You finish another workday filled with zoom meetings, phone calls and computer work. When the clock hits that time, you practically sink into the ground and slosh into your home completely exhausted. You go to your fridge. The heaviness of your feet is surprising. You look at your home gym equipment. The thought of touching a weight just feels like one more thing. You feel like you’re in the bottom of a very big heap. All you want to do is lay on the couch; maybe just order takeout or better yet delivery. The less energy you have to exert the better. Your neck feels like the muscles have been replaced with steel cables. Why does everything hurt? You barely moved yet. Feel completely exhausted your neck and back ache and pulse with each little movement you make. Why are you so tired? It’s easy to forget yourself and your body. When sitting for long periods of time, it’s easy to throw your own self care out the window, while that is exactly what can sustain and fuel you.

The body mind, spirit connection of self care is very important. If you sit at a desk all day, incorporating movement will help you. Working in a home office or in static position is a huge contributor to back, neck and shoulder pain. One of the main issues is the location of the computer. Do you have to look down at it constantly? How long are you holding that position? If it is all the time, there is a pretty good chance you feel some neck shoulder and even back issues. You may feel it in the back of the neck because the front of your neck is so tight from looking down all day.

While this may not be news, your body was not made to sit in chairs much less hold that position for extended periods of time. Our bodies were made to move, not moving can cause something called stagnation where your energy doesn’t flow as well. Physically connective tissue can bunch and harden causing pain. Muscles can shorten decreasing your body’s options for movement. This increases discomfort and stiffness.

One way to diminish soreness in your neck, shoulders and back is to start with your workstation. Spending time working in positions other then sitting is a great way to reduce compensations from holding your body in unnatural positions. Chairs and cars while convenient can hurt you over time. A big reason for that is how far forward chairs push your femurs, the thigh bones. This can imbalance the pelvis. Your body was designed to move into sitting without a tool. Squatting, floor sitting and kneeling are ideal positions.

However, that isn’t ideal for computer work. Having a variety of options, such as standing through your workday are wonderful self care alternatives to add to your workstation. The easiest shift would be to invest in a standing desk converter. You can find them for as inexpensive as $45 on Amazon or at your local office supply store. It depends on your need about the size and cost this investment will be. This is an add-on to an existing desk and raises your monitor and computer causing you to look up and also shifts the tension along your entire back. This can dramatically reduce the sense of fatigue you feel throughout the day. I have spent time at my standing desk, working and dancing to get more energy. You will feel less tired at the end of the day. You can also spent one hour sitting and the next hour standing and just keep repeating throughout the day.

If you were feeling extra feisty and your computer system is easy to move; further investing in a Korean sitting table will increase the variety of positions you hold. Kneeling, squatting or sitting can also give your body more options throughout your day.

Looking at your energy systems is a great way to retrain to move into a balanced state. The Belt Flow is one energetic system that breaks easily if you spend a lot of time in stress while sitting for long periods of time. This energy system wraps around the lower waist and flows down each leg like a waterfall. It is an energy systems that grounds and connects you to the earth and inside of your body. It also connects to the 10th chakra located below your feet and pivotal for manifesting and influencing physical reality. The belt flow is also intimately connected to the lower back and low back pain. One of the reasons this can happen is the belt flow can shut off after long hours sitting idle at a workstation.

Signs your belt flow could be shut off.

• You lose your thoughts.
• You’ve been described as having your head in the clouds.
• It is difficult finishing tasks.
• Your lower back hurts.
• You have trouble focusing.
• You have hip, knee and foot pain.
• You’ve gone through a long period of high stress and anxiety.
• You have trouble paying attention.

A flowing and balanced belt flow anchors you to the earth and brings you to present. When out of balance it can shut down the Chakra system. This causes your body and your energies to work harder, to perform simple tasks and linear thought. You don’t have access to a lot of your energy reserves. This causes your body to work harder and its easy for stress, pain and overwhelm to take over.

One way to get the belt flow moving.

• Take your hands to your lower back opposite of your belly button.
• Rub up and down vigorously until you feel heat behind your hands and on your back. –
• Brush your hands across your waist, where you would normally wear a belt.
• Brush down your leg and swipe off your feet.
• Brush across your waist in the other direction
• Brush down your opposite leg and swipe off your feet.
• Repeat two to three times or more.

This will also need to be a habit. Try this every day for one to two weeks and notice if you feel a shift in your mental, physical, emotional or spiritual awareness. Repeating is important to retrain your belt flow to continue to move. Adding this to your daily routine will help keep pain at bay as well as help you be more present in your day to day activities.

Self-care can come in many forms and the act of changing your workstation and paying more attention to your energies can help keep you out of pain as well as flowing towards rejuvenation, rest and productivity.