Hi I’m Donna Stephens and welcome to The Well to BE aligned in your spine with Earth’s supportive of energy.

The earth has two opposing forces, gravity pulls the apple down from the tree and ground reaction force is what causes the apple to bounce off the ground. We can intentionally press down for ground reaction force to push back up into our body. And when it does it naturally lengthen our spine, helps us align our spine and allows gravity and ground reaction force to work together to support our spine.

There is an exercise called Arcing which was created by Judith Aston that can be done sitting or standing to intentionally connect to the supportive energy of ground reaction force.

In sitting, sit at the edge of the chair, inhale length in your spine and as you exhale gently rock your pelvis back, feel your weight behind your sit bones. Inhale gently rock your pelvis forward, feel your weight is in front of your sit bones. Exhale to center feel your weight on top of your sit bones.

Inhale lengthen your spine, exhale gently rock your pelvis back creating an arc of flexion in your spine. As you Inhale gently rock your pelvis forward, creating an arc of extension in your spine. Exhale to center, creating the natural curves, alignment of your spine.

A couple things to watch out for. After you inhale lengthening your spine and start to exhale, avoid collapsing back or drooping your head. Instead think of creating an even C shape from your tailbone to your head. As you Inhale rocking your weight forward, lead with your pelvis so your energy is flowing up from the base of your spine towards the crown of your head to avoid overextending your neck or leading with your head. Then returning to center onto your sit bones aligns your spine to a neutral position.

Inhale lengthen your spine, exhale gently rock your pelvis back, gently arcing your spine into flexion. Inhale rock your pelvis rocks forward, gently arcing your spine into extension. Exhale return to center with your weight on top of your sit bones aligning your spine to its neutral position.

In standing, inhale length in your spine. As you exhale gently soften your knees, curl your tailbone under creating a gentle C shape from tailbone to head and notice your weight is more towards your heels. Inhale start to shift your body weight towards the balls of your feet as you gently extend your spine. As you exhale back to center your body weight is evenly distributed under your feet and feel the natural curves, the alignment of your spine.

Inhale length your spine, exhale soften bend your knees, curl the tailbone under, gently arc your spine forward, weight towards the heels. Inhale press through the balls of your feet. Gently arc your spine in extension. Exhale return to center, feel your body weight is evenly distributed under your feet and feel the natural curves, the alignment of your spine.

Notice the bottom of your feet as you do the standing arcing. As you shift your weight towards your heels to flex your spine, your toes are still touching the floor. As you press your body weight towards the balls of your feet to extend your spine, the heel are still touching the floor. When your return to center your body weight is equally distributed under your feet as you settle into your natural curves, the alignment of your spine.

You can make these arcs smaller, listen to your body to what feels best.

Know the supportive energy of ground reaction force is always available to you in sitting and standing.

So BE aligned in your spine with Earth’s supportive energy!