When Your Foundation Gets Funky: How to Manually Align Your Atlas (C1) and Drop Your Shoulder

Fixing the atlas is simple – if I were to do it for you. I can typically align someone's atlas in as little as five minutes. For you to do it manually, it is going to require a little more time and patience.

You’ll need to get a **Back Buddy**, which is a mobility tool for the head, neck, and upper back area. You can order one by going to Amazon using this affiliate link: Back Buddy

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Step 1: The Atlas Reflex Release

There is a reflexive point for the atlas right where your trapezius muscle meets your shoulder bone. By reflex I mean exactly what you are thinking: if I tap the front of your knee, your knee extends without you actively contracting your quadricep. By pressing into this reflex you will be releasing the small muscles surrounding your atlas.

Using the correct knob on the Back Buddy and proper positioning is very important. You want to use the **pointy one on the side that has the larger loop.**

Like I said, this can be kind of tricky, but you will know when you hit the right spot because it will do three things:

1. Be very tender.
2. Open up pandora’s box in your neck.
3. Send a tingling into the back of your head.

Please note some people do not experience any of those things, and some people experience more. If I were to say the atlas were an enigma, that would be very kind of me!

To start the adjustment, you have to hook the Back Buddy behind your back, placing the knob in the area I showed you previously. From that position you are going to pull down with the arm opposite the knob and lean forward, placing as much pressure on that reflex as you can.

Weird, I know. As far as I can find, there is no other documentation showing how to release the atlas reflex manually by yourself.

Typically you need to put pressure on the atlas reflex for **at least 2-3 minutes per side**. Doing each side four or five times per day should be enough to start. If you’re not feeling what I’m describing, keep searching around in the area I reference, and I promise you’ll find it. I have coached many people (through the computer even) to find their atlas reflex point – all it takes is a little determination and a lot of pressure. Don’t give up!

Step 2: Dropping the Elevated Shoulder

After applying pressure to your atlas reflex, I want you to look for a raised shoulder. If you look at yourself in the mirror this is what you should see:

Whatever side is elevated is the short side of your neck, but the long side of the rest of your body needs to be released so your opposite side hip can drop down and relax.

To do this you are going to sit down on the large loop of the Back Buddy on your opposite leg, and place the knob of the small loop on your trap muscle. From there, rather than having to pull down quite hard and tire your arm out, you can just posture up to place sufficient pressure on your trap muscle.

This muscle is tough, and you’ll want to spend around **8-10 minutes** penetrating the tissue to get it loose. Look for anything tender, tight, or sore. Please note that the shoulder will not drop overnight. You will probably need a month or two of working on it at least five times a week depending on how badly elevated your shoulder is till you start to see results. An extremely elevated shoulder like the one I show in the picture is one tough cookie.

Be patient!

Step 3: Grinding Out the Suboccipitals

Remember those small little muscles I was talking about earlier? Obliquus Capitis Superior and friends? Well these guys need some serious love now that we took the tourniquet off of your atlas with the last two mobilizations we did. There are two ways you can grind these guys out: the nice way or the easy way.

The Nice Way (Broad Release)

To massage these guys the nice way, you’ll want to use the two side by side knobs on the large loop of the Back Buddy. Put a little lotion on the back of your neck before you start, and then put both knobs on the back of your neck and slide them up and down applying as much pressure as you need to get a response.

I like to spend about **4-6 minutes** gliding both of those knobs up and down my entire neck. In some instances, I will pin the tissue down in my neck and turn my head a couple of times to tear apart and unlock the small muscles that may be stuck.

The Easy Way (Deep Penetration)

This way is a bit more intense because the circumference of the knob is a lot smaller, allowing for deeper penetration. To do this mobilization you are going to use the smallest knob on the shaft and grind into those small neck muscles right alongside your spine. Make sure to put lotion on your skin again.

This technique is going to take a little longer, but not by much, because I am going to make you do each side for **four minutes**. Simply glide the little knob up and down, searching for tender or sore tissue. Please be careful – if your neck is really tight and you have never used anything to massage it before, this can be quite painful.

The Unwind

Surprisingly, that is it for the atlas. Now that you have started to get the atlas back in its home, the rest of the body will start shifting in your favor, moving back to true alignment. Working on the rest of your upper body will now be easier and more productive. Opening up the atlas is a behemoth. I’ve had a lot of people experience a lot of interesting things with this mobilization. Numbness and tingling in the extremities, fatigue, dizziness, nausea, on and off headaches, and difficulty sleeping. The benefits greatly outweigh all of the trouble, though, as your body starts to unwind itself, and the small aches and pains start to subside.

Are you ready to stop treating symptoms and start fixing the foundation?

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Strength & Honor,

Chris Kidawski

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© 2025 Chris Kidawski. All Rights Reserved. | Read Time: ~10 Minutes