Are you Aware of Where your Shoulders are Right Now?

David Zemach-Bersin talks with Ira Feinstein about the importance of our shoulders, parasympathetic organization, and his upcoming course, Shoulder Rescue.

Ira: I’m curious why you decided to teach a new series focused on the shoulders. You’ve taught classes about shoulders before; what made you want to revisit this subject?

David: After I taught my previous course, I felt a sense of incompleteness around the subject. Our shoulders are a very important area. One of the things that has always interested me is the way in which they are connected to our involuntary nervous system. The rising and pulling up of our shoulders is directly connected to the sympathetic response of our involuntary nervous system to stress, anxiety, and fear and is often the easiest signal to observe that somebody has a history of anxiety and fear.

In my 50-plus years as a Feldenkrais Practitioner, nearly everyone I have seen maintains a high level of unnecessary contraction in their shoulders. This simple action of the shoulders rising up and forward depresses our chest, restricts our diaphragm, tightens our abdomen, and can be a source of discomfort for the neck, even causing headaches. Working with the shoulders can help reduce people's tendency toward this sympathetic response. I feel that a lot of anxiety and the way in which we embody trauma can be reduced by helping people sense and feel a more parasympathetic organization of their shoulders.

Ira: Regarding our shoulders, what does parasympathetic organization look like?

David: Relative to how most of us are, the shoulders would come back and down. When our shoulders go back and down and rest easily, everything becomes easier. It enables our back muscles to work more effectively, our diaphragm is more relaxed, and walking is easier because our arms are free to swing. So, our shoulder organization influences everything that we do.

Ira: You just mentioned how relaxed shoulders allow for the free movement of our arms. Can I extrapolate from this that restriction in our shoulders can cause undue stress on the elbows and the hands, too?

David: Absolutely. One of Dr. Feldenkrais' most brilliant ideas was that the contraction of the proximal muscles, meaning the larger muscles closer to the center of the body,  determines the tonus and the health of the distal muscles. Our arms and hands are distal; in other words, they're further away from the center. These muscles are not only smaller, but they're weaker than the more proximal muscles. Now, why does that matter? It matters because we're not a system of separate and distinct muscles that work independently. We are a system that is gracefully and beautifully working as a whole, at every moment. And so, as we do Feldenkrais lessons, the proximal contraction of the musculature is reduced. This a “secret strategy” that is embedded in almost every Feldenkrais lesson: as we change the tonus of the proximal muscles, it helps to increase the movement of the distal.

Now, you can imagine when the shoulders are tense, when there's a contraction of those large muscles attached to the shoulder, and the shoulders come up and forward, the movement of the arms is extremely affected. Whether you are a musician, an artist, an athlete, or simply trying to get things done in your daily life, the free movement of your arms is extremely important, and that is impossible when the shoulders carry that unnecessary contraction. No matter how delicate your arms are, they can't move freely unless the shoulders are able to move freely.

Ira: I’m curious if your upcoming series, Shoulder Rescue, can help those who feel they’ve “inherited,” or were born with, rounded shoulders? 

David: There are very subtle ways in which the next generation carries the burdens and characteristic traits forward as if they're embodying the family history. But there is nothing pre-determined about the shoulders being up, forward, and rounded. It's only that the people that we see in our lives are organized in that way. And as children, we are keen imitators. 

Part of our perspective in the Feldenkrais Method is that everyone has the capacity to change; and everyone has the capacity to learn. And this is enabled or facilitated by the plasticity -or flexibility- of our nervous system. So, our nervous system is capable of learning, changing, and finding ease in new ways of being organized. And so, no matter how many years a person has had restrictions in their shoulder, restrictions in the movement of their arms, this can always improve.

Ira: Would this series be beneficial for someone who is recovering from a shoulder injury, like a rotator cuff injury?

David: It will absolutely be beneficial to anyone who has had shoulder injuries. My only caveat is that people who have suffered a serious shoulder injury or had shoulder surgery in the last five months or so, should hold off attending this series until they have healed. My classes are very gentle, but in some cases it's better to wait till a bit more time has passed.

Ira: Good to note! I’m looking forward to the first class on January 9th.

David: Yes, I hope you’ll join me for this upcoming course. If you can’t join us for the live classes on Thursdays at 12 PM EST, you’re welcome to do the lessons via recording. And there will be two Q&As during the series, so you’ll have the opportunity to ask me questions directly. Find out more at: www.feldenkraisaccess.com/shoulder-rescue