Neck Saver

Ever get a stiff neck when you’ve been at the computer, or driving, or just stressed?

Here’s a pleasant way to get serious, lasting relief.

After a few repetitions, it will get to where you can improve your comfort in just in a few minutes.

Sit, on a good hard chair. Feet flat, butt toward the front edge. Don’t lean on the back, and look straight ahead.

Turn your head left, slowly! Go only as far as is totally comfortable, even if that is less than an inch. Pain doesn’t help. With your mind’s eye, mark a spot on the wall to indicate how far you see.

Come slowly back to center.

Turn very, very slowly left again a few times. Keep your vision level, like you are scanning the horizon. Just go left and back to center, not to the right at all. The slower you go the better it works. We are training muscles to relax to take pressure off the disks, so don’t force anything. Be very nice to yourself

Stop and take a few breaths.

Now turn left and stay there. Keeping your nose pointing the same way, turn your eyes slowly back and forth (right  and left), so you are looking out of the corners. Do this 5-10 times.

Return your head to center. Take a few deep breaths.

Focus your eyes straight ahead. Keep them on one spot as you slowly turn your head left. Bring your head back to facing forward, keeping your eyes on that spot. Do this 5 times or more, very slowly. Keep breathing.

Again, focus your eyes straight ahead. Keep them on one spot as you slowly turn your head left. Stop your head when it gets to the left, and turn your eyes all the way right. Then slowly turn your head back to facing forward. Do this 5 times.

Take a few deep breaths. Now just turn left and see how far you are looking. Is this different from the spot you marked in the beginning?

Now we do the other side:

Turn your head right, slowly! Go only as far as is totally comfortable. Mark a spot on the wall to indicate how far you see.

Come slowly back to center.

Turn very, very slowly right again a few times. Keep your vision level, like you are scanning the horizon. Just go right and back to center, not to the right at all. The slower you go the better it works.  Each time let it be a little smoother.

Now turn right and stay there. Keeping your nose pointing the same way, turn your eyes slowly back and forth (right and left), so you are looking out of the corners. Do this about 10 times. Return you head to center. Take a few deep breaths.

Focus your eyes straight ahead. Keep them on one spot as you slowly turn your head right. Bring your head back to facing forward, keeping your eyes on that spot. Do this 5 times or more, very slowly. Keep breathing.

Again, focus your eyes straight ahead. Keep them on one spot as you slowly turn your head right. Stop your head when it gets to the right, and turn your eyes all the way left. Then slowly turn your head back to facing forward. Do this 5 times.

Take a few deep breaths. Now just turn right and see how far you are looking. Is this different from the spot you marked in the beginning?

Do this whole lesson at least 3 times (once a day). After that you will know how to use pieces to improve your turning. If you are short on time, do one side. It is better to do a good job on one side than to rush through to get to all of it. The other side will catch on.

This is classic Feldenkrais. The eye tricks re-train the neck and torso muscles. Things get smoother and there is less effort to do basic movements. Posture improves, without tightening anything. If you like this, call or email me and we will get you set up with lots more. You can totally rebuild your movement patterns!

Show Up Naked

I was chatting with some friends when one asked about getting the attention of a man in whom she was romantically interested. I replied, “Show up naked, and bring beer.” It certainly wasn’t some great original gem of advice. It is the punch line from an old joke about the different challenges of seducing women and men.

It’s easy to go right by that one without absorbing much. But let’s look closer. “Naked” is direct, sexy, fairly easy to read. It also is unhidden, exposed, vulnerable- both physically and emotionally. “Bring beer”, clearly implies party time- celebration, embarking on an adventure.

Now we have vulnerability and celebration. Or we can say, a sense of your own pain and a sense of your own adventure.

These are significant requirements in the therapeutic relationship. Without these two, I am not sure any other skills will suffice. These elements keep it real. They form the ground for the relationship.

Obviously most practitioners don’t show up sans culottes, but without grounding into a sense of my own pain, I lack empathy. My actions will be based on abstract choices, rather than anchored in compassion.

Likewise, I don’t come into my practice carrying a six pack of Old On Sale. But if all I have to offer is pain, who needs me? Masochists aside, most of us want some sense of possibility, some thread of hope, and some enthusiasm for the challenge. I can’t tell you what your life holds, but a sense of my own adventure makes me a much more valuable companion on the healing journey.

Clothing and sobriety are good choices for my work hours. But pain and adventure are inseparable and invaluable. They don’t need to dominate, but if I want to practice from strength, I need to keep a taproot into the deeper well of my experience.