My back is, for lack of a better word, skiwampus. (I think my mom made up this word, because my family are the only people I've ever heard use it, but feel free to from now on. Pronounced Skee-Womp-Us: meaning screwed up, or, you know... FUBAR) I have mild scoliosis, protruding shoulder blades, some funky form of tendonitis around my trapezius muscle, and according to my chiropractor, pre-arthritis and subluxations in the my cervical spine. In fact, 99.9% of the time, if I have any sort of pain, it's in my shoulders/neck/upper back. Since I've been doing lots and lots of yoga in the past couple years, it's gotten a lot better, but since I haven't done yoga in the past almost-month, it's really all creeping up on me. These two incredibly easy things have made my life SO much easier lately:
1: Remember that yoga pose I wrote about a few posts back? (Child's Pose) Well, that's been helping a lot, but due to certain circumstances, it's been hard for me to lay on my chest very well. That's where the pose that is affectionately referred to as Rag Doll pose comes in. I'm super limited in my range of motion right now, but this one's for everyone, and I have probably been doing it 20x a day this past week. Here's how it's done: Stand with your feet hips distance apart, bend at the hips, and dangle your arms head and neck. Sometimes I hold my elbows, sometimes I let my arms hang, sometimes I put my hands behind my back. Feel free to play with it. It's so unbelievably easy, and feels sooooo good. Try it. Right now. You know you want to! There you go. Hold that pose for a solid 10 breaths and you'll feel like a new person. If you want an added stretch, each time you exhale, try to get a little longer. Then, once you're ready to rejoin the world of the Upright's, slowly roll up, one vertebrae at a time. Hang on, I'll do it with you... Oh man, that felt good (yea, I genuinely just did it.) When was the last time you just let your head dangle like dead weight? Trust me, your neck deserves a break from holding up your brilliant brain and you gorgeous face all day.
Number two on my (short) list of things that have made my life more comfortable and down right delightful lately is also my doTERRA spotlight product for the day (because who doesn't like a twofer?):
This. Stuff. ROCKS! I first tried it after I had driven from Maryland to Arizona, and my dad had me put some on my achy back. Since then, I've been HOOKED! The closest thing I can compare it to is Icy-Hot and/or Vick's Vaporub, but made with essential oils so it has added benefits. It's comprised of wintergreen, camphor, peppermint, blue tansy, German chamomile, helichrysum, and osmanthus. A little bit goes a LONG way, and you feel the warming/cooling effects immediately. It's so great for people like me with chronic muscle pain, but also good for sore muscles after a hard workout, or a nice, deep-tissue massage. DoTERRA also makes a Deep Blue proprietary blend oil (which I also have) that is super duper strong, and must be diluted, and also as a roll on for smaller areas. Thanks to the one-two punch of this rub, and good ol' Rag Doll pose, (and the occasional heating pad) I feel like a million bucks!
1: Remember that yoga pose I wrote about a few posts back? (Child's Pose) Well, that's been helping a lot, but due to certain circumstances, it's been hard for me to lay on my chest very well. That's where the pose that is affectionately referred to as Rag Doll pose comes in. I'm super limited in my range of motion right now, but this one's for everyone, and I have probably been doing it 20x a day this past week. Here's how it's done: Stand with your feet hips distance apart, bend at the hips, and dangle your arms head and neck. Sometimes I hold my elbows, sometimes I let my arms hang, sometimes I put my hands behind my back. Feel free to play with it. It's so unbelievably easy, and feels sooooo good. Try it. Right now. You know you want to! There you go. Hold that pose for a solid 10 breaths and you'll feel like a new person. If you want an added stretch, each time you exhale, try to get a little longer. Then, once you're ready to rejoin the world of the Upright's, slowly roll up, one vertebrae at a time. Hang on, I'll do it with you... Oh man, that felt good (yea, I genuinely just did it.) When was the last time you just let your head dangle like dead weight? Trust me, your neck deserves a break from holding up your brilliant brain and you gorgeous face all day.
Number two on my (short) list of things that have made my life more comfortable and down right delightful lately is also my doTERRA spotlight product for the day (because who doesn't like a twofer?):
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