I recently got a night guard to help me refrain from clenching my teeth while sleeping. Chronic jaw, neck, and shoulder pain had not been helped by some of the other interventions I tried. So the night guard was the next logical step. Four weeks into wearing it religiously every night I had gained some relief. However, the jaw pain was still there.

Fast forward to four weeks later… I’m back at the dentist’s office for a routine check up and cleaning. “The night guard has helped, I’m not experiencing as much pain as before, but still there is jaw pain”, I tell my dental hygienist as I lie back in the chair. She proceeds to tell me I might be clenching during the day too! Apparently it is really common in today’s desk dwelling culture, along with global feelings of stress, uncertainty, and productivity pressures, to be constantly contracting the jaw muscles and clenching the teeth. So much so that people are now wearing corrective mouth gear almost 24-7  to help remedy the problem.

In between her cleaning my mouth, I chuckled, “That’s kinda comical.” Instead of questioning and trying to address the root-source of the problem (i.e.: stress), we slap a band-aid (in this case, a mouth guard) on it. We look towards quick and immediate external fixes to cure longstanding and internal (personal) challenges.

About stress resilience

So that visit with my dental hygienist really got me thinking. Resilience, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is:

“an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change”

It brought me back to this TED Talk by Kelly McGonigal. Basically, she proposes that we need to change our relationship to stress instead of stressing about how to rid ourselves of it. Because removing stress completely from our lives is an impossible task. Subsequently, since viewing that talk a few years ago, I’ve changed my language regarding this topic from a theme of stress management to stress resilience.

But Michelle, you ask, what does this have to do with mouth guards and jaw pain? Well, maybe if we changed our relationship to stress, the jaw wouldn’t need a piece of molded acrylic to handle the weight of our anxieties and overwhelm all the time, day-and-night. Perhaps, if we:

• Become more aware of our stressors
• Meet them head on (with compassion)
• To understand how we usually react (physical, emotional or otherwise) to those stressors

Then, we might find new ways to effectively be with stress. In this way, the stress could be an opportunity to become more resilient.

An Embodied Response

When I reflected back on what could have been the stress that showed up for me as musculoskeletal pain, I realized it was felt pretty soon after I started back to school, after a 20+ year “hiatus” (more on that here). Clenching my teeth and contracting my fascial muscles was my embodied response to the many worries (and realities) of a major life change. Making that connection now has me considering the ways I can adapt to the challenges of being a mature student.

First, I’ve acknowledged that, although I made a good (for me) choice to become a student again, it’s natural for me to be stressed. Stress is inevitable, in this circumstance and in life. The question is:

How am I going to respond so that the stress does not take over? 

Bodies are amazing in so many ways. They have the ability to take on all kinds of stress and to bounce back from adversity. Also fascinating is that our bodies tell us when enough is enough. I’m choosing to heed the call of what my body needs:

• Do I need more rest?
• Does the jaw need some gentle movement, restorative yoga or self-massage?
• Do I need to do more conscious and relaxing breathing?
• Does my body need to move more vigorously (i.e.: running or swimming) so as to move the tension out?

I’m still using the mouth guard at night. My body still needs that support, which is totally ok. But I’d prefer not to wear a mouth guard during the day too! Instead, I want to:

• Practice being more connected to my body’s experience of stress
• Kindly acknowledge that stress is part of life but I don’t have to succumb to it completely
• Continue to use my movement practices as a tool for self-care and bouncing back from stressful moments

Any kind of physical pain is a signal to listen, instead of ignoring the pain altogether or putting a proverbial band-aid on it. Stress might be a way for us to build awareness, find strength and practice self-care.

The post Chronic Pain & Stress: A Gateway to Embodied Living appeared first on Define Me Wellness.

Client Profile: 

York Support Services Network (YSSN), is a community services organization providing assessment and support services to individuals living with a developmental disability and/or mental illness.  Sue Van Elswyk, a YSSN Supervisor, reached out to me last winter.   Her team’s primary responsibility is in assessing individual cases; any further intervention and support is assigned elsewhere.  She was familiar with my overall approach to well-being and knew of my experience teaching restorative yoga.  Sue asked if I might be able to come to a series of team meetings to guide her and her staff through 1 hour sessions, with the key objectives of:

1. facilitating relaxation
2. restoring overall mind-body balance
3. offering simple and effective self-care strategies

Risks of Being in the Caring Profession:

There are lots of work demands that Sue and her team manage on a day-to-day basis and, as is typical in many a caring professional’s work ethic, lunches are often skipped and sick days are not taken when needed.  Along with keeping up with administrative tasks, there is high risk of experiencing Secondary Trauma, Compassion Fatigue and/or Burnout just from continually listening to heartbreaking stories and situations. It can leave one feeling powerless in their ability to enable positive change or make a difference in their client’s experience.

For this YSSN team, any compassion fatigue training they attended only made them feel worse.  While they were able to put a name to their predicament and had tools for self-assessment, concrete strategies for managing and recovering from the burnout were amiss.

Enter Workplace Restorative (Caring Professions Edition):

After introducing just a few sessions in YSSN’s staff meetings, the benefit these case workers experienced was clear in their feedback:

• “My staff all reported back that they really enjoyed the last session and are using some grounding strategies already.”
• “I love the sessions, I find it a positive and supportive (environment) and Michelle’s method of guiding instruction is relaxing and easy to follow.  She provides a variety of positions which seems there is something to benefit everyone.”
• “Please let Michelle know that I really enjoy her restorative yoga.  The sessions have helped me to reintroduce yoga and mindfulness into my daily life.  It is helping me on my continuing journey towards health and making my health a priority.”
• “The sessions have helped us to take time for ourselves and to help us become more aware of our breath, help us manage stress.  Her instructions are gentle and she always makes sure to give modifications to each student as needed.  Many staff have incorporated some of the poses into their daily lives to help manage stress.  It has been a wonderful opportunity for us!”

Overall, participants said the restorative practice felt healing, rather than labeling.  There was a sense of acceptance (a cornerstone in cultivating self-compassion), permission, and a reclaiming of the power to self-direct their own recovery and repair. As a result, there has been a shift happening at YSSN.  Staff are now taking lunches more often, finding opportunities to connect with one another, taking sick days when needed and exploring self-care in different ways that has translated into their work and home lives.

Effective stress-management and work-life balance can become a reality for your staff too! Contact Michelle to discuss design and implementation of a customized wellness program for your office.

The post A Case for Adding Restorative Yoga to Your Workplace Wellness Offerings appeared first on Define Me Wellness.

Create a movement diary and take inventory on a typical workday of the total hours spent sitting, from the moment you get out of bed in the morning until you go to sleep.  This includes time spent at the dining table, watching tv, your commute, etc.

Remember to approach this self-assessment with honest and kind curiosity; no judgment or trying to fix anything.

Step 2: If possible, find a quiet place to reset

If you are at the workplace and are in a cubicle, see if a meeting room is available and setup for some Constructive Rest:

1. Lie down on the floor with knees bent, feet on the floor
2. Support your head and neck with a folded blanket, beach towel or pillow. The head and neck should be supported in such a way that the sides of the neck feel long, yet comfortable, and the chin is drawing down slightly towards the collar-bones
3. Walk your feet out to either side and bring the knees to touch
4. Place your hands on your belly and close down the eyes to help turn your attention inwards
5. Take 2 – 5 minutes to focus on your body’s natural inhale and exhale pattern
6. Play with equal ratio (1:1) breathing, where the inhale and exhale are of the same duration/count (this breath practice helps to balance the nervous system)

Step 3: Reclaim your seat

Once you have spent some time in Constructive Rest, you are ready to return to your desk with a calm mind and relaxed musculature.  Use that body awareness to reclaim your seat with intention:

1. Find your sitting bones, the two bony protrusions on either cheek just above the hamstrings
2. As you bend your knees, shift your hips back and sit on the edge of your chair, on your sitting bones as opposed to sitting on your sacrum
3. Rather than forcing your spine upright, wedge a pillow between the back of your chair and your spine for support or…
4. Shift your hips back until your spine is supported by the back of your chair (you should still be sitting on your sitting bones)

If you are looking for more strategies on creating optimal well-being in and out of the office for yourself, co-workers or staff, consider scheduling a Define Me Workplace Wellness workshop (such as this one) for your next company event or Lunch n Learn.

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