Backtoactive

Do you plan rest into your day, or just crash out when you have to?

Who are my people? You are stressed, tense, in pain.

Might be hypermobile (but might not realise).

Proactive, active.

Curious, questioning. You won't just take my word for it ( and nor should you)

Ready for change!

Find out how to work with me in Norwich.

Alexander Technique in Norwich - Back to Active Alexander Technique in Norwich. Make changes in deep seated habits in the way you use your body. It is not a temporary fix for pain or poor posture: it is about real, lasting change!

If you are in pain or stressed out you need more rest to cope and recover.

But rest if also harder to achieve.

What you need are small but mighty rest! Read about how to them here:

Small But Mighty....Rests - Back to Active How we can help you improve your pain by resting better with the Constructive Rest Club.

Taster sessions for £5
A few slots left over the weekend - book now!

Stress and pain are so interlinked. Freeing up your breathing can help both.

But you don't have to do breathing exercises (unless you want to)

Simple freeing up of your breath - try it now:

Getting in touch with your body with check-ins: free breathing - Back to Active Noticing and gently influencing your breathing is one of the best check-ins for getting a calming virtuous circle going with your body and brain. Soothe your brain with easy free breathing and it gets easier to manage your stress with your thinking. And if you have back pain, chances are you guard y...

Is a tense jaw a give away that you’re stressed? Grind your teeth at night? Tension headaches?

About 50% of the people I work with report having some significant teeth grinding or jaw pain issues or tension headaches.

I’d say about 100% notice that their jaw is an indicator of their general stress levels.

It’s not a quick fix, but its something I’ve found that reliably gets better with check-ins. Check-ins are just noticing what your jaw is up to regularly during the day, and then gently encouraging it to undo excess tension. This certainly stopped my nighttime teeth grinding!

See my how-to guide on checking in on your jaw:

Get in touch with your body with checkins: the jaw - Back to Active Is a tense jaw a give away that you’re stressed? Grind your teeth at night? Tension headaches? About 50% of the people I work with report having some significant teeth grinding or jaw pain issues or tension headaches. I’d say about 100% notice that their jaw is an indicator of their general stre...

Constructive Rest is stealthily one of the best skills you can learn to help your back pain. It's not just a rest, its a whole skill set.

Follow Constructive Rest Club to learn more and have something kind and nurturing in your social media feed.

And come and try it out for yourself in person at one of my Taster sessions on 10/11/12 October in Norwich!

Do you need to open peace talks with your back?

Chances are you already have a lot of habit about what you do with your lower back and abdomen area. We are taught to brace. Use core strength to protect the lower back. Switch on abdominal muscles.

But these might not be the type of cues that help you to be comfortable and relaxed. They certainly didn't help my back pain. In fact they made it worse.

Find out one of my favourite self-cues to give to the lower back, and why opening peace talks with this area might be just what you need....

Get in touch with your body with check-ins: the lower back - Back to Active The lower back and abs are an area of the body most of us quite conscious of. You probably ‘talk’ to your body a lot here: with cues like ‘brace to protect your lower back’, and ‘engage your core’. But if you are tense all the time that can wind your pain up. You need […]

Don't dismiss the small stuff. When I was in lots of pain I was searching for something that seemed substantial to sort my pain.

You know, things like strengthening muscles, or getting injections (I so should have asked for that botox in my face, not my back!)

But as I went through the long list of the usual things they get you to do for back pain, and each one left me disappointed, I was left with less showy options. The ones with more muted claims. Like:

Get a bit more ease in your sitting posture
Let go of that back tension a little
Breathe more freely, shift out of the sympathetic state more often
Rest better, more often

These modest practices didn't have big hopes of pain recovery attached to them. But it turns out that they are the things that worked.

Don't dismiss the small stuff. It's where the big changes can happen.

Check-ins are a prime example of small changes that build - if you missed my series on them last week you can binge them now at backtoactive, co. uk/blog

Tense shoulders? My series on checking in on your body to reduce pain and tension has started.

Go see the first one now! 4 min video.

Get in touch with your body with check-ins: shoulders - Back to Active Come to this from my email? Scroll down just a little for the video to crack on with giving this a go! If you’ve got pain, stiffness, or posture issues, your instinct is probably to DO something. Stretch it out, “correct” the position, shrug or wriggle. Moving more is always a good strategy, b...