A “slept wrong” morning & Pilates magic…

Have you ever had one of those days when you wake up and immediately know that you “slept wrong” ?  By “slept wrong” I mean you wake up to immediately find that the muscles in your back or neck hurt and it hurts to move? I had one of those days this week.  It was an early morning for me as I had 5:30 am clients, and when my alarm went off at 4 something I immediately knew I had “slept funny”.  The muscles around my right shoulder blade were kind of screaming at me and it hurt and ached when I did even a shoulder roll.  I wasn’t too concerned as I just assumed that it was caused from how I slept and that eventually it would go away.

I played with moving my shoulder and arm as I got ready to go into the studio and it was feeling slightly better when I went in, but it was definitely still there and not feeling great.  After getting to the studio I decided that I was going to do some Reformer work with my morning clients.  As I often do before I teach I decided I just wanted to jump on and do a little of the work I was going to teach.  This always helps me connect with the work and just get my brain ready for teaching(especially at 5 in the morning!)  I wasn’t sure how any of this was going to feel on my shoulder, but decided to try it anyway.

So I did my Footwork, my Hundreds, and then when I got to the Short Spine exercise something amazing happened.   I could feel the pain in my upper back and around my shoulder blade going away a little more each time as I rolled down through my spine.  I know the power of movement to balance and even heal the body, but I am still utterly amazed every time it happens in my own body!  I think I did about 15 or 20 Short Spines that day because it felt so good. I was loving just the time to really feel how the exercise and the support of the equipment allowed me to articulate through my whole spine and lengthen out all those tight muscles that had been causing me pain!

If you aren’t familiar with the Short Spine exercise on the Reformer I included a quick video of it below.  Although it looks intimidating at first most clients end up LOVING this exercise as it really supports your body and allows you to move through your back in a way that decompresses your spine, lengthens your muscles and feels pretty amazing!