How To Stop Your Shoulders From Hurting At The End Of The Day

Photo Credit: anchor1203 via Compfight cc

That’s a good question. Working in front of the computer for hours and hours can make your shoulders ache…..and the whole body actually.

Here are a few things to consider and do to avoid tensing your shoulders throughout the day and painful at the end of it.

1. Posture

I always say that if I had to choose the one thing I’d like my clients to take from their experience of training with me that’ll be Posture. If there was one thing I could choose.

Maintaining a good posture throughout the day will help the body relax. You cannot imagine how important posture is until you begin to understand what a good posture means.

Elongate from the crown of the head rather than tensing the shoulder blades to push your chest out (military style and the one I learnt as a child). A good posture should help you relax your body while maintaining a straight line ear-shoulder-hips-ankles (actually slightly forward than the ankles, close to middle of foot).

Need to look at your posture? I can help you and also take you through the meditation exercise I take my clients on to elongate the body adn spine. Book a free call with me and let’s get you more relaxed.

2. Therapeutic breathing

This is perfect for tensed, painful shoulders. I personally do it regularly as I am currently experiencing injuries and this helps the injured area relax, and increases blood circulation there, helping it heal.

There are many benefits of deep breathing, read 16 of them here.

But breathing exercises should not replace other forms of treatment, however they may compliment them in most cases.

I learnt this many years ago but my OCR Coach Michael Cohen explains it very well so I will quote him here.

Therapeutic breathing is where you can direct the breath into a particular part of the body, where you may have an injury, illness or ailment to help it recover and heal.

• Decide on the region or part of the body that you are going to breathe into. For a moment take your mind and eyes to that region. Then sense the direct route it will take to go from your nose to the target location and then back out through the nose.

• Keep your mouth closed, take an extended BREATHE IN along the route, filling every cell along the route to the target location. The route can fill thick like squeezing toothpaste or it may flow as easy as oil.

• Hold the breathe for the same length as the in-breathe.

• Slowly BREATHE OUT from the target area, feeling each cell empty out through the nose.

• Hold the breathe for the same length as the in-breathe.

• Repeat

3. Go floppy

Yep. Move your shoulders left and right and let your arms hang freely from your shoulders. Imagine they are no longer attached. You have no more control over them. Let them be free. Let them go!

4. The details

Here I want to talk (or maybe even write 😉 ) about the way you use your body at the desk when you work. This is a major contributor to shoulder pain…but you already knew that right? Here are some point to bear in mind.

• When you type and/or write are your elbows supported? They should be placed on the desk so your shoulders relax.

• Are your desk and seat at the right height related to each other? For example my chair is low relative to the desk so when I place my elbows on the desk my shoulders naturally raise. I have my ways of dealing with it, do you? Relax your shoulders.

• Posture!! Elongate …. as above

• Place your feet flat on the floor. Everything you do affects muscle tension in your body. This will relax your legs and aligning your hips will make sure you place even tension on both parts of your body. Everything in balance.

But besides how you sit at your desk also considers how you use your body throughout the day:

• posture when driving (relax shoulders)
• walking (relax the arms from the shoulders)
• gesticulating when you talk (keep elbows down so your shoulders don’t tense up)
• holding items (how much tension in your shoulders do you need to drink a cup of tea or bring the fork to your mount, don’t raise the elbow as this will sent up your shoulders)

And now you may think “there’s no way these small things can affect tension my shoulders to the point where they hurt really bad”.

Well….there’s only one way to find out. Become aware of how you move your body, find all the possible ways to relax your arms and shoulders and then you can get back to me with the results.

5. Fluid stretch

Unwind at the end of the day like this (just much slower). Open up all joints, stretch all muscles. Don’t use strength, just flow. Your body knows where to go. Do this sitting or standing. Do it before, during and after your workout. Stand up and do it in from of your desk.

Each of the techniques I’ve listed here can be taught in a 30 min free call with me. You probably need to look at one of them. The one which will create the greatest improvement. Book a free call with me to go through the one elements you need.

April 17, 2015April 26, 2015

Do This NOW To Revitalize Your Body

Feeling achy and your body stiff and tired? If you sit a lot, type a lot and your shoulders and neck probably hurt also if you are stressed out, especially if you are stressed out, then this blog post is for you.

To get rid of many of these physical pains and stress all you need it 5-10 min. OK, I know I am asking a lot from you. But do you want to hurt and be tired all the time? If you answered YES then this article will not help you. If you answered NO then keep reading, I’ll go straight to the point.

Here’s what you need to do. I have the pictures for these stretching exercises below but you may actually want to have a look at a webinar I hosted a few days ago. There I take you through the exercises and explain in more detail what they do for you.

#9. Triceps – your hand reaches down along your spine, pushing the elbow down gradually and lightly with the other hand, keep your chin up and shoulders down and levelled, breathing out when you stretch to release tension. This one also mobilized your shoulders besides stretching your triceps.

#8. Forearms and fingers – stretch the arm out in front of you and slowly push the fingers down and towards you, push forward through the top of the hand to stretch the forearm (again a detail many overlook), breathing out when you stretch to release tension. It’s good to stretch the thumb after that as well.

#7. Shoulders – arm goes across the body, straight. The other arm pushes it towards you, under or above the elbow not on top of it to avoid injury. Keep the arm straight and shoulders down, breathing out when you stretch.

#6. Chest and shoulders – one of my favourites. Interlock the fingers at the back and slowly lift up without leaning forward (you can do that as well, but not in this example). Besides stretching you also mobilise your shoulders. It’s an awesome feeling. Keep your arms straight and shoulders down, breathing out when you stretch.

Alexandra-Merisoiu-Flexibility-Exercise (5)

Alexandra-Merisoiu-Flexibility-Exercise (4)

#5. Sides of body – the hand below pulls down the hand above. Instead of bending to stretch you pull your arm down slowly. It is important here to lean to the side not forwards of backwards. If you are not sure of the position of your body it is safer to lean forwards slightly to protect your back. When you come back from such stretches use your abdominal muscles instead of your lower back. breathing out when you stretch.

Alexandra-Merisoiu-Flexibility-Exercise (10)

Alexandra-Merisoiu-Flexibility-Exercise (11)

#4. Back/front of neck – this is easy to understand, avoid lifting your shoulders and breathe out on the stretch. When your head goes back you can open your mouth to relax the neck and get a nicer stretch….and a minty breath even.

Alexandra-Merisoiu-Flexibility-Exercise (8)

Alexandra-Merisoiu-Flexibility-Exercise (7)

#3. Sides of neck 1 – here the ear goes to the shoulder rather than lifting the shoulder to the ear. This is a common mistake as many of us are not mindful of our bodies. Breathe out on the stretch

#2. Sides of neck 2 – important here is to bring your chin over your shoulders and not your forehead. The chin leads the way and the forehead follows. Keep the chin down , keep the shoulders down and breathe out on the stretch.

#1. THE MERISOIU OFFICE STRETCH. If you have a look at the webinar, in the comment box you have the link to the video with this stretch. Believe me….you will forget all the others when you do this one.

It’s fluid, it’s going with what your body needs, how it needs it and you are flowing rather than forcing. It’s a wonderful feeling and everyone who tries it feels amazing.

And I do recommend and encourage you to watch the full Webinar “Take Your Body From Shut Down To Fully Functional And Age Gracefully”. Get instant access here.

So stretch, stretch and stretch some more

April 11, 2015January 5, 2019

Where Do You Hold Your Stress? And 5 Steps To Combat Stress

You heard me say it before and I will say it again: your mind and body are always connected. One influences the other and when one is out of balance the other will be as well.

[tweetthis]Your mind and body are always connected. One influences the other and when one is out of balance the other will be as well. [/tweetthis]

Good, now that we got that down let us talk about how you can combat stress easier.

So if the body is connected to the mind and vice-versa that means that by relaxing one of them the other will relax as well. Right? (good, happy you agree with me).

Now, the mind is a very complex system and sometimes it just does whatever it wants. Sometimes it’s just difficult to calm it down.

However, we can easily address the body. Well…..easier. By releasing physical stress, tensions, pressures in your body your mind will follow this process of relaxation.

We hold much of our mental stress from being business owners, mothers, wives etc in our bodies. Probably all of it. Everything that happens in our lives may be stored in our bodies.

neck-pain — Photo Credit: micolumnasana via Compfight cc

You may hold stress all around you body however the 2 most common areas are:

1. Shoulders and neck. Very painful stuff and the problem with holding stress and tension here is that you are restricting the nerve pathways leading from your cervical spine (The Arch Of Life) down your arms and so end up with pain and numbness in your arms, wrists, fingers

2. Lower back. Do I need to say anything about this? We all know that nagging and painful pain. The problem with holding stress and tension here is that you block other nerve pathways leading down your legs and can lead to problems such as knee pain which can lead to other problems.

The consequences of holding psychological stress in your body:

The less time you spend to relax your body the more tension you build up. And it builds up until the system collapses. Holding that tension in your body for years and years may lead to:

• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Compression the intervertebral discs
• Chronic Lowe back pain
• Knee pain and even meniscus damage.
• Ankle pain and even Achilles tendonitis
• Should pain as mentioned before

The worst ones are those that send shooting pain down your arm or leg. Have you ever experienced that? Tension, tension and more tension.

How on earth are you going to RELAX?

Many of us struggle to relax. I know I used to, but not anymore. I learnt how to “let go” of my shoulders and arms with every occasion I have and I teach this to my students as well. The result: instant stress relieve.

So here are 5 steps to help you relax, let go and….get floppy as I always say:

1. Become aware of your body
2. Become aware of the places you hold stress and tension
3. Find a position that does not cause you to tens those areas (i.e. some desks make you unconsciously raise, and tense up, your shoulders when you type, that might be because the chair is too low or the table it to high)
4. Breathe into those areas
5. Visualize the muscles melting away and relax

Benefits of doing these steps:

Besides the fact that you feel awesome in your body again:

• you release that tension you put on your body and help it heal and recover
• you can be more focused and productive (of course with less pain to nag you you can actually do some work)
• you are more patient and calm with yourself and those around you
• you achieve more freedom of movement
• you age gracefully

I practice and teach more advances techniques. So if you feel the above steps don’t work for you then give a shout and I will step in and give you others that will work better in your case.

These relaxation practices and methods I teach should not be used to replace professional medical treatment. You may use them together with your treatment if you believe they are beneficial to you. Please also bear in mind that I am not a doctor or a therapist, but I do have experience and work with women who hold stress and tension in their bodies to help them let go it and achieve more freedom of movement.

April 9, 2015April 11, 2015

Are you falling apart?

It seems like so many people, from any walks of life and almost any age, complain about aches and pains.

Whether we talk about sports injuries, repetitive stress injuries or growing old most of us are aware of something going on with and in our bodies.

Every client I work with comes with an initial goal in mind, weight loss, fitness, toning the body etc. However there is always a second, additional element.

Almost all of them come with a certain pain or injury they want to solve as well. The cool thing is that by working with their bodies from the inside they actually achieve the other goals as well.

The 3 most common aches and pains my clients come with are:

• lower back pain
• shoulder and neck pain
• knee pain

To those we can add repetitive stress injuries, but the 3 and the most common.

When you feel your body is not working at its peak, you feel aches and pains everywhere, you feel as if your body is falling apart.

And I can say that I’ve been there, I know how it feels, I know what pain means, it’s not very ….. nice and when it starts it seems like it’s going to be there forever. It leaves you feeling miserable and it just adds more stress in your already stressful life. This has to STOP.

Exercise is not enough anymore

It is not enough to exercise, practice yoga and see your physiotherapist. These have their place and purpose and they are really, really good, I do all of them. However we need to go deeper if we are to relieve stress and pressure on our bodies and in our lives and to age gracefully, no matter the age.

We need to address the CAUSE of your pain. And usually the reason your body feels like it’s falling apart rests in how you USE your body on a daily basis.

Don’t get me wrong, if you are slouching now (are you?) that’s not going to necessarily cause any major problems. These are not injuries that show up all of a sudden. No, no they’re silent, sneaking up on you when you least expect it.

If you slouch now nothing happens, but if you slouch now, and tomorrow, and for the next 5 years and 10 years then pain, really bad pain will start to show up. And you begin to wonder where it came from thinking you did something yesterday to have caused it.

Nope, it’s something you have done all your life and were not aware of. You see, we get so caught up with weight loss, fitness, toning and all these surface goals that we forget there is something more important: how you USE your body.

Don’t worry you will still lose weight and tone up, that’s part of the “body use” game. It needs to be at a balanced weight and strong to be able to more efficiently.

I have to admit that since I was 8 years old and until 2-3 years ago I have put my body under tremendous stress and pressure. This lead to injuries and old ones recurring.

That was my lesson to learn and now my mission is to help as many women as I can to understand their bodies and use them in an efficient way, achieving more freedom of movement, less stress and ageing gracefully.

Do you want to have less pain and more freedom and comfort in movement?

If so then we need to address the following elements:

• posture
• upper body relaxation
• head position
• body balance (and I am not talking about standing on one leg)
• learn to stand, sit and walk all over again

These are the first elements I take my clients through. But ALL of them come down to BODY AWARENESS. This will keep your body from “falling apart”.

There is no way you can address the CAUSE of your pain if you do not become aware of your own body, how you use it, how it feels and what it “tells you”.

You cannot age gracefully until you address the underlying CAUSE of the pain you have right now in your body.

BUT……do you actually know how to do it? If you do then I congratulate you, keep doing it as the rewards will be fantastic. If you do not then it is time to find out what are the causes of your pain and how to address them.

You have the chance to personally get in touch with me so we can look at how you MOVE and USE your body. No sales or pitching just giving you my advice as an expert in the field.

After reading this blog many people will jump on a call with me so I suggest you book yours sooner than later.