Foundation Series

Yes! There is something you can do that will not only tone your waist more throughout the whole day, but help to reduce tension and stress. It’s all in the alignment of your shoulder blades.

Our bodies respond to stress every single day. This is generally manifested as a tightening of muscles. There are some of us who are will always hold tension in the shoulders, specifically in the trapezius muscles right across the top of the shoulder. The result is to bring the shoulders right up under the ears and have the surrounding muscles also contract for long periods.

On the flip side of all this contraction is the over-lengthened and switched off position taken on by the obliques. The result here is that the muscles end up slackening and the will be less definition or shape to the waist. The obliques also play a big part of the flattening of the front of the abdominals.

So here’s what we can all do to reduce some tension and stress and get our bodies in to a happy state of neutral, where the muscles are all just ticking along doing their job.

Start with the extreme, just so you know what not to do…bring your shoulders right up to your ears. Hold here for a little while until you can get a sense of just how tight you need to be to stay there.

Now draw the shoulder blades towards each other.

Notice if you jutted the head forward when you did this. If you did, simply slide the head back in space. Next is the relaxing part…move the scapulae (shoulder blades) down towards the hips. Allow them to really sink down. The last step is to draw the shoulder blades apart to create space in the mid and upper back.

Go through this a few times and even in front of a mirror will help you to connect to the final position. This position of the scapulae being relaxed down the back and wide form part of the Callanetics Studio Check points that we refer to in the workout videos. Remember that when your bones are aligned correctly, the muscles and other soft tissues all work in their best position too.

What if I can’t bring my shoulders right back?

If you have been rounded forwards for a while (as in years) then don’t be surprised, or disheartened for that matter, if you feel you haven’t got this position down pat first try. There will be a lot of tension across the chest that you can work on releasing while you are doing this exercise.

How this tones your abs

Go through the exercise again. This time pay attention to how you feel in the waist. Just to experience the difference in a fairly crude way, you can bring the shoulder up, as in the first step of the exercise and move your rib cage from side to side. Did it feel quite loose? Now bring the shoulders into their check point position (down and wide) and move the rib cage again. Feel different? You will have noticed that the obliques engage when the shoulders relax.

Add this on to the previous alignment pointers and continue to bring your awareness to your body a few times a day to create new habits that will serve your figure and your health!