Don’t Burn Your Bra

Most of us have a curious relationship with our breasts.

At different points in life, they are an asset. At others, not so much.

We bind them in bras, set them free to the wind and hope to keep them til death do us part.

I grew up in those heady times when burning our bras was all the rage. I didn’t have large breasts. And that, in a male breast-obsessed culture was problematic.

As a teenager, I ordered one of those devices that you squeezed chanting “I must, I must, I must increase my bust.”

FYI it didn’t work.

Did I like my breasts? No. My culture informed me that even though I was a liberated woman, I was still seeking the male gaze, so larger breasts were preferable. I hated how men looked you in the chest rather than in the eye.

Here’s where I got tripped up. I started to confuse aesthetics with function.

How the culture had a tripwire that oriented you towards how it appears rather than how it feels or works.

It’s how they sell us all that stuff. All those nasty chemicals that we slather on our bodies to appear more attractive to the opposite sex.

Anyone with large breasts will tell you they are problematic. No matter what the guys think.

Everything from fitting clothes to back aches and neck and shoulder issues, plague the amply-chested among us.

If you are reading this you are most likely a little long in the tooth like me. You are trying to take care of yourself. Your shoulder doesn’t work so well. You can’t get your arm overhead in yoga class.

So you figure that if you can’t get your arm up, something must need to be stretched. You aren’t sure that is working, so somebody tells you to go and get a massage. You might notice a bit of an improvement. But a few days later your arm and shoulder seize.

Somebody might tell you you need to strengthen your arm and shoulder muscles. So you pick up some weights. After a few sessions, your neck is killing you so the weights go back in the garage.

And around and around you go.

Did anybody suggest your bra or lack thereof may be an issue?

Or the way you breathe might have something to do with it?

For those of us, who decades earlier were throwing ours out in bags destined for the Salvation Army, it’s time to take a second look at the function of our over-the-shoulder boulder holders.

That’s probably not a politically correct thing to say but it has such a nice ring to it.

I’ve been a fan of those soft, pull-them-over-your-head, bordering on a too-tight tank top kind of garments. Just enough to prevent dreaded nipple friction, but not enough to feel constriction through my chest.

I’ve got a new more supportive bra. One that I want to take off at the end of the day. The thing I notice is that I’m not unconsciously tensing my upper back and neck trying to offset the weight of my breasts.

I’ve allowed my upper back to regain some of its natural curve which I know is good for the health of my shoulders. Through my study of Postural Restoration, I know that being able to get airflow into my posterior mediastinum ( the back space of the lungs) is a good thing. As menopausal women, we lose breathing volume due to hormonal changes.

If you’ve been a good gymnast, dancer, yoga or Pilates student you’ve probably over-flattened your thoracic spine. You’ve lost your curve. Your breathing suffers as well as your shoulders which are concave shaped and need a convex rib cage to glide on.

Not everybody has this, but I see it a lot and it's certainly one of my issues.

But it’s a lot better now that I’ve got a better bra and I’ve been retraining my rib cage and breath. (FYI we do this kind of stuff in my movement lessons)

As for a bra. Go get fitted. Go for function, save the frilly stuff for special occasions. Get a wider strap to distribute the weight across your collarbones.

Get a bra that moves with you, rather than locking you into a static position.

You deserve more support.

Check out all my courses at my online studio, and find one that will work for you.