Your hands can only load what your spine allows

Most people think of hand balancing — or even just pressing into a surface — as a hand and shoulder problem. It isn’t. It’s a spine problem.This two-minute wall drill will show you what I mean. You’ll start with your pinky finger edges against the wall, ribs dropped toward the floor, and then slowly draw your ribs up toward the ceiling. As you do, notice when your hands start to take weight. That moment — when the load arrives in your palms — is entirely determined by what your spine is doing, not by how hard you’re gripping or how much you’re trying.It’s a small thing to feel, and then you can’t unfeel it.This is useful if you sit at a desk for long hours and have lost a sense of what your thoracic spine is actually doing. It’s equally useful if you do any kind of hand balancing, yoga, or pressing work, and you’ve been trying to solve a hand or wrist problem that keeps not getting solved.The drill is in the video below. All you need is a wall.This is one thread in a much larger idea I explore in Spinal Intelligence — the book is out now, and you can find it on Amazon or at jennpilotti.com.Questions or observations after you try it? Drop them in the comments — I read everything. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jennpilotti.substack.com/subscribe