One of the strategies I recommend during your Ultradian Timeout requires you to “get vertical.” That’s right…get up and move your bones away from the phones, get out of the car, push away from the desk, slip off the couch and stand up. And once you’re upright, I want you to give your body a good stretch. Consider it a physical yawn for your entire body.
Have you ever noticed the first thing a dog or cat does when they arise from a prolonged position? They strrrretch! Even an infant instinctively knows to stretch when it wakes up. Unfortunately, that instinct is replaced with ignorance as we get older – and tighter.
My normal routine every 90 minutes involves me getting vertical wherever I might be and performing one or two simple stretching exercises. The stretch I use the most involves me interlocking my fingers, rotating my palms toward the ceiling, and stretching them up high to the sky. I hold this position for ten seconds, and then I slowly bend forward pushing my interlocked palms toward the floor for another slow ten-second hold. Sounds simple. Is simple. But you’d be surprised at how effective it is, every time.
This specific stretch reminds me of a humorous story that happened many years ago when I was giving a motivational speech to the First Trust bank’s executive team in one of their branch offices. Since the audience had been sitting for a prolonged period listening to the previous speaker, the first thing I did before going into my spiel was to have everybody stand up and perform this precise shoulder stretching exercise that I just described. I needed some blood flowing to their brains if I was going to garner their attention and fire up their souls.
It never even crossed my mind that from outside the bank’s front picture window it seemed that the inhabitants of the bank were being robbed! After all, it was after banking hours and here was a group of individuals with their hands held high over their heads. Well, shortly after the audience sits back down and prepares to hear me talk, the office phone rings and one staff member excuses herself to answer it. She returns with a giggle and interrupts me to inform the crowd that the police were outside making arrangements to storm the bank. It seems a concerned citizen interpreted the stretch as a hold-up and called the cops!
Whenever and wherever you perform any stretching exercise, please make sure when you stretch that you don’t bounce and that you don’t hold your breath during the stretches. A good rule of thumb is to count aloud to ten slowly (one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten) to ensure that you’re breathing. You can’t hold your breath when you’re counting aloud. Remember, you’re supposed to be relaxing, not stressing and turning blue in the face!
A good stretch or yoga position helps to increase your blood flow, decrease back pain, prevent muscle tightness, and enhance your posture. Plus, it’s a great way to allow your mind to rejuvenate during the rest cycle of your body’s ultradian rhythm. I have a series of ten simple stretching exercises that can easily be performed anywhere, at any time, and by anyone. They’re extremely effective. And you can choose to do one of them, alternate some of them, or perform all of them. Again, the beauty of the high-energy prescription is that you are in full control. -- PC |
