I can prove that the shoulder does not exist. This in itself is very interesting but what is even more interesting this how we could believe in it so confidently. How is it possible that we could repeatedly make such a persistent and glaring error but never notice?
Part of the answer is interoception and I will address it below but we know that part of it also has to be cultural and historical. It is easy to understand that modern civilization is built upon a large variety of fundamental misunderstandings. But it is surprising to find out something as intimate and personal as the shoulder could be one of them.
This is a story about where in the body you can find yourself, that is, instead of in the shoulder. The answer is obvious. The anatomical opposite of the shoulder is the armpit. The most sensitive area in the region is also the armpit and it is not only rich in nerves, arteries and veins, but lymphatic tissue, glands, and all the most important musculotendinous attachments of the joint. It is also has powerful olfactory, erotic and tactile function as well. We can describe it atomically and scientifically but that misses the point. This is a major sensory station of the deep core. The armpit.
At this level of complexity there is identification at the level of the system and this is found in the central bone of each sensory station. We actually identify with ourselves neurologically and mentally, but stabilize, balance and ground ourselves in these sensory stations. This is where participate in the body knowing itself in the form of a rich and juicy bodywide myofascial continuity. This is the deep core.
Thomas Myers identified the myofascial synergy of the deep core. However, it is not only made of nerves, muscles and bones. Although it is the axial core of the body it is not anything like a featureless tube of spine and muscle. The deep core is fully bonded to the visceral contents and includes the solar plexus. The deep core is a system of volumes and major junctures. It is easy to remember because it knows itself. This complex core has the function of stabilization, balance, and resilience, or spring.
A major feature of the core is what happens at either end of the spine. The deep core emerges to the surface at either end of the spine in a highly sensitive and sensory Rich orifice. These are the sensory stations and it is a very simple system whose details are incredibly rich but also intuitive and natural and surprisingly joyful.
We are talking about something that animals and children master without education or language. This is called coordination dynamics and it is the science of the self organization of living organisms. This is dead center paradigm shift. This is the phase shift.
My hope is that this simple graphic can be like a key that you can look at every once in a while to remember these special areas of your body. If you practice keeping these areas in mind and know just a little bit about what the bones do you might find that you have a much richer relationship with your body. See what the effect of that is and see whether you want to spend even more time in your body.
We can describe this verbally well enough but because of the degree of complexity the meaning and significance resides within the bone, not the labels we use. The answer is embodied rather than abstract cognition. It is sensual and vulnerable and personal. When you identify with the coordinative center you experience a shift in perception and your experience of this is what the words mean.
Some extra intention, attention, and gentle, slow, meditative movement is all it takes to stimulate awareness and activate tone in these areas.
Perception and sensation in the armpit and scapular array is simple, natural, and easy. It is very rich. It is a major sensory station of the body with a single large bone at the center of a regional juncture. There are four different kinds of these bones, each quite unique but each is also clearly believer, rip, or a servo mechanism that controls and organizes the entire region and beyond. These areas are easy to identify and work with. The bones are familiar. I will introduce you to each of them but you will discover they are your own old friends.
Our awareness here supports the self coordination of the shoulder. The shoulder is like a knuckle; it is not designed as a center of coordination. If we rely upon it habitually by believing in it as “the shoulder” we corrupt motor control resulting in both chronic and acute injuries. One of the four major definitions of the shoulder, the clinical one, is false. When we think of the shoulder in charge as something that connects the neck in the arm is what we use to move the arm powerfully then you are wrong. Your relationship to a very large and important part of the body, the upper extremity and the chest and parts of the back, is restricted by this belief. There is a reason why the most common form of shoulder surgery, acromioplasty and rotator cuff repair, are no better than a placebo and not much better than no treatment at all. There is a reason why just exercise has proven as successful as surgery as achievement for these problems. Of course the modern plague of lifestyle diseases includes posture related chronic joint deterioration. There is a strong relationship between the slouch and trauma trauma response in terms of the fight, flight, play dead defense cascade. Multiple persistent sources of even very low grade trauma can easily result in a postural imbalance.
The fact that we are unable to see what should be clear before our own naked eyes, that the shoulder does not exist, is a reflection our philosophical superficiality. Here at the awesome pinnacle of modern science we discover a fundamental arrogance and on the other side of that arrogance is an old friend and a tremendous new adventure in the body. This is because the denial of the truth of the shoulder undoes the shaming of the richer truth of the armpit. This natural locus of self awareness brings us into intimate muscular relationship with our breathing and the gut. When this happens the result is what neurophysicist stability, and metastability produces a phase transition in the brain. Words feels great and is a form of biomechanical enlightenment.
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