Do you struggle with persistent tension, stiffness, or pain in your neck, jaw, throat, or upper shoulders (what Mandy calls the "schneck")? While biomechanics often looks at these areas in isolation, pain through a biopsychosocial lens reveals a profound connection between the base of your pelvis and the upper body.

In this episode, Mandy guides you through an experiential, floor-based somatic practice designed to help you map, expand, and soften tension patterns between your pelvic floor and your neck, throat, jaw, and ears. By shifting away from forcing or stretching and moving into neuro-somatic inquiry, you will discover how intentional breath and subtle pelvic shifts create downward release through the entire spinal axis.

In this episode, you will learn and experience:

  • The Neck–Pelvis Connection: Why fight-or-flight evolutionary protection mechanisms cause the pelvic floor, jaw, and throat to contract together, often contributing to issues like constipation, clenching, and neck stiffness.
  • Setup & Preparation: What props you need (a yoga mat or bed, and a flat pillow/blanket for comfort without elevating the neck).
  • Directional Pelvic Floor Breathing: How to guide your breath into the anterior, posterior, right, and left quadrants of the pelvic floor to systematically decompress the throat, skull base, and cheeks.
  • Somatic Movement Exploration: Integrating pelvic tilts, modified butterfly pose, gentle supine twists, and pelvic clock rotations to retrain nervous system holding patterns.
  • Real-Life Integration: How to use micro-breaths in daily stressful situations (like sitting in traffic) to signal safety to your nervous system.

Props Needed:

  • A yoga mat or bed to lie on
  • A thin blanket or low cushion under your head (for comfort, not elevation)
  • Optional: Pillows, blocks, or wall/headboard access for leg and knee support

Timestamps / Practice Roadmap:

  • 00:00 – Why secondary neck, throat, and jaw pain show up with other conditions
  • 02:00 – Setup, initial body scan, and tuning into pelvic floor energy
  • 05:40 – Anterior tilt & front pelvic floor breath: Releasing the front of the throat
  • 10:30 – Supported butterfly pose: Downward throat stretch through slow breath
  • 13:40 – Posterior pelvic tilt & rear pelvic floor breath: Releasing the upper traps and base of the skull
  • 20:00 – Left tilt & right side expansion: Decompressing the right throat, jaw, and cheek
  • 25:40 – Right tilt & left side exploration: Inner ear, jaw, and throat release
  • 32:45 – Pelvic clock circles, full integration scan, and closing reflections

Resources & Links Mentioned:

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