I got up this a.m. and it was rainy AGAIN and really, enough already. My yard is green *and* it’s floating away. The weather dude didn’t ask my opinion before he posted the ‘heavy rainfall warning’ today and I was pretty choked about it. I was also tired and had slept on my front too long so my lower back felt like it was in a metal brace - not in a gentle supportive way but more in a hold-the-bones-so-they-can knit-together sorta way.

I got in the shower thinking “Cor. Girlfriend. Get it together or you might as well toss in the towel”. And I don’t mean a start-the-car-with-the-garage-door-closed kinda towel toss, but more like a head-back-to-bed-and-throw-the-covers-over-my-head kinda towel toss. But I’m a responsible adult. Cranky and stiff, but responsible. So I got in the shower, turned up the hot and went through a ‘grateful’ list because it’s the only way I know how to avoid thinking about what I’m *ungrateful* for. Saying to myself “STOP OBSESSING ABOUT ALL THE THINGS THAT ARE BUMMING YOU OUT” doesn’t work half as well. And I did these moves to loosen up my spine:

1. Roll-ups - start in an easy Ragdoll Forward Bend. Feet hip width apart, knees soft, back and neck loose, finger tips on the floor for support. Ideally shower water is pumelling your lower back. Try to breath without drowning and stay as long as required. Then slowly roll up one vertebra at a time so your chin comes untucked last. Press chest forward, clasp hands behind back and squeeze shoulder blades together to find a stretch across the chest and fronts of shoulders. Then release hands, drop chin to chest and roll back down one vertibrae at a time to the starting position. Repeat as often as required.

2. Round backs - with feet tub width apart and toes pointed out a little, bend knees and place palms on thighs, fingertips on inner thighs. Press chest forward, keep shoulders low but pull them back gently and slide your gaze up. Hold for a moment and then round your spine out. Your navel presses back into your spine, chin drops down. Hold and repeat. Go slow so you don’t fall over. If, or when, you have the energy you can do these with your breath, exhaling as you round back, inhaling as you press your chest forward.

I’m not saying I leapt out of the shower ready to earn a Nobel prize by Saturday, but I did at least feel like the day was worth checking into. I’ll take it.