Tuesday, February 5, 2008

i have a hunch ...back

today was an awesome, awesome day:
  • three pounds down after the massacre-at-chicken-wing-tray sunday nite
  • awoke bright eyed and bushy tailed because i got to sleep at 11 last nite
  • stayed within my points range yesterday
  • got some exercise in yesterday
  • voted!!
  • wrote down everything i ate yesterday (cue european soccer announcer: GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLL, you know, because it's my weekly goal...)
  • preparing a healthy, low cal, point friendly dinner
  • very possibly will stay within my points for today
  • have documented all my food thus far today (again: GOOOOOAAAAAALL)
but best of all, i was best of buds with my body today. all my mind/body chatter from yesterday really paid off...

i've been suffering mild, yet constant headaches for the past couple of weeks. i'm not prone to headaches at all, so this was a disturbing new trend which i immediately chalked up to shitty eating habits and too much of the vino. but today, i realized that the headaches are more likely from the awkward position of my neck and shoulders lately. my neck has been disappearing unnaturally into my shoulders - like i'm hunching over. i have literally been holding my body like i'm bracing for someone to hit me or something. i found myself in this hunkered position countless times today and each time, i would sit up straight, take a deep breath and roll my shoulders back. my headache is gone this evening!

could it be that my body has been trying to speak to me for the past few weeks? "hey pal! pay attention! i'm here, too!" i choose to believe that my recent headaches were exactly that - my body demanding that i take notice of it. every single time i caught myself hunched over today, i momentarily had to stop everything i was doing and dedicate 100% awareness to my back, my shoulders, my neck. calmness came into my belly with a deep breath, confidence into my physique with a straightening of the spine and rolling the shoulders back.

i repeated this exercise maybe 20 or 30 times today - which was another lesson my body taught me: it's going to take repeated reminding and effort to get to a healthy relationship with myself. regardless of how many times i have to stop what i'm doing and pay attention to what's going on in my body, in the moment, i always feel much better after making the correction.

the whole bracing myself bit - that's a pretty serious and disturbing stance i've adopted as of late... definitely something to ponder in more detail later...

but for now, i give thanks to my body for speaking to me... even though it took me long enough to hear.

2 comments:

Heather said...

congrats on all you have accomplished!! So glad you were down after the wings. it is possible to go overboard once in a while and still see results on the scale. just dont make it a habit!

glad you were able to listen to your body..that is so important. for years I ignored my body and this is where it got me. once you can get back in tune with it, things go so much better.

Anonymous said...

Goooooaaaaaallllll!! isn't that so funny when they do that? :) congrats!