Tornado, Undulation of the Week

Do the parts of your spine feel like one, stiff board? Undulation will help you loosen tight muscles so that the vertebrae have more independent movement. The Tornado Undulation helps you work up and down your spine to create more freedom and flexibility. It's fun, but start slowly and take time to work up to a tornado-like frenzy.

Healing Starts with Compassion

If part of your body is not working properly—a sore back, drop in energy, broken toe, chronic pain, or frozen shoulder—do you want it to be fixed or healed? The attitude that you bring greatly affects the process and outcome. What's the difference?

When I think of fixing something, I remember my dad working on the car, his coveralls oily and knuckles knicked. He returned from the garage triumphant after restoring order to that darn (although I don't think that's the word he used) part.

Healing has a different character. I think of an army medic attending to a wounded soldier, his blood-stained hands administering aid as his gaze and words convey assurance.

The basic difference is compassion, the foundation of any healing process. The very idea of fixing has an adversarial component. Healing is cooperative and supportive.

Furthermore, fixing may restore to the original state, while healing allows for a situation that is better than new. A broken bone heals to be stronger than the original structure. A fixed frozen shoulder makes it possible to resume former activities, while a healed frozen shoulder brings a new sense of relationship between the arm, shoulder and spine and even greater awareness and range of motion than enjoyed before.

When part of your body is "broken" consider carefully how you approach the situation. That part is actually You and will probably respond to compassion and healing more satisfactorily than a challenge.

Waking Spider, Undulation of the Week

Although this Advanced Undulation does require core strength, it is very fun to do and one of my favorites.

Don't Let Life Get You Down

Do you need a role model for having fun with life regardless of your experiences? Let me introduce you to Nick Vujicic, a man with no arms and no legs who has retained his perspective and sense of humor better than most of us.

Snake Arms, Undulation of the Week

This undulation feels very good if you have sore shoulders or sides.

Wake Up with a Back Ache

My first thought this morning was, “Oh, my muscles hurt.” With a squeaky groan, I rolled over only to find another set of sore spots. Every movement triggered a new pain. Yesterday’s tasks of moving heavy things to take down the Nightmare at Beaver Lake sets had taken its toll on me. My low back, upper back, neck, shoulders, even the spaces between my ribs were crying for help.

Some people would start the day with a handful of ibuprofen, but I had another option: undulation. I moved gently and slowly, squirming in bed to move like a baby discovering its muscles. My intention was not to stretch, but to rehydrate the muscles and ligaments I abused yesterday.

After about five minutes of Free Form, I rolled out of bed and onto the floor. I loosened the front and back of my spine with Personal Wave. After about a minute, my rickety movements turned smooth.


Then turned onto my side for Mermaid, which lubricated the sides of my low back and hips.


The next rotation was lying on my tummy for the Snake undulation, a subtle movement to get the nooks and crannies in between the vertebrae.


After that I felt better enough to get on my hands and knees for Whirlpool, with special attention on my neck and low back.


I finished with a few Snake Arms standing up. (To see videos of undulations, click here.)

Now my left side feels very fluid and limber. My right side still has a few complaining spots, mainly in my ribs and neck, the places that took the greatest toll from lifting heavy objects for hours. A bath with Epsom salts might be enough to take away the remaining aches.

Let’s face it, some activities can be hard on our bodies. Back aches are all too common. It helps to have an collection of remedies at your disposal, especially those that don’t involve medication.