The illusion of symmetry
Which is your dominant hand? Almost everyone has a hand that they prefer to use for precise work (for most people, the right hand). But sidedness is not limited to how we use our hands. Most of us have a dominant leg, a dominant eye, a dominant side of our face, and so on (each of which may or may not be the same side as the dominant hand). When I started to pay attention to how I use my tongue I discovered a preference for keeping it in the right side of my mouth. Our unique individual blend of sidedness—different parts of us preferring left or right—is fundamental to who we are.
Whatever the original cause of our sidedness, it gets confirmed in our long-held habits of posture and movement. We rely more on one side for certain movements, more on the other side for others.
It is possible, through attention and practice, to train our non-dominant side. Tennis champion Rafael Nadal famously plays left-handed even though in other activities he is right-handed. This gives him an advantage over right-handed players.
And it is possible, through training, to change not only our habits of movement but also our bodies. Skeletons of medieval bowmen show how their bones and sinews developed differently on right and left sides, a result of years of drawing the bowstring with their right hand.
Considering how our left and right sides differ gives us a point of comparison and helps us become more aware about our self. A good way to feel left-right differences is lying on a relatively hard, flat surface—like a yoga mat or tatami. With the flatness of the floor as a reference, you can distinguish differences that would be hard to perceive standing up or lying on a soft bed. Scan your self, taking your time, asking your self what differences you can feel in the weight or shape of your feet, legs, the two sides of your pelvis, back, shoulders, arms. Pay attention to the contact you make with the ground. How readily does each part of you receive support?
When performing such a scan it is important to accept our sidedness for what it is, and not try to correct anything. At first glance human beings appear symmetrical, and our brains have a tendency to seek symmetry. But trying to find symmetry where there is none can be counter-productive. Usain Bolt, the champion sprinter, has a scoliosis of the spine and a leg length discrepancy. Early in his running career, before he started winning at the top level, he trained as if he was symmetrical. It was only when he started adapting his training program to suit his different left and right sides that his performance became world-beating.
Most of us have habitual patterns of movement which we use unthinkingly. Through years of using our self in a particular way, our fascial system adapts, making us less flexible in the places where we don’t use flexibility. This mechanism reinforces habitual patterns of movement and reduces our freedom to move in unfamiliar ways. It also partly explains our sidedness (other factors are at play too). The good news is the fascial system can, through mindful training, re-adapt once we change our movement habits. This is one of the reasons why practicing body awareness can lead to greater freedom of movement – even without doing stretching exercises.
An interesting effect of comparing our left and right sides is to open us up to new possibilities. We start to know our self in more detail. Instead of taking our habits of movement as given (‘I always have tension in my right shoulder’) we start to explore (‘if I let my ribcage be a different shape how does that affect the comfort of that shoulder?’). This is the first step to increasing our freedom.
Which different parts of you have a preference for right or left? When has this affected you? Please leave a comment.