Neck & Shoulder Rebalance

Hi, everybody. I'm Tom McCook. It's a great pleasure to be back at Pilates anytime. In this tutorial, I'm gonna give you a little lesson on the neck and the shoulder girdle for release better alignment and just to connect to the muscles that we tend to be a little bit out of balance with, which is the rotator cuff, the mid back, and the serratus and lower trap muscles, which tie the arms into the core, and help you take care of your shoulder joints a little bit better. So the first thing we wanna know is we wanna know where does the head sit on the spine. So I'm just gonna turn mister bones here towards you.

And if you see this bone right below the ear, it's called the mastoid process, straight in from there, from where your fingers will be on your own body in a moment. Is where the hits, the head sits on the spine, the sit bones of the head. So what I'd like you to do is just go below your own ear lobes, and you'll feel this robust bone called the mastoid process. Now take your fingers and align them with each other and picture straight in about an inch or a little more on each side is where the sit bones of the head rest on the spine. So we want the head to be centered over those points and just really slow nod your head forward and back really small.

And picture as you're doing that, if the sit bones of the head are sliding in these two cups. And you can picture the sit bone as you nod your head forward, the sit bone at the at the bottom of the head is sliding back and then sliding forward. And what you can do is put one finger on that mastoid process, one finger on the top of the head. And as you nod your head slightly forward, feel the bone you're touching at the bottom is going back as the head go forward. And that's mirroring what the sit bones of the head are doing and make it pretty small. Notice that where you can image as you're doing this, that the shape of the spine is not changing in this smaller range.

You're just gliding. And then try that with your other hand. So one of the ways we learn how to release tension and improve alignment is identifying where is the movement How do we align better inside of where things are? Now from there to improve function a little bit more, put one hand under your jaw and one hand go down the back of your neck where it starts to indent Now, both of these places are not supporting weight, so we don't want them to be holding tension. So just massage in that neck pit in the back and under your jaw, relax your jaw, relax your neck, relax your eyes.

Do that for about ten more seconds. Relax your tongue muscles. Feels kinda good. I'm ready for a nap. And then from there, come back to nodding again.

You might notice it's a little clearer. Now I'd like you to take take the two Franklin balls. Two Franklin balls have a therapy in close by two. Now put them on each side of your neck. As we do that simple knotting, we're gonna massage the muscles on each side of the spine, reach side of the neck.

And notice that nodding is small, and notice that you don't have to add tension to the base of your skull and the back or under your jaw. Do that six or seven more times. Very fluid, centering the weight on your feet, knees are unlocked, There we go. You could do this in the beginning of your class. You could do this any time of day if you're sitting a lot or just in general to improve function as part of your your body organization and health, one more. I'll just take a moment to notice that. Now from there, you have a muscle You can see if I turn my neck.

You'll see this robust muscle here. It's called your SCM, your sternocleidomastoid. Sternocleidom meaning it has two attachments that has an attachment to the sternum and to the clavicle. You can see that little piece right there. So you're gonna touch both ends there and then touch the other end, which is on that bone we were just touching a moment ago.

So in a modern life when the head is forward, it's held relatively short. And we want that to lengthen so we can bring the head back over our spine better. As I touch those two points, I'm gonna nod my chin. Now if I draw my head, when my chin dropped, if I rotate towards the up arm, I'll feel how those two points are lengthening away from each other. Then they slide closer together.

I won't feel much of a stretch usually, but I can feel sense image. I'm giving that muscle a nice lengthening effect with mental minimal force. And do that two more times. And one. And as you come up, See, I already noticed that this side feels more free. I'm gonna touch side too, touch the attachments at the lower part, then touch the sternocleidum, or the the the bone up here, the mastoid process.

So now you're touching both ends of the muscle. Tuck your chin. Now take your head and rotate it towards the up arm. Feel how those muscle points are sliding apart, then they slide closer. Again, you're not trying to find your absolute end range or be aggressive.

Let it be very fluid and easeful. Don't wanna be aggressive with your neck. And one more. Now as you come back up, brush up those muscles and picture the energy is going up and up the back of your head. So you're drawing the head up and back. So you're bringing the head up on top of the spine through that flow of that muscle.

Then notice as you're doing that, you can relax your jaw. Now you head's right up over your spine. Very nice. Now from there, we're gonna go into massaging a muscle. We're gonna go into the shoulder girdle just shortly. So picture the shoulder girdle is your clavicle.

Your scapula and your upper arm. We're gonna imagine this guy has an upper arm. I have one, though. So we can just see that. So those three bones constitute your shoulder girdle.

Now in general, from modern life, The pec minor muscle is attached to the part of the scapula called the coracoid process or bird beak that's underneath your clavicle. And you have a muscle called your pec minor. I'll just give you a little visual. That attaches to the down like a fan towards rib two, three, four, and five onto the ribcage. Attaches onto that coracoid, and it's a depressor, an internal rotator.

So when it's tight, it pulls the shoulders in. So we're gonna give it a little bit of massage right below the clavicle. So if you slide your hand along your clavicle, you'll feel how it's s shaped. Now notice where it angles back, go below that. You'll feel a hollow space and when you go a little more lateral, you're gonna run into a point.

That's the bird beak. It's a little higher up than this guy because this guy doesn't have any muscles on him. Now as you come just below it to the point, you might feel a little sore there. As you just make little circular massages there, draw the shoulder blade back towards the spine and turn the palm out. Do it a few times.

Now the muscles in the middle of your back, your rhomboids, and middle fibers of your trapezius, have to slide together for the pec minor to slide apart because they're opposite ends of the shoulder blade. So as I slide back, I'm getting that muscle to lengthen. And then with my fingers, I'm giving a little massage, then I'm pulling my fingers towards the bottom of my breastbone in opposition of the shoulder blade movement. And I'm just gonna do that three more times. Again, not forceful.

Just gonna help my shoulders sit back better and one more. Now, right away, I feel the difference in my shoulders. I feel it's more back, and it's dropped. My neck feels more free. My head's back over the spine.

That was pretty quick. So now trace the other clavicle. Feel its shape. Now find where the where the s shape of the clavicle angles back, go just below it into that hollow space, and then just go a little more lateral. You're gonna run into a bony point. Come to the tip of that bony point.

And then with your fingers, just start to make a little circular massage on you might feel a little tender tissue. And now start to add, as you do that circular massage, pull your hand towards the bottom of the breastbone, as you turn the palm out and pull the shoulder blade back. And then let it go. And I'm not doing this or rotating or making it an aggressive arm movement. I feel like you're really moving more from the shoulder blade. That little bit of external rotation just helps you get the form a little bit better.

There we go. And just do three more. Nice and fluid. And one. Very nice. Now we're ready for a couple mobility and strength exercises for the rotator and the glide of the shoulder blades around the ribcage. So from here, just take your arms out to the side at shoulder height. Now the fact that you've opened up your chest, you'll be easier to move the shoulder blades towards the spine.

With the palms up, pull the shoulder blades in towards the spine, and stabilize them back with your palms up, draw the head back and up so that you can lengthen through your SCMs. Now with soft knees, spin the arms to the back, arms straight, shoulder blades stabilized, retracted, smooth breathing. We're using the rotator. We're using our middle back. We're using our postural muscles.

And let's do 10 more. Arms are not lofty. They're straight as possible and and toned. Last four. Now from there, bring your knuckles bend it like the first knuckle, second knuckle, bring your knuckles to your temples.

And this is a scapula glide, knees your soft tail a little bit forward, exhale touch the elbows, inhale to open, use your middle back. Now pull the shoulder blades wide and low as the elbows come forward. Picture your middle back muscles are opening, then your chest is opening without arching and curling the spine. And let's do four more. Notice the head staying relatively still.

One more. And then from there, come down, Alright. Now come down onto your mat and grab your theraband. Come on to your back with your legs bent, feet flat. So this this is for teaching your body how to have clear scapula connection when you lift the arms overhead where we'll we're gonna train the serratus and lower trap and the rotator cuff muscles. So with your head on the floor, center the weight on the pelvis, and bring your elbows up with your hands and elbows are shoulder width apart. Now set the shoulders slightly down and back. Now using the back of your shoulders, just pull the hands just a little bit apart you feel those muscles in the back of the shoulder, the rotator cuff.

Now energetically feel like your elbows are drawing towards each other. Your wrists are pulling away from each other. Now start to pull the shoulder blades slightly towards the back of your hips and towards your elbows to lift the arms overhead without allowing the elbows to go wider than the hands. It might be really small and come back. And again, pull the part, shoulders down to go up. Feel as you're doing it, you're not splaying your front ribs out.

You're doing your best to keep both sides of your neck long. Back of the shoulders, low trap, serratus connection. Just two more times. And one Now as you lower, take a moment now to notice how it feels to feel that connection when you lift the arms overhead. So you can really feel that connection to your scapula muscles. Without having to distort or change the shape of the lower back or shorten the neck.

And now from there, we'll come back up to standing. And just take a moment when you stand now. Just notice that connection. You could even do the movement here. You could do it without a therapist to go, I can now feel that without the band, elbows in hand same width.

And then just take a moment to notice, notice the opening in the chest. The length of the neck. And play around with this. Do it often, and you can blend this into your classes or your private sessions, or just for your own practice, which is I recommend where you start. Thanks for joining, and I hope you enjoy.