For the past week or so, I have had a vicious, stabbing pain just under my right shoulder blade. It impedes my movement and forces me to sit and move in unnatural ways.

Unfortunately, this pain is not new. It comes and goes during stressful periods in my life. In fact, I call it my "stress knot." It is like a tiny, hard lump of muscle bunching up under my right scapula. I've been asking Brian every ten minutes to press firmly on the sore area with his fingers. This provides me momentary relief, although it is accompanied by a searing, cringeworthy tenderness that makes me yelp out loud as he massages it. Also, I've been sleeping with a heating pad under my back for the past two nights, and I have noticed an improvement upon waking in the morning. But as I get up and get on with my day, the pain returns with a vengeance.

Since I arrived at work this morning, I've been frantically Googling in my quest to find a more permanent solution to this agony. Aside from seeing a massage therapist, I couldn't seem to find any immediate answers to my problem. Then I remembered: yoga.

I had been a faithful yoga practitioner for about two years during my engagement and the first year of our marriage. For reasons which I will disclose in another post, I was going through more than just the typical stress of planning our wedding. I was also trying to tone up a bit for the big day, so I began taking yoga classes, in tandem with weightlifting and a serious walking program. I had always thought that yoga was some kind of new-agey, foo-foo type of activity, but I really liked it and the benefits were measurable and positive. In fact, I'm not really sure why I stopped doing yoga. I should probably pick it up again.

ANYWAY...I sat here in my cubicle, thinking of all the asanas (poses) I knew that might release some of the tightness in my back and shoulders. There exists a basic asana that nevertheless has always been just out of reach for me, even when I was practicing yoga regularly: reverse namaste, or Pascimanamaskarasana, its Sanskrit name. This asana requires you to reach both arms behind you, and bring the palms together upright behind the back, as if praying. It has always challenged me, perhaps due to my naturally tight shoulders and rotator cuffs.

But I am desperate, so I decided to give it a shot, as best as I could here in my chair. I couldn't quite get my palms to meet, but I was able to clasp my fingers together and hold it for a few minutes, breathing deeply. As I unwound my arms, I took another deep breath and noticed (gleefully!) that my shoulder pain was dramatically diminished. So I tried it once more and got the same result. The terrible stabbing pain has been reduced to a dull ache.

If anyone else has any suggestions for me, have at 'em. I am willing to entertain anything!

Labels: health, stress, work