Posts Tagged ‘stress relief’

July Tip of the Month: Self Care for the Neck

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

I’ve been noticing a lot of neck tension lately, both on myself and my clients – someone recently described it as a feeling of being hung on a hook from the nape. So I thought it might be a good time to offer a few techniques for unhooking ourselves. If we think about it metaphorically for a moment, we can see the neck as the bridge between the mind and the body. If there is any conflict between them it will be the first to register. Maybe conflict is a big word, so we can think of it as an energy imbalance – our mind is full of things we need and want to do, but our body and/or our emotions are needing some quiet time or attention. Here are some ways to give the body attention:

SLEEP & REST MORE

1. OK, maybe this seems obvious but it’s the advice I personally could use most and the part of self-care that gets least attention in our hectic city lives. It’s also the one thing I am sure will work for everyone! Your head weighs about ten to fifteen pounds, so if your body is tired, you can imagine it’s going to want to take a break from carrying that load, especially if beyond the physiological weight you’re also carrying emotional baggage in there. As my Thai Massage master used to say to almost every westerner that walked into his studio: take off your backpack, at least for an extra hour or two.

USING YOUR FINGERS

2. On the Shoulders: sitting or standing, curve your fingers and place them on the back of the shoulders (trapezius muscles), close to the base of the neck. Keep the fingers hooked and simply pull the elbows closer in to your body to increase the pressure of the fingers without having to press harder. Let the muscles soften, breath deeply and relax your eyes and forehead.

3. On the Neck: sitting or standing, curve your fingers and place them on the back of the neck, right along but not directly on the spine. Apply pressure but not so much that you strain the fingers. Keeping the head straight, chin slightly down, gently press the back of the neck into the fingers on an exhale in order to increase the pressure. Then, keeping the pressure of the fingers into the neck, tilt your head back on an inhale and forward on an inhale. Play with moving the fingers up and down a little – getting the middle finger right into the base of the skull and tiltling back can feel very nice.

4. On the Head: sitting or standing, curve your fingers and place them thumb side down on the back of your head, right along the centeral line of the skull. Move along this center line, from the base of the skull up and over to your third eye, the point just above your eyebrows, applying pressure into the skull. Repeat from the base of the skull to forehead rather than reverse. Then, shampoo your entire head, especially around the temples and don’t forget your jaw.

5. Nutcracker: interlace the fingers behind the neck and pull your elbows in towards each other (below the chin) to create gentle pressure. For deep pressure, release your thumbs from the interlace and place the thumbs along the neck and then pull the elbows in.

USING THE FLOOR

6. Head Rolls: Lie on your back with your knees up, feet flat on the floor and gently pull your chin down towards your sternum, without creating tension in the front of the neck. You should feel the back of the neck lengthening and the back of the head widening into the floor. In this position, press the back of the head into the floor and maintain the pressure as you roll your head from side to side. Exhale as you roll the head to one side, inhale to center, and exhale to the other side. Stop anywhere along the way where the pressure feels good. Move on the exhale to the end of your range, but without straining.

7. Nose Circles: Keep the jaw, eyes and forehead relaxed and draw small circles clockwise with the tip of your nose. Feel the head moving fluidly through the circles – if there are any criks or snaps make the circles smaller. Reverse direction.

USING YOUR HANDS

8. Hanging over: Either standing up or sitting in a chair, let the weight of the upper body and especially your head hang down. To make sure the weight of the head is fully released, do little nods yes and no and check that the head can move freely, as if it were dangling off the spine. Now use your hands to pet the back of your neck, from the base of the shoulder down along the skull, as if you were wiping water off of yourself. You can use a lot or very little pressure – even touching very lightly with the fingertips as if you were tickling yourself can be effective, depending on what you need and like. Otherwise known as “nice nice” in Thai speak.



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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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Tip of the Month: Techniques for Self Massage Part 1 – In a Chair

Friday, May 28th, 2010

The warm weather often brings with it more energy and desire to be more active: we spend more time outdoors, stay up later, hike in nature or around the city, dance more, bike more, etc. So it’s not unusual for our muscles to get fatigued and for our joints to cry out for attention, especially in these months when we are still transitioning into our full summer swing. There is nothing like a professional bodywork session for helping your body relax and rebalance, especially when dealing with injury or chronic pain, but there is a lot you can do for yourself to encourage release and relief at any given moment of the day.

More often than not it is when we finally get a moment to sit that we feel the strain, and many of us find ourselves at a desk for hours at a time, so here are some ideas for self-massage that you can do seated in a chair.

SELF MASSAGE, SEATED IN A CHAIR:

1.    For shoulders, neck and back: keep your feet flat on the floor and open your legs so there is a foot or more between your knees. Now let your upper body hang over your legs, with your head completely released to the floor. Breath deeply into your back. Then interlace your fingers and bring the hands to the back of your neck. Use the heels of the palms to gently squeeze up and down the neck, in a nutcracker fashion, then release the fingers and use the palms to slide down the neck, as if you were wiping water or lotion off your neck and down along the back of your skull towards the floor.

2.    For sore hips, thighs and feet: sit up and cross your right heel over your left thigh, just above the knee. Let your back relax back down for a moment and breath into the hip stretch. As much as possible, aim to keep both sitz bones even on the chair. Now sit up again and place the outer edge of your right forearm on your right thigh (your thumb should point up). Lean into the thigh and as you do so roll the forearm so that the palm comes to face up. Continue rolling up and down the thigh with the forearm, using your weight to create the pressure and thinking of moving the flesh away from the crease of the hip. You can also use your elbow to get deeper pressure: place the forearm on the thigh and as you drop your weight bend the arm so that the elbow drops into the thigh. Finally, use both hands to massage the feet – try using the knuckles or tapping with a fist so that you don’t fatigue your fingers. Use the hands to pull the toes in, push them away, spread them apart. Now release the right leg, shake it out, and repeat with the left leg folder over the right.

3.    For shins, ankles and feet: sitting up straight with your shoes off, use the heel of your right foot to rub the point at the top of your inner left shin, just below the knee. Rub this point for a few moments, then continue down along the inner shin, making sure the heel is between the bone and the muscle and not on the bone. Spend a few more moments and the point between the inner ankle and heel. Now cross the heel over and use it to rub up and down the out shin a few time. From here, continue down the top of the foot and spend a few moments at the point between the big toe and the second toe. Repeat on the other side.

4.    For fatigue, headaches and stress: sitting up, use the fingers of both hands (except the thumbs) to tap along the breastbone, up and down a few times. The taps are quick and light. Then allow the hands to split and travel along their respective clavicle, tapping just below the bone. Continue around to the back of the shoulders, up the neck, up the back of the head, spending as much time as you like on the head and covering the entire scalp. Continue to the forehead, tapping more gently now that you are on the sensitive face. Tap the temples, the jaw, the cheeks, the chin. When you finish, relax the arms, close your eyes and breath deeply for at least three breaths.

5.    For aching shoulders: Make a light fist with both hands, keeping the thumb free. Throw the right fist over the left shoulder to create a light pounding sensation along the back of the shoulder, then throw the left fist over the right shoulder. Use the momentum of the throw rather than any muscular effort to pound on your shoulders. Alternate sides and continue for as long as you like.

6.    For a sore low back: use the same light fists from the above exercise to rub your low back in a circular motion. Then play with different placements of the fist and different strokes – try using the knuckles to rub up and down, for example. Rub briskly to create heat, and make sure you breath as you do this. Stop well before you fatigue your arms.

Did you enjoy this tip? Did all this talk of massage make you realize that you’re due for a more serious tune up? Mention this tip and get 20% off a bodywork session through the end of June. As always, feel free to email me with any questions or comments, and if you’d like to work on creating a repertoire of stretches and exercises that are specific to your needs I am available for private sessions at super reasonable prices.  XO Ophra

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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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Games for Resetting

Friday, March 19th, 2010

It’s mid-day and you’re feeling drowsy, distracted, tense, or all of the above, but there are still plenty of things requiring your full attention: don’t you wish you could just press the reset button and boot back up all fresh and ready to go? Here are a few tips for helping you to envigorate, focus, and relax and your mind and body without a drop of coffee.

PRINCIPLES:

1. Gravity is your friend. Most of the exercises and movements below are about playing with and tuning in to gravity to help you get out of your head and in to your body, and to ground your body and mind in the here and now.

2. Breath. No surprise here, since I don’t think there’s been a tip in which I haven’t mentioned awareness of the breath as a key element, but let’s get specific. In many of these exercises, you can combine breath with gravity so that the exhale is a sense of letting go, dropping down, and giving in to the pull of gravity. Allowing sound to on the breath is also good, a soft sigh or a loud scream are both appropriate, as long as you aren’t forcing the voice but just allowing the sound to ride the breath.

3. Play. In other words, I apologize for calling these “exercises”, because if you approach them mechanically with any kind of fixed idea about how they should be done “right”, they will fail you. The more fun and pleasure you take in them, the more likely they are to do you good.

GAMES FOR RESETTING:

1. Dropping on your Heels: This one is for waking up and clearing your mind. Stand up, shoes off. Lift up on to your toes and with an exhale drop all at once down onto the heels, sending a little vibration from the heels all the way to the head. Make sure your quads are pulling up on your knee caps and that your abdominals are supporting your spine, so that you stay upright and avoid hurting your knees or your back on landing. Repeat this with a percussive rhythm, dropping on to the heels on an exhale as quickly or slowly and as many times as feels good for you. Play with rhythm and with coming up higher or lower on the toes, making sure to land without straining the knees or back. For extra credit, blink your eyes with each drop ; )

2. Blink & Breath: 15 second reset! This can be done sitting, standing or lying down… on the train, at your desk, under your desk – wherever you are, feel yourself grounding into the floor (or chair), but without forcing the muscles, just noticing gravity’s pull downward. Open your peripheral vision as wide as possible so that instead of focusing in on one thing, you are taking in as much of the scenery around you as possible. Keep this focus and start blinking your eyes as you take in a deep breath, feeling yourself expand in to space as if you were inflating like a baloon. Then let the air out all at once with a sigh (quiet or loud), opening your eyes as wide as possible and feeling yourself deflate completely and root down into the floor or chair. Repeat three to five cycles, blinking and inflating on the inhales, opening your eyes wide and deflating on the exhale, then take a moment to notice how you feel.

3. Squeeze and Release: This one is great for releasing tension quickly and can also be done sitting, standing, or lying down. Take a deep breath in and then hold it as you squeeze your face as tightly as possible, tensing all the muscles in your face and neck that you can access. When you can’t hold the breath any longer, let it out all at once and release the face completely, letting the jaw hang open and the eyes soften. Now tense the shoulders and neck, lifting the shoulders up to the ears and tilting the head back so the neck is fully compressed. When you release, let the shoulders drop and the head relax back on top of the spine. Continue with the breath pattern, breathing in deeply, holding the breath as you tense an area of the body, and releasing the air and the physical tension simultaneously. If you have time, continue to tense and release other parts of the body: the arms, the hands, the chest, the belly, the hips, the legs, the feet. If you don’t have time, go right to the last step, which is to tense the entire body, squeezing every muscle you can access, and then release and let yourself fully relax for a few deep breaths.

4. ???: That is to say, I’d like to hear from you… maybe you have a technique that works for you, or maybe playing around with gravity and breath leads you to invent or discover something new. Share with me! You can email me or leave a comment on this post of the blog.

Did you enjoy this tip? There’s more! All the past tips are now on the Force and Flow Blog, so you can always refer to them when looking for something good to do for yourself. And if you have a friend whom you think would benefit from these tips, feel free to forward them this email. As always, feel free to email me with any questions or comments. And if you’d like to work on creating a repertoire of stretches that are specific to your needs I am available for private sessions at reasonable prices.
XO Ophra

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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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