When Life is a Pain in the Neck, Part 2

    Earlier this year, I posted about an easy acupressure technique to release a stiff neck.  Here is the YouTube video to demonstrate the technique.

   We have used this in the past several yoga classes, but I would like to add something that I discovered today.  When I looked at my students after we had done the technique and thoroughly warmed up the body, though the necks were moving freely, there was still a lack of motion in the upper body.

   Now, I'm not sure where I learned this so I can't call it an acupressure point, but I do know that today's students experienced more freedom of motion after pressing it.
    Start on your weaker side. To find the correct place, lift your arm to over 90 degrees with your elbow bent.  Pressing around in the back curve of your armpit, you'll notice a big plate of muscle on the back wall of the armpit.  The point that you are looking for is just in the front of the muscle.  Dig in gently and (for most of us) the body gives a pretty strong pain reaction.
  After you have found the point, let your arm relax down by your side.  Hold the point until your pain diminishes (or your arm gets tired).  Move to your stronger side (for most of us, this is the dominant hand).  Find the point, relax your arm by your side, and hold the point.
      Usually the act of using the weaker arm will aggravate the shoulder again, so go back to the first side and do the hold again.
       Finish with a bit of deep breathing and go back to enjoying your day, this time with a bit more freedom of motion.

Divine Insecurity

    Today's quote I discovered at the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. It captures a feeling that I haven't been able to put into words.  The older I get, the more I love possibility, the act of encountering things I can't explain.  The world is far wider than I ever imagined as a young woman and I love it.

“The art of reading requires that you develop a beautiful tolerance for incomprehension. The greatest books are the books that you come to understand more deeply with time, with age and with rereading.”
― Michael Silverblatt

Beat Army, sir!

25th Company, Plebe summer 1984

Army Navy game.  One of my favorite sporting events of all time.  Even as you read this, the energy and craziness are building at both academies in preparation for the game on December 8^th. 

     When I was inducted into the Naval Academy in 1984, my uncle described it as entering a place where they “took away all of your God-given rights and gave them back to you one at a time as privileges.”  Here we are about a month into Plebe Summer. (Freshmen are called plebes, a short version of plebeian  referring to our lowly state.) I'm behind the camera, somehow off slacking in my room while my company mates are working in the sun...

that same group under the influence of the game

     Plebe year is all about conforming, following orders and learning. Every once in a while, they unleash the beasts and it gets really crazy.  This is the same group during the week before the Army Navy game.  The feet in the middle belong to our midshipman company commander who is about to get his head stuck in the toilet.  Glad I was behind the camera again.  Notice all the upperclassmen rooting the plebes on.

     This week was always one of my favorite of the whole year.  I love pranks and they abounded.  Unfortunately, though my love of pranks is great, it is not matched up with a good poker face.  I got away with a few dirty tricks, but most were quickly uncovered. Retaliation was swift to follow.

payback is hard to clean up

   Thinking about it now, I don't think there was a can of shaving cream or baby powder left in Annapolis during the run up to the game.
     My favorite teacher plebe year had to be in Chemistry.  He came into class and asked us if it was hot in here.  He said the Army got him so mad he was hot, then proceeded to strip off the top half of his uniform revealing a Beat Army tshirt. I also got A's on a Chemistry quiz for  all of my classmates by going down to the front and leading a cheer.

best ransom note ever!

      Some of the tricks were a little gentler.  Almost every year my stuffed animals either committed suicide or were placed in compromising positions.  At right is my all time favorite ransom note.
       As you may have figured out, I was a cheerleader.  This lovely action shot below of a punt in the 1984 game is graced by two cheerleaders in the upper right.  I'm the one in the skirt.

In the last 10 years, the Navy has been on a winning streak.  Given the picture below, I'm thinking we are safe again...

BEAT ARMY!

Sometimes Progress Feels Like Retreat

relaxation and rest

    Yeah, it's frustrating.  The world tells you that happiness is where it's at.  Keep a gratitude journal.  Take time to do what you enjoy.  Relax like a cat.  But what happens when your path takes you through darkness?
    The first time I ever experienced this was in a yoga class.  The class was at the old Tri City YMCA, taught by Shalini Latour (aside from being a yoga teacher, she makes gourmet chocolates, yum!).  The class focused on neck position.  In each pose she would talk us into correct placement of the head and shoulders.  About 45 minutes into class I began to cry.  Tears flooded down my face.
        It was like there was a cyst of unhappiness in my shoulder and when the muscles relaxed, it released all of the poisonous emotions stored there.  At the time I was mortified, but everyone just let me be and  I finished the class.  Of course, later I learned that emotions can be stored in the body, and are often expressed on the way out.

Me, trying to get into the Elephant camp
 Chang Mai, Thailand

        At these times, it is important to remember the glass is half full.  Here we are, working so hard to be positive. To get there, sometimes you have to plow through yesterday's troubles to get to tomorrow's peace.
       This picture is of me in Thailand.  It is in 1989 and I am at my young, fit best.  Look at my body posture. I'm terrified.   Notice the fear in my body. This fear (or anger or grief or whatever other emotion) happens all the time.  If you don't let it out, it get's stored in the body.
       It is important to remember that the healing crisis, whether it be physical or emotional, is part of the healing process.  Let the unhappy feelings wash over you, then return to your emotional center, the calm of a cat sleeping, safe and secure.

Another Reason to Get Up in the Morning

This morning's sunrise.  I just had to share!

Piece of a Cake

from La Dolce Vita

    Last night as I was winding down to bed, I was frustrated.  You know, you say your prayers, offer your day to God and then apologize that the day was such a poor offering.  I've been working for days on a YouTube video and am having difficulty putting it together (lets just say, it's still not posted).
    So in the free association that happens before bed, I remember this horrible cake my sister and I made for our mom one birthday. In our minds we were making a beautiful offering like the Amaretto cake pictured at left (my personal favorite cake ever made).  This cake, however, was a yellow cake, straight from the box.  We had mixed it up according to the directions and set it in the oven to bake.  Sounds like a great beginning, yes? Well, let's just say the end did not live up to the beginning.

from Breezy Cheetah Pop

      As we removed the layers from the oven, one was dropped.  We took the good layer, then spread the bad one on top.  It looked a bit like freshly mixed cement.  Then it was time to decorate.  This was long before the advent of Wilton's concentrated coloring, so to make a frosting of the lurid red I remember, it must have taken two bottles of food coloring.  To complete, we added multi colored sprinkles.  Of course we did not take pictures, but the cake at right has the same feel of our sorry cake.
      My thought last night was how gracious my mother was in accepting her ugly cake, then it came to me how much I would enjoy it from my kids as an expression of love.  Maybe the day was not such a waste.  Later, I told my husband about the different ways to see the day, he said "Who cares, it's still cake!"  I guess we could restate it as "Any day above ground is a good day."  Hope you all have many more good days, and I promise, the video is coming.

A Little Wisdom from Henry Ford

Henry Ford
from biography.com 

     After Thanksgiving dinner, as we all sat around rubbing our bellies, my brother pulled out a group of quotes.  He is a cross country coach and gives them out before each meet.  Here's the one we were given...

There isn't a person anywhere who isn't capable of doing more than he thinks he can."- Henry Ford

    For me, the clear message here is not just the possibility of doing more, but also, to choose wisely where we do more.  If I go to church, and don't like the message, do I spend more time bad mouthing the speaker or trying to love him?  Loving what drives you crazy, now that is doing more and doing it well.