Hands, Wrists & Elbows
Week 6 – Fortify the Pathway With Positive Tension

Introduction

Key Points to Reflect & Integrate:

  • The structures of the forearm are the radius, the ulna and the interosseus membrane, the fascial sheet that stretches between them.
  • The forearm bones wind and unwind, increasing and decreasing the mechanical tension within the soft tissues that span the forearm. During any level of tension, can the tension prove itself to be positive?
  • In the lower limb, supination and pronation happens within the foot, in the upper limb this action takes place within the forearm.

Next steps:

  • Relate your foot to the distance from elbow to fingertips. 
  • Practice tools: Turn to the visuals. Where in your body do you associate the winding up (if at all)? How does the tension of a wound towel differ from a taut string?
  • Comment below with your questions, thoughts, or insights.

Anatomy & Biomechanics:
Pronation and Supination – Actions of the Forearm

Key Points to Reflect & Integrate:

  • The movements created within the forearm are:
    • Pronation: the crossing of the two bones, wrapping up the interosseus membrane.
    • Supination: the two bones lay alongside one another, slackening the interosseus membrane.
  • The crossing and uncrossing of the two bones requires action at both the proximal and distal ends of the forearm.
  • The muscles that create these movements are the pronators and the supinators. Uncovering the lengths of these muscles gives us access to modulating the tension and stability within the forearm.

Next steps:

  • Engage and enjoy the subtlety of these movements. In a relaxed seated or standing position, connect to the movement of your breath. Connect the movement of your breath to your elbows – invite the inhale to carve your elbow out towards supination and the exhale to carve it back under towards pronation. Then connect the movement of your breath to your wrists – invite the inhale to spin your inner wrist down towards pronation and the exhale spin your outer wrist down towards supination. (You are not meant to get to the end range of either of these movements, just moving in the direction of each one.)
  • Practice Tools: Learn more about the relationship between the forearm bones through the anatomy slides.
  • Comment below with your questions, thoughts, or insights.

Unlocking Movement:
Fluid Movement Through the Forearm

Key Points to Reflect & Integrate:

  • Use these unlocking movements to cultivate conscious movement of pronation and supination – initiated at your wrist and at your elbow – in all 5 planes of movement.
  • Use the slightest winding up or unwinding to cultivate greater strength and ease down into your hands and up into your shoulders and neck.

Next steps:

  • Make note: in which arm positions can most easily access these actions and in which positions is it hardest to access? Try different poses that use these particular planes of the arms and see what more you can discover and unlock.
  • Consider daily actions that take your arms into the 5 planes and further explore these actions with more awareness in the alignment of your forearm bones.
  • Comment below with your questions, thoughts, or insights.

Unlocking Movement:
Add Flexion and Weight to Fortify Tension

Key Points to Reflect & Integrate:

  • The props give us feedback, they create “banks to the river” 
    • Use the strap to navigate the movements at your elbows – to stabilize your ulna and to increase your felt sense of the spin of your radius.
    • Use the block for opening up the distal range – while actively engaging the crossing and uncrossing at your wrist, look to maintain a neutral positioning at your elbow.
  • The strap leads to greater awareness by pressing away from the midline while the block leads to greater awareness by pressing towards the midline.

Next steps:

  • Distal pronation and supination can be done in two ways. First with the overcurve of the radius primarily, like when turning the page of a book. Second with an equal amount of the overcurve of the radius and the undercurve of the ulna, like when turning a key in a lock or opening a door. Feel the difference and garner an appreciation of how these actions benefit your daily movements.
  • Practice Tools: see how these unlocking movements inform your further exploration of the asanas offered.
  • Comment below with your questions, thoughts, or insights.

Sanskrit Study: Shantaya
Peace Is Revealed in Positive Tension

Key Points to Reflect & Integrate:

  • Shantaya: peace is full and vibrant, active, relational. It is found in positive tension.
  • Physically, negative tension can be felt as gripping, locking down, over-efforting or resisting.
  • Negative tension can be alleviated by leaning into the presence of the tension and meeting it, through listening and opening to the flow of peace.

Next steps:

  • Journal: What is one instance in your life in which you were able to cultivate peace or positive heat in a tense moment or situation? What is an instance in which you feel that you failed to do so? Rather than trying to fix the missed opportunity, what intention could you set, what marker could you look for, to better see the opportunity to fortify positive tension next time something similar presents?
  • Practice tools: Contemplate this week’s visuals in support of your understanding of Shantaya as tension filled presence.
  • Comment below with your questions, thoughts, or insights.

Practice Tools: Move
Short Asana Sequence

Live with Julia:
Forearms & Elbows

Syllabus

Schedule

Resources

HOME PRACTICE

Sanskrit Study – Shantaya
(pdf)

Meditation
(mp3)

Practice Tools – Move
(pdf)

Practice Tools – All
(pdf)

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Syllabus

Schedule

Resources