Releasing Muscle Tension Help

[Springer80]

Hi,

I did baths, yoga, sport etc....then massage, then the chiropractor to get my spine and neck cracked (best 40 quid I ever spent :) ). However, these are all outside in not inside out. I tried buddhist meditation, saunas, dancing (that was good). Then I got into long distance walking. The last thing I was planning before my body collapsed in on itself was walking 600 miles from England to Berlin for the bi-annual European Society of Trauma and Dissociation.

Now I do yoga, sauna, meditation, swimming, occasional cardio and toning classes, the light end of things basically.

If you find yourself thinking you can push the tension out by 'exorcising' it with physical exertion then just be careful. Your muscles and nervous system will already have taken a pounding. Get yourself checked out first. Constant adrenaline is a false state for your body, if you keep going on it too much you are burning your motor out. It's like putting too much voltage through a lower amp fuse. It's tricky cos you have to do something with it, oterwise your twithcy, hyper, irratable and cant sleep. Just see how worn your fuse is before you move into anything really drastic (look at things like bi-phasic response, these are states your nervous system goes into as they get fatigued to try and kick start you, acting on them (which I couldn't help) can just lead you into a crash).

I've just starting down the road of Sensori motor body physco therapy is something that is emotional/muscle based. Shiatsu and somatic body therapy is also supposed to be good.


Good luck! ...

 

[piratelady]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I think I will try yoga and see if that helps and then go from there :)

 

[kers]

I swear by a regimen of regular activity, stretching, and frequent progressive muscle relaxation--that releases tension I didn't even know I was holding.

 

[surviving_it_all]

I'm completely serious. You may have your doubts, but the series of mindful movements, physical exercise, and mental focus really seemed to be key for me. I was able to feel almost every muscle in my body, ones I'm not even aware I keep tensed most of the time.

Thanks for this. I have been suffering really bad with stressed body muscles this past week. I will try my hardest to try to get some physical activity in. To tell you the truth, until I read this post I thought myself odd for describing the pains I get from PTSD. THANK YOU

 

[Shan]

These are ALL great suggestions...I just have one more. Get a pair of kick boxing GLOVES.. they are molded/curved over like small thinner boxing gloves. I used to have a stand up bag with sand or water in the base. You can pummel that SOB like nobody's business...release all of that tension, anger, abuse, frustration. If you don't have a stand up dojo or kick boxing bag use a couch or pile of pillows, or your mattress! If you belong to a gym...they probably have one there you can use. I kicked the living tar out of it and punched it till I could not anymore! What a release!! Sometimes we internalize so much our bodies are aching from atrophy.

 

[Shellbell]

I am finding massages help. I hold a lot of tension in my upper and lower back, neck, and shoulders. My massage therapist often comments how tight the muscles are. I only go about once every 3 weeks due to cost, but I wish I could go every week.

Exercise and relaxation/breathing helps too.

 

[just me here]

I learned a lot through some bio feedback training I was sent to by my therapist. I have a hard time with all of the touchy feely yoga meditation stuff, but it does work and i won't discount it. Bio feedback worked for me because it was "tangible", I could see the amount of muscle tension on a bar graph along with my pulse and respiration rate/depth, it was basically a lie detector being used to show me what was going on in real terms. I learned to breath deeply with intent, I learned to objectively take stock of my tension and bodily pains, and most importantly I learned to not assign a negative or a positive to these feelings throughout my body and that 1 trick got me past what I call "reverb" pain, in other words pain that is intensified by the frustration of feeling it. Learning to just notice it and move on helped immensely and has helped me start doing the same thing with my thoughts to a degree.

After a few years of this, I can now rather quickly sit quietly and analyze whats hurting and get past it by removing the negative label and taking it objectively as just a temporary feeling that WILL pass, sooner if I don't obsess on how bad it is.

another less effective technique but easier to do in a public space is to distract your mind from the pain or tension by concentrating on another sensation you are feeling somewhere else. In my case I will pick a very small sensation like the feel of my boots on my little toe ,right foot, underside near the tip (just an example). I can feel my socks, I can feel the stiffness of my boot, maybe it is hot or sore or needs a nail trim, every little bit of info is given my full attention and often I will forget about what it was I was trying to "override" in the first place.

Hope this helps. It works for me, especially when done in a hot tub with birds singing and flowers blooming and sun shining. I highly recommend the deluxe version if available to you.