Just Stretch. Yes, You. All of You. |
I almost never give universal advice. It’s not my place, and quite frankly I recoil when other people do it to me. But today I’m going to abandon that rule and give you one piece of advice that applies to everyone reading this. Yes, everyone.
I’m aware that makes me sound like an arrogant car salesman. The difference is that I have a purpose, a motivation, and, let’s be honest, rather more experience of the subject than I would like.
This piece was originally written for my blog about living with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP). While writing it, I realised that the core message was not disease‑specific at all, but universal. I’m publishing it here with only very minor edits, because it felt wrong to keep something this broadly applicable confined to one context.
I don’t care what you call it. Yoga, tai chi, pilates, ten minutes on a mat before you make coffee. The name is irrelevant, and often counterproductive (it put me off for years). Strip away the branding, the philosophy, and the Instagram accounts contorting themselves at sunrise, and what you’re left with is this: use your body. Move your muscles. Refuse to let them seize up quietly while you sit there doing nothing.
I know about seizing up. At this point I’m something of a world authority on the subject.
I woke up in acute pain. I went to bed also in real pain. My hands and feet were swollen, prickling with pins and needles, and hot (yes, I know, I went to the doctor about it). My neck, shoulders, and back were so stiff that rigid doesn’t quite cover it. Stone‑walled is closer.
Pulling on socks (yes, I almost always insist on doing that myself, without the carer helping). Each small movement its own small ordeal.
My body was doing what it does when I’ve been too still for too long: screaming. Why are you sitting all day doing nothing?
The honest answer is that I don’t have much of a choice. I have PSP, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, a progressive neurological disease with no treatment and no reversal. My balance is gone. I fall at the slightest provocation. I cannot........