I recently had the great pleasure of studying with Dr. John Doulliard and he showed me a very fascinating, and easy to implement technique to balance symptoms related to indigestion, acid reflux hay fever, headaches, brain fog, sore throats, heartburn, indigestion, weight gain, gluten & dairy intolerance, and stiff shoulders & neck. If any of these things sound familiar, stomach pulling may be the answer.
Here how:
Step 1. Sit in a chair with a back rest, so your stomach muscles can relax. Take your left thumb and poke just under the ribcage on your left side. Use your right hand on top of your left to help put more pressure of the left thumb to push in more deeply. Soreness is an indication that you need this and that you are in the correct spot.
Step 2. With your thumb pressing into your stomach just under the ribcage, begin to lean forward. This will soften the tummy and allow you to push more deeply into the abdomen and stomach.
Step 3. While your right hand and your right thumb are pushing in just below the ribcage, begin to pull down towards your navel, in effect pulling your stomach downwards and separating it from the diaphragm.
Step 4. At the beginning of an inhale, as you continue pulling down on your stomach with your thumbs, begin to lean back in your chair. (A rocker works best. Be sure the stomach muscles do not contract while you lean back). This will extend your back, leveraging the ribcage upwards as you pull the stomach downwards in the direction of the navel.
Step 5. At the end of the inhale, lean forward again in your chair and exhale as you go all the way forward. Press your left thumb in as deeply in as possible, back it up with the right thumb and reinstate the motion of pulling down. Continue alternating leaning forward and back, coordinating the exhale with flexion and the inhale with extension.
Why the breath: As you inhale, the diaphragm is contracting, the ribcage is moving upwards and the stomach is naturally being pulled down away from the diaphragm, supporting your action.
Step 6. Continue this exercise as you work your way across the left (and right, if you felt soreness there) side of the ribcage. Do this for 2 minutes twice a day until soreness is gone.
To learn more, check out John Douillar’s website:
http://www.lifespa.com/learn-stomach-pulling-superior-digestion-4-minutes/
