Headaches? Neck Aches? Shoulder aches? Oh my!! What if your pillow is the problem?
My senior level yoga teacher, Judith Lasater, really made me think about head placement when lying on the floor. That translated to me using a thinner pillow (and propping some of it under my shoulders, as well) over time. And then I progressed to lying on my back without a pillow for about 10 - 15 minutes to start, slowly increasing the time as my neck muscles adjusted. It was fascinating to watch the body adjust over time.
And then later to come across Katy Bowman's work. As a biomechanist, she has done the research but more importantly lives how she teaches.
I never thought of my pillow as an orthotic, I was just concerned about the forward head position that everyone has these days. Since I like to sit on the floor more than in a chair, it seemed natural for me to question the necessity of a pillow. For me, it was satisfying to have someone follow a similar path as mine and back it with solid data and personal research. She has taught me a lot over the years.
Here's Katy's essay. I hope you will read it.
@originalworks
The @OriginalWorks bot has determined this post by @yoginiofoz to be original material and upvoted it!
To call @OriginalWorks, simply reply to any post with @originalworks or !originalworks in your message!
To nominate this post for the daily RESTEEM contest, upvote this comment!
For more information, Click Here!
A good pillow is key to good sleep. Thank you for sharing this valuable information.
Hahahaha........I do hope you read this essay later. There is actually a different point I am making. And then Katy Bowman's essay (with the link) delves into the biomechanics of using a pillow.
Sleep well. Good-night.
There is? I missed something. No matter what, i appreciate your support.
Well, I purposefully made my point quick (and maybe, sadly, vague) because Katy's article was very informative.
Essentially, at least with sleeping on the back, you don't need a pillow. Katy thinks that you don't need one for side sleeping but I am not there yet.
The pillow acts like an orthotic which inhibits natural movements. Sometimes this is okay when your bones are healing, or your muscles are tight. If you are healthy then you don't need an orthotic.
What I see are people with lots of back problems and then lots of heads too far forward from neutral position. An easy fix is to decrease the pillow thickness over time so that you need it less and less.
Something to think about and potentially try.
And thanks for your continued support. I will try to be a little clearer next time!
I see. I agree. I use a very thin pillow. I dont sleep on my back though. I can't sleep in that position.
Why can't you sleep on your back, if you don't mind me asking? Does it hurt your lower back?
No, it feels good on my lower back. For some reason, the only way I sleep soundly is on my right side. I'm not sure why.
Familiarity, perhaps. I used to sleep on my belly as a kid (which is hard on the neck over time) and then mostly on my left side for several decades. Recently, my tight shoulders have forced me to sleep on my back for several years, thus the experiment with less and less pillow over time.
As I have learned more about how to subtly stretch the muscles of the hands, forearms, and neck, I am now able to sleep on my side once again without any issues of my hands "falling asleep."
Never a dull moment!
I will try to put out some articles in the next few days on shoulder health. Right now I am just putting together a power point presentation and an outline of the stretches I will be teaching. It's fun and a little exhausting as I put almost 2 years of work together into a 2 hour presentation.
Take care, Michael!