Posts Tagged ‘Meditation’

June Tip of The Month: Self Massage for the Back (Part 2)

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

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.

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Posted in Back Care, Chronic Pain, Massage, Mind Body Wellness, Self-Care, Stress, Tip of the Month, bodywork, self-massage | 2 Comments »

April Tip of the Month: Looking for Pleasure

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

This month’s tip is a friendly reminder that pleasure is as ever-present and accessible to our senses as pain : ) We often don’t notice our bodies until we feel discomfort, and then the discomfort becomes the focus of our attention to the point where it dominates our awareness and we forget that we ever felt anything else. But comfort and discomfort, pain and pleasure, are always present simultaneously, and taking a little bit of time every day to cultivate our awareness of pleasurable sensations is essential to our well-being. Here are three quick ideas for opening yourself up to feeling pleasure:

USE YOUR EYES:
While walking to the subway, look up and around: what are your eyes drawn to and what is it about what you are seeing that you enjoy? Notice colors, shapes, and compositions in space that make you happy. Spring time with its blooming trees and beaming sunlight is an ideal time to practice this little meditation, and you may even find yourself getting to your destination a little happier and more relaxed.

USE THE FLOOR:
Lie down on the floor and allow the weight of your body to just give in to gravity and melt down. Where do you feel the body coming into contact with the floor? Where does the pressure from the floor feel good, like a massage? Take a moment to really focus on the sensations that feel good: what feels good about them? how big is the are in which you feel them? how does the area around the pleasure feel? As you ask yourself these questions, shifts may naturally occur and you may feel yourself sinking deeper or moving away from the pressure. As long as you keep the mind in it’s task as observer and let the body decide what it wants and likes, you can do what you like. Once you take a moment to focus on one area or point, look for another. Try rolling around towards one side or another, looking for ways in which the floor can massage you while you stay heavy and relaxed.

USE YOUR HANDS:
Next time you pick something up – a pen, a shirt, a plate – take a moment and notice the sensations in your hands. What kinds of textures do your hands enjoy touching? What is it about the texture that you are enjoying? When washing your hands, take a moment to feel the water running on your skin – what temperature is most pleasing to you? Where in your hands is the sensation of running water strongest or most pleasurable? Then use your hands on your own body – what part of your body feels like it could use your hand on it? For example, we’re often bringing our hands to our shoulders – what is the quality of contact that feels best both for your hand and for the shoulder? How does the hand know exactly where to go? There are no right answers, just keep asking yourself interesting questions.

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Tip of the Month: Self-Care in the New Year, From the Ground Up

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

(Originally included in the Force and Flow newsletter, 1/4/10)

If one of your resolutions for the New Year is to take better care of yourself, may I suggest that you start with your feet? Your feet are the key to balance and alignment, to feeling grounded and to leaping to great heights. Since we know that body and mind are one, I’ll let you play with the metaphor. Meanwhile, here are a few excellent ways to attend to your feet – on the go, at rest, and as focused exercises.

Stretch: sit on your heals, with the toes tucked under and the weight on the balls of the feet. The more you allow the weight to fall towards the big toe and the torso to sit upright atop the heals, the greater the stretch. Be prepared for intense sensations if you haven’t done anything of the sort recently! Stay as long as you can bear it, breathing deeply and keeping your focus parallel to the floor and your peripheral vision wide. When you need to rest, un-tuck your toes and sit back on the heals again, stretching out the front of the foot. Alternate like this for 2-5 minutes (or more if you so desire : ), keeping the focus and the relaxed breath as you change from the one position to the other. You can do this as part of a stretching routine (recommended), but you can also do it while watching TV or a DVD.

Massage: You’ve probably all rubbed your feet with your hands at least once: do it often! Use your elbows, too – if you sit cross-legged on the floor, or in a chair with one leg crossed over the other, the elbows can be used to drop a lot more weight than the hands, and they can give your hard-working hands a break. The key to releasing tension in the feet is not so much kneeding as it is focused pressure and traction. Think of stretching the bones of the feet and toes apart, and circle the joints of the ankles and the toes to lubricate their movement. If you have bunions, do extra some extra stretching for the big toe. And tennis balls and foot rollers are always good props. Keep one under your desk or kitchen table and roll the foot out while sitting.

Walking Meditation: Since us New Yorkers have the priviledge of walking so much, and since we love to multi-task, here is something to do while transporting yourself from place to place. First of all, keep your focus parallel to the ground (vs. dropped) and your peripheral vision wide. Move your head around every once in a while to make sure it’s not stuck in any one place. Allow your internal focus to drop down to your feet and notice the texture of the ground – how hard or soft is it? How bouncy? Then choose a texture and imagine you are walking on it: i.e. dry sand (I’m headed to the beach right after this!), wet grass, melting snow (unless you’re by the beach like me, perhaps this one doesn’t require as much imagination these days : ), etc. Notice how your feet respond to the suggestion! Switch it up, don’t get stuck on any one texture too long, and then come back to trying to feel what the ground you are walking on “really” feels like.

Love,
Ophra

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Posted in Foot Care, Meditation, Mind Body Wellness, Self-Care, Stretching, Tip of the Month | 1 Comment »

Tip of the Month 2: Get Your Back

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

(Originally included in the Force and Flow newsletter, 11/30/09)

This week’s tip is short and sweet, and hopefully you’ll find this little exercise as effective as I do. It’s inspired by the weekend workshop at the Shambhala center that I participated in, during which I was reminded how wonderfully simple and effective this exercise can be for centering our mind and body, relaxing the system and opening the awareness. You can do it any time, anywhere, and you don’t have to wait until you’re feeling stress or tension, but it can be especially helpful in those moments.

Wherever you are – sitting, standing, walking – take a moment to feel the space behind you. Try to sense all there is behind you – people, objects, a wall, trees, etc, and imagine the distance, shape, texture, and density of the space between you and them. Do the same thing for the space on either side of you, the space above and below you, and finally, the space in front of you. Keep your focus relaxed and wide as you do this, taking in as much of your peripheral vision as possible. When you’ve sensed all six directions, check in and see how you feel.

You can do this in a matter of thirty seconds or thirty minutes, or you can just check in with various directions throughout the day. Make note of any changes you feel – in your breath, in the quality of light or color, in sensations on or inside your body.

If you try this out, let me know how it goes, I’d love to hear from you about it. And as usual, feel free to contact me with questions and suggestions for future tips…

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Tip of the Month: Relieving Stress

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

(Originally included in the Force and Flow newsletter, 11/17/09)

We’ve all heard about what living with stress does to us: weakens our immune system, increases our chances of developing everything from a flu to heart disease, leaves us tired and cranky. There are as many excellent ways to relieve stress as there are causes for the stress, and some will be more effective for you than others. Here are lots of good options, complete with a walking meditation to try next time you are on your feet:

SLEEP: GET MORE OF IT! The season is changing and wouldn’t it be great if our daily rhythm would too? If there’s one thing you do for yourself to relieve stress and stay healthier, let it be more sleep. When your body tells you it’s tired, listen – don’t push through things to get them done, chances are you’ll do a better job when you are more rested. If you have a hard time getting to sleep because of all you have on your mind, try creating a simple routine that you do every night, about an hour before bed: reading, stretching, meditating and taking a shower are all great pre-bed activities. BTW, more sleep has also been associated with weight loss, so don’t delay getting to bed unless it’s really worth it : )

BODYWORK: We take on so much living in the city, that usually what we need most is to lay down and do nothing while someone trained helps move energy along in the body and release blocks and tension. This is by far one of the most effective and enjoyable ways to relieve the body of stress! There are many many kinds of bodywork, and some will suit you better than others… Click here to read more about the bodywork we offer, and about the bodywork special we have right now to make it even easier for you to take good care.

SELF-MASSAGE: Not quite the same as having someone work out the kinks for you, but there is a huge amount to be said for taking care of yourself. The best kind of self-massage in my experience is for the feet – there’s a whole science, Reflexology, dedicated to healing the whole person through the feet, and Thai Massage always begins with accupressure and joint manipulation of the feet, to open the gateways to the rest of the body. Massage your feet daily – while sitting at your desk, watching a movie, or before bed – and you are sure to notice differences in your body’s ability to manage stress. And if you’re too tired to massage, try soaking them in hot water.

MIND-BODY EXERCISE CLASSES: i.e. Yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi and Chi Gong. Here’s a metaphor: your nervous system is like a crying baby, if you ignore it, it’s likely to scream even louder, and if you bring attention to it, chances are it will calm down. Weekly classes are a great way to bring routine attention to your physical and nervous system, especially with classes that focus on breath, attention and mindful movement. Currently we offer Pilates and Yoga classes – click here to see a class schedule.

MEDITATION: There are many kinds of meditation, and if you find that sitting for long periods of time is not the best way for you to relax, there are plenty of other options. Meditation is mainly about mindfulness, so here’s something you can try while walking: keep a wide focus as you walk, allowing your eyes to take in as much of the periphery and never locking them on one thing (especially not on asphalt). Notice your feet – what is the quality of contact they are making with the ground on every step? Are you rolling through the whole foot, leaning more to the outside or inside of either foot? Stay aware of the feet and of your focus, and now notice your breath – is it shallow or deep? are you holding it in at the top or letting it right out? Notice if the breath is coordinated with the steps you are taking, and try to gently bring them in to alignment, i.e. take three steps on every in breath, three on every out breath. Do this for at least three minutes, and take note of how you feel afterwards.

As usual, feel free to contact me with questions and suggestions for future tips…
xo Ophra

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Posted in Meditation, Mind Body Wellness, Self-Care, Stress, Tip of the Month | 2 Comments »