Neck Tension

Right now I am in a class that focuses on voice and diction. According to what I've learned so far this semester, physical tension in your body affects the way you articulate and makes it harder to project and take good breaths for singing or speaking. Thus, we often get to do deep-breathing exercises, meditation, and even yoga in class to work on relaxing our body so our voice will work for us better, and yoga is what we did today.

My teacher had us lie flat on our backs and completely relax our bodies. The teacher went around checking how relaxed we were, and when she got to me, she said, "Oh honey, you are so tense! You need a good massage... all through the neck, and the shoulders too..." That's all she said.

I realized something from this. You see, humans tend to take emotional burdens and carry them as physical burdens. That is why our muscles tense up when we are stressed, frustrated, etc...
I had never realized quite to this extreme how much emotional weight I carry on my shoulders... literally! So that's where all my stress and feelings go! I know that my neck gets stiff sometimes, and I tend to resort to giving myself massages - sometimes in the middle of class - to ease my neck pain. I had never considered how it connected with my emotions though.

It's amazing some of the things I learn in my theatre classes. It's a mixture of creativity and expression and self-discovery, and I love it! My teacher has assigned us to spend 10 minutes each day meditating. I've already started, and it's so interesting how it can rejuvenate you and sharpen your focus.
Goodness, I need to find another outlet for my emotions. I don't like feeling tense, especially now that I seem hyper-aware of it!