Cervical techniques

[Victory !]

Shivashiva & Cstbrian,

Thank you both for your replies. I appreciate your insights. I don't mean to hijack this thread to talk about emotional release, but the anterior neck seems especially potent for many people. Therefore, the topics seem to go hand-in-hand. I spoke with another friend & colleague about my experience and she had 2 insights that were very helpful for me. She said that often emotions held in the body aren't related to physical trauma at all, but rather symbolic of other events. For example, emotions trapped in the throat might be related to "choking back" your truth, your feelings, your opinions, your vocal expression of your spirit and soul. Although this doesn't apply to my current-day self, it certainly applies to my childhood self, which fits the paradigm for old emotions being hidden/stored in our bodies. Those emotions come as a surprise when tapped in a bodywork session, like they're coming out of nowhere, and as Cstbrian pointed out, are suddenly "now here." My friend also suggested that fear felt when an area is massaged might be a guarding mechanism, to protect us from the emotion hidden there. I've decided to seek more bodywork in this area, with a practitioner that is also trained in emotional release. I'm ready to let this block go!

 

[Shenh]

For example, emotions trapped in the throat might be related to "choking back" your truth, your feelings, your opinions, your vocal expression of your spirit and soul.

Absolutely!
In CranioSacral II we teach working in the mouth on the hard palate. In SomatoEmotional Release I (which is really CranioSacral III) we teach working in the mouth on the soft palate. When we combine these techniques with others learned by SERI, we have what we call "The Avenue of Expression" protocol. We do this protocol on the first day of SERI and the first day of SERII. We do this so that we can help a person find his/her voice.

You are exactly right that too often we are told to 'shut up' or we can't speak our truth and we end up stuffing those feelings/emotions down our throats. Helping to open up someone's 'Avenue of Expression' can have a huge impact on the person speaking his/her truth.

Brian

 

[wishnuwelltoo]

I don't mean to hijack this thread to talk about emotional release, but the anterior neck seems especially potent for many people. Therefore, the topics seem to go hand-in-hand.

Then let me ties this all together for us ...

Throat work directly impacts cervical work. How? We must remember that the Constrictor Pharyngeus Medius (I hope I spelled that all right) attaches to the posterior body of the Hyoid and has attachments on the anterior bodies of C1-C2-C3. It is a muscle that is very often overlooked because of it's location. However, this is very important to release for people with not only throat issues, but people with cervical spine issues as well.

So this all really does tie together .... but then, doesn't it all always tie together?!

Brian

 

[Unicornrider]

Work releasing mouth muscles will guarantee an easily movable and free neck.

 

[Leon]

Cervical techniques

I find that people with ant. neck issues usually have pretty intense upper back issues as well. You could pound away on SCM all day but if their upper traps, lev scap, and such are wrecked then it;s a bad chance that they will hold their head in a good position. for the ant neck i like to do a pulling-stretch with my palm on platysma and that seems to relax it a bit as well as stretch the general area. working circ friction on mastoid process attachment for SCM can help as well. 50% of the time i can also drag loose knuckles along the path of SCM and find TP's 3/4 of the way towards the clavicle/sternum. In my oractice of mostly swedish/deep tissue most people dont want their scm plucked but those are some less invasie ways to work on it. also, PNF stretches at the end have working some miracles. just look up how to do a PNF stretch for the SCM.