Bound up

I am sure that some of you are wondering why no entry last week. Has she succumb to the tortures and given in.? Quite the contrary. Is is most surprising each week. Now I think I am getting "sick and demented" because I actually look forward to it.

Last week was lifting my torso and ribs off my pelvis. This is sure to help with the 1 1/2 inches that I have lost in my height. It was grueling but nothing like today. Adductors, hamstrings and quads, the bound up muscles of my thighs and did I mention that my legs felt like they were going through a vise grip. The key there is going through, not just being held in the grip, but having that grip slide, no not slide, rip? no not rip, oh hell, you know what I am trying to say, as she takes the bound up muscle and puts it back where it belongs. Holy shit. One does not just lie there and take the pain. You must participate in it. "Sick". Be a willing, or unwilling participant, however you want to look at it. I can hear her saying "knee up, knee down" and wanting me to do these motions as she frees the muscle, but sometimes it is all one can do to keep breathing, pant and swear. No knee up, knee down. She won't let you get away with it for very long. And did I tell you it feels like she has hands of steel with the grip of Hercules. But it is so awesome.

My knowledge and enthusiasm for Structural Integration grows with each session. While SI is probably not for everyone, it certainly couldn't hurt the majority of us. Oops, sorry about that play on the word "hurt". It really is okay to experience the breath sucking pain that one must endure to get through a session because when you come out of it you are a new person. Each week as she works the misalignment of my body up from my feet and out the top of my head I move with much more ease. I knew I was "tight" but not bound up. My thigh muscles were bound up into one unit. The individual muscles were not working undependantly like they are designed to do. Needless to say when that happens other things stop working, which affects something else until one day your body screams at you "HELP, stop what you are doing". And that is where I am at. Stopping and smelling the roses in between being in the moment and the breath being sucked out of me.

It is becoming much easier for me to stand and walk in alignment. I still struggle sometimes especially when I flip into auto pilot. It's that "teach an old dog new trick" thing. It is getting easier. I have noticed that sitting correctly takes less work. I catch myself slouching and bring myself into alignment a lot quicker. I have slouched for many years now. When working at my computer for long hours I was usually slouched completely down in my chair by the end of the day. Bad habit....

Wouldn't it be great if as we entered into our mid years that we felt physically as good as we did in our earlier years.? We don't have to be all bound up, hunched over and in pain 24/7. There are alternatives and I can clearly see the SI is one of them. It is working and I am feeling much better each week. Until next time.