Day 95 - Acu-Barometric-Pressure

Today was marked by rain. Lots of rain. It had been raining most of the day, stopped for a little bit, then right before I left the J-O-B, it started again. And it poured. The last several months have been quite a drought, yet now we get three or four days of straight rain. When I drive to my J-O-B, I pass a farm with a pond on it. During the drought, the farmer had to send horses into the "pond" to eat all the grass in it. All the water was gone. Since the rain started a few days ago, it took until TODAY for the pond to get some water in it again - and then it was only about 10 feet across when I drove home.
When I left for school, it was barely spitting, but on the way to school, I went through a downpour for a good 10 minutes up the road. Then the skies cleared and I was able to get to school with no problems. About a half hour after my arrival at school, the rain caught up to me there, too. From the classroom, we could hear the patter of rain on the roof. And it hasn't stopped. Not even for a little bit during my drive home. Ugh!
Anyway, for our Acupressure class, we learned about the Water element. Yeah, ironic, huh?
We also reviewed some things to prepare for the final exam and then looked at some case studies on how to determine what treatment to use for a client and their condition. We also interviewed each other. Or at least that's what we were supposed to do. We mostly sat around and chatted...sometimes even about Acupressure.
Oddly enough, I'm getting this stuff.

Day 11 - Ugh!

We had Session 3 of First Aid, where we covered how to help in situations of bleeding, puncture wounds, burns, broken bones, back injuries, seizures, and shock. We talked about impalement. Some of the discussion just gave me the willies, I must say. I think it also gave me a headache, for which we did not go over treatment, much to my chagrin.
I'm not sure, but I think because it was Cinco de Mayo, some of the folks in class were particularly rowdy and talkative. Molly handled it as well as she could.
One of the difficult things I'm finding about keeping up with this schedule is that I am currently working in Gaithersburg. To get to the school, there's not a really good, no-traffic straight route, not to mention the morning commute to get to the office. Most days it takes me an hour and 20 minutes to get to the school, after working 8 hours. I found out yesterday that there's a small possibility that I may be able to transfer to the Frederick office, which would totally help my situation. It's a straight shot to the school and only 15 minutes from my house. The one problem: it's a temporary position, meaning that after the "temp" position is done, I may be out of a job. However, I feel I am going to need to take this gamble.

Day 5 - Form & FUNction

Several years back, my father, my sister, and I drove to Oklahoma for my aunt's funeral. We made the 1,200 mile trip in about 28 hours. We drove straight through, after renting a car - a Nissan Maxima. Upon our arrival, we dropped Dad off at his sister's house, where he would be staying, and my sister and I checked into our hotel. After getting our bags settled in the room, I noticed my lower back was KILLING me and I could barely move. I figured that between a strain on my back several months before and the long drive and the stress of getting everything together for the last-minute trip, I had pretty well wrecked my lower back. I used a topical cream that soaks into the muscles to help ease the pain, but nothing truly soothed the pain fully except time and trying to relax as much as possible during this whirlwind of a trip.
I had a revelation about that experience in class last night, which may take some explanation to understand it.
In Day 5 of the class, we covered "Form and Function" as well as being introduced to the Shoulder Girdle. Well, in the Form and Function section, we learned that 1) all parts of the body are connected and 2) how we use our bodies in our day to day lives affects the ability to achieve the Structural Objective - which is the goal of all the bones stacked in alignment.
We discussed how carrying a heavy purse on one side constantly can make the shoulder dip to one side, carrying a small child on the hip can make the hip tilt to one side, or being constantly on a computer all day can make the shoulders rotate toward the front of the body, creating a hunched posture. And get this - driving for long periods can create hunched shoulders or lower back pain!
The lower back pain may come from a muscle called the psoas muscle, and it goes around from the derriere around the hip and connects up front, around the groin. Well, how does that affect driving? Well, it's also the muscle that makes the leg move up and down when you're in a sitting position...like when you are using your foot to press on the gas or brake pedals. *Ding!* The light went on in my head and I understood why I had all that lower back pain after that long marathon drive to Oklahoma!
Wow!
Ok...it may not be big news to you, but it helped me realize that I need to be more aware of my posture and how I function...at least a few minutes a day and maybe I can reverse some of the really bad habits I've gotten into - slouching, hunching over the computer, and how I carry my purse.
In the next part of the class, we looked at the Shoulder Girdle, what parts it's comprised of, and how to work toward the Structural Objective for it. We learned the re-patterning exercises for it, which we worked on with a partner.
I'm almost getting a work-out during the part of the class where we work on the re-patterning techniques.
You know...almost.