How to Lengthen the Spine - Part 2

Not that there's a set number of parts...

Allow the neck to be free

So that the head may balance forward and up

So that the spine may lengthen and the torso widens

So that the knees are forward and away from the hips…

Today’s article is yet another expansion upon the meaning of F.M. Alexander’s directions. It is highly related to last week’s article on the length of the spine. If you haven’t read those articles, I’ll do my best to summarise things for you but please take the time to go back and check things out!

Feelin’ Like a Crushed Coke Can

Back pain kinda sucks. When we have mild forms of it, the pain tends to go away in a day or two with a bit of time and rest. But when it lingers about, it can get worse over time.

When people come to me for lessons in the Alexander Technique, I’ll ask them how they’re feeling and where their pain points are. Rarely does anyone respond with, “I don’t know I just want to feel better”, they tend to have a damn good idea about a few points that are in mild to screaming agony.

From there, I begin to ask questions:

• Ok, so your lower back hurts. Do you feel any tension at the back of your neck?

• I can see that your right shoulder is lifted up a bit. How does your left side feel?

• Yes I can see that the left knee is in pain. Do you feel like you have any weight on your right foot?

As I draw attention to the parts that don’t have pain, a bigger and bigger picture begins to form in the mind of the student. Over time, they begin to feel like a crushed can of coke rather than a perfectly fine coke can with a hole in it. For me, this is a HUGE win and sign of terrific progress.

Before you even THINK about lengthening your spine or freeing your neck, you should have some sense of your whole crushed coke can¹.

A Crushed Example

We are massively mobile creatures. At one extreme end, we can move like ninjas, ballerinas, or contortionists. At the end extreme, we can find ourselves in a state of severe scoliosis. This is worth bearing in mind as I share with you a simple drawing of someone collapsing forward and down.

In the drawing above, I have superimposed a red outline of someone dropping their head forward and down. This is causing their chest to pitch up and their pelvis to push forward and droop down. This individual may or may not also have a twist in their spine.

In the case of the red outline above, some of the muscles of the spine will contract and eventually learn to perpetually hold tension to maintain the exaggerated curves in the spine. Other muscles will be slack or little used and feel like a black hole of nothingness. The imbalance will also be marked by weight loading onto the back portion of the vertebrae rather than along the furthest forward portion of the spine.

Is there anything that our red outline can do to rebalance along the upright midline?

The answer to this question is theoretically YES²!

Uncrushing the Coke Can

Before you can change anything, you should first take a minute to lie down and look at the clouds. While you look at the clouds, you should give yourself the gentlest reminder that the neck can be soft and the head balances forward and up above it. If you cannot feel anything in the neck faintly thawing or the muscles around your head easing up off of the skull, you’ll likely struggle with allowing length in the spine.

But if you have some success with the above, then check out the dumb drawing below!

In the drawing above, I’ve marked off 12 yellow zones. At top and bottom there are 4 red arrows. As you sit, stand, or lie down you might be able to imagine the purple muscles of the spine thawing. You can help the thawing along if you allow your sense of feeling to touch both the top red arrows and bottom red arrows AND wonder if you can feel those directions.

The sense of release may be very small but it is possible if the head is marginally forward and up³.

You may not be able to feel the whole lot of the purple muscles all at once. That’s pretty normal. It’s also why I have drawn the 12 yellow zones!

You are free to slowly allow your sense of feeling to go from the top zones to the bottom. There’s no need to rush as your sense of feeling scans down the back and you don’t want to block the feeling of the arms, ribs, or legs. Remember the cafe analogy when in doubt!

I have divided the yellow zones along the midline because people tend to have very different ways of holding tension from left to right. Some of my students work at computers a lot and tend to lean onto their right. The yellow zones along the right tend to be quite tight and painful while the zones on the left are in a bit of atrophy. This also tends to come with a twist of the rib cage towards the right.

By feeling the left relative to the right as you lie down on a flat surface, you can get a better sense of how your back is twisting and turning. If you notice a twist, that’s great! Just don’t try and force your back flat onto the midline as you will likely stiffen your neck like crazy. Keep imagining a gentle, glacial thawing and you will eventually find more center.

Also bear in mind that without a sense of the whole rest of you expanding, there will be a bit of tension that refuses to let go. You’ll eventually need to be able to thaw a little bit everywhere to get that nice sense of ‘Ahhhhh’. And that takes time and practice.

When you feel the whole length of the spinal musculature, you might gently imagine the top lengthening up and following the head while the bottom lengthens away. It will feel like you’re gently growing in stature by being stretched out from head to butt. It feels quite terrific when it happens, but bear in mind that the spine will always have curves to it. You should NEVER attempt to flatten out your spine.

Does This Resonate With You?

These blogs are hopefully a way of helping you better understand yourself, how you function, and why things sometimes feel off in a general way. If these posts are helpful, I encourage you to subscribe, leave a comment, ask a question, or check out the archives for my previous articles. I like hearing from everyone and I’ll do my best to respond as I can.

Get In Touch

If you’re in NYC, you may learn more about my private teaching practice at johndalto.com.

If you’d like to book any lesson time with me, you can find my booking link here.

1. AKA Know Your Habit (3 articles linked there…)

2. In reality, the more complex the injury the longer the recovery time and the more unknown the extent of recovery is. But theoretically change IS possible.

3. The more freely the head balances atop the spine, the bigger the release of the muscles of the spine.