This famous da Vinci drawing is perhaps the most recognized rendering of the human body known to people around the world.
It's sometimes called Vitruvian Man because it portrays the human body in a perfection of proportions discovered and detailed by the architect Vitruvius who used measures of the human body for constructing buildings.
The proportions:
4 fingers constitute one hand width
4 widths of a hand constitute one foot
6 widths of a hand constitute one arm or yard
4 yards constitute the height of a man
There's great detailed and illustrated information on the
Geometrical construction of the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci
on the website: World-Mysteries.com
The proportions rendered by da Vinci in this drawing which is based on the measures of corresponding body parts put forth by Vitruvius have great potential effect on people: the way we feel a sense of ease and belonging within a building or the deeper senses of beauty that bring forth feelings of oneness and clarity and purpose from works of art.
But because da Vinci renders Vitruvian Man from the front,
the drawing doesn't show the spine.
The body's beauty in corresponding proportions can be related to spaces in which we live and work and also works of art that inspire and empower us.
But from the standpoint of function that will get you through a day at your desk, a long plane flight, or dancing all night, you really must have a sense of the back body that supports the spine.
I'd like to propose a different perspective on the da Vinci fully frontal frontal image that isn't based on proportion, but perception.
It's a big belief of mine that helping people change their perceptions of themselves is really primary to teaching
them how to strengthen the muscles that will support the spine.
What if we performed a vitruvius reversal and portrayed the human body from the backside?
This could be called:
Vitruvian Man With a Wingspan
Expansion of the Back
Grants
Extension of the Spine
Grants
Empowerment of the Body
When you learn how to:
Expand the back
Which is like a wingspan
Then you experience how to:
Extend the spine
Which is the veritable backbone
Ease & Empowerment
Go Hand in Hand
Working the wingspan wide
to free the backbone through
Eases the pain in the overworked neck and shoulders
while at the same time
Empowers the muscles that are in proximity to support the spine
It is my mission to relate these back-body support-for-the-spine principles that have been worked out in me through years of teaching many people how to better use their spines. I wish to help change people's perceptions of themselves as having powerfully supportive backs as well as freely expressive fronts.
Most of my days of teaching are spent sitting behind, kneeling behind, or crouching behind people's backside bodies to help them sense the power of the muscles in their back bodies: hamstrings, lats, trapezius, transversus - and to help people sense the stability in the bones of the back body: sit bones, scapula, sacrum, tail bones, occipital points, heels.
I hope to help you in relating these words and putting forth these images to offer a change the perception of yourself in order to start to sense the powerful places that will support your spine.
In the next part of this series of posts. I will show photographically and also elaborate and detail more specifically in words which muscles and bones of the back body support the spine. I also wish to show you how from a percerption of oneself from the backside, it is much more simple to understand many pain-free and powerful ways the muscles work.
Thanks so much for reading! Comments most welcome here!
Herald
Backbone and Wingspan® founder and owner
and author of Body Mind & Spine Align
can be reached at 212-647-8878
Email: herald@backboneandwingspan.com
See the Website: Backbone and Wingspan
Backbone and Wingspan LLC
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