So the last lesson explored the base of our skull and how that related to our sense of the ground and balance. We looked in particular at the temporal bones at the sides of that base.

The temporal bones contain the vestibular apparatus of the inner ear - the major organs of balance.

We rolled our heads, tuning into the various bumps and joints of our skull. I thought these picture may be of use as we’ll be doing more head rolling this week.

This next image has the occipital bone highlighted and shows the two parietal, one of the temporal bones and the frontal bone. You could prepare yourself for the lesson replay by feeling those joints with your fingers.

We were looking for the head’s centre of gravity just in front of and above the place where the skull sits on the spine. It’s right between the vestibular apparatus of each ear. So our primary organ of balance is found in our ears.

A secondary organ of balance is found within our visual system and the remarkable skull bone we are exploring in this lesson is at the back of the eye sockets. It’s the sphenoid bone. Here it is from the front ..

Compare this picture to the one I sent in last weeks email. It’s a singular bone like the frontal and occiptal bones and it’s absolutely central. In fact, this bone is a part of both the base of the skull and the top of the pharynx (back of the nose). Here it is from below. You can see that it joins onto both the occipital and temporal bones.

So it’s shaped like some kind of incredible moth and it sits in front of the skulls centre of gravity and we’re going to be exploring it in relation to our ability to float.

We’ll be extending ourselves this week and considering the shape of the skull and the shape of the rest of the body.

Once again you’ll need a bit of wall to roll on.

To say I am excited about this lesson is a gross understatement. It is so satisfying to feel the roundness and length of your body in this way.

This blog post relates to the 2nd lesson in the Central Limb series. You can find that lesson by clicking here

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The Central Limb 2 - The sphenoid floats