain. Simply place the cork in the mouth for about ten minutes every day for several weeks. As the jaw muscles stretch open, use a longer cork until you can easily use a normal sized one. This can be done while reading, driving, showering, or watching TV Do not do this if it is painful, if your jaws make audible sounds when they open and close, or if you have a history of jaw dislocation, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) stress or other problems.
SHOULDER WIDENING
The principles of Shoulder Widening are applied during all structural exercises, and at all times when balanced, erect posture is appropriate. It is the “neutral, or idling” position for the shoulder girdle, when the arms and shoulders are not being used actively. In addition, shoulder widening becomes an automatic and foundational position for the shoulder girdle during use of the upper body and arms.
For our purposes, the shoulder girdle consists of the arms, scapulae, collarbones, and manubrium sternum. This structure “drapes” over the neck, and sits on top of the rib cage. Common random distortions of the shoulder girdle include:
- Shoulders rolling forward, closing the chest,
- Shoulders pulled back and drawn together, tightening the upper back,
- Shoulders lifted toward the head, tightening the upper back and neck.
The Shoulder Widening Exercise is practiced so that the principles of Shoulder Widening can be felt, developed, and automatically applied during other structural exercises and during daily life.
The lower abdomen should remain relaxed, except when you are making a full exhalation, such as when you are very active, or practicing abdominal breathing. The rest of the time (which is most of the time), practice releasing any tension in the lower abdomen until this becomes automatic. Your breathing, digestion and elimination will improve, and the rest of your body will relax more fully.
Two central points of the body that reflect and determine your tension level in daily life are your face and lower abdomen. During daily activities, practice occasionally subtly “smiling” with the eyes and face, and keep your lower abdomen relaxed. Then allow this relaxation to spread to the rest of your field.
While practicing these structural alignment exercises, also practice relaxing the structure in this way. When you can maintain these points of relaxation while practicing exercises, you will be more able to maintain it more spontaneously and automatically at other times. Remember that the face is not only the primary expresser of body language, but also returns to your system the very emotions it expresses outwardly.
When you practice the subtle inner smile, allow all of the facial muscles relax. This relaxation can be seen and felt particularly around the eyes and mouth. Feel the eyelids close very slightly as the area around the eyes relaxes, and the space between the eyebrows widens. Let the eyes be gently receptive to incoming visual stimuli. Feel that sights and sounds flow into their respective organs, rather than being grasped for outwardly.
Allow the nostrils and sinuses to subtly widen, creating more space for the breath to enter the body. Let the outer corners of the mouth lift very gently, with the tongue up to the palate, the lips slightly touching, and the jaws just separated or barely touching. This will produce a smile like that of the Mona Lisa or Buddha. This lifting of the corners of the mouth must be effortless, and the outer result of an inner smile.
As you practice relaxing deeply, all of these details will take place spontaneously because they are natural aspects of healthy facial alignment, once they have been conditioned into your basic neuromuscular patterns.
Practice the inner smile in this way with your eyes open, as well as closed. This will enable you to apply it more constantly and automatically. A “smile” in the eyes and the subtle lift at the outer corners of the mouth are the most important details. Whenever you do this, you may find it easier to access feelings of serenity and compassion.
When the mind and body are even slightly more centered and calm, movement will also be increasingly fluid and graceful. This is necessary for an increasingly harmonious flow of energy or life force.
RELAXING THE JAW MUSCLES
Chronically tight jaw muscles are very common, and add to overall facial and head tension and distortion. Clenched or tightened jaws become that way for various reasons. Strong emotions that are held back from expression may produce this. On the other hand, the universal distortion of a collapsed neck in which the chin moves forward out of alignment will often cause compensations in the jaw pattern. Occlusal problems and other patterns of cranial stress may reflect in the jaw muscles. Whatever the cause, tight jaw muscles can be loosened, so that it is easier to practice the inner smile and deeper field relaxation.
Since it is difficult to relax the jaw muscles simply through intention, a cork can be useful. This is a very beneficial exercise for many persons with chronic jaw tension, though many can benefit from its practice, even without having jaw tension of which they are aware. Buy a simple cork stopper in a grocery or hardware store. Cut it if necessary to fit between the front teeth, thus keeping the mouth wide open.
Make the width of the cork such that it is still possible to open the mouth a little farther, so that holding the cork does not result in strain. Simply place the cork in the mouth for about ten minutes every day for several weeks. As the jaw muscles stretch open, use a longer cork until you can easily use a normal sized one. This can be done while reading, driving, showering, or watching TV Do not do this if it is painful, if your jaws make audible sounds when they open and close, or if you have a history of jaw dislocation, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) stress or other problems.
SHOULDER WIDENING
The principles of Shoulder Widening are applied during all structural exercises, and at all times when balanced, erect posture is appropriate. It is the “neutral, or idling” position for the shoulder girdle, when the arms and shoulders are not being used actively. In addition, shoulder widening becomes an automatic and foundational position for the shoulder girdle during use of the upper body and arms.
For our purposes, the shoulder girdle consists of the arms, scapulae, collarbones, and manubrium sternum. This structure “drapes” over the neck, and sits on top of the rib cage. Common random distortions of the shoulder girdle include:
- Shoulders rolling forward, closing the chest,
- Shoulders pulled back and drawn together, tightening the upper back,
- Shoulders lifted toward the head, tightening the upper back and neck.
The Shoulder Widening Exercise is practiced so that the principles of Shoulder Widening can be felt, developed, and automatically applied during other structural exercises and during daily life.
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