shoulder rolls

This bronze figure shows an open chest and “heart space;” his shoulders are well back and his ribcage is anchored. He is part of a fountain in Piccadilly Circus, London, sculpted by Sir Alfred Gilbert in 1893. Referred to (erroneously) as “Eros,” the figure is in fact Anteros, Eros’ brother, who represents a more mature, less capricious love. Original image courtesy Gareth Williams under CC BY 2.0.

“Heart space” is a term used in yoga to describe the upper part of the chest where the heart is located. Valentine’s Day is an ideal time to give some special attention to this region, and explore its relation to your posture and wellbeing. 

The Gokhale Method teaches four particular techniques which enable you to open your chest without doing damage to your back:

1. Rib anchor video
   Learning to engage your rib anchor is an important first step. It will prevent your lower ribs from popping up and your back from swaying in the techniques that follow.
    
2. Up and back with the neck video
   By drawing the base of the skull gently backwards and upwards, the chest is no longer crowded into the body, but rather allowed to expand outwards and upwards.
    

3. Shoulder rolls video
   Shoulder rolls help position the arms further back along the torso, which immediately opens the chest to expansion with breathing. In the long run, this results in a larger, more open chest.

This Ecuadorian school teacher is much loved by his pupils. Note that the teacher and his pupils have open chests and posterior shoulder placement.

4. Breathing into the upper chest
   The first three techniques may already leave you feeling more open-hearted. They enable you to breathe more deeply, but this may not yet be your habit. Take a few slow, deep breaths that further open your upper chest. Then rest a few breaths before repeating. It is common to feel resistance in the chest at first, but by using these techniques to open your structure and deepen your breathing, with practice it will become easy and pleasurable. 

The functioning of the heart is clearly essential to good health and life itself, but the organ and its position in the chest are also given special importance in many religious and cultural frameworks. Even our language is full of familiar, evocative idioms such as “from the bottom of my heart,” “faint-hearted,” “heart of the matter,” “heart and soul,” “heartening,” and so on.  Let’s explore the symbolism and associations a little further, especially where they intersect with posture.

Heart symbolism in Western European cultures
Let’s begin with St. Valentine. According to most popular accounts, Saint Valentine was either a priest or a bishop in the times of the Roman Empire, who, with great bravery and compassion, ministered to persecuted Christians. He was martyred and buried north of Rome on February 14, which has been observed as St. Valentine's Day since 496 AD. Another plausible legend suggests that when Roman Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for young men – reasoning that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families – Valentine defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. 

Whichever legend has truth, love, bravery, and compassion are all qualities said to reside in the heart in many Western European cultures. In Catholic Christianity, the Sacred Heart of Jesus symbolises his unconditional love, and the church and its patrons commissioned many paintings on this theme. These paintings show the heart radiating divinity; they often also show the very visceral detail of an attached aorta!  

Allegorical painting of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The central heart radiates hearts gathered up by putti (cherubs). Painting by Robert la Longe, ca. 1705. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The heart-shaped symbol ♡ evolved around the 14th century, loosely based on the organ’s shape. Today we have numerous emojis preprogrammed in our smartphones, ready to use as shorthand for love, broken-heartedness, and associated feelings and events.

Heart symbolism in South Asian and East Asian cultures
Many Asian cultures also identify the heart space as essential to our wellbeing. Traditional Indian medicine describes energy centers, or chakras, that lie along the central axis of the body. The heart chakra (Anahata) is considered the center of love and compassion that can become blocked by grief or selfishness. An unblocked anahata is associated with loving-kindness and peacefulness. Tibetan Buddhist understandings of chakras also typically include a chakra located in the center of the chest.

This illustration from an 1899 Tibetan manuscript shows the body’s energy centers (chakras), including the twelve-petalled heart chakra. Public domain. Original image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

In Japanese language and culture, the word kokoro (distinct from the physical organ) encapsulates heart, spirit, mind, and soul, among other concepts. And in Chinese medicine, the Mu, or front correspondence point, of the heart is located at the midpoint of the nipples, and is used to heal emotional hurt.

This Buddha figure in Sri Lanka displays a beautifully relaxed, open chest and heart space. Original image courtesy Sadaham Yathra on Pexels.

Posture and the heart space
Of course, with its emphasis on our structure, it is natural to think of healthy posture and the Gokhale Method as primarily benefiting our bodies. It is certainly true that having a well-developed ribcage and open chest are important ingredients for a straight spine and well-positioned shoulders. Such good structure also benefits physiological functions such as blood circulation, breathing, digestion, and allows space for the brachial nerve plexus. However, our structure is also intimately connected to our body language, revealing and communicating how we feel.

An open heart space can often look like balanced, approachable confidence. Original image courtesy nappy on Pexels.

A mounting body of research connects open upper body posture with confidence and vitality; and crumpled upper body posture with depression, exhaustion, shame, and poor health. According to a 2017 New Zealand study, it is more challenging to be depressed with open upper body posture than with slumped upper body posture. According to another, even our performance in subjects like math improves when we adopt an open posture.

These subway commuters, with their varied seated and standing postures, demonstrate a wide range of heart space openness. Original image courtesy Laura Dewilde on Unsplash.

It strikes me that there is much cross-cultural convergence on associating this area of the body with “matters of the heart.” How does your experience and knowledge of other cultures stack up with this?

The arm and shoulder of this African carpenter align with the back of his torso.

One of the most striking features of good posture is the position of the shoulders. The posture of this African carpenter shows how, with the shoulders well back, the arms align more with the back of the body than the front. The side of the chest and ribcage are clearly visible. Positioning the shoulders well brings you many benefits. It aligns your shoulder joint correctly, avoiding impingement, bursitis, arthritis, tendinitis, and general wear and tear. It improves circulation to your arms, as well as your breathing pattern. Optimal shoulder positioning improves athletic performance: throwing, punching, and swinging a racket or bat are all mechanically advantaged when your shoulders remain “home.” And last but not least, it helps prevent hunching your upper back and protruding your head forward.

If your shoulders have drifted forward over the years, a shoulder roll can ease your shoulders home into a healthy position. This maneuver gently realigns the many structures of the shoulder joint and immediately relieves stress and increases comfort. Punctuating your days with occasional shoulder rolls will gradually lengthen any tight, shortened muscles in the front of your chest and shoulders, giving you a wider, more open chest. 

Michelangelo’s ‘David’ shows the shoulders well behind a wide, open chest. Original image courtesy Igor Ferreira on Unsplash.

Your shoulders will be increasingly happy to settle back, returning nearer to where they were when you were a young child.

Children have naturally well-aligned shoulders.

If you don’t already know how to do a Gokhale Method shoulder roll, or would like to refresh your shoulder roll technique, this short video will show you how to gently roll each shoulder forward, up, and back.

The shoulder roll is so gentle you can repeat it whenever you need. (If you already have some soreness in your shoulder, then wait until it has recovered, or try mini shoulder rolls —  you do not want to cause pain.) However, the aim is not to be continually rolling your shoulders!

Here are my tips for making your shoulder roll last longer:

Tip 1: Once you have taken your shoulder forward, up, and then back, remember to release your arm down right there — you don’t want to just scoop your shoulder full circle! Check that you have fully relaxed the muscles on the top of your shoulder and neck. Feel the weight sinking down to your elbow. Expect this to both look and feel different from your old position — that’s progress!

Ratchet the shoulder soft tissue back in a similar way to a gear mechanism.

Tip 2: When sitting with your hands on your lap, place your hands close to your body and not close to your knees as this will tend to pull your shoulders forward again. Let your elbows drop straight down and be heavy. You can also hook your thumbs on your belt, pant rim, or pockets.

Your shoulders will be pulled forward if your hands slide too close to your knees.

Tip 3: Sit or stand up close to any task you may be doing. That may be typing, chopping vegetables, or working at a bench. This will make it easier to keep your shoulders rested back. You may be surprised how this simple step can help you break old habits of slouching the shoulders forward to reach things. 

Create new posture habits around daily tasks.

Tip 4: Notice how you go to move your coffee cup, pen or computer mouse —  are you automatically reaching your shoulder forward? With your shoulder back and relaxed after a shoulder roll, try extending your arm by opening up the angle of your elbow. 

Tip 5: Before driving, adjust your position to accommodate and keep your shoulder roll. See my blog post, How to Modify Your Car Seat for a Pain-Free Ride.

These five tips will help your arm, shoulder, and upper back muscles to work harmoniously and pain-free. I look forward to sharing further tips in Part 2 of this blog, and exploring when it is absolutely ok to pull your shoulders back!