Cultivating Body Awareness
By the Acuworx Team
Learning to listen to our bodies is a skill we could all nurture. Cultivating body awareness allows us to better understand signals about what we hold within. For example, symptoms such as headaches, muscle tension, and digestive upset are often responses to stress in our bodies.
Let’s rewrite the script and nourish ourselves more this year. As we build more awareness of our body and its signals, we become more likely to notice stress and manage it accordingly before it manifests as a symptom. And as we cultivate self awareness with practices such as meditation and acupuncture, we are better able to respond proactively. Between acupuncture visits, I often teach my patients a gentle restorative practice to take home with them borrowed from the Alexander Technique.
Constructive Rest Position
This simple position creates a gentle stretch to encourage the release of muscular tension through the neck and back while improving posture, and relieving the effects of stress on our nervous system. Incorporating restorative healing techniques between acupuncture sessions helps us repattern the nervous system. Real healing happens when our bodies are at rest. During rest, the body lowers its heart rate and the production of stress hormones. The key to this particular practice is to achieve Wu-Wei or “non-doing”. It’s a passive stretch that invites gravity to do all the work while you rest.
Here’s How!
Find a hard surface- ideally a yoga mat on the floor.
Lay flat on your back with the knees hip-width apart. Arms in a comfortable position resting at your side. Prop your head up on a book or supportive pillow, but not touching your neck (this allows for the gentle stretch to start at your neck down your spine).
Now focus on your breathing, is it limited? coordinated and smooth? Do a mindful body scan, notice where your body is holding tension, and just let it go. Allow yourself to melt into the floor and fall deeper into the stretch.
If emotions come up, simply observe them as happening without reacting to them.
Start with 10 breaths and add 5 each time until 5-10 minutes are comfortable.
We hope you enjoy this practice as much as I do, feel free to contact us with any questions