FORCE AND FLOW BLOG

Here are some techniques for relaxing and working the kinks out of your own back:

USING THE FLOOR

1. Lie on your back and pull your knees in: wrap your hands across the front of the knees, but be sure to keep your shoulders relaxed -no need to add extra tension in one place for the sake of relieving it in another. Take deep breaths and as you exhale, pull the knees in, and as you inhale allow them to gently move away from your chest. Repeat as many times as you like. Keeping the knees pulled in, rock them gently forwards and back, using the pressure into the floor to massage across the low and mid back; then rock from side to side, using the floor to massage across the hips and ribs.

2. Rocking side to side: using the same position as above, rock from side to side, using the floor to massage across the back and hips. Breath easily as you rock for thirty seconds to a minute, then rest with your feet flat on the floor, knees bent.

3. Rocking forwards and back: using the same position as above, but this time with your hands in the crease behind your knees, rock the knees in and out for thirty seconds to a minute, then rest with your feet flat on the floor, knees bent.

USING YOUR BREATH

4. In Child’s Pose: that is, kneeling with your butt on your heals and your head relaxed on the floor, arms either ahead of you or to the sides of the body, breath deeply into the back. Begin by consciously bringing the breath to the tops of the shoulds, feeling the shoulders and neck inflate with air as you breath in deeply and deflate and relax down as you exhale. After a few breaths, begin to send the breath further down between the shoulder blades, then to the low ribs, then to the low back, and finally all the way down to the buttocks. Finish off with a few breaths into the entire length of your back.

USING YOUR HANDS

5. Sacrum: With your feet flat on the floor, knees up, place your hands palms down under your buttocks and gently rock the knees from side to side. You can move the palms around and you can also try rocking with your knees up into the chest.

6. Low Back: Make fists with your hands and place them palms down under your low back, with the knuckles just outside the spine. Keep your feet flat on the floor, knees up, and just relax and breath deeply, moving the fists up or down as needed.

7. Mid-Back: Sit on the floor with your legs crossed, open wide, or soles of feet touching and relax your head down towards the floor. Make light fists with your hands and throw them over your back, pounding gently up and down along the sides of the spine

USING A TENNIS BALL

8. For Deep Pressure: Lie on your back and place a tennis ball under any point or area you feel tension. Relax, breath deeply, and allow the weight of your body to drop down into the ball. Shift slowly, by rolling on the ball or rolling to your side to move the ball away. You can use two tennis balls wrapped in a cloth or bound together with tape to roll symmetrically up and down the spine.

Tags: awareness, bodywork, Chronic Pain, exercise, Meditation, mind body awareness, Mind Body Wellness, pilates, releasing tension, self-massage, stress relief, stretch, stretches, Stretching, tip, yoga

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 10:20 pm and is filed under Back Care, Chronic Pain, Massage, Mind Body Wellness, Self-Care, Stress, Tip of the Month, bodywork, self-massage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.