One thing that most of us don’t do enough of is move.

And if we do move, we don’t necessarily move those parts that are most effected by our modern, device using lifestyles… like our shoulders.

Why is movement important?

Many of the functions of our bodies depend on movement, some directly like the flow of lymph, which only moves when we move, and some indirectly like the flow of nutrients to cells which slows down in areas where the interstitial fluid becomes viscous… due to lack of movement.

*(If you want to get geeky, there’s an excerpt below from Anatomy Trains on how movement, nutrition, strain, etc. effect the facia, intercellular fluids and cellular nutrition.)

Basically, if we’re not moving all parts of our bodies regularly our bodies aren’t functioning optimally. The parts that aren’t moved will get tight, weak, constricted, congested and clogged.
And thus undernourished.
Not a pretty picture.

On the other hand, our bodies love to move! It feels great to stretch and wiggle and flex and sigh.

That great feeling is our bodies saying, “Thank you! I loved that!”

Movement helps the body open, decongest, strengthen and flow.
And nourish itself optimally.
Along with eating and watering (!!), resting, sleeping and exercising (to get all systems flowing), movement is crucial to your cellular wellbeing.

One area I don’t move and stretch as much as I could is my upper torso. I spend a lot of time on my computer with my shoulders slightly hunched forward, like right now as I write, and not as much time moving, opening and stretching.

If you feel the same, I encourage you to take a moment right now and stretch out wide, roll your shoulders, head and neck and let yourself sigh with pleasure.
I just did, and oh, is my body happier!

I’ve included in the video above an exercise I learned recently for moving the shoulders in their full range of motion. I really enjoyed playing with it because my body understood immediately though my brain was lost. I was moving my body in a new way, one that my mind didn’t follow, so was in kid-like wonder… “This is great! Can I do this with my other arm, too? Wait! What am I doing exactly?! I don’t know! How fun! Can I do both arms at once? How about in reverse?! Whee!”

Or if you’d rather do some more traditional stretches for upper torso, I highly recommend Andrey Lappa’s passive shoulder asanas. They are some of the most effective upper body stretches I’ve ever done.
Amazing constructions. Beautiful yoga.
Know that they are intense. Definitely warm-up well first!

Or just move instinctively! Right where you are! It’s easy to just stretch any way you like. And breathe. One of the best thing we can do is simply incorporate a bit of movement everyday for those parts that aren’t getting enough attention.
Check-in… where ever you feel tight, restricted and blah, get your wiggle on.

Your body will thank you.

Hope that Helps and Happy Moving!,
Elena

*Excerpt below from Anatomy Trains by Thomas W. Myers
(Bolding and items in [brackets] are mine. -EF):

“How easily the nutrients make it to the target cells is determined by:
1. the density of the fibrous matrix [the facia];
2. the viscosity of the ground substance [intercellular fluid].
If the fibers are too dense, or the ground substance too dehydrated and viscous, then these cells will be less thoroughly fed and watered. It is one basic intention of manual and movement interventions – quite aside from the educational value they may have – to open both of these elements to allow free flow of nutrients to, and waste products from, these cells. The condition of the fibers and ground substance is of course partially determined by genetic and nutritional factors, as well as exercise, but local areas can be subject to ‘clogging’ through either of these two mechanisms when excess strain, trauma, or insufficient movement has allowed such clogging to occur. Once the clog is dispersed, by what-ever means, the free flow of chemistry to and from the cells allows the cell to stop functioning on metabolism-only ‘survival’ mode to resume its specialized ‘social’ function, be that contraction, secretion, or conduction.
‘There is but one disease,’ says Paracelsus, ‘and its name is congestion.’ “