For many of us the holiday season goes hand in hand with stress, and our own health can take a backseat to gift shopping and holiday planning. In this week's Workout Wednesday, Cindy shows us an easy technique to relieve stress, and also help our well being.
"It's the holiday season, we're stressing out, we've got family coming in we're short on time, and it's just really important to learn how to de-stress," says Cindy Ross.
One of the ways to do that is to release the tension in our fascia tissue. Fascia fibers run up, down and around our bodies.
"It goes from the bottom of our feet, and it can go in a straight line up the back of our heads to our eyebrows connecting at our eyebrows," says yoga instructor Sonya Cousino. "It also twirls around our bodies."
Cousino says fascia tension can cause a host of symptoms, from headaches to severe back pain.
"Plantar fasciitus in our feet to where it makes it painful to walk or causes headaches, ache in our hip can be caused by a trauma to our opposite shoulder," Cousino says.
One way to combat this is with a simple tennis ball. Position your body weight on top of the ball and roll in a massaging motion.
"We just worked into the soft tissues pressing the tennis ball, and if we found a tender spot a painful spot, we pushed a little harder, exhaling to release that tension."
Cousino says start from the feet and work your way up, through the calves, thighs, gluteus maximus and lower back.
The pressure releases toxins from the tissue-- so don't forget to drink lots of water afterward to flush your system out.
