As we age significantly, a major difficulty we face in life is broken hips and shoulders. Yet, we do not need to be at that point in our lives to appreciate the health of these structures. Your hip and shoulder girdles provide a tremendous amount of mobility for us in our lifetime. Due to our poor posture over a lifetime of work, stress which causes the muscles of the shoulders and hips to become extremely hard, dense and brittle, making for poor blood circulation through the area, our lack of or inappropriate exercise, stretching and diet, which will cause calcification of the joints and inflammation, the decline of these structures puts us in a very vulnerable state physically and mentally, creating a lack of graceful aging. Ancient arts, like Tai Chi, one of the “great excellences” in China, emphasize the importance of these structures subtly and slowly over time stretching and strengthening, keeping them soft, open and young. The energetic aspects of your hips and shoulders have a tremendous amount to do with your peace of mind, frustration, patience, the health of your cardiovascular system, lymph drainage, reproductive organs and immunity.
So, because of this deep understanding, what I suggest is developing a relationship with your shoulders and your hips, allowing them to talk to you! When you consistently exercise, watch your diet and are curious about your body you will begin noticing signs and signals that your body is sending you. Signals such as tension knots, frustration, soreness, fatigue, and so on. This is not just cropped up to be the “human experience,” but these are all markers to what is happening in the body. If you become sensitive to these signs and signals you will begin to learn where your blockages are and how to correct your state. The simple things are always the best. Eating a well-balanced diet, staying hydrated, and not partaking too much in caffeine, alcohol and the like. In addition, for a person who wants to age with minimum suffering, an active routine is needed. These structures need to be stretched, strengthened, and rested. All three!
For deeper levels of opening and transformation, some modalities that are a tremendous catalyst would be acupuncture, massage, chiropractic, reiki and the like of bodywork. Tremendous self-care, would be yoga and tai chi. There is no one route in caring for yourself. You must take full responsibility to explore and have that journey. It is a self realization, however certain people can help move you along more quickly. If you develop a conscious relationship towards your shoulder and hip health, you will maintain balance, harmony and good health throughout your years. Bless You.
