Day 3 Exercise

Oh, goody - an opportunity to feel some anger!! I had my Day 3 entry almost finished and my computer all of a sudden turned off!! #&^%(*^#

Here it is in a nutshell: Exercise usually makes me feel better, not worse, although I have started to add a little bit of strength training into the mix, which I've only done sporadically in the past, for fear of hurting myself even more. Although it's not really "exercise" in the normal sense, I have continued to do my Hanna Somatics routine almost every day, looking at it as "whole body maintenance" and not as a "fix" for my problem area. In fact, this is a routine that Somatics teachers advise doing every day for the rest of your life anyway, so I don't feel that it is focusing on anything. Its purpose is to make you aware of the mind/muscle connection throughout the body, and because of it I've started to recognize that I start to tense up on my right side when stressed (in my daily life, not during the somatics routine.) Thanks to Dr. Sarno's work, I'm starting to learn WHY I've been doing that to myself, and I've already worked through several issues that I'd been keeping under lock and key in my mind. It's been almost a week now and I can't remember the last time I went this long with only occasional twinges in my (former!) problem area.

Honestly, one of the "exercises" I've been most worried about is typing and using the mouse. I'm still using the mouse most of the time with my left hand (it's a habit now), but I'm typing with both hands, and typing quite a lot, too. Between the forum and journal entries I think I've typed more in the last week than in the last six months combined! I get occasional tightness (which I think is just the expectation of pain), but almost no pain at all. It's very exciting indeed!