The face-healing beauty magic of long melting holds in bodywork
I recently shared about how the neck is the gateway to the vitality, and beautiful facial posture is largely contributed if not entirely to the suppleness, alignment, fluid and energetic flow of the neck.
But you won’t see me doing deep neck stretches, deep neck work, or turning anyone’s head myself. I believe these practices can create a lot of cervical instability and stress on the body personally, and so I don’t do them.
(I literally just tap and guide my client when it’s time for them to turn and then allow their head to fall exactly where the range of motion ends).
But I do a lot of long, melting holds and I “suggest” lengthening and light light light traction (more like decompression)
Long holds are an amazing way to help facilitate healing and enhance vitality in the body.
They create safety in the body because the nervous system can recognize what’s happening and say to itself “oh, I know what’s happening, there are no surprises here, I can unwind and release.”
In bodywork, there’s a term called “therapeutic time” it’s waiting for a person system to respond. It’s not forcing, using additional pressure, or enhancing stimulation to get a response, it’s waiting, it’s holding a neutral space of safety and letting the body release what it’s ready to when it’s ready to.
It’s a wonderful way to warm the tissues, creating a tension, melting effect without any force or intense pressure.
How I do it:
I cup one hand under their neck, and I hold underneath the top of their thoracic spine and upper traps by splitting my fingers and cradling the spine With my other hand.
And then intentionally “invite” their neck to drop into my hands, and to soften.
Sometimes I create a light milking motion up and down along the spine vertically to encourage glide in the tissues. It’s so barely there that it’s almost sub sensory.
Realize that not everything needs to look fancy or have a wow factor to facilitate incredible shifts. Sometimes the subtlest movements create an opening for the most dramatic changes.