Try this: standing in front of a mirror, close your eyes and use your non-dominant hand to point to your voice box.
Now, open your eyes. Were you even close?
Apparently, my throat is off center... by a lot. When I opened my eyes, my left index finger was pointing on the left side of my neck, barely even on a visible part of my throat. Yikes.
Taking your non-dominant hand to perform the movement forces you to step away from the muscular memory in which your body is used to performing everyday muscular movements. In my case, my right side is overdeveloped and therefore ridden with painful trigger points. The tightness spans all the way from my right jaw to my right tailbone.
So, to work on this OBVIOUS left deviation of my throat (including my voice box aka larynx), I have a few exercises. I try to keep it light and fun; otherwise, there's no way that I'm going to keep up with these exercises.
1) Using your regular, dominant hand (for me it's the right hand), make a peace sign with your first two fingers. Hold this finger position for the entire exercise.
During this simple preparatory finger positioning, I actually feel a nice stretch and strengthening motion in my right shoulder blade.
2) Rest your back against a relatively rigid surface. I call this action "stabilizing". When I stabilize my back, I use the tips of my shoulderblades to act as a "glue" to the stabilizing surface. Try not to move from your "stable" stabilization position.
You can use anything to stabilize your back. Since we are all driving all over the place for hours on end day after day, I particularly enjoy doing this exercise in the car.
A number of other easy places to stabilize the back for this exercise are: 1) against any wall; 2) laying flat on the ground; 3) in your office chair at work; or 4) in the car.
So, stabilize your back against a wall. Make the peace sign with your dominant hand (my right hand).
3) Bring up your right-hand-peace-sign to eye level with your palm facing outward. This gives me a lovely right shoulder blade stretch and really opens up my right nostril and throat.
4) Bring the right elbow back to the wall (or whichever stabilizing surface you are using). This should feel heavenly! Enjoy this position for a few deep breaths from the belly. You can even slightly arch the back for a wonderful stretch through the peace-sign-hand side of your body.
5) Shifting the entire right arm from the shoulder joint and with the palm facing outward, take the INDEX FINGER and place it on the right collarbone. Try your best to get the finger on the part of the collarbone where the breastbone + collarbone + throat dip between the collarbones meet. Be sure to keep your peace sign intact and strong! Strong fingers will give you a good amount of gentle traction for this exercise to be effective.
6) SLIGHTLY turn your right head to look to your right. Chin should be directly over the right collarbone.
7) Using very small and gentle movements, slide your right index finger up less than 1 inch to press against the tendon closest to the clavicle. Apply gentle pressure with your index finger to the right neck tendon.
Spend a round of 5 deep breaths in this position. Try to remember to keep your right elbow as close to the wall as your can and keep your peace sign strong. If your middle finger presses up against another tendon on the lateral side of your right neck, don't freak out. That is where I usually take this movement next; but that is for another post.
It helps if you relax as much as you can and pull your chin in (give yourself a double chin) while in this position. Go with what your body tells you. If you are really tight like I was, then you may have a hard time achieving the index-finger-collarbone position.
Remember to take your time and listen to your body. These movements are slight but carry a lot of power. As always, try the exercise on the other side of your body to see if it feels any different.
Peace and love!
Now, open your eyes. Were you even close?
Apparently, my throat is off center... by a lot. When I opened my eyes, my left index finger was pointing on the left side of my neck, barely even on a visible part of my throat. Yikes.
Taking your non-dominant hand to perform the movement forces you to step away from the muscular memory in which your body is used to performing everyday muscular movements. In my case, my right side is overdeveloped and therefore ridden with painful trigger points. The tightness spans all the way from my right jaw to my right tailbone.
So, to work on this OBVIOUS left deviation of my throat (including my voice box aka larynx), I have a few exercises. I try to keep it light and fun; otherwise, there's no way that I'm going to keep up with these exercises.
Exercise 1 for Throat Deviation
During this simple preparatory finger positioning, I actually feel a nice stretch and strengthening motion in my right shoulder blade.
2) Rest your back against a relatively rigid surface. I call this action "stabilizing". When I stabilize my back, I use the tips of my shoulderblades to act as a "glue" to the stabilizing surface. Try not to move from your "stable" stabilization position.
You can use anything to stabilize your back. Since we are all driving all over the place for hours on end day after day, I particularly enjoy doing this exercise in the car.
A number of other easy places to stabilize the back for this exercise are: 1) against any wall; 2) laying flat on the ground; 3) in your office chair at work; or 4) in the car.
So, stabilize your back against a wall. Make the peace sign with your dominant hand (my right hand).
3) Bring up your right-hand-peace-sign to eye level with your palm facing outward. This gives me a lovely right shoulder blade stretch and really opens up my right nostril and throat.
4) Bring the right elbow back to the wall (or whichever stabilizing surface you are using). This should feel heavenly! Enjoy this position for a few deep breaths from the belly. You can even slightly arch the back for a wonderful stretch through the peace-sign-hand side of your body.
5) Shifting the entire right arm from the shoulder joint and with the palm facing outward, take the INDEX FINGER and place it on the right collarbone. Try your best to get the finger on the part of the collarbone where the breastbone + collarbone + throat dip between the collarbones meet. Be sure to keep your peace sign intact and strong! Strong fingers will give you a good amount of gentle traction for this exercise to be effective.
6) SLIGHTLY turn your right head to look to your right. Chin should be directly over the right collarbone.
7) Using very small and gentle movements, slide your right index finger up less than 1 inch to press against the tendon closest to the clavicle. Apply gentle pressure with your index finger to the right neck tendon.
Spend a round of 5 deep breaths in this position. Try to remember to keep your right elbow as close to the wall as your can and keep your peace sign strong. If your middle finger presses up against another tendon on the lateral side of your right neck, don't freak out. That is where I usually take this movement next; but that is for another post.
It helps if you relax as much as you can and pull your chin in (give yourself a double chin) while in this position. Go with what your body tells you. If you are really tight like I was, then you may have a hard time achieving the index-finger-collarbone position.
Remember to take your time and listen to your body. These movements are slight but carry a lot of power. As always, try the exercise on the other side of your body to see if it feels any different.
Throat massage blog.
Peace and love!
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