Soft hands and wrists

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One of my personal favorite lessons. It’s excellent for repetitive strain or recovering from hand surgery, and amazing for anyone who has tension in the wrist, forearm, or fingers. Plus, it’s calming and soothing as the whole system settles as all the habits of the hand reduce their "buzzing.”

AY124

Another amazing lesson for repetitive strain. You hold the fingers in different ways and move the whole arm around the finger. You also sense each bone through the hand. It's very soothing for strain in the forearms and fingers.

You could do these movements on an airplane or sitting in a car—as long as you’re not driving. The movements are simple and once you know them, you can do them anywhere. I love this lesson for the remarkable way it reduces tension in the hand, wrist, and forearm. I give this lesson to my clients all the time as most people have excess strain in the hands.

Imagine you’re moving your hand through honey. Already the movement changes! Just bringing attention to the quality of the movement will change how you move. This lessons drops the whole system down to a resting level. When the “ready for action” state of the hands subsides, the whole motor cortex breathes a sigh of relief. We use the hands for everything, so letting them shift gears has a soothing effect. We're not so primed for action in the musculature.

This is a go-to lesson for anyone with challenges in the arm, shoulder, and hand. If you feel shoulder tension, have trouble moving your arm, or feel exhausted from typing on a computer, these movements will help.

For more like this, see:
533 Fingers and forearms
538 Prayer hands

Both these lessons are slow and gentle, soothing to do perhaps before bed. I do them over and over just because the calming effects sneak up on me.

This lesson helps the arm hang lightly on the ribs. It challenges the relationship of the shoulders to the ribs and the way you connect the arm into the center of your torso. In case you never thought about it,  your arm can connect deep into your middle. This senses of bone-by-bone connection helps your muscles work more efficiently so you're not laboring to move the arm though space.

Waking up these connections is vital for healthy use of the shoulder and arm. This lesson is also wonderful for sitting upright, walking, and feeling more support through your bones.

Tip: Get a chair big enough to put your hand down next to you, or set two chairs next to each other. This is best done on a pretty firm chair or bench, not the bed.

For more like this, see:
62 Goal post arms
454 Rolling long arms, deconstructed version
10 Wringing the shoulder girdle, Esalen version

For the short tips and tricks version, see 6 Rotate arm on chair, 12 min.

Continue to track how the arm, collar bones, shoulder blade, ribs, and spine all move together. Once you feel the skeletal connection of the arm into the ribs and upper back instead of the muscular one, you’ll never want to go back to struggling with your muscles!

Here you curl the fingers and toes and close and open the eyes while coordinating tilting the legs. It's not a complex movement, but it is a complex coordination. By the end, everything is open and relaxed.

This is a good lesson to do before something demanding or stressful as it softens everything and changes your state. Use it before bed to rest, or before any other item that requires your calm, quiet attention in a stressful situation. It’s a go-to lesson for settling the nervous system.

For more pulsing lessons, see the Bell hand series.