Understanding and caring for the belly is a key to good health. Most of us are taught to do sit ups to keep our mid section healthy and firm. However, in many cases, this type of strengthening simply brings more stress and tension to this vital part of our body.
If you watch a child at play, sometimes the belly is rounded and relaxed, and sometimes it is firm, when they are engaged in playing in the sand, climbing a tree, or pulling a big toy truck across the floor. They are not thinking about what the belly should look like (unless they have an adult in their life, who has already started to make them feel self conscious about how their belly looks), but they do know how to use the core muscles when necessary, and to relax them when not in use.
Many people think they need to constantly engage their core muscles, especially if they have a back problem. They have been told by healthcare professionals, that they need to develop the muscles around the back to protect the back. This is not bad advice, but it is incomplete.
Take a moment to reflect on when the body is happiest and functions best. It is not in a state of constant tension. Rather, it is in a state of adaptive readiness in relationship to changes in the external and internal environment.
Imagine trying to rock hop, while keeping your legs constantly tight? It would be impossible. You would fall over and lose your balance. The body is able to maintain maximal strength, flexibility and adaptability when it finds a “just right” balance between relaxation and muscle engagement.
So what does the tummy have to do with all of this? Due to being told to sit up straight and suck in our tummies, from a young ago, many people are walking around with chronically tight tummies. When you think of something that is chronically tight, I want you to also think of this in another way, as chronically weak. When muscles are not given the opportunity to both relax and engage, they become weak. As a result, a lot of people end up doing sit ups or other abdominal exercises, on muscles that are already chronically tight. It would be like doing a bicep curl, with the elbow in flexion, and having someone yell at you to pull harder. You cannot pull harder, the muscle is already tight and fully engaged. Thankfully for the bicep, most of us have no problem extending our elbows so that the muscle can experience a full range of motion, that allows for it to be relaxed when not in use.
However, the belly is not so easy to relax for many of us. In many cases, people have been taught, that it is correct to hold constant tension in this part of the body. This negatively affects the surrounding muscles and bones that support the abdomen, such as the hip bones, pelvic floor muscles, vertebra and back muscles, not to mention the impact this has on the abdominal organs themselves. In addition, this affects the movement that occurs during a natural breath, one that allows the diaphragm to expand and contract.
So what’s a person to do, to begin to rewire this maladaptive patterning in the tummy? Rub your belly!
This is a very gentle type of massage. Think about a cat resting on your tummy (as long as you are not allergic to cats, in which case, think of something else that is soft and fuzzy and gently kneads your tummy) and use the pads of your fingers to gently massage the area around your navel center. Then extend the radius all the way to the lower right quadrant where the large intestine connects to the small intestine, and slowly “paw” your way up the right side of the abdomen. See if you can begin to sense the large intestine, which can be easy to palpate if it is full. From the lower right side of the rib cage, it travels across the abdomen, often dipping down toward the belly button, before climbing back up toward an attachment to the left side of the rib cage, before making its descent down the left side of the abdomen and into the sigmoid colon and colon.
It’s always a good idea to look at an anatomy book and learn about your physiology. This increases your intuition about your body, and increases your capacity to heal yourself.
As always, if you have any questions, or if you would like to schedule a manual therapy session or wellness coaching session, reach out to me at lonestarhealingarts@protonmail.me.
Sending you wishes for a peaceful belly and robust health!