How Do I Relax My Neck?

What causes neck pain?

1. Stress

2. Poor posture

3. Office/desk work

4. Text and phone neck

5. Shoulder bags, and haversacks

6. Repetitive actions

7. Poor eyesight/wrong strength of lenses

Standard remedial exercises.

Neck Mechanics

When you attempt to open the vertebrae (or stretch the muscle) on one side, in doing so, you compress the vertebrae (or are tightening the muscle) on the other side. In other words, you always have to use the opposite side of the object (a neck in this case) to create an action on the first side. Most of the time, it doesn’t improve the situation, although there may be a temporary feeling of relief. This applies to turning your head or any of the other actions in image 1 above. You could almost argue that you are attempting to make something better by making something else worse.

My own experience…

In my late 20s and for most of my 30s my back was in a terrible state through a mixture of bad posture and a lot of stress. As all of you who have or have had back problems will know, this was mainly lumbar (lower) spine problems – very debilitating, and making it difficult to function normally. Like a great many people, I used to try exercising my back as hard as I could in an attempt to force it to get better; I had the idea that if I really worked and stretched the uncomfortable muscles, I would get rid of the tension. What I didn’t understand at the time was that the area was inflamed, and, far from solving anything, it was inflaming it more and making everything worse.

Okay, so what should you do?

Nothing…. don’t DO anything… you need to UNDO.

An exercise

Either sitting or standing, feel as though C7 is settling to join all the vertebrae below it – almost as though it is attempting to become a Thoracic vertebra! Whilst doing this, observe (without doing anything, so don’t try to force it) what is going on in both in your neck and your shoulders. If you feel anything, and you might not, don’t try to encourage it, don’t even dwell on it, stay impartial. Stay watching the experience like an outsider, and see where it leads.

If you force a tense muscle to stretch by using muscles on the opposing side, you might manage to stretch it a certain amount, but the main problem is that, because you are tensing the other side of the body or limb, the pivotal point in the middle is being compressed.

_________________________________________________________________________________________ James Drewe teaches Tai Chi and Qigong in both London and in Kent and online. Details of weekly classes both live and online can be found on the website, and there are classes for 2-person Tai Chi on one Saturday a month.

CONTACT: http://www.taiji.co.uk https://www.qigonghealth.co.uk Email: taijiandqigong@gmail.com Phone: 07836-710281 _________________________________________________________________________________________

#qigong #neckpain #neck #shoulderpain #tension #jamesdrewe #taiji #balance #headaches #taijiquan #posture #taichi #relaxation #chikung