I have terrible posture. I spend so much time during the day hunched over a computer, not to mention my back and body aged with the impact of regular sports participation. For as long as I can remember, my back has always been a bit of a problem area for me, regularly stiff and sore. Sometime in the four years, I was in high school, I started to practice yoga. At first, it was just a way to fill time, but I wasn’t in love with it. In college, I started to get into it, practicing a little more regularly. I found a lot of relief for an aching body. After college, my yoga journey took off. There was a point (before quarantine) where I was practicing about four times a week, and I started to absorb more than just the physical parts of yoga. One particular teacher’s lessons about the mindful and spiritual journey of yoga deeply resonated with me and was the catalyst for my journey to a more balanced mind and body. Now, I find myself frequently bringing awareness of how my body is reacting to the world around me.
Shelter in place orders and the impending doom of a virus we know little about has altered and impacted daily life for everyone. When the COVID-19 stuff started to break, we saw the writing on the wall and made our way to upstate New York. So, for the last [almost] three weeks, we’ve been staying with my in-laws. We could not be happier that we made that decision. Sure, we miss our little place and our bed, but two adults and two German Shepherds in a small DC apartment with no option to leave would have been strenuous on our little family. A lot of our decision to evacuate the District came down to space, but at the core of that was our little family’s mental health. Like I said, we could not be happier with ourselves with the decisions we made, but our usual routine has still been impacted, as I am certain many can relate.
Remember that yoga teacher that I mentioned a few paragraphs ago? I’ve been thinking about her classes so much lately. Because of the nature of my work and my job, I am still able to work, but a lot of the content of my work has shifted to focus on COVID-19. This nasty illness is not front and center at all times during my day—at work, on social media, on TV… you get where I am going. This compounded by the temporary change of our lifestyle (I am a habit-oriented person) has worn on me some. I’ve noticed that I am holding in some of the stress and I could feel it creeping across my body and into my mind. Luckily, I had already taken the first steps towards awareness and mindfulness, so times like this, I feel like I have a good default to rely on—and today, I’d like to share those with anyone that reads this.
Some of the ‘awareness-es’ (not a real word but it’s the only one that fits for this) that I’m about to talk about in more detail are founded in the lessons from others, such as a yoga teacher, and some of them are things that came from a bit of self-discovery.
1. Your Face.
This is one of the things that I learned in yoga. This was something I did not know until someone told me. I remember being in a Thursday morning class, we were in goddess pose and the instructor lead us through breathing and relieving tension from our body. She started with our face. I was shocked when I consciously made the effort to relax my face and I could feel my facial muscles change in every way. It felt like the first time that my face didn’t feel heavy. This was so fascinating to me that when I got home I spent a significant amount of time online reading articles of varying credibility to learn more about face-held tension.
Because I am NOT a medical professional, I’m not going to go into too much detail about the medical side of this awareness and practice. This Healthline article is a great read that goes into that side of this a little more.
Based on my experience, the jaw and the forehead hold the most noticeable tension. When you feel your day beginning to weigh on you, make the decision to release your jaw, it’s so hard for the rest of your face to stay tense once your jaw is relieved of the pressure. Same with your forehead. If you find your brows furrowed, change their position as your deeply inhale. It’s unbelievable discernible the difference you feel.
In the interest of length, ‘4 Exercises to Loosen Up Your Face Muscles and Help Your Look Younger’, and article by Livestrong.com, goes into greater detail and offers some super advice if you are interested in this in more detail.
2. Your Shoulders.
This one is probably not shocking to anyone. it wasn’t to me. Despite knowing the impact stress and tension have on shoulders, it’s so easy to forget to care for them. I cannot even count the number of times in my day that I catch myself with earlobes resting on the tops of my shoulder. I won’t even feel stressed, but my shoulders will. Just like with your facial tension, take a moment to remind yourself to relax and breath and notice your shoulder placement. If you are like me, every time, you will find your shoulders are clenched. Whenever I consciously release the tension from my shoulders and let them rest, my entire body follows. I don’t have to do anything else and my entire body will also detox the tension from the muscles.
A great break in the day, especially when you can’t afford to take a break during the day, is the few seconds to bring awareness to your body. I like to (and highly recommend) closing your eyes for just a moment and starting with your shoulders, then your face, let yourself rest and relieve the tension from your muscles.
3. Posture.
What’s going on here is not too different than shoulders, but it deserves its mention. I told you: I have terrible posture. My New Year’s resolution for 2020 was to be aware of my posture and work towards correcting it. I’m not going to go into too much detail about why posture is important from a medical standpoint—again, I am not a medical professional—so I’m just going to talk purely about the mindset benefit that I have personally experienced.
For me, poor posture has led to pervasive aches and soreness, kicking off a cycle that clouds my day and mind. I’ve found that when I let my posture get too closed, my entire being becomes closed. There is probably some science or theory or something out there that can explain it, but I don’t have that knowledge.
When I relax my shoulders, per point number 2, I try to also make a point to realign myself, sit up tall, etc. Somewhere on the internet, I read to use your headrest when driving. I took that tip and ran with it and my posture when driving has been changed for the better. I took it a step further and remind myself to utilize the back of my chair. Using our surroundings is a great way to stay abreast of our body position as well as a have a ‘friend’ in that awareness and practice. There is nothing wrong with physical reminders, for me, they are the only way I’d ever get through my life.
You don’t have to be a yogi and I am not telling you that you need to practice yoga, but no matter what our environment has in store for you, for us as humanity, there is always time to be aware of ourselves and how we are reacting, both in mind and in body. I hope this week, this read helps remind you of the peace that you can bring to yourself in the smallest ways.