Rolling the head

Yoga Discussion Structural Yoga Therapy
#1

I remember you telling us at Level 1 that to warm up the neck, you move the head / neck in all its directions – but that you do NOT do “head rolls” – you don’t roll the head in a circular movement. I remember someone saying “but it feels good” and you answering, “yes, and so does ice cream, but that doesn’t mean it’s good for you.”

Now, so many months later, I wonder why you say not to roll the head from front-to-side-to-back-to-side-to-front. Can you please explain precisely why? I’ve looked at the bones … but I’m still not sure why it’s bad to do this. Something to do with how the skull sits on atlas? Or the atlas/axis connection? Or the facets? Please advise.

#2

As to why. Rolling the head will tend to make the vertebrae sublux - slip out of position. Most especially this occurs upwards of C4. The axis of motion is most mobile at C3-4 hence these go out the most. C2 and C1 go out in the worst case scenarios, often when life is more than one can deal with, or due to chronic food allergens. Actually all vertebrae go out with specific allergens that have been mapped by the chiropractors. The spinous processes tend to get jammed especially when going into cervical extension. When they are misaligned to begin with the misalignment acts like a lever to wedge the adjacent vertebrae offline.

Misalignments are a vata that is prana imbalance. In the neck region this is mostly due to misdirected udana prana - read, "I don’t know where I’m going?. By prayer and meditation, which is directed to helping you be of service to others and to deepening your relationship with the Divine Self, udana moves in the proper direction. By doing yoga and other spiritual practices without the proper attitude (bhav) udana is unhappy. Udana prana generates our spiritual experiences of peace, light, and love.

That’s the short answer.