Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/72121
BODYREADING THE MERIDIANS 7A: If one leg of this 'X' projected onto the belly (or back) of a client is significantly longer than the other, then imbalance between the left and right Spiral Line is demonstrably present. 7B: A similar summary read can be made in the back. The actual assessments for this A B Sleeve - Spiral Line Human anatomy allows there to be one rotation expressed in the muscles closer to the body's centerline (i.e. psoas, deep spinal muscles, scalenes, etc.), counterbalanced by another counterrotation in the body's sleeve (these are compensatory rotations we are talking about in the Spiral Line). common pattern are too complex for this article; see Anatomy Trains (Elsevier, 2009) or the BodyReading 101 DVD self-study course for more detail. Sometimes when you release the short upper Spiral Line, you find that the client looks more rotated than before you started. If the client has this sleeve-one-way, core-another rotation, you have not done an "Oops!" but rather a "There!" Now you can get to work on the psoas or the adductors or deep pelvic or spinal muscles that are holding that core rotation. Most folks with scoliosis are manifesting this inner- outer counterspin, but almost everyone has a mild spinal rotation, and many are holding it together with the outer bands of the Spiral Line (Image 8). One final note before we go south, Core - Deep Front line, Spine This gentleman does not show significant imbalance between the right and left Spiral Lines, but rather a general slack tone of both Spiral Lines— allowing the rib cage to fall back and the belly to pooch out. He needs both Spiral Lines toned. more for the trainers among us than the strict massage therapists: the Spiral Line crosses the body's midline twice, as we have seen—once between the shoulder blades, and once more or less over the navel. If both sides of the line are slack, then the person so afflicted can fall into the pattern we see in Image 9, with the rib cage falling back and the stomach easing forward. Giving them toning exercise for the Spiral Lines can radically and rapidly alter such a pattern. I am a lifelong pacifist, but boxing is a great motion for toning the Spiral Lines and giving equal exercise to both sides (as opposed to throwing or batting something, which are decidedly one-sided). BODYREADING THE LOWER SPIRAL LINE The lower loop of the Spiral Line (Image 4A) also has its complexities, since it winds its way through the other lines of the leg. The idea that the tibialis anterior pulls 98 massage & bodywork january/february 2012