By Rev. Gillian V Harris, M.S.P.
August 20, 2018
Stop, Drop & Roll your stress away
If you’re on fire, you’re supposed to stop, drop to the ground and roll the flames out. Well, this distress suggestion is similar. When your emotionally on fire, agitated or just stressed out; stop. Get on the floor and ROLL!!! It’s so simple it's ridiculous! And it reminds me of my horse! Before becoming a horse owner I had no idea they did this rolling in the mud thing! They lay down on the ground and roll from one side to the other! Back and forth and back and forth. Someone told me that they did it for Chiropractic reasons! I don't think my horse realized that she was doing it for Chiropractic reasons! Lol! I think she did it because it felt good and feeling good made her happy!
Well, according to movement therapist Amy Matthews of New York City's Babies Project "most people benefit from rolling around on the floor"!
Um...
What?!
Amy says, "people who are really agitated calm down, and people who are sluggish are like, ‘I can manage this’, and it improves their ability to respond”. So, she recommends what she calls 'spine twists' which is basically rolling front to back, back to front in a spiraling kind of movement while laying on the floor! You would sequentially roll your body across the floor.
Start by laying on your back with your arms over head, take your right leg and reach it across your body until it pulls you to the left and onto your belly! Badaboom! Then, breach with your left arm high behind yourself until it pulls you to the left and onto your back again. Badabing! Now take your left leg and reach it across your body until you’re on your belly again and so on! You would do this until you have used each limb to reach across your body turning you on your stomach or back! So that's four twists! Four twists to untie the knot, distress the mind and body!
So, I guess it's not really a roll in the hay... But got your attention! When you get stressed; Stop & Drop & Roll!!!