Let your shoulders melt away from your ears...

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"Let your shoulders melt away from your ears...." I include this short phrase every time I teach yoga or meditation. I include it for my yogis, and for me, because the way technology is these days, it involves a lot of hunching and thus- shoulders tend to creep up. And driving? Also lots of opportunity for upwards shoulder creeping, especially during bad weather or stop-and-go traffic, or after having an encounter with an asshole driver. But when can notice the creeping up, when can then choose to relax and release. I catch myself when my shoulders start to creep and then simply inhale….and exhale, letting them melt away.

Reducing the time we spend with our shoulders hunched up is important for two reasons. First, keeping them tensed for extended periods of time can lead to muscle aches, and don’t we all have enough achy things going on with our bodies as it is- I sure do! Second, and most importantly – muscle tension is a cue from the body to the brain, aka the mind-body interface, that we are preparing for fight or flight. So the brain processes this as sympathetic nervous system signals that some kind of threat is present and we need to be on alert.

Now that is all fine and dandy if we have a mind (or cognitive/thinking) element in our awareness that the brain can receive and process such as “I’m lifting weights” or “I’m carrying groceries” or “I’m wrestling this damn greasy chain back onto my bike.” But if we are missing that awareness of a normal activity requiring muscle tension, our brains- the predictive machines that they are- will stay on alert until a threat is identified and dealt with. Our body and thus nervous system says “hey brain we are stressed down here!” and the brain says “I will work extra hard to figure out what the source of stress is!” so the tone of stress then colors our thinking and emotional states. Of course, in most cases there isn't an actual threat present- but the brain really wants to figure it out, so it just keeps spinning, at that elevated level of alertness and vigilance, often below our level of conscious awareness.

But now that you know this super fun fact, you most certainly can bring it into conscious awareness. And then you can do something about, with some movement to reduce the muscle tension sending the "we're stressed!" signals to the brain. A little tension reducing activity for the neck, shoulders and jaw (another common stress-tension culprit) goes a loooong way in getting the body to relax and reduce that muscle tension. When the body is relaxed, our body is sending signals that we are prepared for rest and digest which is parasympathetic nervous system activity.

Our brain is constantly- at the millisecond level of time measurement – processing inputs from the mind and body and adjusting our cognitive and bodily systems accordingly. This is happening so fast, it effectively means that our mind and body are not separate, but intricately intertwined and constantly ebbing and flowing as internal and external cues present and fade away. WILD, right?? The good news is this means when we can catch ourselves in a state of increased muscle tension without actually requiring those muscles to be tensed, we can do some breathing or stretching and immediately start to feel better, and reduce any false state of stress that has been present. Sometimes, maybe even often, we will have plenty of real stress but even so some yoga (or simple stretching) and slow deep breathing can at least soften the edges of our stress and suffering.

If you want to nerd out more about the brain, I cannot recommend highly enough psychologist-neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett’s book 7 ½ Lessons About the Brain. This little book, written in plain speak with excellent analogies and fun diagrams, will blow your mind about how our brains (bodies + mind + nervous system) work. It also is the source/reference for the brain-mind-body concepts I shared in this article.

I do hope this week’s practice helps to soften the edges of whatever stress you might be experiencing right now, and if you enjoyed it, I encourage you to explore more on YouTube or other resources additional guided practices for shoulder and neck relaxation. Yoga With Adriene (my fave YouTube yogi) has many specific videos for shoulder and neck pain/tension and I incorporated some of the exercises she shares into my flow for this practice. This is a portable practice you can do just about anywhere from a seated position. I love doing this as a nice break/reset from working on a computer or laptop at work or home.

Keep practicing whatever you do that helps you rest and recuperate, and have a lovely week!

In deep gratitude,

Carly