Self Care and Meditation
After receiving a really helpful body work session, people sometimes say to me, “I feel like a new person!” I usually like to respond by saying, “Actually, you are experiencing your Original Self, the You that walked, talked, played, worked and lived before life’s stresses, sitting in chairs, working at computers, and driving cars took its toll.” So the Path of Still Point Wellness is about returning to our Original Self, to a place of joy and freedom.
Body work can assist us in getting back to ourselves…
…But what can we do to stay there? To help with this, my practice empowers clients by guiding them in meditation, breath and posture activation techniques that open closed energy centers, reboot the nervous system, and “reprogram” outmoded movement and thinking patterns.
Self Care designed specifically for You is one of the most transformational steps along the Path of Still Point Wellness. Returning to our unfettered place of stillness; this is where new possibilities of being arise spontaneously and flourish through careful cultivation.
Orthopedic Pillowing
Common sleeping positions can compress joints causing chronic muscle tension/pain and sleep disruption.
Orthopedic Pillowing reduces joint compression in order to relieve chronic pain and extend periods of deep rest. This is accomplished by positioning pillows to support the entire body in order to maintain open joints and transfer body weight from our joints to the bed.
The table below presents common sleeping positions that lead to or sustain chronic pain and tension along with the corresponding corrective pillowing strategy.
For Side Sleeping Positions
Shoulders stacked vertically
Position bottom shoulder to rest on flat surface of scapula with pillow/bolster along the back
Top arm resting on body, compressing shoulder joint bursa
Position small pillow under top arm near arm pit to open joint
Top leg and hip joint not supported and inline with upper body
Place 2-3 pillows under top leg to ensure leg and hip are inline
For Back Sleeping Positions
Legs lay out flat without knees supported
Place a pillow bolster under each knee
Head extends back compressing vertebrae in the neck
Place pillow bolster under neck and head to raise back of head and lower chin
For Stomach Sleeping Positions
Lumbar spine not supported resulting in convex lumbar curve
Place pillow bolster under hips to raise hip and neutralize lumbar curve
Neck and head curved posteriorly and to the side
Place pillow across chest to raise upper body allowing neck to extend forward to the bed
Postural Activation
For most of us, our posture is stagnant and not aligned with gravity. Our muscles are forced to hold us upright with the force of gravity pulling us downward. If we are properly aligned gravity can lift us, our spinal nerves can decompress, and we can feel a sense of spontaneous energy moving upward through our system. I am planning to produce short, simple postural instruction videos in the Fall 2019 and early 2020.
Meditation
At the heart of Still Point Wellness is a meditation practice of some kind. There are many ways to meditate and each of us may resonate with a different meditation form. Below find a few that I can help you begin to practice. I also offer meditation instruction and periodically offer meditation instruction workshops.