Getting answers in the ribs
While I’m still on my extension kick—in fact I’m now firmly into the diagonals—I’m sharing a ribs lesson this week. Ribs are vital to our well-being, but they don’t get talked about much.
If we think the ribs are like a cage or a chest, we won’t move then much. If we think of them as bendy, fluid, responsive, and flexible, we just might start wiggling them.
For the ribs, how you imagine them counts for a lot.
I thought of this today when a question arose from a client: “Will I ever feel better from the compression fracture in my sternum? They (the doctors) say I just have to live with it.”
My answer is, it depends on how you frame the question. If the question is, “Will the pain ever go away?” or, “Will this injury ever heal?” Then the doctors might be right, I honestly don’t know.
If the question is, “Will I ever be able to improve my experience in spite of this injury?” Then the answer is absolutely, yes.
From a medical perspective, many conditions may not change. That doesn’t mean we can’t improve our lives, our comfort, or our abilities!
Especially because from a nervous system perspective, the brain is wired to adapt. We can grow and shift and maneuver and strategize and adjust to live better and better lives, even with enormous structural or health challenges.
Our ability to adapt also depends very much on how much we believe we can.
Use this lesson to start believing that you, too, can let go of tension in the ribs.
More lessons:
This lesson is from the Human Movement starter kit in the Feldenkrais Treasury.
Subscribe here to access movement programs to do at home.
Or, download more lessons on flexible ribs at my audio shop!
Quote of the week:
“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”