MARCH 2ND, 1998
"KEEPING YOUR SACRUM MORE SACRED" PART TWO
Feeling the lower back in a vibrant and joyful way is a luxury. Most of us adults have to work "hard" to get the feeling back which we experienced as a child in this area. Our breathing has usually become very shallow. We breathe into the upper chest if we are lucky but we hardly breathe any further down into lower chest, belly and lower back.
The following exercise can help you to deepen your breathing. Lie down on your bed on a hard matress. Put your hands on your upper chest and try to breathe into the upper chest in such a way that you can feel the chest lifting under your palms. Breathe three times with an open mouth and then move your hands onto your ribcage. Breathe three more times into the ribcage and feel it widenimg like an accordeon. Then move the palms to the top of your belly. Breathe into the belly three times. Move the hands now onto your lower back. Some poeple might find it difficult to breathe into that area. Their lower back might be feeling numb.
Move your hands a little bit up on both sides of the spine to where the kidneys are. Breathe three times into the kidneys. Imagine that you are a butterfly spreading its wings. Try to move further up to the shoulderblades. You might have to turn your hands round to reach the upper back. The next place to breathe into is the neck. Then move to both sides of the skull and then to the cheeks. Finish this exercise by breathing into the upper chest.
Now lie on your right side and feel the spine with your left hand all the way from the neck to the coccyx. You probably have to miss out a few vertebrae. Then try to feel a "bunch of muscle strings" on the left side of the spine. Try to roll your nuckles across in both directions, What can you feel?
This bunch of muscles is sometimes not easy to locate. It might be surrounded by a layer of tissue, the so-called armour. This body armour, as Wilhelm Reich the german psychotherapist has named it, serves as a desensitizer. We went through a lot of emotional pain in our life and the body in order to survive had to develop this armour.
If we manage to create a safer environment for ourselves we can start slowly to let this armour go and become a more sensitive person. Try to massage this bunch of muscles with the fingertips or the nuckles of your left hand from the neck all the way down to the coccyx. Try to feel the very beginning of pain and relax into it by breathing with an open mouth. These muscles might have been in a tense spasm for years and it might take a bit of pressure to ease the tension.
Then roll onto your other side and apply the same kind of massage with your right hand. Being massaged on your back by another person is without any doubt a much easier and more relaxing thing but you can't always get it when you need it. Self massage is the best way to learn about massage because you will get a feedback from inside.
Another useful way of feeling the lower back is exercise. Lie down on the floor and bring your knees towards the chest. Hug your knees with both arms. Roll to the right and left side. This can be like a spine massage. If you have difficulties bringing your knees further towards your shoulders do not force it. It should not hurt. Those with fairly flexible spines can now bring their legs across the head and if necessary support the lower back with both hands. The legs do not have to be straight. They can be bent and lie on both sides of the head. The legs could also rest on a chair or lean against the wall. The main thing is to stay in this slightly uncomfortable position for a while.The stomach is squeezed and therefore the breath will go into your lower back.
This breath is called alpha breath. Babies breath like that and experience a lot of bliss. The alpha breath relaxes and can bring you into a pre-dream stage where you might see visions. Once you have had enough move very slowly back by visualizing your spine as a snake and taking one breath per vertebra (as a rule of thumb). This exercise can be more fun if you put some nice music on.
Bring your feet back to the buttocks. Lift your spine and lower back up and then push the coccyx down to the floor a few times. Make a sound with an open mouth. This exercise is helpful for expressing anger and impatience. But be careful and do not overdo it.
Now bring the coccyx up and move your back up very slowly thinking of one vertebra for one breath. Once the whole spine is up try to stay there for a while. The very flexible ones can even stand on the top of their head and touch the heels with both hands. This is the opposite to the first exercise. The spine is bent to the other side. Go back very slowly. Then have a rest.
Bioenergetic exercises have been developed by Wilhelm Reich, Alexander Lowen and J.Rosenberg. They are all body-orientated Psychotherapists and they have written a few very good books on bioenergetics. You can improve your breathing, work on emotional expression and get some better grounding by practising them regularly. There are groups at the Open Centre in Old Street, London (East West Centre).
Once you have learnt how to breathe into your lower back and feel it as a support area you have to work on keeping in touch with it all by moving, bending and sitting the right way. Always keep your spine straight. If you want to pick something up from the floor move with your buttocks slowly down to a squatting position and then pick the object up. Put your clothes on by sitting on the floor or on a chair. Take your time and breathe. You are nobody's servant and therefore you do not have to rush anything.
Choose a chair with a 90 degree angle on the back. Keep your spine straight while you are sitting. Do not cross the legs as this will stop the energy flow. It is a good habit to change your sitting position every so often. Experiment with sitting on one leg or have one bent leg with the foot on your chair. These positions have the advantage that they will support your spine but can't be held for long. Kneeling on a chair or sitting like a buddha is another option. Working on the floor might be the best solution if possible.
If you have to sit on a soft sofa, make sure that you support your lower back beyond the kidneys with a hard folded cushion or with your fist, I usually use my coat or jacket on the dentist's chair.
Make sure that working surfaces are not too high or too low. Put one leg on a chair to support the spine if necessary. That is good advice if you wash your clothes in the bath. Make sure that you sleep on a hard matress. If you slowly alter your bad habits your lower back will soon improve its condition. Our body wants attention especially in the areas that are out of balance. If we give this attention to the body as we would give it to a small child the body will be happy and work for us without "moaning and groaning".
Flower and gem remedies for the lower back are:
Oak for strength and grounding for people who work too hard, Elm for grounding you in difficult times in your life, Holly to help you express anger and overcome it, Centaury for the weak willed dependant kind of people to strengthen their will, Vine for the ones who are too dominant and hardened in their attitudes, Rock Water for being soft and gentle with yourself (eases rigid muscles), Dandelion to relax muscle tension (can also be mixed with massage oil).
Tiger's Eye, Copper, Amber, Jet, Black Tourmaline, Fire Agate, Obsidian, Pyrite, Fluorite, Amazonite and Boji Stone. Both the stones and their essences can help with back pain, grounding, expressing and overcoming anger and feelings of heaviness and irritability.
The next workshop on the sacrum will be on Monday March 10th from 7-9pm at SW8 Vauxhall. Cost will be £10 (conc.£8).
Phone for details on 0171 735 4513.
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