I know that a lot of things this time of year are metaphorically a pain in the neck (or a pain in the ass) but for the last 4-5 days all kinds of things have literally been a pain in the back for me.
And I am ANNOYED about it.
A GIF that zooms in on a very grumpy looking husky sitting on a carpeted floor. The dog’s expression is an excellent approximation of how I feel right now.
Do I know that this may be, in part, related to the post-Covid lingering symptoms that a lot of people report?
Yes.
Do I realize that, even though I tried to take it as easy as possible, the last few weeks have been kind of hectic and that my back likes to hold that kind of tension until later?
Yes.
Do I know that I just have to accept what is, take good care of myself, and just do what I can?
Yes. Damn it.
BUT I can accept it without actually liking it so that raises another question:
Am I also allowed to be annoyed that my back is reacting now, just as I am getting to some of my favourite parts of holiday prep?
Oh hell, yes.
So, if you need me, I’ll be over here being grumpy, alternating between rest and gentle movement and, of course, drinking tea like it’s my job.
Here’s one of the stretches I‘m doing, in case you were wondering:
A video entitled ‘Relieve Lower Back Pain Real Time Stretch’ from the Ask Doctor Jo YouTube channel. The still image shows the title on the left in black letters and, on the right, shows Doctor Jo sitting in a back chair with a blue yoga mat behind her. She is wearing black pants and a tie dyed shirt and she is resting her left leg on the floor while she uses her clasped hands to pull her bent right leg toward her chest.
I don’t know if the recent tension in my upper back is from inadequate stretching after my TKD classes, from lifting heavy things as I declutter my basement, or from not paying enough attention to my posture but I do know that I am not enjoying it.
I have done some extra stretching. I have spent a fair bit of time lying on a lacrosse ball. I have draped myself over my foam roller.
Nothing has really helped so far.
Apparently, I needed a slice of pizza to do this correctly. I’ll keep that in mind for next time. Image description: a GIF of a person lying on their back on a bumpy orange foam roller. They are holding a piece of pizza to their mouth and the point of the slice is between their teeth. They are leaning back over the roller so their head gets closer to the floor and then they are lifting their head and shoulders further away from the floor, holding the pizza in their mouth the whole time. White letters in the bottom right show a url – rollga.com and at the top of the image is a hashtag in white letters reading #pizzaroll
Then, this morning, I received a newsletter from Yoga with Joelle announcing her latest video – Yoga for Rhomboid and Upper Back and I realized two things:
1) I’ve stretched but I haven’t done any yoga specifically for my upper back.
2) I had forgotten that those muscles were called the rhomboids.
(Rhomboid is a very fun word, go on and say it a few times in a row.)
My storytelling self knows that knowing something’s true name gives you power over it.
I’m going to do this video a few days in a row and see if name magic holds true for muscles. 😉
A YouTube video from Yoga with Joelle. In the still image she is wearing a grey tank top and burgundy leggings and is doing a seated twisting pose with her right hand behind her, her right leg folded over her extended left leg, and her left elbow resting against her upraised right knee.
PS – After writing this, I remembered that I was working on a similar issue last year. I started out with a plan to give my shoulders some attention and then realized that part of the problem was my chair and my monitor. I guess I need to make upper back attention part of my regular routine.
I hope that you have space and ease and rest in your day no matter how busy it is.
Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it.
Happy Holidays to anyone celebrating something else.
And a restful Saturday to everyone else.
No matter what today means to you, it is just one day. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t require you to work yourself into a frazzle.
I wish you some relaxation and I wish you firm boundaries.
Our videos for today can help with both of those, I hope.
Here are some relaxing stretches for today;
Here are some relaxing stretches from the Fitness Blender YouTube channel. Still image is a person in a dark blue shirt standing with their back to the camera. Their shirt has white lettering that reads ‘workout complete’ and they have their left arm extended overhead and they are leaning to the right.
And a meditation for boundaries:
A meditation video from Ashley Krout’s YouTube channel. Still image is of a path extending into a wooded area with green grass visible on both sides of the path.
As always, I hope you can be kind to yourself about how your day unfolds, taking good care of yourself in whatever way is feasible.
And I celebrate your efforts to find space for yourself today and always; ⭐️
For those of us who celebrate Christmas, it’s going to be tricky to find a little space during these next three days.
And for those of us who don’t, you will still be facing similar challenges as you try to maintain space for yourself amidst the commitments, activities, and obligations of a full life.
The pressures might be different in each case but the results are the same – very little room to take good care of yourself.
I hope that you can figure out a way to make a little space today. Maybe with these videos, maybe with something else.
I know that I often feel like I don’t have five minutes to spare but later in the day I will realize how often I checked my phone or scrolled through social media posts.
Hanging out on social media isn’t a bad thing, as long as it feels like a real break and you feel like you are connecting with the people whose posts you see. But, I often find that when I feel ‘too busy’ to do a short exercise video or ‘too agitated’ to meditation, I’ll hop on social media to get a break and it won’t feel good. It will add to my feeling of busy-ness, it will amplify my agitation.
In those cases, social media feels like an easy way to take a moment for myself but it’s not really taking a break, it’s just kind of checking out. It would be better for me to take just a minute and breathe deeply or to do a few neck stretches and then make a decision about how to proceed through the rest of my list, rather than numbly scrolling through Facebook and losing track of time.
Now, I am speaking from my own experience, I am not criticizing you and I am not condemning social media. Social media is a great tool in many ways. And you know yourself best, you can tell if you are taking a break or just checking out. And I hope you can do things in the way that serves you best.
If you have decided that movement or meditation would be good for you right now, here are your videos for today.
Remember, you can do just part of them if that makes sense for you. Please be kind to yourself about this and about everything else. (Your gold star is below the videos.)
I really enjoyed this back stretch routine. It’s straightforward and clear and made my back feel quite relaxed.
Here’s a lower back stretch video from physiotherapist Michelle Kenway’s YouTube channel. The still image shows the instructor in exercise clothes lying on a purple yoga mat. The camera angle shows the top of her head and her raised knees and her left arm extended out to the side. The words ‘Back Stretch Routine’ are visible on the upper right.
And here’s our meditation. This one felt really short to me today, I hope that’s a good sign for my subconscious state of mind.
A 5 minute meditation from the Goodful YouTube channel. The still image is a cartoon drawing of a person with long hair, wearing a link shirt and black shorts sitting crossed legged in a classic meditation posture. In the background are drawings of leaves, branches and shapes in shades of blue and white. The background colour is light green.
Whether you try these videos, do your own making space thing, or just take a view deep breaths while you drive, you type, or you cook, I hope you have a little room for yourself today.
I’m a bit under the weather today so I need to make as much space as I can for rest.
I’ve pared my to-do list down to the absolute necessities and I have selected these very short but still useful videos.
And I am keeping this post short, too.
Here is your star for your efforts today: ⭐️
May you have ease.
A morning stretch video from Megan Livingstone’s YouTube channel. Still image shows a person in a tank top and leggings stretching on a bed in a room lit with natural light.
A very quick meditation today, just a short wish for you to bless yourself with.
A less-than-2-minute LovingKindness Meditation from an interview with Sylvia Boorstein from the On Being YouTube channel. Still image shows the dark green outline of a triangle against a lighter green background. Text beneath the triangle reads ‘May I feel strong.‘
Earlier, I thought I was feeling fairly relaxed. My day isn’t particularly busy and my writing is going well. I have been able to set my own schedule and things are good overall.
I went to YouTube found the meditation video for this post and pressed play.
As I breathed through it (this one has a visual to breathe with, I love that!) I found myself anxiously looking at the time bar at the bottom wondering why it was taking so long to do a 5-minute practice. I realized that my mind was hopping over to my writing. And I found that my shoulders were braced like I had to ‘push through’ the practice.
Hmmmm, interesting, hey?
I wasn’t hard on myself about it. I tried to just notice and keep coming back to my breath – I did ok with that.
I kept breathing. Time kept crawling.
And then I started to feel my shoulders and neck relax. I hadn’t even noticed that my neck was tight until it released.
And my breathing got even slower and I started to feel even more calm.
So, I guess I especially needed this video today.
If you are in this metaphorical boat with me, I hope the video helps you, too.
A 5 minute breathing exercise video from the Daring Authenticity YouTube channel. The still image is of a circular shape made of overlapping petals in a rainbow of colours. The shape expands and contracts during the video to guide the speed of the viewer’s breath. The image background is a speckled white.
Breathing is a fundamental way to make space for ourselves, especially in our own brains, but it is not the only way.
A little movement helps, too, and this ‘office break’ video was exactly what I needed today. I particularly liked the shoulder move where you are reaching forward and then pressing back.
If you aren’t feeling up to doing this whole video, you could try watching it until you see a movement that feels doable and just do that one. Consider the video a menu instead of a to-do list.
A 5 minute office break workout from the BodyFit by Amy YouTube channel. Still image shows the instructor standing next to a wall sign that says ‘5 Minute Office Break”
I hope you find whatever space you can in your day today, whether it is through these videos or by pushing the clean laundry aside on the couch so you have room to sit with a crossword puzzle and some tea.
Here’s your star for your efforts: ⭐️
And if you have been reading these posts and thinking ‘That star isn’t for me, I haven’t done anything at all!’ Here’s an extra one for you: ⭐️ Our lives are complex and parts of them are really hard, let’s be kind to ourselves and accept those gold stars. Your efforts matter.
Even if the results are not what you hoped, your hard work counts.
About six weeks ago, I started using this new app for building habits and routines and as a result I have been moving and stretching for at least 8 minutes as soon as I get up each day.
(The app is called Fabulous and I love how it helps me structure my day but I’ll do a proper post about the app another time.)
Some truly alarming things came up when I searched for ‘habit’ so I am using this one from my search for ‘meditation’ instead. Image description: a softly lit, peaceful photo of a rolled towel on top of a folded towel with four tealight candles lit in front of it. A dark pink tulip is lying on the wooden floor in front of the candles.
When I started, I thought I would pick a video or routine to follow and just keep going with that. Usually, I do better with making those sorts of decision in advance because sometimes my ADHD brain sees even the smallest decision as an enormous obstacle.
However, that’s not how things worked out. Sometimes I have done a video, sometimes I have done yoga, and sometimes I have taken Khalee for an extra walk. Mostly through, I have started each session by asking myself a question:
How do I need to move today?
And then I move the way my body tells me to.
I have filled the eight minutes with shoulder and neck exercises. I’ve done squats and lunges. I’ve stretched my back. I’ve moved my feet in all kinds of circles and up and down motions. I’ve done cardio, I’ve danced. I’ve done everything except make a plan.
Apparently this is what planning looks like in the WordPress photo library. It’s not too far off but that page needs to have half a list on it with at least two items crossed off and rewritten. Image description: a notebook lies open on a wooden surface. There’s a pen on the notebook and sticky-notes, tabs, and highlighters are nearby.
Each day is different and I’m throughly enjoying this responsive process – I have never been able to pull anything like this off before.
I’ve tried just going with the flow in the moment lots of times but I would either get tangled in the decisions or I would find the idea of the decisions so (subconsciously) off-putting that I would find myself avoiding the whole thing.
As I said above, in order to have any hope of sticking with something I usually have to decide in advance. This time, though, I am feeling a new freedom in setting my timer and then just responding.
I don’t know *why* I am now able to relax and just move mindfully for those few minutes but I love it – it’s great for my body and for my mind – and I hope it continues.
And this is what freedom looks like, apparently. I’ll take it! image description: a red-haired person in a huge field of pink flowers flings their arms wide open while leaning their head far back to look at the blue sky.
Would you have to plan your movements in advance? Or do you already have my newly-found skill of listening to your body?
Saturdays tend to be especially hectic this time of year so that’s all the more reason to carve out a little space for yourself when you can.
And since it can be so easy to put ourselves last when things are busy, I want to offer this reminder: You matter. Your peace of mind matters. Your comfort matters. And you have the right to feel good. You deserve space in your own life.
And here’s a gold star to celebrate your efforts to make/find that space however you can, in the way that suits you best. ⭐️
Here’s Doctor Jo (yes, again! I really love her videos) with some relaxing stretches. If you do yoga you will be familiar with them but I really like how she frames and explains them in this video. Also, her dog Remy is in this one with her.
A Relaxing Stretches video from the Ask Doctor Jo YouTube channel. Still image shows Doctor Do lying on her back, pulling her left knee toward her chest.
And this beginner’s meditation was really lovely – simple instructions and encouragement. No dogs though.
A reassuring and friendly meditation for beginners from the Green Mountain at Fox Run YouTube channel. The still image is of a rocky surface with some rocks in sunshine and some in shadow. White text reading “5-minute meditations Simple Guided Meditation for Beginners Green Mountain at Fox Run Fitwoman.com” is in the foreground.
Since my post yesterday was inviting you to make some space for yourself this month, I’ve decided to help you out with that by offering a short movement video and short meditation video each afternoon in December.
I figure that if you don’t have to search for and choose a video, it might make it easier to fit it into your day. And if you subscribe to the blog, it will even show up in your email!
You don’t *have* to do these every day, of course, (I’m bossy but I’m not actually the boss of you) but I’ll bet it will feel pretty good if you do.
Please adjust to your own schedule and abilities, of course, I don’t want anyone to get hurt!
First up, since I seem to hoard my tension in my shoulders and I assume other people do, too, here’s Doctor Jo with some shoulder stretches.
This video from the Ask Doctor Jo YouTube channel shows Doctor Jo doing shoulder stretches while wearing a blue shirt with a superhero dog on it.
And as for meditation, let’s give this one a whirl…ahem, let’s give this one a sit.
Please remember that you don’t have to automatically be able to sit quietly with your breath, that’s a skill that comes with practice. And that practice involves trying to meditate, noticing that your attention has wandered, and then returning to the focus on your breath. Returning over and over is PART of the initial process, it’s not a failure or a mistake.
A video from the My Life YouTube channel that offers a visual of gentle water with a guided meditation.
Feel free to check in to let me know that you did one of these videos, or any other movement or mindfulness practice, and I’ll respond with a gold star for your efforts.
And whether you do these videos or not, please be kind to yourself today. 🌟
It’s all been helping a bit and I can definitely feel the progress but it has been slow, slow, slow.
Has my progress been faster than this? Probably. But this matches my perception of my speed. Image description: A GIF of a tortoise moving VERY slowly across a tile floor. Greenery and the legs of a patio table can be seen in the background.
And it doesn’t help that my brain keeps telling me that the slow progress is because I am not working hard enough at my stretches. That may or may not be true (it’s hard to tell) but my brain doesn’t have to be a jerk about it.
In my first post about this, I mentioned getting on my own nerves by having to learn the same lesson over and over again and I am finding myself at that same annoying spot of relearning something I already know.
So, I have been been pretty consistent with my stretches and with rolling the ball under my foot. I was trusting in the process even as I was watching the clock. (Gold star for me – )
But in my frustration with my slow progress, I forgot that there are many different exercises that will accomplish the same thing. So, since my progress was slow, it might be time to think about the problem in a different way.*
Since the ball rolling didn’t seem to be loosening my feet very much and I couldn’t stand to press any harder, maybe I needed to stretch my feet just as much as I needed to stretch my calves.
So, I did a quick search and found this marvelous video from Yoga with Cassandra. Not only are the stretches good but the video is short – a definite bonus in my books.
A YouTube video from Yoga with Cassandra. The still image shows a slender white woman with her hair in a braid, she is doing a version of downward dog while perched on a grey yoga mat on a wooden floor.
I’ve done the stretches in this video every day for a week now and the difference in my heels is astounding.
I think that the ball rolling was even less effective (for me) than I had realized and these stretches mean that I am finally addressing the whole issue instead of just a part of it.
I am finally seeing measurable progress and I am so relieved.
PS – I’m really tempted to make a list of ‘Lessons I’ve Already Learned’ so I can give them a quick read every so often to see if any of them apply to any current circumstances.
*It’s funny that divergent thinking is one of the creative strengths of the ADHD brain…but I forgot to use that tool for this issue!
