LEVEL I* with Jarvis Chen
Thursdays 6:00 - 7:30 pm
January 6, 13, 20, 27
February 3, 10, 17, 24
March 3, 10, 17, 24, 31
*Class meets at First Parish Church, 3 Church St in Harvard Square, Cambridge.
heat is better than the ice. You want the blood flow in your veins, you want your hands to be relaxed -- the blood vessels should protrude like they do when you are relaxing in the bathtub. Ice can take away pain is very cute and brief but it decreases blood flow. Therefore using it for a prolonged period has the opposite of the desire to fact. Heat is much better. Even better is heat that comes internally, that comes from learning to relax the tiny sphincters that constrict off the blood vessels. As inspiration, look to the Zen monks who can lie in the snow and melt it, or turn use their body temperatures to cause water on tiles to evaporate.
What you should get from yoga
what you should get him tai chi
drink water
Regarding numbness and tingling stemming from tension in the upper torso, shoulders, and thoracic outlet: I have found qigong exercises incredibly helpful, specifically Falun Dafa and tai chi. When I approach these with a positive mindset, it's incredible how much tension in my arms, hands, shoulders, neck, and back I become aware of. This allows me to consciously release spasmed muscle groups I didn't even know I had until I did the exercise, which in turn causes me to become happy and peaceful causing my body to intuitively improve its posture further. I think they are the single most important piece of the puzzle I have discovered in breaking the feedback cycle of contraction, worry, and injury that is RSI.
Particularly, doing Exercise 2 of Falun Dafa <http://media1.minghui.org/media/dafa/en_mpg/Exercise2.wmv>, also <http://www.falundafa.org/bul/audio-video/audiovideo_video.html?exeNum=2> (main website http://www.falundafa.org/eng/home.html), for about 6 minutes in each hand position while performing the seemingly contradictory actions of dropping my shoulders, lifting my chest while contracting my abdominal muscles to pull my ribs down, tucking my tailbone so that it is vertical while elongating my midsection and back of my neck so that my body transforms into a stable position as at 1:45 in <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgplXmILzoQ> check my abdominal muscles, talking my tailbonechecking my cell phonemy shoulders dropped, my neck elongated, my abdominal muscles con tailbone tucked under so that it remains in a vertical, balanced position and creates a mild stretch on my back has an incredible effect on my arms . Really, you need someone skilled to critique you to learn how to do this properly, but fortunately, most Falun Dafa clubs will teach you for free. Note that these people are usually a bit metaphysical, but just flow
Also, while it's a bit basic, I really like the attitude with which this video clip presents approaching shoulder health <http://yogahealth.yogalifeandme.com/2011/01/27/yoga-health-shoulder-therapy-inside-yoga-today-ep-27/>. I think about the concept of "inner body bright" -- the idea of having a center of happiness from which your good posture intuitively radiates -- all of time, specifically Falun Dafa and tai chi. If I approach these with the right mindset, it's incredible how relaxed, peaceful, and, above all, hopeful I feel afterwards.
Particularly, doing Exercise 2 of Falun Dafa <http://media1.minghui.org/media/dafa/en_mpg/Exercise2.wmv>, also <http://www.falundafa.org/bul/audio-video/audiovideo_video.html?exeNum=2> (main website http://www.falundafa.org/eng/home.html), for about 6 minutes in each hand position while performing the seemingly contradictory actions of:
- dropping my shoulders while elongating the back of my neck
- lifting my chest while contracting my abdominal muscles to pull my ribs into a neutral thoracic outlet
- tucking my tailbone to the vertical position while elongating both the back and front of my midsection so that my body transforms into a stable position as in The Alexander Technique: the First Lesson <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgplXmILzoQ> at 1:45
hands creaking
RSI Is a Way of Being, Posture Is Attitude, and Sympathetic Nervous System Activation
I think one of the most important realizations I made is that RSI is the direct consequence of intense, passionate, permanently excited, hypersensitive, stressed, determined and/or reactive way of being, which manifests itself physically through hunched shoulders that would better fit a soldier preparing for a battle, tightly constricted blood vessels in the arms and cold/sweaty hand , fast, shallow breathing, and an intently, and almost desperately, focused, forward neck position. Just as attitude determines posture however, posture determines attitude, and the 2 feedback upon one another in a very deep and intricate way.. Therefore, it's important to improve both in parallel. It's productive to think about the posture/attitude pair in terms of sympathetic vs. parasympathetic nervous system activation. The sympathetic nervous system is the set of neurological processes in your body responsible for the adrenaline rush and "fight or flight response" that occurs when something threatens, frightens, or hurts you, and it causes the classic RSI precursors described above to manifest themselves. The parasympathetic nervous system, on the other hand, is in charge of calming you back down into state that you can live in comfortably and sustainably, so that your shoulders relax, your blood vessels dilate, and your breathing becomes slow and deep.
One of the most evident correlations between sympathetic activation and hunched posture can be seen in the disorder reflex sympathetic dysfunction, which is a state of constant sympathetic activation as a result of our reflex response to the pinching of a nerve in the thoracic outlet. This, in turn, causes the shoulders to hunch further, which, in a vicious cycle, compresses the nerve even more. You can't fix the posture without the relaxed attitude, and you can't fix the relaxed attitude without the posture. You have to have the mental fortitude to break out of this Catch-22. You have to be willing to accept the pain, and realize that it's not the pain, but really the fear of the pain that's bothering you. At any given moment, you can live forever feeling how you are -- you know this because only the present moment really exists, so by living pain in the now, you are surviving the pain. Typically, it's not a good idea to your press pain because this allows you to become injured, but in this specific case extremely important to be able to get philosophical and realize that your continued suffering isn't necessary
You know this because since only the present moment really exists, the You know this because. Wh entirety if your being is consumed ite it's necessary to have To break out of this Catch-22,
. which A pinched nerve in the thoracic outlet a pinched in her minister asked outlet area
back down into ogical,
fight response flight or fight in charge of the adrenaline rush and that "fight or flight response" whereas the parasympathetic is in charge of calming you down.
This underlying state of mind can be thought of biologically as the current balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system activation your body is expressing. The sympathetic nervous system, in charge of the adrenaline rush and "fight or flight response" is typically overactive in the case of RSI patients this is RSI or fight or flight response,
You have to actually change the default way you approach the excitements and stresses life, change your underlying state of mind, in order to release and heal on a sustainable basis.
ustainable basis . Biologically, can be understood as a consequence of sympathetic nervous system activation underlying state of tension this underlying state of tension h release and he'll. it of mind in order to heal. This is particularly well is illustrated. In fact, one problem sometimes encountered by RSI patients, reflex sympathetic dysfunction, herefore,
and the 2 feedback upon one. Since the feedback upon one another, it's extremely
. To do difficult to fix one without the other
as you fix your posture, you might notice your voice change; it should get deeper and more full as v the vocal folds in your neck elongated
feedback on one or. Therefore it's very difficult to. Therefore, it's very difficult Cap just as attitude determines posture ,
are preparing to take on a battle,. Since posture is strongly correlated with attitude, fixing the mental and physical manifestation
Because posture is strongly correlated with attitude Stressful, and/or reactive, immediately reactive way of being. Similarly, posture is currently correlated with the attitude
Additionally, although this is not canon, I find that being aware of
and in control of my being throughout the course of this exercise is extraordinarily helpful -- if my breathing is relatively shallow and quick
c relatively shallow and quickheck my abdominal muscles, talking my tailbonechecking my cell phonemy shoulders dropped, my neck elongated, my abdominal muscles con tailbone tucked under so that it remains in a vertical, balanced position and creates a mild stretch on my back has an incredible effect on my arms . Really, you need someone skilled to critique you to learn how to do this properly, but fortunately, most Falun Dafa clubs will teach you for free. Note that these people are usually a bit metaphysical, but just flow
Also, while it's a bit basic, I really like the attitude with which this video clip presents approaching shoulder health <http://yogahealth.yogalifeandme.com/2011/01/27/yoga-health-shoulder-therapy-inside-yoga-today-ep-27/>. I think about the concept of "inner body bright" -- the idea of having a center of happiness from which your good posture intuitively radiates -- all of time