I have chronic tension in my back, particularly my shoulders and neck. I know these muscles can mess with your eyesight and I also know that if you want to do the eye exercises efficiently and well it is best to be as relaxed as possible. These muscles never relax – even when I think I am relaxed. So it has been my attempt to find something to relax them.

I started off going to see an osteopath which was a big waste of time. I wish I had taken the chiropractic route. The osteopath didn’t help whatsoever, so after a few sessions I had to give it up. He was just massaging me – I may as well have seen a massuese. Yes I was getting relief but only a tiny bit and only for a very short period of time. Everytime he turned me I noticed how stiff I was even when I tried to relax I remained this way.

Anyway I wish I had since a chiropractor because from my reading I feel it would have been better suited for me. I may attempt this in the new year or/and I am definitely going to try the Alexander Technique. I have be meaning to do this for a while but had decided on the osteopath first, so yeah I have learnt from that mistake!

Currently I am doing some exercises from a book by Craig Williamson called Muscular Retraining. It is a fantastic book that explains the issue of muscular tension exceptionally and in a way that makes sense to me. Like in the Alexander Technique he references to kinesthetic awareness being loss, due to muscles being tense all the time. Just like if you are in a noisy room, after a while you do not notice the sound anymore even though it is still there – he suggests muscle tension is the same. I know with my own tension that it is very hard to distinguish what those muscles are doing when I concentrate them. I have lost or rather have a faulty kinesthetic awareness due to them being tense constantly. The exercises being back awareness.

I have only been doing the exercises a few days and have found some of them impossible for me to do. This is apparently very normal for someone who has suffered from tension for such a long time, but quite annoying. It can feel quite frustrating not being able to something that should actually be really simple! Anyhoo I do feel that my shoulders and back have been loosening a little because I have this sensation of feeling a little uncomfortable emotionally. As though its loosening old tied up emotions from my back. It has made me feel a little anxious of what will be in store for my emotionally in the coming days…weeks…because I am already experiencing emotional release through my diet! So we shall see. I have hopes for these exercises.

I have also started reading a book by Kathleen Porter called Ageless Spine, Lasting Health: The Open Secret to Pain-Free Living and Comfortable Aging. This book is more focused on posture. I have skipped to the end and tried out some of the realigning and it does feel uncomfortable. I guess that is only to be expected when I have had bad posture for such a long time. I hope to put it in practice as well and in fact I am at the moment. I am sitting quite nicely on my sits bones with feet flat on the floor and my laptop screen a little higher up. I am sort of comfortable. I don’t believe I have my upper body properly aligned or my shoulders just yet but hopefully I will sort this issue out in the coming days/weeks. I really look forward to reading this book though.

I also look forward to releasing my tense shoulders for good and hopefully being able to finally deal with my eyesight. Wish me luck!