Do this right now if you have rounded shoulders

It’s super easy to get yourself into a lot of awkward positions as a parent - between hefting a car seat, reaching into a low crib, nursing, pumping, maintaining whatever body position the baby fell asleep on you in because you can’t possibly dare waking the sleeping baby.

Parenting does a number on your body! And that’s on top of the fact that many of us are recovering from the marathon of pregnancy and birth (and/ or on limited sleep).

Furthermore, our mind is totally in the space of keeping this small/ precious/ fragile creature alive. Notice for yourself if a fear of not dropping your sweet baby brings extra tension into your upper body and shoulders. Not only do many activities like feeding and holding your baby bring you very much into the forward zone of your upper body, your body follows your attention - we assume a whole-body protective posture around the baby. Often this gives our whole spine a C or cashew shape, and may keep carrying this around even if someone else is holding the baby - that’s where our mind is and so is the body!

This gentle, mindful reset will bring you into the reverse of that C shape to bring you into more balance. It is especially useful if you are having pain in your shoulders. It will also aid in relaxing the mindset of constant vigilance in early parenthood that can make it hard to get good rest.

Your baby will spend quite a bit of time on the floor as they learn to crawl, learning to coordinate their body - you might as well join them and get some benefit as well. I would set my son on his back or tummy, and could still do this simple sequence even when my energy was very, very low. Even if I couldn’t go back to bed, this was a way of giving my body rest!

Have you tried movement on the floor before? How do you find your reset?

For more hands on help with unlocking your shoulders, work with me at an in-home lesson or via Skype!