My Rainy Day “Work-In”

With the rain pelting down outside my windows this morning, and an appointment with my fitness trainer, we made the decision to stay indoors and do a  “work-in” in my living room.  My muscles were actually screaming at me this morning, because I went to a really tough strength interval class yesterday.  So the idea of doing some limbering and stretching sounded really great to me.

I’m not always so good at agreeing to do “stretch” classes.  I’m one of those who is a champ at stepping it up and going for the tougher workout class or the tougher path up the mountain, but when it comes to “taking it down a notch” and stretching, breathing, resting and meditating – that’s actually my challenge.  It’s hard for me sometimes to slow down to the speed of life, but now that I am on this breast cancer journey, I have realized the importance of taking the time to “slow it down” and do something relaxing and restorative.

After ten minutes of stretching movements, we made ourselves comfortable on the carpeted floor and did a breathing session along with some Reiki, some fascia release work, and some acupressure point release.  (I’m am very fortunate that my fitness trainer is also a certified LifeBreath instructor and Reiki healer).

If you have never done a breathing session, I recommend it, since most of us breathe incorrectly and end up holding a tremendous amount of stress due to improper breathing.   Beth began by having me breath into my belly with an open-mouth wave-like breath.  Have you ever watched a little baby breath?  With each breath their tummy and chest expands, and as they exhale, their tummy goes back down.  That is the proper way to breath.  But most of us don’t breath like that by the time we are adults, in fact many people hold their breath more often than they would ever imagine!

The concept is that this very pure form of breathing releases stress and old stagnant energy.  While I was breathing, Beth performed Reiki over the top of my body to help with energy flow as well as the flow of my breathing.

Beth then had me turn onto my belly since I had complained of tight hip muscles.  She used a tennis ball and her fingers to release the tension in my hips, back and neck.  Yes it does actually hurt when she hit some spots, but I feel much better now.

While Beth worked on me, she explained that our “inhales” represent our ability to bring in all the “good stuff” in life into our bodies like peace, joy, love, light, and radiant health.  And the “exhale” helps us to release the “old stuff” in our bodies; holding on to stress and holding onto negative thoughts.  Balancing our breathing helps us stay healthier and happier on so many levels.

It was a great session and I am so thankful that I have someone to make me slow down, stretch, and breath when I need it most!