Increasing your range motion and flexibility in your rib cage and thoracic spine can help you breathe fully, calm down the chattering monkey mind if your nervous system is stressed out and wound up, and generally just feels good. Give it a try, it’s a quicky!
Tag: Patient Practice Videos (Page 2 of 3)
This exercise is great for opening up the breath, and increasing mobility through the ribs. 5x to each side is plenty, just keep your shoulders dropping!
This practice is a special application of the Seated Seaweed practice, targeting the neck. If you haven’t done the seated seaweed practice, start there.
This 5 minute practice helps reduce muscular neck tension, and even more importantly, guides the nervous system away from the fight-or-flight self-defense mode and back into rest-digest-connect-and-heal mode, where we thrive.
This practice is great for quickly soothing the nervous system, turning down the fight-or-flight response, inviting your brain to remember to breathe, and reset yourself back into the rest-digest-connect-heal mode.
Remember to use the lightest possible pressure; you’re looking to soothe the brain and ask the tissue to lengthen, you’re not trying to work out knots!
See if you can notice:
- your brain chills out (fight or flight drops, mental chatter quiets)
- your body feels looser afterward (fuller breath, wiggle-factor increases, more fluid movement)
- emotions might move a bit more (increase intensity, decrease intensity, suddenly appear or disappear)
This practice is drawn from the work of the incomparable Dr Satya Sardonicus. Check out her site here.
This series of movements will increase your mobility slowly and gradually (ie safely and sustainably) if you practice them regularly. There are two goals with this work:
- Soften and open the joints and surrounding tissues gently and safely
- Turn down the fight-or-flight response in your nervous system, particularly for folk with trauma or injuries in or around the pelvis.
See if you can notice:
- Your brain chills out (fight or flight drops, mental chatter quiets)
- Your body feels looser afterward (fuller breath, wiggle-factor increases, more fluid movement)
- Emotions might move a bit more (increase intensity, decrease intensity, suddenly appear or disappear)
This practice is great for shifting the brain from fight-or-flight back into our default rest-digest-connect mode. The goal is not to soften the tissue of the feet and calves by rubbing or working those tissues, but to let the brain check in, reactivate self-healing mode, and soften those tissues itself (when your brain is good and ready to soften safely!)
Give us a call to schedule a consult if you’re having trouble with this.
415-735-1778
You can use these simple movements to start shifting your brain from fight/flight/freeze back into rest/digest/connect (our natural baseline, and the place our self-healing kicks into gear from!) in just 2-3 minutes of slow, small practice.
Try it out. If you have any trouble give us a call to schedule a consultation to trouble shoot!
We all know deep breathing is good for us. Making it easier to take that full deep breath is exactly what this video is for, as well as alleviating tension and loosening up the rib-cage and shoulders. Try it out!
BONUS! This second video requires an elastic exercise band, but takes this exercise to the next level. You can reduce tension and increase the range of motion. I like these exercise bands, but any you like are great.
Simple isolation exercises can be really powerful tools for creating a feeling of looseness and ease in your body. This simple practice can be used daily (or even hourly!) to open up the low back, hips, and pelvis. It also helps you look great on the dance floor! 😉
Book a consultation now
Office Hours
Chiropractic Services:
Monday 2:00pm-7:00pm
Tuesday 8:00 – 1:00
Wednesday 2:00pm-7:00pm
Friday 10:00am – 2:00pm
Massage Services: By appointment.