Photo by Kira auf der Heide on Unsplash
I went for my second visit with a chiropractor today to try and work out some intense neck tightness and pain I’ve been experiencing ever since spring break. As a yoga teacher, I want to be able to fix these things myself, with gentle stretching and movement, but there are times when expert help is needed. After doing some work back there, he offered, “Well, this is likely postural and stress related.”
This was initially confusing feedback. I really haven’t found my life especially stressful lately. Until I remembered when the pain started: it was just after my return from our New Orleans spring break trip. Traveling with a toddler is never easy, but this trip was especially havoc ridden with multiple flights cancelled and endless hours in the Charlotte airport. On top of that, I am afraid of flying, and any turbulence (of which there was plenty) immediately sends me into a panicked state, and I have to continuously use deep breathing and repetitive reassuring mantra (“Turbulence doesn’t mean dangerous. Turbulence doesn’t mean dangerous.”) to get myself out of fight or flight.
The body doesn’t lie. What is your body asking you to pay attention to?
We can mitigate some of the effects of daily stress, of which teaching offers plenty, through yoga and deep breathing. We may need more expert help with acute moments that send our bodies over the edge.