When your head turns, the 7 Cervical Vertebrae in your neck function in a similar way to the spine at your waist. Both have a natural curve forwards towards the front of your body, and both are unable to turn very far when those curves are in place, e.g. if you were simply standing up looking straight ahead with no intention to move.
Try turning the head the wrong way first. Lift your chin and push it slightly forwards. Now try turning your head in that position.
What happens when you turn your head?
What takes place, or should take place is that your neck very slightly straightens out; in other words, the neck draws back a fraction, and the curve reduces. In the Alexander Technique the phrase used is ‘neck to lengthen’, but there’s no stretching involved, and no intentional drawing back, there’s only a release which allows the muscles to lengthen because they are no longer being held in tension.
When this happens, the muscles in the neck soften, which allows the neck muscles (particularly on the back of the neck) to undo, the spinous processes that stick out from the back of the spine separate very slightly, and this enables the neck to freely turn. What also happens is that the chin fractionally drops and appears to tuck under slightly.
Now try the right way. After an initial ‘mechanical’ tryout in which you are likely to overdo it, go for a very subtle version where you almost appear to do nothing. This latter version is nearer how it ought to be done, and if you don’t try too hard and observe within yourself, you’ll notice that your shoulders automatically settle also. If they don’t, the release isn’t complete. After the release, you are then ready to turn your head.
Gardening When we ‘turn the head’, we think of turning it using the neck and also pivoting the head on the ‘atlas’ – that’s the one at the top.
All true, but actually, when the head turns, the movement doesn’t stop at the lowest neck vertebra (C7, or the 7th cervical vertebra), it also involves the first two or even three thoracic vertebrae – i.e. the next set of vertebrae downwards. In effect therefore, the functional aspect of the neck goes beyond the 7 neck vertebrae.
So when turning the head, try thinking of the rotational point as being a little further down your back; it’s a little like having the head rotating on a garden dibber.
___________________________________________________ James Drewe teaches Tai Chi and Qigong in both London and in Kent and online. Details of weekly classes both live and online can be found on the website, and there are classes for 2-person Tai Chi on one Saturday a month.
CONTACT: http://www.taiji.co.uk https://www.qigonghealth.co.uk Email: taijiandqigong@gmail.com Phone: 07836-710281 ___________________________________________________
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