Feldenkrais

For months, I've been working at home whenever I could because my office is a pain in neck. Literally, working at my office gives me pain and stiffness between my shoulders. If I work in the office for several consecutive days my neck will lock completely. It's very, very annoying. I've tried tons of different office configurations, but I've never gotten the correct ergonomics.

My gym offers weekly Feldenkrais classes which are supposed to do something to help you learn to move more efficiently. Every month I look at the Feldenkrais flyer and wonder about it. You have to sign up for the full month of classes and I just never got around to trying it. This month the classes focus on neck and jaw strain. That was incentive enough to get me in there.

Yesterday I went to the first class which was a lot of laying on a mat and sticking your tongue out on your lower lip. There was also some moving your hand in front of your face and following it with your eyes. If you've ever been to an acting class that covered body awareness, then you know what it was like. My neck did feel better leaving the class, but it didn't last long.

Today I was sitting in my office with my neck hurting and I had a flash of body awareness that my head was hanging forward stretching my neck. The computer monitor was too low. I'd been adjusting the angle of the flat screen, but I didn't know you could also make the whole screen go up on the support arm. After a quick adjustment, my head and neck are in the correct spot and the pain is eased.

Score one for the Feldenkrais method.