Reawaken your neck with the Bearded Dragon

If Your Neck Hurts, You’re Not Alone

Forward head posture, tech neck, tight SCMs, and chronic tension—we see it every day.

But what if the root issue isn’t just poor posture or muscle imbalance, but something deeper?

What if the missing link is a forgotten ligament and an inactive diagonal muscle that your body has simply stopped using?

Meet Your Secret Weapon: The Ligamentum Nuchae

The ligamentum nuchae sits like a vertical anchor along the back of your neck. It’s a stabilizing, tension-distributing structure found in humans and animals with upright posture—but modern movement (or lack of it) has rendered it mostly dormant.

When this ligament is inactivated, the muscles that depend on it can’t fire properly.

Enter: the splenius capitis.

The Muscle You Forgot You Had

The splenius capitis runs diagonally from your nuchal ligament up to your mastoid process (behind your ear). It’s designed to counterbalance the often overused sternocleidomastoid (SCM) on the front of the neck.

In most people, this crucial muscle is:

• Inhibited
  

• Undertrained
  

• Not functioning well at all
  

Why?

Because the foundation, the nuchal ligament, isn’t turned on.

The Fix: Start With the Northern Star

We always begin by activating the ligamentum nuchae with a movement we call the Northern Star. Once that’s online, we move to a drill called the Bearded Dragon, designed to reawaken the splenius capitis and restore harmony to your neck.

How to Do the Bearded Dragon

This movement is a diagonal articulation, a blend of side flexion and rotation, that teaches your neck how to move with integrity.

Learn the step-by-step movement of the Bearded Dragon in the video below.👇🏼

You’re not stretching, you’re building tensegrity. That means dynamic stability through integrated muscle function.

Why It Works

When your splenius capitis is active, it:

• Supports proper head and neck alignment
  

• Reduces SCM dominance and tension
  

• Improves spinal articulation
  

• Restores balance to your upper spine and nervous system
  

It’s a small move with massive impact, especially when paired with your regular fitness or healing routine.

Start Small. Stay Consistent.

Do the Bearded Dragon on its own or during your workouts. Build awareness. Build reps. You’ll be amazed at how much lighter, taller, and freer your neck feels.

This is primal spinal intelligence — reactivated.