April 12th 1998
RELEASE THE TENSION IN BACK AND NECK
In order to massage your own neck and shoulders it is good to lie down comfortably on your back and cover yourself with a blanket. Place a small cushion under your head so that the space under your neck is free. Make sure that you are breathing through your mouth into the upper chest.
Now massage the vertebrae upwards to the beginning of the hair line with your fingertips in a circular movement as if you were polishing them - starting with the vertebra at the base of the neck. It will probably take a while for the body to respond to your massage with the usual feedback (sounds from the intestines, deeper breath, electricity-like movememts, burping and the tendency to yawn and stretch, images and memories). Usually five to ten minutes of numbness are to expect then the area will open up.
Be patient and use enough pressure. Then "pluck" the string of muscles and tendons on the right and left side of the neck like a guitar string hard enough to feel it clearly relaxing. Then massage the neck with a full hand.
Go to the shoulder muscle, grab it with your whole hand and hold it for a while. Dig with your fingertips deeply into the space underneath on the back. You might even be able to reach with your fingertips a bit further down the back where the "ego point" is situated just under the shoulderbone where two layers of muscles are crossing. If you can find the right spot you might feel a sensation going all the way down your arm like electricity. Do not stop breathing.
Now go back to your shoulder muscle and dig in with the fingertips. Keep massaging the muscle with your whole hand until it feels more relaxed. Then do the same the other side.
In the beginning you might just explore every bit of your body, remember the grade of tension for the future and then gradually form a relationship with the muscle, the bone. the tissue. Once this relationship is strong you will not only be "told" when the area needs massage but also start to massage it as naturally as you are breathing.
Being massaged on neck and shoulders is of course much better then doing it to yourself.
If you are giving the massage to another person, the use of a table is a big advantage. You can massage the neck and shoulder from both sides but I prefer people lying on their backs while I sit behind their head on a high chair. I usually begin the massage with lying both my hands symmetrically on the upper chest and wait until they start breathing into the palms of my hands. Then I massage one shoulder as described above. After having done the second shoulder I go to the neck including the ears and the space behind the ears. (see the chapter about the ear: "listen to the waves")
In the end I always make strokes from neck, ears and forehead towards the skull and gently pull their hair towards me. This movement is very soothing and helps to remove stuck energy from the hair and its roots.
Neck and shoulder massage can be followed by massage of the forehead and/or arm and hand massage. It is usually very relaxing and will help people to go to sleep.
Exercises for neck and shoulders:
Gently move your head from one to the other side and then move it in a circle always breathing through the open mouth. Afterwards move it up and down a few times. Lift both shoulders up and keep them up for a few seconds. Repeat this movement. Then circle the shoulders backwards and forwards. Stretch your elbows out to both sides while your stretched fingers are touching in front of your chest. Make small circles with your elbows in both directions, Stretch both your arms upwards in all directions and yawn, Do not forget to stretch them backwards as well.
Then interlink your fingers behind the neck and move the elbows backwards. That will open chest and ribcage. Now lie down on one side with lots of space around you and in slow motion make a huge circle with one arm stretching it all the time. Stay a bit longer in the "tense" areas. Do the other arm. The knees can be bent with the upper knee touching the floor on the opposite side. This position is called "cosmic man".
Then lie down on your back to finish with a breathing meditation. Make sure you are warm enough. Close your eyes and breathe through the mouth visualizing the breath as a blue stream of air entering your mouth, passing the neck and entering and widening the lung chest space and then moving back out.
Try to be passive and let the movement of the breath happen to you. Do not force it. Try not to get lost in thinking of other things. Really concentrate on watching the breathing all the time and allowing it to expand in its own slow way.
Then imagine that you are breathing into the thumb of your right hand as if you would light a candle. Imagine that the thumb gets warm and relaxed and the chakra in the finger comes to life. Then breathe into the index finger of the right hand. Go through all the fingers of the right hand slowly. Watch them getting warm and alive.
Then repeat the whole sequence with the left hand. Then breathe into both hands simultaneously. Imagine the warmth streaming from the fingers towards the wrist thus warming the whole hand with your breath.
Now imagine that the warmth is spreading with your inbreath from your hand to the elbow and with your outbreath back down to the fingertips. Do one arm after the other and then both arms. The next breath moves the warmth all the way up from the hands to the shoulders and down again with the outbreath. Take your time with this exercise until you can really feel the warm stream moving inside your fingers and arms. Once you are able to warm both arms simultaneously let the warmth move into the shoulder and then towards your neck.
This exercise needs to be practised regularly and lovingly in very small steps. Once you can feel the warmth moving you will notice the energy stream going away from the head into your arms and out through your fingertips helping you to stop thinking, relax, heal pain and go to sleep. You can then start practising in every position and thus relax at work, at the dentist or during a long office meeting.
That's enough for today. Have a happy easter holiday. I will be back in two weeks time.
T