No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the author. Even if the cause of your pain goes beyond muscle tension (ie inflammation, injury, a pinched nerve, etc.), the presence of pain increases the tension.
Your Pain Is Real
Sharon’s Story
It is remarkable that she had been so committed to finding a solution that she had tried that painful advice more than once. I was so excited for Sharon as she experienced increased comfort and hope that she could regain her health and sense of well-being and move forward towards her dreams.
Your New Chapter
There Is a Way Out
Why It Matters to Me
My New Chapter
Home Where I Belong
Once Upon a Time
When it's relaxed, there's more room for blood to enter, allowing it to fill more completely and reach all the way to its comfortable seat. Then everyone in the neighborhood gets to rest, fill up with blood and go home where they belong.
A Paradigm Shift: Lean into Comfort
What Have You Got to Lose but Your Pain?
Preparing to Trade Pain for Comfort
The muscle relaxation method is designed to be a completely comfortable and safe way to release tension, so there's no need to push through the red flag of pain to find comfort. The body also responds during the pain process with stress hormones and the stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system, characterized by 'fight, flight or freeze'. It is a beneficial step towards comfort, awakening the parasympathetic nervous system and releasing the hormones that lead to 'rest and digest'. In the "Rate" step, I encourage you to rate the tenderness you feel to a light touch using a typical scale of zero to ten, such as the one that follows, which is similar to the scale used by many medical professionals .
Simply mark the number from the scale with your note of the location and description of the pain or sensation. If you're not already familiar with the zero to ten pain scale, here's an example to guide your pain observations for your notes so you can see the progress you've made somewhat objectively. One of the wonders of the human experience is the ability we have to forget exactly what pain feels like once it's gone.
Any written notes you can take will give you a reference point to see patterns to guide your therapy decisions.
Pain Scale
I believe using the pain scale becomes easier with practice and it can be helpful in the beginning to note any changes you notice. You can easily apply a release in less than a minute as you move through your day.
Vocabulary for Pain Descriptions
I've learned some of the suggestions in the "Preparation" section using the Headspace mindfulness app, which I've found helpful in learning to be calmly present in everyday life, rather than dwelling in the past or worrying about the future.
The Road Home
Prepare for the Release
Breathe
Scan
Note
Choose
Assess
Release
Integrate
Check
The point may need another round in the same direction, or it may be ready to release tension in the opposite direction. Your body will show you what it needs; all you have to do is move the city in the direction of ease and comfort. When the body shows that it is ready to go in the opposite direction, clients are often confused.
Again, if there is a difference, go in the direction of comfort and ease of movement. Usually, once all the directions are released, the tension and pain is gone and the one who was in the backyard is crying in the rain and all the neighbors have gone home to their comfortable chairs. In the unlikely event that there is still a strong pain or other sensation after watching the video and releasing the rest of the area and watching the video, feel free to email your experiences or questions.
If it was a traumatic event, try to immediately release any accompanying emotional or mental pain.
Plant Good Seed
What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You!
Babies don't breathe until the ribcage is born because the ribs have to expand to expand the lungs."
My First Rib Is Where??
Numbness and tingling indicate nerve compression, which can happen in the neck, at other arm joints, or when tension lifts the first rib and presses against the collarbone, compressing some of the nerves to the arm. When the muscles around and between the ribs are tight, the ribs cannot fully expand and the lungs are also restricted. A tender knot in the upper trapezius in the space between the neck and shoulder joint, which can come and go.
When the first rib is lifted by the upper trapezius muscle, it can result in burning, tenderness and/or pain all along the line from neck to shoulder. Placing the upper trapezius muscle at rest causes it to fill with blood and allows one of the three upper ribs that have been pulled out of position to return home. It crossed my mind that it might be a swollen lymph node, which can be a cause for concern with an upper body infection, but when it disappeared effortlessly without further pain, I let go of all worries.
Building a list of strategies to help you reduce stress will give you action steps to take when the pressure is on and thinking is challenging.
Homecoming
Conscious breathing is a good item for the list because it can help with stress and provides mobility to the ribs. She gasped for breath for several minutes and said, "I was ten years old and my mother told me not to swing on the rope swing because the rope was rotten." I recommend setting a time each month to perform this simple self-check of your ribs, as movement and breathing can be quite restricted and painful if some ribs are lifted out of position. The exception is the bottom two on each side, which attach only to the back and other end. floats,” giving them the name floating ribs.
Whether a rib is knocked out of place by impact or pulled out by tension, the action may have touched only one part of the rib, but because it is a solid structure, the entire path of the rib is affected. I find it easiest for people to self-examine the ribs on the side of the body because most people can easily reach them either with the thumb on the same side or by reaching across the front with the fingers of the opposite hand. . A quick check of the position of your ribs will help you before you have a special rib check.
Now that you have some familiarity with the landscape, follow that path again while noticing if you feel any of the hills (ribs) as a speed bump raised higher than its neighbors.
Be Aware
Place your thumbs deep into your arm pits and gently run them down the side of your body to your waist. You will feel along the side of your body starting under the lower rib and pay attention to where you find tenderness or resistance to your pressure. Start at the waist on one side and begin moving up with the thumb on the same side as you press toward your core in half-inch increments until you find the bottom rib.
If using the thumb on the same side is not comfortable, you can lie opposite with two fingers from the other hand. The two pairs of floating ribs, the eleventh and twelfth at the bottom, do not extend to the side of the body, so you will feel the tenth rib as the lower one laterally.). You'll feel the difference if you find any tight ribs – they're like pushing against a small tree branch near the trunk rather than further up the branch.
Put two fingers lightly on top of the sore or tender spot and press gently to see what number on the pain scale will give you the discomfort and make a note of it.
Determine
More Comfort Tools
The doctor of the future will not give any medication, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, diet and in the cause and prevention.
Release Your Core
To do a quick self-check, have someone take a side view, a full-body photo with a phone or camera and stretch a string from the middle of your ankle to the middle of your shoulder. If the middle of your ear is in front of the line, you have some degree of forward head posture. For every inch your head is in front of your shoulders, it adds ten pounds to the weight your head places on your neck.
While standing with your back against the wall in best posture, bend your chin until you feel a slight stretch in the back of your head. Another simple test is to stand with your back against a wall and see if your head naturally touches the wall with ease. If you have to push your head back to reach the wall, or if you feel tired after holding it against the wall for a minute, you may have FHP.
Ask your spine specialist for a complete assessment and an individual correction program if you think you have a problem.
Upper Trapezius Release (aka Shrug, Chicken Wing, Lean)
Use Your Imagination
Prayer/Meditation/Mindfulness
Neck Release
Isometric Exercises
Spindle Cell Technique
Moving Forward
Will This Relief Last?
Questions + Listening = Helpful Answers
Re: Pain
Re: Stress and Tension
Re: Healthy Habits
Re: Self-Care
Sleep
Conclusion
Take Some Time to Dream
Further Reading
Recommended Videos
Acknowledgements
It is a privilege to embark on this journey with all the other authors in my cohort. The passion and dedication each of you have to your message inspires me - thank you. Words just begin to describe my gratitude to the Lord who created me and sustains me.
He said his name was "I AM.." and every day he finishes the sentence in a new way with exactly what he knows I need. He wrote a book on transformation and I am happy to be his work of art (in the making).
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