“Shoulders up to the ears back and down” what does this actually mean? Where should my shoulders be, in relation to what.
Ideally your shoulders naturally fall into place because the chest is lifted up and so the spine is in neutral, with the head directly on top of the spine and the neck in column with the back. The shoulders will then hang just behind the neck and the arms will move off this structure. I liken the shoulder position to a clock face. The centre of the clock is bang through the shoulder and out through the other shoulder on the other side, with the spine in the middle. If you were to push a stake through the shoulder it would go behind the spine and out through the other shoulder.
The shoulders need to live at “4 o’clock” – “12” being up the sky, “3” being behind you, “6” being down to the waist, and “9” being in front of you. Back and down!!
Simply lifting the chest allows the shoulder to be better placed, by just simply pulling them back and down one gets a forced positioning.
Lifting the chest brings the head back in line with the spine – creates the neutral spine position, preventing excessive bend in the thoracic.
