Lazy Man Yoga

Archive for December, 2009

Feeling tired?  By the time we get into our fifties and sixties we might be feeling very tired indeed. The demands of life have caught up with us and we start to slump with fatigue.  But even though we might feel tired and exhausted we can’t seem to rest.  All those demands keep demanding or so it seems. We are running on empty but we can’t stop running.   We are convinced there is no rest for the weary and never will be.  Our minds keep blaring at us ”do this, do that, go here, go there”.  It often takes a disease or disability to put us off our feet, to cease our daily rounds.  So give yourself a break, indulge, and take a rest. Make it last a day or two or more.  You probably deserve it and certainly need it and if you aren’t sure what it looks like it looks like this:

  

Place the large roller against the lower rib cage in back and lean over to one side and allow the roller to press, roll and massage the lower ribs on that side and then the other.  Feel for where there may be ache and stiffness in the ribcage and massage and roll for relief.  The diaphragm attaches all around the inside of the lower ribs and then to the first 3 or 4 lumbar vertebrae via tendons (the crura).  If it is chronically tense and short (as it is in many of us) it will eventually strain and distort the whole middle region of the back and trunk of the body.  Press, roll, and massage those areas that feel stiff, achy, and tense in the ribs in back.  Sense how the breathing eases and deepens as you relieve the stiffness and the ache.

I like this little chapter from the Tao Te Ching. It is an argument for surrender and hints at what we might be surrendering to.

To remain whole, be twisted!
To become straight, let yourself be bent.
To become full, be hollow.
Be tattered, that you may be renewed.
from the TAO TE CHING Chapter 20,
Translation by Arthur Waley