Namaste yogi and yoginis!
So this week we've been exploring lymphatic flow in the body and how we can support that. Without going too much into detail on what lymph does, let's just say that it is critical for the health of all our cells and our immune system. Lymph doesn't have a heart to pump it around so it depends on other things, such as gravity, muscle contractions, pressure and breathing. That sounds a lot like things hatha yoga is involved with, doesn't it?
As you can see in the picture below, most major lymph nodes are situated near the joints because a lot of movement (muscles contractions and pressure) is happening there. The biggest lymph node is tactically situated in the upper belly, surrounded by our organs and right underneath our diaphragm which moves and thus stimulates lymph flow 24/7. But if you breathe shallowly high up in the upper chest, apart from a host of other ramifications, your diaphragm won't move as much, meaning less movement and pressure and less optional flow.
Whenever lymph doesn't flow optimally or even gets 'stuck', swelling or inflammation might occur, especially at these nodes. Since nerves, blood and lymph vessels are often bundled together, any swelling will impact the flow of that whole bundle.
Eventually all lymph will be emptied back into the on of the subclavian veins underneath you collarbones. When you work on the superficial lymph vessel, you work from the periphery towards those veins. But before you do that, you should clear the biggest lymphatic nodes first and you start the other way around: from high to low pressure. When it comes to clearing the big lymphatic nodes, you do them in the order as shown below. I'd like to add the ones in the elbow too, so those would have the number 3.5 in the picture.
Watch the recording of 20 November to see how we actually stimulated lymph flow at these nodes. I'm planning on making a shorter video for members of this practice so that you can easily follow along and incorporate it into your daily practices. And since almost 30% of the lymph nodes are located at the head and neck, we'll explore those more in-depth in another session.
Happy massaging and tapping!
Om 🙏
PS. credits to Perry Nickelston from StopChasingPain for his Big 6 routine!