My Grampa stowed all the sails for his boat, “Sabrina” in the triangular space under her bow. Each sail had its own bag labeled neatly with “Sabrina” and the name of the sail. “Mainsail,” “Jib,” … and another bag that was crammed in the corner and almost never came out.
I asked him once, what sail was in that bag.
“That’s the spinnaker,” he said. “That’s the sail for when we have a tailwind. That doesn’t happen often in Buzzard’s Bay but it sure is fun when it does.”
I waited as patiently as a 7-year-old can wait for a tailwind. When it finally happened, the spinnaker became my favorite sail, by far. It was bright blue instead of white like the others, and the wind filled it in a big, bulge of beauty and power. When the spinnaker was up, we flew across the bay.
Think of your side body like a big, beautiful spinnaker. It’s often squished up and ignored but when we let movement and breath in, it expands with grace, beauty and power.
A beloved yoga teacher once called the side body the most over-worked, under-paid part of the body. And it’s true. We are using the sides all the time to reach, twist, move and breathe but rarely pay much attention to them.
And most of us, even those who regularly move mindfully, don’t notice how much tension and contraction we carry in our sides. Focusing on side body movement opens and release the torso and core, and allows for deeper, more nourishing breath. When I open my sides, I feel a relief as if I’ve put down a heavy bag. For me, side body opening simply feels great.
The side muscles, including the latissimus dorsi (broad back muscles), the obliques (side abdominal muscles) and the intercostals (muscles between the ribs) are constantly working and stabilizing the body.
Another muscle, the quadratus lumborum (QL) is a deep abdominal muscle in the low back and is deeply connected to side bending.
Like the obliques and the psoas (deep hip flexor muscle that assists with hip flexion and rotation — and is notoriously tight), the QL connects the pelvis to the spine. These muscles integrate the upper and lower body – actually keeping the legs and torso together — so they are working all. the. time.
Both in daily movement and exercise, we commonly bend forward and sometimes arch back but it’s rare that we do any lateral flexion (side bending). It’s not surprising, then, that this under-noticed area may be a little shy when it becomes the focus.
Do a side stretch right now, wherever you are. Whether you are sitting or standing, lift your arms overhead and let one hand gently pull the opposite wrist so your torso moves into a crescent moon shape. Take a breath there, then do the other side.
What do you notice? Resistance or a feeling of “stickiness” is common when activating the side body, as is holding the breath. Go gently into these areas and breathe a lot. Keep reminding yourself to breathe fully into your whole rib cage and let your body open in its own natural time.
Like the spinnaker that’s been stuffed in its bag for much of the summer, use mindful movement to let your side body gently and fully unfurl.
This week, the mindful movement practice I’ve posted on Insight Timer is all about the spinnaker of the side body. You can find the practice here. I hope it will leave your body feeling easy and spacious.