Shoulder blades

Yesterday I noticed the frontal parts of the two scapulae still attached to their bones tree, in white. The organs are in pale pink. Since the previous owner had glued the back of each scapula to its respective ribcage, I had to wedge in the frontal parts between the back and the ribs in order to glue them into place.

In my online college management classes, I have taken to assigning Amy Cuddy's Ted Talk, Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are. I ask students to note their own and others' body language in order to estimate their level of engagement and optimism with current circumstances. From there, they can make better, more aware, and more informed choices about how to manage themselves in order to achieve their hearts' desires.

I am not as far along as i imagine the students to be, in that I find it hard at times to remember that I have a body at all. Having a female body has put me socially and economically at risk of being off the bat inferior, not to mention physical disparities should I come to blows with anyone. So I am completing the Visible Woman not only to have a better grasp of anatomy in my teaching of yoga, but also to help me notice and remember what lies beneath my own skin.

And to love my bones. Shoulders and all. To contribute to my own development where I think society may have left off. For example, I have recently found a lot of stuck energy near my tailbone. It feels both like shame and like peanut butter. It is hard to love place where shame has lodged, so I have invited the light of inquiry to gently melt the tension of my lowest pelvic self. I wonder about the location and the power of the sludge lodged. I guess it is an earth-like journey from the outer space to the denser atmosphere and so on into the deep close realm of gravity, pulling space, air, fire, water, and earth into its core, its peaceful corps.

So, if there are lessons in our bodies, ourselves,what might shoulders say? For this, I suggest they ask us to let them speak for themselves, rather than adding in "shoulds." As Christine Arylo says, we can learn to be okay with learning. We can catch ourselves when we hear ourselves say, "You should do a better job!" and we can reply with "I am doing the best I can and it is enough" or "I am learning and it is okay."