Leg Stretch with Belt

Here is a yoga pose that may be helpful for some types of sciatica.

It is also a great hamstring stretch, as well as hips, thighs, groins and calves.

Using a belt makes this pose much easier, in fact, it is easy to relax the head and breathe deep.

So stack things in your favor, by lying on the floor. Grab your belt and get ready for a nice stretch.

The official yoga name for this pose is Supta Padangusthasana, or in English – Reclining Big Toe Pose.

Really flexible people can just grab their big toe with their fingers. The rest of us use a belt.

Pause for a moment after you do the first side. Notice, is the right buttock softer now?  It just about always is on me. Then after I do the second side, both sides are softened.

Lillah Schwartz has been training yoga teachers for over a quarter century. She is a great yoga intructor with lots of knowledge and experience.

Swiss ball rollout

There is a whole world of exercises that can be done on a swiss ball, that are not available otherwise.

This particular move is great for strengthening your core. It’s a bit of an intermediate to advanced movement.

Proper starting position is critical. Listen carefully to the instructions in this video to get the proper form.

Back pain issues are often caused or aggravated by poor core abdominal tone. This exercise can be part of a good back care program.

Anyone looking to improve their posture would also likely benefit from this exercise. Once again, poor posture and back pain issues, often go hand in hand.

Check out - Improve Your Posture with Yoga – Part 2 video here.

Using the Emotional Freedom Technique is a fun idea

What is your emotional state when you first wake up?

Follow along with this video and tomorrow, you could wake up feeling better. I’m going to give it a try today. I’ll let you know later on how it went.

You might want to try this for a few days in a row to get the most out of it. Some may need even more time, we are all different after all.

This tapping technique or EFT, for emotional freedom as it’s rightly called, – it’s all over the internet on various videos and websites. Apparently lots of people are getting good results, especially if it’s an emotional based issue.

Sometimes, pain in the  body, as well as any condition under the sun, may have an emotional component. It is a mind body connection after all. No sense in looking just at the physical.

Longevity researchers have found small pockets of people around the globe, that are more long lived, and in better health than the average Westerner.

Yes they eat a more natural diet, and yes they get lots of exercise in the fresh air and sunshine. They are also happy overall and emotionally stable. This makes for a more peaceful and satisfying society for all.

EFT can help bring more balanced emotions to your life. This can bring healing from a different angle than physical approaches like nutrition, exercise, massage and a host of other therapies.

Caffeine and Pain

Do caffeine containing substances like coffee, tea and chocolate contribute to pain in the human body?

Well for me, yes, it definitely does. I can feel my jaw tensing up, my neck getting stiff, my lower back getting sore, especially if I drink too much coffee. Now coffee, tea and different things are actually good for some types of people. People have different metabolisms and body types and that kind of thing. If you follow any of the traditional Chinese medicine, ayurveda, or metabolic typing.

There is a great book out on the metabolic typing diet, if you haven’t read it. I think it is one of my favorite all-time natural health books and I’ve got a library of them.

So, it really, really tells you what type of diet is right for you. I recommend everybody get that book and read it.

Trip to the Acupuncturist

Several months ago, I went to see an acupuncturist. He did an exam on me, looked at my tongue, and took my pulse. You know, asked me a bunch of questions, detailed questions about my health. He said to me, “No caffeine. You’ve got to quit caffeine altogether. According to your situation and your body type,” he told me, “It is best if you get off caffeine altogether.”

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Well, at the time, I was a big-time coffee drinker and had quite a large dose of coffee each day. I decided that I am going to at least cut down gradually. So I decided, well, I’ll go to tea and I get down to green tea and white tea which really has much less caffeine in it. My pain actually diminished. It went down quite a bit. It didn’t go away entirely. But actually, the stiffness in my neck and jaw, lower back, different parts of my body, actually improved when I went from coffee to tea. I noticed a definite difference.

Back to Coffee and Back to Pain

Now, here’s what happened to me. One day, I was just craving coffee and it smelt good and I wanted a cup, so I drank a cup of coffee. I was addicted right back to it. A couple of weeks went by and I was drinking coffee and I’m noticing that pain is worse. What am I doing? So, I immediately went back to drinking tea only and hey, my pain level again went down.

pH Balance

So, there was definitely a noticeable difference between coffee and tea. You also have to look at the pH balancing effect. Coffee is much more acidic than tea in general.

The Story of Chocolate and  a Stiff Neck

I also have a friend who is a professional in the natural health field. She is not a chocolate eater. But one day, she ate a piece of chocolate. It was Halloween. She remembers the day. The next day she woke up and her neck was just so tight, so intense. She had to struggle to get out of bed. She had to go to a chiropractor that day and have it worked on.

Related:

Do Caffeine Contatining Substances, like Coffee, Tea and Cola, Contribute to Pain in the Body?

Infrex Plus – Pain Relief Machine

Spine Care Basics

• Chiropractic
• Inversion Therapy
• Yoga – Find a class with a well qualified teacher
• Gentle movements
• Care when lifting and other activities
• Sleep position – mattress quality

After a recent motorcycle accident, a friend of mine loaned me his inversion table.  – I love this thing. It allows the discs in my back to get a little extra breathing room. I feel noticeably lighter and more energetic, after just a couple of minutes on the inversion table. It is very relaxing.

Check out the video, to see what one person’s inversion table experience was like.

Giver your vertebrae some breathing room

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