Massage

I love my massage therapist.  She is so helpful.  I have really bad back problems and she goes in and fixes me up on a regular basis.  She's also very helpful with my riding, surprisingly enough, because although she knows nothing about horses, she knows a lot about posture.  I tell her my problems - specifically, not keeping my shoulders back, my pelvis tipping forward, my unquiet hands - and she gives me exercises to fix them.  She also tells me why it is that my body works the way it does.  According to her, I hyperextend my knees when I stand which means that my pelvis tips forward.  I let my shoulders go forward and I'm really tense in that area so my shoulders are unable to move freely and independently.  Because of this, my hands move with my torso instead of staying independent and steady.

She suggested a myriad of exercises.  To fix my pelvis, she said that I first needed to fix my knees.  If I make a point to have a bend in my knees, my pelvis should tip back to neutral automatically.  She also suggested that I try tipping my pelvis backward to help strengthen the muscles.  With my shoulders, she gets me to put my arms out at a 90 degree angle from my body (thumbs pointed downward) and push back, making sure to keep the arms at that angle.  Another thing I do is push my head forward so she wants me to push my head back.  If I combine all these exercises and do them on a regular basis, I should be able to improve my overall posture on a day-to-day basis and hopefully it will translate into my riding.

In the meantime, I'm gearing up for my exercise to get steady hands - or at least the activity that I think will help me see what I'm doing and help me to fix it.  Here is the ingredient (but more on that to come, hopefully on Thursday although I'm stressing out about my school work...):