Your Spine is Awesome

The spine is our body’s central support structure - it keeps us upright and connects the different parts of our skeleton to each other: our head, chest, pelvis, shoulders, arms and legs. It also acts as a shock absorber in the body and it’s natural S curve shape reduce stress and pressure in the body as you move.

The spine also has 6 primary movements, with 2 secondary movements. The spine can flex (round), extend (like in a backbend), move laterally right and left (like a side bend), and rotate to both sides (think spinal twist). The spine can also do axial extension (lengthen upwards) and compress - which are the 2 secondary movements. And the spine can also do multiple of these movements at the same time - ie. flexing and twisting at the same time.

Simply put, the spine is amazing.

This month in my yoga classes I focused on spinal mobilization and moving the spine through all its ranges of motion - except for compression since we have too much of that already in day to day life and want to counteract that in our yoga practice.

When we focus on moving and mobilizing the spine, it’s amazing how much more light and spacious we can feel. It suddenly feels like you can fully breathe again and even breathe bigger than beyond the boundaries of your body. Have you ever experienced this? If not, I recommend you get on your mat and show your spine some love!