22818 Down Regulate!

MetCon//

"Annie" she's an oldie but a goody!

It is really hard to unplug and disconnect and truly down regulate. We're all pretty ambitious. I personally don't do well with sitting and relaxing and doing literally nothing, which by the way is awesome for recovery. Even if I do get some good couch time, it's with the tv on or looking at my phone, or reading, or writing this blog. So much of stress management has more to do with your mental state than physical stimulus. Active recovery is a hot word in fitness, but it doesn't replace doing nothing and I mean really doing nothing. No kids, no phone, no netflix or books. The awake version of sleep is what I'm talking about.

I know there are lots of ways to achieve this down regulation. My go to has been the bathtub. Epson salts or bubbles right before bed. 

Today though I got a massage from Nicole. I am a huge baby when it comes to massages. I don't have any body spots that cause me any trouble like a trick knee or bad shoulder so I've never thought body work very necessary for me. So I basically just said, do your worst and went for the full body massage! I thought I was pretty good until she started working on my traps and neck. She wailed on me, or maybe she took it easy, but to me it was wailing! She's crazy good at what she does and I know that body work plays a huge role in recovery. For me though, I was forced to unplug for an hour and a half which was just as refreshing as the work itself. Like I said, it takes real effort for me to down regulate because I love youtube and studying and writing and programming and cooking and eating and just doing stuff. I love doing stuff so much that I have to pay a lady however much money to keep me from doing stuff. It's well worth it!

So what can this look like in your life? If you can afford a ninety minute massage every day, by all means go for it! OK, of course you don't have the time or money for that, so lets do that monthly. Daily though, consistently setting aside time to be still and alone should be a priority. Walk, Meditate, Pray, Stretch, take a bath. There's 24 hours, you can find 15 minutes and, daily, 15 minutes is probably all you need.