Truth be told, I’m saying a lot more than that to this upper body tension but this post isn’t about maybe swearing will help, I wrote about that a few weeks ago.
So, the knot in my neck I mentioned in my swearing post has practically gone but this week has been an engraved invitation to muscle tension.
I had lots of things to get done, a lot of task/context switching, a couple of deadlines, some unclear expectations from other people, and I slept poorly.
I had a migraine on Tuesday* and another migraine (the same migraine?) was hunting me Wednesday and Thursday, and everyone I have ever met wanted me to have a ‘quick meeting.’**
Anyway, I was doing what I do under that kind of deluge…
Hiking my shoulders up by my ears and gritting my back teeth as I worked hard to keep my focus.
Was this helpful?
No, it was not.
Quite the opposite, in fact.
Despite trying to remember to drop my shoulders away from my ears/ relax my jaw, I ended up turning my upper body into a giant ball of tense muscle that even Robaxacet screamed in terror and ran away from.
After several days of doing everything I could think of to find some ease, I dredged up an old technique out of my muscle memory (This is where the title comes it, it wasn’t just nonsense!***)
I started by generating even more muscle tension, breathing in as I balled up my fists and hiked my shoulders up as far as they would go.
I held my breath for 10 seconds.
Then I quickly dropped my shoulders, flicked open my hands, and shouted ‘PAH!’
Why ‘Pah’? Damned if I know! That was just what I was taught the first time I learned the technique.
I’ve seen this routine in lots of videos and tip guides since I first learned it but I’m not sure where I got it in the first place.
Anyway, no matter where it came from, it helps, especially if you do it a lot.
I’m over here saying ‘Pah! Humbug!’ and you are quite welcome to join me but I can’t help but wonder if you have any other little tension-easing tricks?
*Yes, yes, I do see the connection now. Those fabled, eyeless fish that people found in underwater caves back in the day likely saw that cause and effect before me but yes, I do see it.
**No disrespect intended to anyone who wanted a quick chat/meeting. It was the volume of requests that was the problem, not the requests themselves! How could anyone know what else I was juggling at the moment?
***For the record, I am strongly pro-nonsense and I reserve the right to invoke it at any time.
