Releasing Tension
I carry baby in a carrier pretty often, and find it leaves my back achy.
I took a moment to really try and feel the texture and shape of this ache. After some online anatomy searching, I pinpointed the vertebrae (T5-T9 area) and that seemed to contain the strain.
With just patience and breathing, I focused on expanding my posterior rib cage. Waiting for my body to loosen the grip of just the surrounding muscles guarding the tension.
I always thought relaxing was a willed state. A quieting of the mind, of thinking to not think.
This of course only reinforces the sympathetic nervous system.
In reality, it’s the mind dropping the background.
I learned I can only create the conditions for the parasympathetic system to take control. Similar to dilating your own pupils, you can’t will that, it happens based on the lighting conditions around you.
Sources
For some “light” reading on all of this if you are curious:
- The Stretch Reflex (Wikipedia) causes muscle flexion when stretched to a certain point
- Golgi tendon organ (Wikipedia) signals to muscles relax when the right conditions are met