Exercises for the Child

FROM A PHYSIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

What can be done to alleviate this pain?
What is this body asking for?

Nurture and activate heart chakra and corresponding chi connection.

This can be done by:

  • Swimming
  • Upper body “flight” exercise
  • Finding music which inspires movement
  • Headstands for short periods of time will reverse this patterning (blood flows upstream)
  • Acknowledging and validating suppressed love impulses
  • Unblocking chi, link below

Increase physical exercise.

  • Dance lessons
  • Affirmative, encouraging, well trained and heart-connected teacher recommended.
  • Belly dance chest circles really get things moving that are choked up.
  • Aerial yoga is great for opening arms/shoulders/neck/chest.

Consider somatic awareness exercises (movement reeducation is the original neuro-plasticity). Good posture, relaxed and tall, is the absence of excessive muscular tension throughout the body and balance and co-ordination between opposing muscle groups. It’s not about tightening muscles in order to stay standing upright!  With good posture you will be able to move quickly if you need to, without excess muscle tension.

  • Alexander technique
  • Feldenkrais
  • Hanna Somatics
    • Over stimulation of the “Red Light Reflex
    • Reeducation of the psoas
    • Reeducation of the abdominal muscles, shoulder girdle
    • Spinal flexion and extension.

Unmet psycho-emotional and spiritual needs dissolve as the body is able to function with better mobility, flexibility, coordination, and awareness. Weak abdominal muscles will naturally strengthen as self-esteem improves.

Connect self-image with visual feedback.

This can be done by standing sideways in front of a full length mirror, “reaching” for the body’s ideal posture. This should not be a strain, but rather offer an alternative that feels better than the habitual posture. Commit to doing this two or three times a day.

Target Posture (Reaching for relief):

  • chest up, open
  • heart lifted towards the sky but not over-exaggerated
  • shoulders down and relaxed
  • head back just a hair
  • chin micro-drop, neck not bent
  • navel in just slightly
  • knees micro-bend
  • feet hip-distance apart
  • toes forward
  • balance weight in center of feet
  • love what you see in the mirror
  • smile

Spend a lot of time making the posture adjustments in front of a full-length mirror and throughout the day whenever you think about it, wherever you are.

Adopt stretches for flexibility.

  1. Chest openers (from natural standing posture):
  • Lift (pull up) chest up (towards the sky) from the center of the chest, nothing dramatic (this should look normal to you), allowing shoulders to drop down and back slightly.
  • This will also help the forward head posture dramatically.
  • Although this will look normal, it will probably not feel normal at first.
  • Pull the back of the head back, ever so slightly.
  • Drop the chin ever so slightly without bending the neck.
  1. Gentle standing backbend (Gentle subtle flexions to release back tension)
  2. Practice correct head position by balancing book on head every day, two or three times a day for 30-60 seconds, say, while brushing teeth, doing dishes, using the bathroom. Keep a book in the bathroom, one in the kitchen, one in the bedroom.
  3. Clasp hands behind the back and pull down.
  4. Eventually work on pecs and back muscles, once overall posture adjustments have been established and tension released, flexibility addressed.
  5. Massage and Craniosacral Work would be excellent adjunct.

Address the mother wound still being held in the belly.

This can be done by having a ceremony working with the navel.

  • Imagery involves leaving cord attached until it falls off on its own.
  • Loss of the placenta (the Other in the womb) is grieved.
  • The energetic umbilical is then wrapped around oneself in imaginary knots until the spiritual bleeding stops.
  • Any remaining resentment in the womb is transformed into compassion and self knowledge.

As the body strengthens the posture will improve. As self-confidence grows she will carry herself with love and strength as inner love and inner strength radiates from her core to her peripherals.

Credits (Please scroll to the bottom of the Song to the Child page)

Resources:

  • http://energeticsinstitute.com.au/psychotherapy-counselling/characterology/
  • https://thesomaticmovement.wordpress.com/tag/red-light-reflex/
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3x_ITdzKbI#t=47.466957
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r97hXUR5N10