Tagged neck

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Physical Pain affects Mental Health

Injuries, pains, and aches can bring your spirits down. I’ve definitely been facing that obstacle currently.

Because of financial debt, I’ve had to take on another part time job besides teaching yoga.

I work at Chipotle. I stand for 20 hours a week, and talk there 20 hours a week.

I also teach 3-5 classes per week. And vocalize for an hour everyday, and a voice lesson once a week. Oh, and sometimes I play shows or have band practices.

So in total, I talk 30-40 hours a week. My vocal chords are extremely inflamed. I lose my voice by 7pm.

I now understand why people who stand all day at work like to just veg out, watch tv, or sleep after their shift.

My body hurts. But my spine is taking most of the toll.

It’s very hard to have motivation to workout and do yoga when you are in chronic pain.

Pain is debilitating, and it’s affecting my desire to be workout, because
1. I fear lifting weights will pull on my injured neck and make my spine hurt more before/after work
2. It’s discouraging to get on my mat and not be as flexible because standing all day tightens my muscles
3. My physical pain makes me feel sad. Not good. Not happy.

So today, my intention is to push my mind to workout. This is just a deadly cycle. I KNOW working out, moving my muscles, lubricating my joints WILL make me feel better, it’s just, getting myself to actually do it after work when I am tired is the struggle.

The struggle is real. But I’m pushing through. Stay positive everyone. :)

TEACHING FOCUS: Correct Posture Reduces Chronic Pain

–For anyone who has chronic back/neck pain or wants to correct their posture
–And for my Monday night LA Fit students and Tuesday 930AM Fitness Compound students xox

In the image below, the first shows how many of us start in class when I say “start in a seated position on your mats.” The back is rounded and slumped over lazily, and the neck is crunched. This is also how a lot of us sit at our 9 to 5 jobs in the office. Sitting like this can cause back and neck pain, and reduces oxygen to the brain by not allowing the stomach’s full capacity to expand in and out as your breathe.

Steps to sitting up tall in cross-legged seated position! 1. Literally use your hands to move the flesh of your bum out to create more space 2. Root down into your sitbones, let your spine and head rebound up but keep the chin level with the floor!! 3. Engage the core 4. Spread wide across the collarbones 5. Roll the shoulders back and down 6. Lift the sternum up slightly 7. Soften the frontal ribs down #posture #alignment #seatedposition #meditation #form #yoga #yogateacher #iamasticklerforform

I guided my students to gain correct posture so there is space to then open up the shoulders and neck later in class.

Start in a cross-legged seated meditation. Close your eyes, feel your breath, and notice the state of your body today.

1. Literally use your hands to move the flesh of your bum out to create more space

2. Root down into your sitbones, let your spine and head rebound up but keep the chin level with the floor!!

3. Engage the core

4. Spread wide across the collarbones

5. Roll the shoulders back and down

6. Lift the sternum up slightly

7. Soften the frontal ribs down

A friend of mine who was many herniated vertebrae once told me,

“The more you keep your vertebrae aligned throughout the day, the less pain you will have.”

After I received whiplash to my neck, I took his words to heart and really focused on always maintaining correct posture. Stay aware of your posture, it’s something we all have to constantly work on :)