Newsletter 2 - Relieving Neck Stiffness / Michal Ron *

10^th September 2005

Shalom!

As I work with people I find & develop different short and simple exercises that can help and promote the well being of most of us.

After practicing those myself and teaching them to friends & clients I would like to share those with a wider range of people – so we can all benefit.

If you know any people who could benefit from Relieving Neck Stiffness, feel free to forward them this e-mail.

Relieving Neck Stiffness

After practicing for two week Relieving Stress & Tension from Aching Shoulders, you have probably found that your shoulders feel much better, but now you feel more the stiffness in your neck.

This is most expected, as both neck and shoulders belong to the same bodily area, and actually, we hardly ever move one without the others.

Stiff neck, like tension in the shoulders, is a very common non-pathological aches that can be relieved using bodywork, or practicing short and simple exercises like those described below.

And here is what you can do:

1. Sit down, with both your feet on the ground. You could also sit in Lotus of half lotus posture.

2. Close your eyes.

3. Release your jaw.

4. Pay attention to both your sitting bones. Feel them rested on the chair or the floor.

5. Pay attention to your back, neck, and shoulders. Examine your sitting posture with closed eyes. Where is the tension? What does your neck feel like?

6. Pay attention to your neck, so that you can notice the difference afterwards.

7. Although your neck is already stiff, try and make it a bit more stiff.

8. Reach the maximum stiffness you can in your neck, and keep it this way for a few seconds.

9. Don’t stop breathing while stiffening your neck.

10. After you feel you have reached the maximum stiffness in your neck, and kept it like this for 10-20 seconds, release the stiffness in your neck by stopping to do the effort.

Don’t move your neck or your head, just stop stiffening your neck.

11. Repeat this exercise a few times.

12. Pay attention to your neck, shoulders and sitting posture.

What is different?

This exercise goes against our natural tendency. We would usually try to relieve tension, and not make it worse. But having done this exercise, you have surely noticed its benefit.

It is like holding a feast half-closed for a long period of time. Keeping it so takes a lot of effort, and for the long run creates tension. By letting ourselves go the full course, by closing our feast to the fullest, and then releasing, we enable the movement to fulfill itself.

When the body learns how to go full way to one direction, it can rest, going all the way to the other direction, and release.

One Step Further, into Psychological Bodywork

According to psychological bodywork, by keeping our neck stiff we are actually keeping under our control different emotional matters.

For example, if you pay attention you would easily notice that whenever we are stopping ourselves from saying something – expressing anger, for example, we are creating tension and stiffness in our neck. As if the words we did not say remain in our muscles and create tension.

If you would like to help yourself release the stiffness in your neck some more you could venture into psychological bodywork, and ask yourself – what words did I want to say, and didn’t? Where did I stop my expression?

When you have found out the answer, you could sit and write down those un-spoken words – as another form of release. Note that it is not necessary that you share those words with others. The main point is for you to have expressed, in some way, those unexpressed feelings.

Another non-physical aspect that has to do with the neck is being stubborn, and insisting on things happening this way. Already in the Bible, when the prophets want to say ‘stubborn’ they usually use the term ‘hard neck’.

If you would like to go a step further, into psychological bodywork, you can stop a while and think – what am I being stubborn about?

I would be happy if you chose to write and tell me what came up after doing this short and simple exercise.

I would also be happy to hear what you found out about the connection between the stiffness in your neck and stubbornness or blocked expressions in your life.

If you would like to ask any further questions, about physical, emotional, mental or spiritual issues that can be discussed in the following newsletter, please do so!

If you would like to read more articles of mine, go to:

http://psychological-bodywork.blogspot.com/

All the best,

Michal Ron

Psychological Bodywork

San Francisco, CA

(415) 221-5582; (415) 810-5582

If you are new to this e-newsletter, and would like to receive it regularly, please write me to psychological_bodywork@yahoo.com and ask to join in.

Feel welcome to suggest a subject or ask questions that you find interesting.

Michal Ron has recently arrived to San Francisco from Israel, where she has earned her degrees in psychology, after which she attended an additional three years long study program of The Grinberg Method. This method uses bodywork in order to enable people to stop unwanted states and symptoms in their life.

For the last 7 years Michal has been working with individuals, couples and groups, helping people to spin their life upwards.

Michal has numerous interviews on the radio, television and newspapers, as well as many appearances on the net, where she is regularly publishing her articles.

To read more of my articles go to:

http://psychological-bodywork.blogspot.com/

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** Michal Ron has moved back to living in Tel-Aviv, Israel.
All the best!!!