The 3 Secrets to Back Tension Relief

The Shadow Side of Stretching Tension

When your back is tight, is stretching your to go solution?
 And how does it work for you over time? Do you need to keep stretching that same tension over and over? If stretching is not enough, you may choose to go for a massage which helps you feel better too; yet, does your lower back tension or pain comes back soon after. If this sounds familiar, read on…

Stretching your lower back by straightening your legs and rounding your upper back may feel good in the moment and help in some ways but it also creates tension in your joints and overstretches your upper back. The good thing is, there is another more efficient way to stretch.

Softening your joints is one way to activate your Body Wisdom and listening to its guidance promotes “Integrated Functioning” which is the safest and most efficient way to stretch and to do anything. It allows all body parts to work harmoniously together at all times and prevents injuries.

Without an awareness of integrated functioning,
we sadly guide ourselves and others to disconnect from body intelligence
despite our best intentions.

Back pain, Movement, and Posture

How you move up and down in space whether to sit down or pick up something on the floor can create or relieve back tension. Softening the front of your hip joints and the back of your knees is the most efficient way to avoid back tension or pain.

How you approach “good posture” in daily life or during exercises can also create or feed your back pain. That’s why I tell my students not to sit up “straight”. The common chest up and shoulders back is neither natural nor comfortable which is why it doesn’t stay. It reinforces patterns that eventually create or trigger pain. Healing is interfered with because we’re at odds with our whole-body synergy.

The 3 Secrets to Reclaiming a Pain-Free Back

1. Focus on letting go of excess tension in your body as a whole even when attempting to relieve tension or pain from your back. A focus on parts does not address the needs of your whole body, while a focus on your whole body takes care of all the parts.
2. Experience how your muscles and joints impact each other. Locked joints make your muscles work harder than needed. Allowing your joints to soften allows your muscles to release as well.
3. Use your support and skeletal structure instead of over-relying on your muscles so you can empower your body wisdom instead of working against it.

If letting go of tension feels like a challenge to you, I want you to know that it is not necessarily your fault. We all inherited some misconception around movement and posture from the founders of Modern Fitness. We all inherited this tendency to focus on body parts instead of functioning as the integrated whole that we are. As seen in the picture above, it gets passed on from teachers to students, from parents to children.

Interested in knowing more about this and experiencing how the ease of integrated functioning feels in your body? Click the following link and join one of my FREE events: Cécile’s Wise Ways: What’s New? or sign up for a complementary consult here.

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Cécile Raynor has been teaching for over 30 years, and recently published the Body Wisdom Magic, with a foreword from Mary Morrissey – world-renowned personal growth speaker, life coach, 
best-selling author & founder of The Brave Thinking Institute. Prior to this, Cecile published the Wise Way to Yoga as well as numerous articles, and she was featured several times both on TV and on an “Expanded Awareness” radio show. Her yoga blog has been read by thousands of people in over 100 different countries. Her work is based on the Alexander Technique, the best-kept secret of Olympic athletes and famous performers. They swear by it because it allows them to perform at their best with optimal safety although it is now commonly used by people in every walks of life. She also created the Body Intelligence Activation Process™, a mind, body, heart and spirit work that affects her students in all aspects of their life as they experience increased wellbeing.

Cécile has been helping people with poor posture, chronic muscular tension and pain, joints issues and headaches reclaim their ease of movement, their natural good posture, and the joy and peace of mind brought by well-being. She has also been a mentor for many students interested in embodied and integrated personal growth.

Cécile can be reached by responding to this blog or by contacting her through her website: https://cecileraynor.com/