The Neck : A Closer Look at the Front

WTF am I Feeling?!?

Hello Readers!

Apologies for being away last week. I had a wave of illness hit me and I just couldn’t bring myself to write anything. I’d like to think it has something to do with Arsenal absolutely terrorizing Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter final. However if that’s the reason, then I fear for my personal health if Arsenal beat PSG in the semi-finals…

And if they make it to the FINALS?!??…

And if they….

Nah… let’s not go there.

To the Blogssssss

This week I thought I’d pick up where we left off and share some more images of the neck. There’s a great view of the front of the neck that I think can clear up a lot of confusion for folks when it comes to the elusive idea of reducing neck tension. Here we go!

The two arrows are highlighting the group of muscles called the Sternohyroid. These fibers run from the base of your voice to your breast bone with the lively two-directional flow of energy that I wrote about 2 weeks age. I’m highlighting this region today because I think that the voice is a pretty integral part of the neck.

Allowing yourself to feel your voice while thinking about the neck freeing from tension may sound like a no-brainer once you’re reading it here, but oftentimes folks only feel pain along the back portion of their necks. Once our attention gets drawn there, we have a tendency to completely tune out the sensory information from the other bits of the neck. By allowing ourselves the time to feel the front, back, and sides altogether, we have a much better chance of sensing that glacial melting of tension.

Remember the Curve of Your Neck

Based on the image above, you could think that these muscle fibers are vertical rods. Do recall that the bones of the neck are arranged in a curve…

Not only does the neck have a curve, but it also has a group of muscles running along the front of the vertebrae. These are not vocal muscles. They are behind the voice and will also lengthen along a two-directional arrow.

When you feel the neck lengthening, you will feel the entire vocal apparatus grow in length between your head and your chest.

Adding It All Up

The other drawings I’ve included of the neck should help you have a more 3 dimensional feel for yourself. I think it’s very helpful to notice when things are tight in the neck and wonder about where exactly you feel that tension. Without driving yourself nuts, you can then take the time to not only feel the pain points, but the other areas that we’ve highlighted.

Oftentimes, these other areas feel completely dead; as if they are not participating in any part of your life and are lazy lima beans! By hook or by crook, we want them to begin to WAKE UP and start helping us in our daily lives again!

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.