This video will show you two simple movements that you can do to help re-balance your shoulder muscles.

Do these movements thoughtfully.  Take your time.  Try to make your circles perfectly.  Feel what is happening as you do these moves.

And pay attention to your arm, too.  These movements are like having a massage for your arms and shoulder muscles.

A body that is strong and balanced has much less pain and functions better.

I get letters and emails from people all over the world who took action when they started to understand how their bodies work.  They started to understand that maybe they could become pain-free naturally.  The key is:  They took action.

They took steps to feel better rather than relying on their doctor to do “the push-ups” for them.  (You can’t hire someone to do your push-ups.)

Here’s a letter from Garry Allen.  Garry “got it” when he read some of my articles.  He understood.  He wrote previously to tell me he had found a massage therapist who helped a tremendous amount and had relieved a lot of his symptoms of muscle pain.

“G’Day Kathy,

While I have a moment I thought it would be courteous to let you know my health is continuing to improve.

I have taken the opportunity to receive some personal instruction from a qualified “gym master” whom I feel confident in to develop my back, neck and stomach muscles in a controlled manner.

While I have had only 3 one hour sessions so far, I most definitely feel not only stronger but more relief from the years of pain and sleepless nights.

The thing is, YOU are the one who empowered me to believe there is a real possibility to feel better and give the simple encouragement to “have a go”.  I believe most people will exert themselves to improve at most things if given that right encouragement.

You are a fine, gentle lady and should be commended for your unselfish work.  I sincerely do commend you.

Cheers,

Garry Allen”
(AllenSigns.com.au)

Now here’s the thing:  Garry gave me credit but I am not the one who took action.  He did!  Therefore, he should get the credit.  All I did is provide information, same as I’m doing for you.

You have two choices:  Take action.  Don’t take action.

Or, I could put it another way:  Get better.  Don’t get better.

That may sound a bit harsh, but the truth is you really can’t hire someone to do your push-ups.  And not that I think you should be doing push-ups, either; that’s just a saying.

By the way, Garry took steps in the correct sequence.

• First, he got rid of the tightness in his muscles by going to a skilled muscle or massage therapist who understood how bodies work.
• Second, he began his strengthening program.

You can get muscle pain relief, too, and you can start with a simple strengthening program right here.

Let’s think about this for a moment.  When you were little, you were running, sliding, hopping, jumping, climbing.  You were skipping, swinging, squirming, wiggling, jiggling.  Hula-hooping and jump-roping.  You were up and down, up and down.

You even used the muscles in your face.  And when you cried, you cried with your whole body.  If you were like most healthy children, you were moving all the time.  Unless you were asleep.

You used ALL of your 600+ muscles every day!

And, now?  Or, like most of us, do you use only the same 60 or so muscles, just the bare minimum to get through the day?

You might be able to lift and carry that little child, so you think you’re stronger.  But, the reality is, that little child is strong ALL OVER while some of your muscles are strong and some are weak.  Some are used too much, some not enough.

If you were as strong as that little child you used to be, you wouldn’t have that achy back and neck or those headaches.  Your posture wouldn’t be collapsing forward.  You’d feel really good!

Well, good news!

You can feel a lot better than you do now.  All you have to do is make a few changes, do some things differently, and start using more of your muscles again.  Like you did.  Remember?  When you were little?

Right here at SimpleStrengthening.com you can discover simple, easy ways to start getting strong again and use of all of your muscles again.  You can get a strong back.  You can relearn how to hold your head over your body.  You can become as strong as you were when you were that little active kid.

There’s no time like the present!  You’re gonna start feeling better and feeling stronger.

Tai Chi is a movement program which is done standing up.  It uses all of the muscles in your lower body and legs (your leg muscles attach to your spine.)  The movements are slow and continuous.  You lean and sway and balance in a variety of positions.

All of this leaning and swaying causes you to use more of your muscles than you usually do.  When you were a small child, you used all of your muscles.  But, then you grew up.  And, now?  Most of us use only the same 60 or so (out of 600!) muscles everyday.  Only 10%.  Not so good.

But, Tai Chi causes you to use most of those lower body muscles again.

During the movement, your arms and upper body are also involved.  While your legs are doing one thing, your arms do another as part of the whole movement.  Your whole body becomes involved.  That creates whole body balance and strength.

Tai Chi is different from yoga.  Yoga does a lot of stretching and full range-of-movement and also uses floor and seated positions besides standing.  Yoga involves more of your body.

Tai Chi builds lower body strength as well as balance.  That’s why it’s so beneficial for older folks and those who have lost strength or are wobbly on their feet.

My only wish is that people would start practicing Tai Chi before they need it.  That would prevent a lot of “old age” complaints.  Old age complaints tend to be caused by poor or collapsing posture.

Yoga, and the movements here at Simple Strengthening, will help you correct your posture.  Tai Chi will help you keep or regain your balance and lower body strength.  That will help you prevent injuries from falling, make it easier to get up from chairs, and stay younger longer.

If you watch yoga instructors very carefully, you may notice that some of them aren’t exactly symmetrical.  The reason they started doing yoga movements was because they had pain from their asymmetry.  (That means their body wasn’t balanced from side to side; one side was shorter than the other.  There are many reasons for this.)

When they were successful in reducing their own pain symptoms, some went on to become yoga instructors.  They continue to practice so they continue to feel well.  They are now also able to help others become pain-free.

The part of yoga that contains the movements is called Hatha Yoga.

The reason yoga helps is because you use ALL of your muscles and ALL of your body. We have 600+ muscles.

But, most of use only the same 60 or so muscles every day.  When we were children, we used ALL of our muscles.  We ran, jumped, climbed, crawled, slid, hopped.  And, now?

Well, you can see the problem.  We need to use ALL of our body in order to function and feel our best.

You can take a class in yoga.  The advantage of that is the support of your instructor.  He or she will guide you in doing the movements correctly.

Yoga videos are available at stores and libraries as well as online.  The advantage of a video is that you can do it in the comfort of your own home.  That may help you to practice more regularly.

Yoga can be adapted for everyone.  If you cannot do certain movements, then don’t.  Do the ones that you can do, and over time, you will become stronger and more flexible and will be able to do more and more.

Here’s a tip for “doing” the movements you can’t do yet.  Do them in your mind.  Pretend you can do them.  “See” yourself doing them when you close your eyes.  That will help your body understand what it will do when you are finally ready for that movement.

And, when you practice a yoga movement in your mind, always do it perfectly.  That’s what the best athletes do and if it works for them, it’ll work for you, too!

When we press against an immovable object, like a wall, we build strength.  That is called resistance training.  Your bed offers some softness and it also allows you to move and press into it while it presses back at you.  Here are a few things you can try when you lie on your back.

When you do the following movements, pay attention to your muscles.  Your goal is to be able to feel them as they contract (tighten up a bit.)  It doesn’t require much to make them “work.” Don’t work hard.

Gently and thoughtfully

• press the back of your head into your bed or pillow (feel your neck muscles in back.)
• press your shoulders backward into the bed (feel your upper back.)
• squeeze your shoulders toward your spine (feel the muscles between your spine and shoulder blades.)
• squeeze your belly toward your spine (feel the muscles around your hip bones, “stomach” and back.)
• press your heels into your bed (feel the muscles in the back of your thighs.)

It takes only a few minutes when you are in bed to start to get a stronger, straighter body.  When you were a child, you had a strong, straight posture.  You were moving all the time.  You used all of your muscles.  Help your body remember how it used to be.  Use all of your muscles, not just a few.

If you have lots of aches and pains, you can find more pain relief information at Simple Pain Relief.

“Because You Deserve to Feel Better!”

1.  Almost everyone can lie on their back in relative comfort.

2.  Gravity works with you rather than against you.  When you are upright, gravity is working to pull you down toward the earth.  When you are on your back, you are already down.  The force of gravity becomes your friend and assists you.

3.  Your bed acts as resistance.  It is soft enough to press into, yet firm enough to push back at you.

4.  If you have an anatomical leg length difference (like 10% of us–one leg is truly shorter than the other) or if one half of your pelvis (one hip bone) is smaller than the other (like 1% of us) it doesn’t matter.  When you are standing or sitting, these size differences can throw you off balance.  They move the center of your body away from neutral.  When you are on your back, these differences are taken “out of the equation.”

5.  Lots of us are “vertically challenged.”  We just plain feel better when we lie down. This is due to leg length differences, scoliosis (curvature of the spine) or weak back muscles.

6.  If your back is weak and you have trouble staying upright, working from a flat position is easier.

7.  It is easier to isolate the areas of your body that you need to strengthen when you are on your back.

8.  Stretching from this position is also easier because gravity pulls on your arms and legs while your back is in a neutral position.

9.  You don’t need any additional equipment.

So, those are some of the reasons I’m working on a program to help you get strong while you lie in bed.  If you read the articles here at SimpleStrengthening.com you will find lots of “how-to’s.”

It is so important to have a strong back side!  Everything from your knees to the base of your skull should be strong.   When your back side is strong, you will feel better, your body will function better and you will be able to withstand the forces of gravity when you are upright.  This is a good thing.

“Because You Deserve to Feel Better!”

When we press against an immovable object, like a wall, we build strength.  That is called resistance training.  Your bed offers some softness and it also allows you to move and press into it while it presses back at you.  Here are a few things you can try when you lie on your back.

Gently and thoughtfully

• press the back of your head into your bed or pillow
• press your shoulders backward into the bed
• squeeze your shoulders toward your spine
• squeeze your belly toward your spine
• press your heels into your bed

See if you can press one hip at a time into your bed.  Can you do the “wave” with your whole body?

It takes only a few minutes when you are in bed to start to get a stronger, straighter body.  When you were a child, you had a strong, straight posture.  You were moving all the time.  You used all of your muscles.  Help your body remember how it used to be.  Use all of your muscles, not just a few.

If you have aches and pains, you can find more information here at Simple Strengthening and at Simple Pain Relief.  There are lots more articles there for you.

Being straight and having a strong backside puts the pressure of being upright on your bones, where it belongs.  That lets your bones become strong.

And you can read about preventing osteoporosis with good posture (which you can create with the SimpleStrengthening exercises.)

I’m here to testify…

I kind of hate to admit it, but from time to time, I trip.

I had a lovely “trip” just a few days ago.  A five-point landing.  No one applauded, but I’m quite sure it was very impressive.

And, once again, I did not break any bones.

And, I am grateful.

How do I keep my bones strong and healthy?

Let me count the ways:

1.  Plenty of sunshine (creates vitamin D.)  Bones need vitamin D to absorb calcium from your food.  (D3 is the best type.)

Most people in the northern United States are deficient in Vitamin D.  This happens because you don’t get enough sunshine on your skin for one reason or another.  Your doctor can do a blood test to check if you are deficient, if you want.

A good time to get sunshine is while you are…

2.  Walking.  Walking is weight-bearing exercise.  So is being on your feet while you watch TV.

Instead of sitting, stand and do side-swaying movements or lunges or toe raises and calf stretches.  Just do something while you are on your feet rather than on your seat.

3.  A good quality multi-vitamin and mineral supplement.

4.  Lots of green, leafy vegetables (they contain calcium.)

5.  A varied diet with all kinds of wholesome foods (this means not highly processed and sold in a box.)

6.  And, always fight gravity!  Gravity is a very powerful force.  It is always trying to pull your head forward and down.  Stretching to open up and relax your chest and front muscles is a necessity.  So is strengthening the muscles on the backside of your body.

By the way, walking also strengthens your arms and upper body.

How?

When you walk, you swing your arms.  Your arms have weight.  This is weight-bearing exercise for your upper body.  The muscles in your arms pull on the bones all around your shoulders, and this makes your bones stronger.

So, that’s my secret.  This is how I keep bouncing instead of breaking.

And, one more thing.

The people who are most injured, and who take longer to recover from a fall or accident, are the ones who are most “out of balance” before the accident.

So, recovering faster and having less injury is another big benefit of being as straight, strong and flexible as you can be.  When you are learning to have a strong backside (from the back of your thighs to the back of your neck,) you will also be learning how to move your shoulder blades and your joints into neutral positions.

Your bones and muscles will be healthier and stronger, and you, too, can bounce instead of break.

(Although I hope you never trip.)

For more help, go to http://www.SimplePainRelief.com and http://www.CarpalTunnelPainReliefNow.com.

So, I’m going to tell you about the most common cause of osteoporosis.

It’s really common to see people with their heads in front of their bodies.  Sometimes their heads are really far ahead of their bodies.  Not good.

We were built so that all of our bones stack up, one on top of the other.  When our posture is perfect (like it was when we were young children) then our bones support our bodies.

When we start to fall into a collapsed posture–when we get a forward head–then we start using muscles to support our body.  Our muscles are not designed to support us; that’s what our bones are for.

Using the Simple Strengthening program (everything you need to know is here) for easily making your back side strong will correct your posture.

When your posture is once again nice and straight, your bones will be supporting your whole body as they used to.

When your bones are supporting your body, they are “working.”  When they do the job they were designed to do, there is correct pressure on your bones.  This pressure helps your bones to stay and become dense and strong.

Skeletons need to be stacked up properly so your bones will work to support you, and so they will be strong.

When bones are not “working” to support you, they become weak.  So osteoporosis is caused by not letting your bones do their job.  If we take the pressure off the bones, they can’t rebuild themselves as they should.

When your skeleton is stacked in “neutral,” as it should be, inappropriate pressure is taken off your muscles.  Now, your muscles can easily do what they are supposed to do: their job is to let you move.

And, so, since muscles move bones, getting strong muscles on your back side will help move your bones back into the neutral position they need to be and avoid osteoporosis.

And, that’s a good thing.  For more help, go to http://www.CarpalTunnelPainReliefNow.com and  http://www.SimplePainRelief.com

“Because You Deserve To Feel Better!”