unclench your jaw

direct reminders for me to relax and self-maintenance. if you have a medical question (physical or mental), ask a medical person (not me)

[fucking-relax]

All My Reminders

original about ☆ a Last.fm playlist

fun thing about a memory so shitty that you need constant reminders to function is that those reminders get lost too. so, this is for me to find what Escaped Rotation (or i retired them, forgot, but then want them back). you can use it too, if you like

Stretches — general

how to safely stretch

PT for walking/standing hurts

how to do a plank without wanting to die

the Original Purpose of Blog: Unclench Your Jaw

how to unclench your jaw

fancy text unclench your jaw

red unclench your jaw, orange unclench your jaw, green unclench your jaw, blue unclench your jaw, purple unclench your jaw, pink unclench your jaw, 😤 unclench your jaw

you're not wrong. my jaw needs to be unclenched.

Stretches — eyes

look into the distance (incl deep breaths)

scrunch your eyes (⇀‸↼‶)

original blink; variation gnome cat; variation bird cat

eye stretches yeehaw

focus changes

Stretches — limbs

nerve stretch and glide

shake your hands

wrist diagrams

feet

Stretches — stress spots

eyebrows/forehead

jaw additional PT instructions

neck (circling)

neck (hands on chest)

shoulder moves

Stretches — core

specific pain spots in neck/back

twist (spine/back/sides)

reset your back

binding

hip stretches

Breathing (filter tag: take care comrade)

● fuck that ● counting

Wellbeing — Do Now/Soon

comfort check

eat and rest (inspired by a possum)

brushing teeth

med reminder original; variation shot

hydrate

wash your bottle

outside part 2

how to manage a panic attack

mental grounding techniques to practice

working out is helpful (sounds fake but it's aggrevatingly true)

Wellbeing — Forgetting

subscriptions

forgetting smth, like laundry

use your aids

Reframe and Rest (Spiral Time)

bask in your achievements 🦎

floor time

keep warm / keep cool

(betrayed by sitting being painful) moveable moments

relax (ft cowboy hamster)

Wellbeing — Reframing

purposeful wellbeing suggestions

pain meds are a helpful tool; THE SEQUEL

boundaries; benefits, like a bearded dragon

a seal plushie

mantra against fascism

you don't have to stick with what you try; it's important you try

emotional regulation

Wellbeing — escaped rotation so frequently they're semi-retired

take care of yourself (this is a threat, and i'm proud of your effort so far)

finding joy in the Sisyphean process

brain/body, listen and trust, think/move

bite something

go outside

refs not in rotation

a nice message :>

anger first aid ; extreme emotions advice

regarding eyestrain exercises ; eye strain/fatigue again

research on hip stretches

sitting with discomfort

stretches for sculptors (hand, wrist, back pain)

getting started with executive dysfunction (not my post)

other reminder blogs i've encountered:

drink some fucking water

brushing teeth

shower reminders

meal reminders + recipes

movement reminders + exercises

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scrunch your eyes closed as if you had eaten a really sour lemon (⇀‸↼)

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reset your back

do the thing where you

stand up with feet shoulder width apart

imagine your head is a weight (easy enough)

slowly roll your head forward, keeping the visualization that your head is a heavy thing pulling your upper half towards the floor from spine top to bottom (neck vertebrae to ribcage vertebrae to lower back vertebrae to waist vertebrae)

let your arms dangle as you go down. you ain't using them right now

you can wiggle your head/neck a bit if it helps you further relax your spine

keep your legs upright (bending knees a bit may be fine) and butt in the air (try to stretch out all the way to the tailbone)

hold in a comfortable position (don’t hurt yourself) and check in with how you feel till you’re ready to move

slowly (slowly!) roll yourself back up in a mirror movement of what you did earlier (so, bottoms up. don’t forget to slowly bring the neck vertebrae back in place)

if ya wanna, give your limbs a little shake out and spine a little twist or wiggle

no worries about how far you can go, you can slowly go further each time you reset your back until you get to a comfortable limit

[phasmaticwinter]

for my hyper-extended peeps like myself, keep a slight bend in your knees is more than okay for this stretch!!

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Physical Therapy for when walking and standing hurts

this is my reminder to me about what helped after a month+ of work, but if this could help others who have the same weakness as me, i'd be glad

note: these build up muscles (my thighs were particularly weak) so initially i got new aches. they're numbered by weeks assigned but stack, so by week 3 i did all these exercises twice a day. now that pain is just soreness -> once every other day for maintenance

week 1. strengthen feet/calves

10 reps twice of raising heels to point of stretch, not hurt (i have high mobility in my ankles and the pain focuses at the front, so 70% of the way up at first)

30 second hold (3 times each leg) of gastroc stretch: push down on the heel and bend forward knee to feel stretch in back-leg's calf back

2 minutes (each) rolling a tennis ball along the arch of my foot

week 2. strengthen thighs/hips (can have resistance band around thighs just above knees on all stretches here)

10 reps twice supine bridge, engaging butt muscles for lift

10 reps twice each side clamshell, feeling resistance bands on thighs (use a pillow. put hand on hip to find point hips may turn and stop leg raise there; you want to feel it in butt, not back, muscles)

week 3. relieve upper back pain

20 reps of open book, from on side: hands clapped together, bring upper arm up onto the other side, following the movement with head and feel stretch in upper back (modified to keep knees together and reminder to use pillow to avoid neck pain)

other things that helped: switching to shoes with more cushion (tho now i can return to my regular dress shoes), hand massaging feet with moisturizer focusing on tight spots, "toe yoga" (raise the big toe alone, then switch to raise the small toes alone; engage arch and don't press down hard), and adjusting how i walk to engage worked muscles (hips more forward to be under my lower back, rather than popped, and rest back on heels when i remember)

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unclench your jaw

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....i've never explained how, huh.

how to unclench jaw

move/wiggle your lower jaw so your teeth no longer touch each other

gently massage the affected muscles (such as at the jaws' hinges and immediately under your lower jaw)

apply a warm compress (like hot water in a wash cloth) to your jaw

practice having a gap between your teeth (place the tip of your tongue in between your front teeth and hold it there for at least five minutes)

[purlturtle]

My PT gave me the following tips; please use them carefully and don't push yourself to where you hurt yourself more than you relax yourself:

Do each ten times, and only to the point where the pain is not "this is WRONG" pain but "okay this stretch is manageable":

slowly open wide and close your mouth

slowly push your lower jaw forward and back again

slowly shift your lower jaw to the left, to the right, and back to center again

I usually slowly count to three or for for each movement, and try to time it with nice slow breathing. So, slowly open wide & breathe in (ideally through the nose though, if you can) while counting to three or four, then slowly close & breathe out while counting to three or four. Fluid, continuous movements, not jerky ones, and be gentle and don't force things.

My PT said this is to help the jaw muscles remember how they *can* move. He recommended massages too! He said if your jaw clicks while doing those moves, it's not worrisome in and of itself, but if the click is accompanied by pain, ease up on how much you move your jaw, or stop with the move that caused the click, and try one of the others.

AFTERWARDS (and you really do need to do the movements of the first list first!!)

loosen your lower jaw (your teeth must not touch), put the knuckles of your left hand to the left side of your lower jawbone, and gently push towards your right, to stretch the left side of your jaw muscles. Hold for a count of five to ten slow breaths - for me, I notice a shift in the muscles, to where they let loose a bit, around the seventh or eighth breath; see how this works for you.

do the same with the right hand pushing left.

extend the thumb and first finger of your stronger hand to an L shape. Put it on your chin so that the chin protrusion is below the "hinge" of the L. Open your mouth slowly, and then use your hand to open it a bit wider and stretch the opening muscles on both sides. Hold for five to ten slow breaths. For a second step, you can add resistance: push your lower jaw upwards while at the same time pushing downwards with your hands. Only small incremements!!! LIke, fractions of inches! And only for one or two seconds, before you release again.

Please be careful and gentle with all these steps. No jerky motions, don't go past the "okay stretch" point to the "fuck this HURTS" point, and if you have a history of dislocating your jaw, please proceed carefully or skip this entirely and only do the movements described in the first list.

I often do these in bed at night, or randomly while I watch TV or something, or take a break at work to do them (my co-workers are used to it by now 😅).

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point and flex your feet ten times or until satisfied,

rotate your ankles in each direction ten times in each direction or until satisfied,

give 'em a little shake!

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purposefully yawn (like a bear)

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regulate before you reason

my anger first aid has been helpful for me but my emotional dysregulation isn't exclusive to anger, so! Regulation Tools

STOP

when emotions seem in control,

Stop

Take a step back

Observe

Proceed mindfully:

if we want an emotion to stick around or increase, continue to do an action that sustains it

if we want an emotion to go away or become less uncomfortable, do an opposite action (link with examples)

if we want our actions to work, we must follow it all the way through and believe that it will work.

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reminder to purposefully breathe for a moment

breathe in

1

2

3

4

5

breathe out

5

4

3

2

1

repeat however times you need to before returning to your natural breath

[fucking-relax]

have you brushed your teeth today?

find what works for you. i ask myself "which feels better":

electric toothbrush or acoustic toothbrush?

flavorful toothpaste, sensitive teeth toothpaste, or something else?

string floss or a single-use floss pick? fancy water floss machine?

staring intently in the mirror, scrolling media, or something else?

brushing your teeth anytime during the day is better than nothing. flossing your teeth when you're able (personally i went from none to once a week to every two days) is better than nothing.

heck, brush your teeth now if you can or set an alarm for when you have access.

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your eyes strained?

look at something 20 ft away for 20 secs

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or like, look at anything far for 3 deep breaths

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how to do a plank without wanting to die

tl;dr: maintain proper posture, have feet shoulder-width apart, and think living thoughts.

actually it's been lovely to start in child's pose then transition into a full ramp plank, making sure to extend my spine with pushing heels and shoulders down. but i've been building my core muscles for a while so on this post, the How steps go through 3 types of planks with a "level up" in difficulty indicated by a ^

Lying on the floor, place your forearms forward so that your elbows are directly under your shoulders

Slowly lift your torso off the floor by pressing into your forearms and knees. Contract your core as you raise up, and maintain a neutral neck and spine. (knee plank)

^Tuck your toes under and lift your knees so that your body forms a straight line. Tighten your abs and squeeze your glutes. (bridge plank)

^Straighten one arm at a time, placing your hands where your elbows were directly under your shoulders, lifting yourself up (ramp plank)

Hold this position for the desired duration*

On completion, lower your hips back to the floor and rest.

*when you feel yourself nearing your falter point, slowly transition back to rest. honestly planks feel worse if you're doing it wrong, so maintain the posture:

Neck. Keep your chin tucked in and your neck long. Your neck should be in line with the rest of your body. Do not tilt your head up, as this strains the neck. Gaze down towards the floor to help keep your neck in a neutral position.

Shoulders. Keep your shoulders down, not hunched up to your ears. Try to keep your neck, shoulders, and jaw relaxed.

Abs. Engage your core – think of drawing your navel in to your spine.

Hips. Do not lift or lower your hips – keep your body straight and level. Your shoulders, hips, knees and feet should form a straight line at all times. Tightening your abs, quads, and glutes helps to keep your body straight. Arching the back or hiking the hips up shifts the weight onto your arms, moves the work away from the core, and stresses the shoulders.

Feet. Start with your feet about hip-width apart. Moving your feet closer together makes the exercise more challenging, while moving your feet further apart provides greater balance and stability making the plank easier.

Breath. Breathe steadily throughout the exercise. It’s a common mistake to hold your breath during the exercise, which can elevate blood pressure.

a horrible truth is that apparently this does get easier the more you build up the muscles. and when you waver, think living thoughts. remember why you want to do this: starting with one every morning has been good for my body awareness/grounding. also it was like the one exercise repeated across so many sites to treat like all back problems, so we need to say Fuck You to school gym memories for the sake of my latest diagnoses.

modified sources: (1) WellnessED - bridge plank (2) Healthline - more crazy

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found the most beautiful neck stretch and i'm yoinking directly:

Sit or stand upright.

Overlap your hands and place them on your breast bone.

Tilt your head upward and slightly to the left until you feel a gentle stretch along the front and side of the neck.

Hold for 10 seconds.

Repeat on the other side, tilting your head up and slightly to the right.

Stretch each side three times.

also helpful for my mild lordosis: glide your head backward so your ears are over your shoulders, or as far as is comfortable (your chin will tuck slightly as you do this). hold for 6 seconds, relax up to 10 seconds, and repeat 2-4 times

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Reminder: Bask in the Warm Glow of Your Achievements like a lizard on a warm rock

if you forgot to do it in the moment, this is your opportunity to Appreciate That You Did It. telling others about it helps make the basking last properly as well.

you did it!! enjoy 🦎

reminder inspired by @skullchicken (see the post for more detail/suggestion)

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i need to harness this energy whenever i observe this post

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hey remember when you were feeling anxious, frustrated, panicked, whatever that emotion was, and then

you set a timer for 30 minutes and stretched and worked out aerobically? and while the core struggle isn't gone, it didn't feel so scary anymore?

this is your reminder that it helped. you should probably do it again, and give yourself a sticker about it

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my routine has changed so my previous strategy hasn't been as effective. However!

tired after showering soon after waking and annoyed at how long it takes when i need to be out? -> move shower to before sleep

there's "extra" time in mornings now where i can move my body before i move along my day

tired after returning home? having all those feelings and perhaps also dehumanized? ->

lay down with eyes closed for 15 minutes. priority is to breathe and rest. then do that stretching and exercise. that fucking rush becoming a person again!!

and whether the relief is consistently replicated or not, we get a sticker or stamp!! physical praise 😤

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when you find yourself in Panic Mode and you got to get yourself out, or just feel like a change of pace right now, some steps to follow:

signal for Rest and Digest by sipping some water

purposefully inhale for 3 seconds, hold for 3 seconds, exhale for 3 seconds

shock your system by holding an ice cube in your mouth and focus on melting it until it's gone. remember to purposefully breathe.

move, stretch, and unclench your body where it aches to release the panic you hold

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reminder: your meds

whether that's taking them, refilling them, or whatever you need!

this is your reminder to do what you gotta do

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if your auto-refill is not on time for whatever reason and you're low, or sooner to pick-up is easier than later, but you think "Oh i'll be fine without meds for a few days!!"

no you won't. go pick-up early.